UFC 81 live play-by-play

By Bryan Alvarez
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Here we go! Check back regularly as we'll be updating throughout the night.

1. Gleison Tibau vs. Tyson Griffin. Thank God this isn't a dark match. A fun and very close first round. Largely standup with a few takedowns by Gleison. It'll be interesting to see how the judges are scoring this. Third round more of the same. Tyson got the decision and said he was disappointed with his performance. Well, it wasn't his best.

2. Bob Yundt vs. Ricardo Almeida. Best finish ever. Almeida put him in a guillotine about 30 seconds in. Bob tried to lift him up and powerbomb him, but Almeida rolled through in a tighter guillotine for the submission. It was like a choke huracanrana. You will see that in WWE at the next PPV.

Mir promised a SURPRISE for Lesnar later.

3. Nate Marquardt vs. Jeremy Horn. I hope Undertaker is here because Horn just tried a gogoplata. Nate won in the second with a standing guillotine. Horn looked like he was trying to escape with a small package, but failed.

BROCK IS NEXT. But we probably have 20 minutes before ring intros so I'd guess we'll be getting a prelim here. DAMMIT.

a. Tim Boetsch vs. David Heath. PRELIM. Started out boring and finished great. They had a bar fight and then Tim hip-tossed him right into the cage. David landed bad and was then punched into submission.

HERE COMES THE PAIN~!

The fan poll early was heavily in favor of Brock, but then the anti-Brock contingent started their comeback and it's now 55% Brock, 45% Mir.

They just aired a Mir vs. Lesnar video package that was so awesome I nearly wept.

4. Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir. I hope Brock comes out to his WWE theme. He didn't. He is getting booed like crazy though. This rules. They showed Angle and Undertaker watching on. Taker got a huge pop. Hey, there's Steve Austin, HAMMERED. Huge pop for him as well. HERE WE GO! Brock took him down and quickly lost a point for a shot to the back of the head. They separated them but were almost instantly back on the ground again. Brock was pounding on him, but then Mir hooked him with a kneebar for the submission.

Brock cut a promo afterwards said you win some you lose some, and while he'd like to win them all he knew that wasn't going to happen. He said no excuses, Mir was a great jiu-jitsu guy and got him.

5. Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Well, my Brock prediction was an EPIC FAIL so I am going to try to redeem myself here by picking Nogueira. This may have been a foolish, rash prediction. Sylvia landed more shots and even knocked him on his ass and had him in trouble early, but Nog got a takedown right as the round ended. Second round was much closer but Nog couldn't get the takedown, and this is a tough fight for him to win on the feet. GOD DAMN I FUCKING REDEEMED MYSELF! Nog took him down in the third with a shoot small package, then swept him. Tim tried a sweep of his own but swept his way right into a guillotine and was forced to tap out. NOG WINS!

That finish was awesome, and Nog is a warrior. What a comeback. He cut a promo afterwards and called out Randy, asking him to please come back to UFC and fight him. Nog is now the first man in history to hold both the PRIDE and UFC Heavyweight titles.

b. Chris Lytle vs. Kyle Bradley. Lytle won in like 20 seconds. He beat him so thoroughly that Bradley pulled guard on the ref as he was trying to break it up. Holy God.

c. Keita Namakura vs. Rob Emerson. I'll give you an update tomorrow. Lost interest after round two. I am going to stop watching now, because before this started I was sitting here thinking this was one AWESOME, AWESOME PAY-PER-VIEW. So take my word for it, this was one to get, and because of Brock's debut it was historic. Just skip this last one.

Vinny, Mike Coughlin and I will be up by midnight at the latest with a brand new Bryan & Vinny Show running down this PPV for members. Should be a fun time, so make sure you check it out. Thanks for joining us!

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