411's UFC 138: Leben Vs Munoz Report 11.05.11

Posted by Stewart Lange on 11.05.2011

In the main event, Mark Munoz defeated Chris Leben via doctor’s stoppage after two rounds! Elsewhere, Renan Barao defeated brad Pickett via RD 1 submission, Thiago Alves defeated Papy Abedi via RD1 submission, Terry Etim defeated Eddie Faalooto via RD1 submission and more! Check out 411’s complete UFC 138 report for all the details!

Prelims for the event are provided LIVE FROM CAGESIDE by Jon Butterfield!

Bantamweight Bout: Chris Cariaso Vs Vaughan Lee

Round One: Good reaction for Vaughan Lee, first UK fighter out. Boos for Cariaso. Head kick misses from Lee. Leg kick by Cariaso, another head kick misses from Lee. Lee looking for clinch, punches in response from Cariaso. Against the cage, Lee works for a guillotine and Cariaso reverses and takes control. Lee takes control and trips and top control and now in guard. Good shots from the top from Lee. Cariaso gets up with a struggle, and they're back and forth on the cage. Knees from the clinch by Lee. Another takedown. Cariaso up again and more clinchwork. They break and they trade punches from the clinch. Lee has Cariaso down again, back to the cage and the horn goes.

SCORECARD: Lee 10-9

Round Two: Two leg kicks from Lee, and they start swinging. Cariaso backing off, and he's taken down again. Lee starting this round well. Lee has control of Cariaso's head, but Chris fights up. Lee scores with a kick then covers up from a combo. Lee looks for a big right, misses, and we're back to the cage. Cariaso fights back with another good combo and now HE scores the takedown. Cariaso holding Lee, and a waistlock immobilising him. Cariaso not doing too much trying to get out of half guard, crowd restless, but then Cariaso gets mount. Good work from Lee and he's got full guard, but Cariaso quickly into side control. Short elbows threaten from Cariaso, but Lee not taking much damage. Cariaso has mount again, but good sweep sees Lee score some upkicks. A short scramble sees Cariaso in guard once more.

SCORECARD: Cariaso 10-9

Round Three: Leg kick by Cariaso, and a good left hook connects. Right threatens, and Cariaso working for the Thai clinch, but we're back to the cage with Lee in control. Cariaso fights back with knees to the body and we get a separation. Cariaso looking for a one handed clinch, but eats a few punches. Lee with Cariaso against the fence. Elbow by Cariaso and a spinning backfist by Lee – neither do a great deal of damage. Lee drives for a single leg, but Cariaso fighting it well. Lee settles for pressing against the cage. Cariaso reverses and now he gets a takedown. Cariaso in guard, and working but finding little. Cariaso works to mount, gets the BACK of Lee, and NEARLY gets hooks, but Lee gets his back to the mat. Cariaso in mount. Lee tries for half guard, but Cariaso takes his back again. Working for an arm triangle, but not close. Cariaso postures up from mount and delivers some BIG elbows that Lee just about covers up from. Cariaso looking for the rear naked choke, but Lee defending. Ten seconds left. Cariaso gets the choke, but time runs down. The takedown secured a dominant second half of the round for Cariaso.

SCORECARD: Cariaso 10-9

OFFICIAL RESULT: Chris Cariaso- by Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Welterweight Bout: Chris Cope Vs Che Mills

Round One: Leg kick to start from Cope, and Mills repays in kind. One, two, three from Cope and a leg kick, and suddenly a HUGE knee from Mills hurts Cope badly! Cope drops down, Mills all over him, and ANOTHER KNEE, TWO PUNCHES TO FOLLOW UP, AND IT IS ALL OVER!

OFFICIAL RESULT: Che Mills- Knockout, Round One (0:40)

Interview with Mills, Mills says he feels great and isn't far from home, and he's speechless. They show the first knee, and Mills says "that's what I do!"

Featherweight Bout: Michihiro Omigawa Vs Jason Young

Round One: They touch, and Young with an overhand right immediately. Omigawa takes the center and a brief clinch leads nowhere. Young looking to connect, as Omigawa keeps switching stances. Head kick deflected by Omigawa, and there's a lull in action until Young connects with two good leg kicks. Good left hand connects for Young. Omigawa starts a clinch, has the waistlock and takes Young down. Omigawa smothering Young, and LOUD BOOS. Young starts to try to get up, but Omigawa holds him down. Young up, but against the cage, and breaks free, connects with a good knee on Omigawa, and Young looking strong. Young presses Michihiro against the fence now, and Omigawa secures a takedown at the death. Close round, but I'll give that to Young who did the more damage despite a cut over his right eye.

