Ultimate Fight Night 18 Review

The UFC turns in another solid show as UFN 18 landed in Nashville, TN tonight. Unfortunately due to time constraints only the four main card fights were shown but three out of the four were solid performances. The main event was a total showstopper and was worth tuning into for that alone.

Let's see how the fights turned out and how my picks fared this time around:

*Note: Due to medical complications the Steve Steinbeiss v. Ryan Jensen fight was canceled. Ryan Jensen admitted to using adderol and the TN commission refused to let him fight. Jensen does not take the drug as a performance enhancer but unfortunately using the drug can lead to serious health risks in athletic situations.

Tim McKenzie v. Aaron Simpson: Simpson came in and took care of business scoring a first round TKO victory. I was way off on this fight.

Rob Kimmons v. Joe Vedepo: Kimmons submitted Vedepo by guillotine choke in the first round. I got the pick right but not the prediction.

Jorge Rivera v. Nissen Osterneck: Rivera won the fight by unanimous decision. I didn't give Osterneck enough credit in this fight. I still got the pick right even though the prediction was wrong.

Brock Larson v. Jesse Sanders: Larson submitted Sanders by rear naked choke in the first round. I picked this one right on the nose!

Tim Credeur v. Nick Catone: Credeur beats Catone by submission (guillotine choke) in the second round. I was way off on this fight too.

Ricardo Almeida v. Matt Horwich: I didn't give Horwich enough credit even though Almeida dominated this fight winning a unanimous decision. I got the pick right but not the prediction.

Gleison Tibau v. Jeremy Stephens: This fight started off inauspiciously as neither fighter came in at weight. That aside, Tibau beats Stephens by unanimous decision. I got the pick right but not the prediction.

Cole Miller v. Junie Browning: All my haters can come out of the woodwork on this one. Miller put on a clinic. Junie felt his power and immediately went for the take down because he didn't expect Cole's power.

Once the fight got to the ground Miller showed why he's 14-3 and 4-1 in the UFC with a great guillotine choke to end the fight quickly in the first round.

I was way off on this one. Consider me officially on the Cole Miller bandwagon. I would love to see him fight the winner of the Fisher v. Uno fight by the way.

Don't take this as me getting off the Browning bandwagon though. The kid has a lot of raw talent and a good team behind him. I think he has a lot of potential. He just needs more experience.

Tyson Griffin v. Rafael Dos Anjos: This fight was crazy! Griffin was dominating the fight on the feet in the first round until Dos Anjos locked in that crazy knee compression. Griffin didn't look right for the rest of the round.

Griffin intelligently decided to stand the next two rounds and it paid off as he punished Dos Anjos. Dos Anjos for some odd reason wanted to stay on his feet too. Maybe he figured he wasn't going to get Griffin to the ground (he was probably right).

Unfortunately Dos Anjos just isn't good enough to compete with Griffin on his feet as Griffin pulls out the unanimous decision victory (though I thought the fight was closer than the score cards indicated). I picked this fight right on the button. This loss is very bad news for Dos Anjos who is now 0-2 in the UFC and in danger of losing his contract.

Ryan Bader v. Carmello Marrero: In the only yawner of the night Bader came out and just out wrestled Marrero. Marrero was never able to mount any offense since he was on his back or turtled up most of the time.

Bader actually looked his best in the BJJ game almost sinking in an arm bar, an arm triangle, and was passing Marrero's guard at will. I thought Bader looked a little gassed at the end and wasn't very impressive on the feet.

Bader made a solid debut and he obviously has a great deal of potential. However, he has a long way to go to compete at the top of a very deep 205 lb division.

Bader won by unanimous decision. I got the pick right but not the prediction.

Carlos Condit v. Martin Kampmann: This has to be fight of the night unless I missed the fight of the year on the under card. It was a back and forth war on the feet and on the ground. It was an absolute joy to watch two warriors in such a technical battle at such a frenetic pace.

People will say that Condit was over rated coming in to this fight and that might be so. However, I think what's more accurate is that Kampmann was incredibly under rated coming in to this fight. Yes he posed problems but I don't think many people expected him to show up like that.

Personally I thought Condit did enough to win rounds one and two but I can see how the judges could give round two to Kampmann. Round one was all Condit. Yes they were trading places on the ground but on the feet it was all Condit.

Round two was really hard to score. Like I said I liked Condit's pace and activity in that round. However, in terms of position I could see how Kampmann won that round even if he didn't punish Condit all that much.

The third round was all Kampmann and this round won him the fight. Kampmann took Condit down early and often. He didn't give him a second to breathe and ultimately won the round based on position since he didn't do anything of consequence while in Condit's guard.

Ultimately two out of three judges ruled in favor of Kampmann earning him a split decision victory. It was a disappointing entrance to the UFC for the WEC champ. Condit is a very talented fighter with a lot of promise and I'm sure we'll be seeing him back on the winning track very soon.

This was an absolutely huge win for Kampmann. In only his second fight at Welterweight he takes out the WEC champ and immediately catapults himself into the top 10 WW in the world and into the UFC title picture.

I didn't get this pick right but boy was I close!

All in all it was a solid night. Who can complain about free fights anyway?

We only got to see four fights but three of them were good to amazing. Miller makes a statement. Griffin bounces back. Bader makes a solid debut.

To top it off the fight of the night is a three round war in the main event! I had a solid night going 7-4 plus two bonus points for getting the fights right. Obviously my picks for KO and submission of the night won't happen but I expect an extra bonus point for picking fight of the night (Condit v. Kampmann). I'll update as soon as that information is available.

That's all for tonight folks. I'm off to watch the first episode of TUF 9 and stay tuned for my review coming soon. Until then,

Soccer kicks and head stomps...