Who watched UFC 63? (spoilers)

[Mojambo]

Pretty great card with a fantastic main event.

Joe Lauzon vs Jens "Lil Evil" Pulver (Lightweight)

What a shocker to start the night! I was so looking forward to Pulver's return and Lauzon dominated him from the start. He got a take down early (no small feat against Jens) and finished the fight with a lightning fast left look. Pretty hard to tell if Lauzon is for real or just got lucky. Pulver is such a class guy, I know he'll be back.

Gabe Ruediger vs Melvin Guillard (Lightweight)

Best body punch of the night right at the start of the second round. Guillard has a SICK body and incredible power for a 155 pounder. He dropped Ruediger with a sledgehammer righthand to the solar plexus. Man, that looked like it hurt.

Jason Lambert vs Rashad Evans (Light Heavyweight)

Evans finally finishes someone in the octagon, and looked pretty dominant doing it. Rashad Evans doesn't just have good wrestling, he has awesome wrestling. And his athleticism is flat off the charts. The UFC really needs to challenge him with a guy who can compete with him athletically. The problem is that there aren't many of those guys at 205. I'd love to see Brandon Vera come down to 205 and give Evans a beating.

David Loiseau vs Mike Swick (Middleweight)

Kind of underwhelming when you consider what was thought about this match up going in. Loiseau had noticeable after effects from his beating against Franklin. He really didn't start throwing punches until the 3rd round. Swick was very active and threw a bunch of big time combos, but never really hurt Loiseau. He still won the first two rounds handily. The third was mostly dominated by Loiseau as he finally unleashed some nasty standing elbows, but he never got close to knocking Swick down. Mike Swick was good, but I don't know if he was good enough to earn a shot at the winner of Franklin/Silva.

BJ Penn vs Matt Hughes (Welterweight)

Awesome fight! Penn won the first round with some crisp stand up and great take down defense. Hughes wasn't hurt by the sharp jabs Penn was landing, but he had to have been a little discouraged about having his take downs stuffed. The second round was going much the same until Hughes finally got BJ on his back. He landed a couple of heavy elbows and looked on his way to winning the round, when Penn reversed and took Hughes' back. He worked into a triangle choke AND an arm bar that Hughes had to muscle through for the last 45 seconds of the round.

At the start of the 3rd round Penn looked completely exhausted and Matt Hughes took him apart. He started throwing combination punches and eventually put him on his back. Classic Hughes. He got side control, pinned the arms of the gassed Penn and just beat the hell out of him.

It sure looked like BJ Penn just didn't put in the cardio training to beat a guy like Matt Hughes. I guess when you're a prodigy like Penn, you sometimes take the hard work for granted.

So... Anybody else see it? I'd love to hear your impressions.

[Ekirh]

1. I only

saw the M.E since someone sent it to me over the internets.

I concur with you though. Penn versus Hughes was just fantastic . . . and if it wasn't for the Cardio problem . . I think BJ Penn could've won it. . however BJ Penn's tank was completely empty at the start of the third. . . and once Hughes got those arms down (Which was awesome by the way) and started laying in . . you knew Penn was done. He was barely struggling to get out and the small sturggle he did give you knew wasn't going to be enough. It has to be hell . . being trapped taking blow after blow knowing you can do nothing but wait until the ref stops it. .

I'm not a huge UFC follower so correct me if I'm wrong.. is George Pierre next in line against Hughes?

[Mojambo]

2. Yep. This fight was actually supposed to be his

Penn stepped in when St Pierre injured his groin in training.

Hughes is just amazing from that side position.