SCORECARD: Young 10-9

Round Two: Young hits a 1-2 on Omigawa and ANOTHER good knee, but Omigawa takes him down and is in guard. Loud boos again as Omigawa essentially immobilises Young. Omigawa in side control and the crowd isn't liking this. Omigawa working for a kimura, but doesn't come close. Young with a SUPERB cage walk from the bottom, and they are up! Crowd cheer! Leg kicks by Young. Omigawa looking for shots straight down the pipe but he's eating more than he's hitting. Beautiful leg trip by Omigawa, and he's in half guard. Omigawa still working methodically and it's too slow for the British fans. Omigawa almost had mount, and now has side control. 30 seconds left. Omigawa gets mount with ten seconds left, but Young puts him right back in half guard. More control from Omigawa, and this is tough to score. Young better on the feet, but Omigawa had a full two minutes control.

SCORECARD: Omigawa 10-9

Round Three: Young looks for a combo, but Omigawa connects with a right! Young staggers but recovers, and tees off a little on the fence. Flying knee misses, and we're clinching with Omigawa scoring with uppercuts. Nice left by Omigwa. Young cannot find his range now. Three or four miss from "Shotgun". Flying knee pushes Omigawa back, and a nice low leg kick staggers Young momentarily. Clinch and a takedown from Omigawa, he winds up in guard. Omigawa splits Young's leg, leans back and looks for a knee bar! Looks close, but Young gets out and they're up. Nice leg kick by Young. Young tries for a takedown, but Omigawa with a fantastic Judo roll, and a guillotine attempt! Young avoids it, but Omigawa settles for half guard. Omigawa smothering Young and looking for elbows, but Young gets to one knee. Omigawa just drags him to the ground, and immobilises him again. More boos, but this is all Omigawa. Michihiro has side control now, and ties up one of Young's legs. Young fights up, takes Omigawa's legs and on top. Working elbows but that's time! The scoring of round two was crucial.

SCORECARD: Omigawa 10-9

OFFICIAL RESULT: Michihiro Omigawa- by Unanimous Decision (29-28)

Interview with Omigawa and his translator, and they talk about his last decision. It was playing on his mind, but he tried not to let it get to him. Rogan praises Omigawa's strategy, and Omigawa calls it "New Judo". Or is that "nu-Judo"?

Heavyweight Bout: Rob Broughton Vs. Philip De Fries

Round One: The bookies have debutant De Fries as a slight favourite – that can happen when you're undefeated. Let's see if he's worth it over veteran Broughton. We're underway, and De Fries immediately presses Broughton the fence. Two British guys, but Broughton seems to be the crowd favourite. Nothing happens and the ref splits them. Clinchwork and De Fries hits a knee and pushes Broughton back against the fence again. Looks for a takedown, but Broughton defending well. De Fries gets it eventually though. De Fries in side control, and Rob trying to cage walk out of it. Good start for De Fries. Rob gets to a loose half guard, and De Fries has head and arm control in the North South, and now back to half guard. This is a struggle, but De Fries is really keeping Broughton grounded well. Broughton cannot get up, and this is a clinic in ground control from the debutant. De Fries gets the back of Broughton, but there's no time. Round one for De Fries 10-9. If he'd done more damage, that would be a 10-8.

SCORECARD: De Fries 10-9

Round Two: Broughton looks to strike, but De Fries having none of it. Against the cage, and a double leg grounds "The Bear" again. De Fries has the back, but he's gone too high it seems, but he quickly recovers. Waistlock from behind, and Broughton is being controlled again. De Fries looking to soften up Broughton with some weak shots, but he's really just looking for an opening. Broughton tries to escape, but De Fries has him. Broughton up, and he tries to roll out of the waistlock to no avail. Suddenly Broughton threatens with a kimura-cum-straight armbar, ties in a sweep, but De Fries escapes the hold! Finally, though, Broughton is on top with half the round to go. De Fries looks for a kimura from the bottom, but Broughton blocking it. Elbows to the kidneys from Broughton as De Fries continues to try for the kimura. Elbows to the thigh of De Fries now, and Broughton looking for a kimura! De Fries escapes, and Broughton intot he Salaverry/Crucifix! De Fries is going to have trouble shifting him, but he does!, but Broughton showing a clinic himself here by regaining the Crucifix. Side control for Broughton now, and he's making sure his control counts with punches. That was literally 50-50 in terms of control time, but Broughton threatened far more from the top.

SCORECARD: Broughton 10-9

Round Three: Jab by De Fries to start, and Broughton pushing through and a BIG SWING misses. De Fries drives Broughton the cage, and now looking for a single leg. He gets it. De Fries in side control, and there's4:15 left. De Fries spends about a minute holding Broughton down, and even takes the back for a moment, but loses it and goes to side control. De Fries has mount, and we have less than two minutes to go. De Fries postures up, and delivers a few elbows, and this one is a little slow for the fans' liking. One minute left, and De Fries just pinning Broughton down and controlling. Cage walking isn't working for Broughton, and it looks like we're going to a decision. 14 seconds left and a stand up. Clicker goes, but for some reason nobody swings… very strange. Buzzer goes, and no doubt that's De Fries' fight, winning rounds one and three, but the crowd boo.

SCORECARD: De Fries 10-9

OFFICIAL RESULT: Philip De Fries- by Unanimous Decision (29-28)

Welterweight bout: Eddy Edwards (170 lbs. 7-1) vs. John Maguire (170 lbs. 16-3)

ROUND ONE: John Maguire's music says "The British are coming" – let's see how he does. Edwards takes the centre of the cage, and the first strike that connects is low on Maguire. Looks NASTY on the replay. Slip by Edwards, but replies with a BIG spinning back kick and a looping left and Maguire goes down and is in trouble! Edwards tries to finish, but Maguire covers up superbly and scores a takedown from the bottom! Edwards with a guillotine attempt, but Maguire bypasses into full guard. Edwards gets to his feet, presses Maguire, but Maguire takes him down again. Head and arm control for Maguire results in a chorus of "KNEES", but Maguire only has chance to throw one. Edwards looks to strike, but Maguire smothers him, takes him down from the back, and AGAIN head and arm control. Maguire presses Edwards to the cage, and scores another takedown with Edwards looking for a guillotine again. He gets nowhere near, and that's that. Edwards certainly hit the big strikes, but Maguire controlled enough to take that round for me.

SCORECARD: 10-9 Maguire

ROUND TWO: Edwards starts strong, and forces Maguire to the cage with a swift combo. Head kick is checked by Maguire, and Edwards looks very comfortable on the feet. Maguire circles to Edwards' right, and he's looking to avoid getting teed off on. Edwards presses Maguire to the fence, and Maguire gets a waistlock. Knees to the body by Maguire, and Edwards tries a Judo throw, only for Maguire to take his back and score a BIG suplex. Crowd liked that. Maguire has Edwards' back, and the body lock! He has over 2 minutes to make this count. Edwards defending well with wrist control. They trade shots as Edwards looks to back-elbow and Maguire comes round with shots to the body and face. No progress on any choke though. Strikes from Maguire look to force Edwards into a mistake – and Maguire goes for it, but it was less a rear naked choke than a rear naked face lock. Maguire gives it up, but he's controlling here. Ten seconds left. SLICK transition to an armbar, but that's time!

SCORECARD: 20-18 Maguire.

ROUND THREE: Edwards stalking Maguire, and Maguire retreating. BIG swing misses by Edwards. Spinning back kick again just misses, and a single leg flattens the American – stereo heel hook attempts, Edwards initiating it. They break, Edwards up, and he lets Maguire stand. Capoeira-style kick nearly catches Maguire, but Maguire gets standing head and arm control, and now Edwards putting a hand on the ground to stop the knees. Maguire lets it go, and looks for a single leg, but now Edwards has head-and-arm. Roll by Edwards allows Maguire to outgrapple the American again, and he's in side control. Maguire transitions to mount, then takes Edwards' back. Body lock AGAIN. Maguire just punching Edwards over and over. There's not too much on them, but it's relentless. RNC attempt by Maguire can't quite finish it. Edwards tries to roll in-and-out, but Maguire STILL has his back. Regains control now. Edwards fighting bravely, but he's running out of time. Then Edwards to his feet, and he can't hit anything from the top. Maguire switches things round, and Edwards should have let Maguire stand there. That's it. Great fight.

SCORECARD: 30-27 Maguire.

OFFICIAL RESULT: WINNER – John Maguire, Unanimous Decision (3x 30-27)


MAIN CARD MATCHES:

Main Card will be provided by Stewart Lange, unfortunately not from the arena

Thanks very much to Jon Butterfield for the prelim report! Due to technical difficulties in the press pit at UFC 138 I've taken over on the live coverage, but will be getting live insight from both Jon and Alex Watt throughout the event. Remember and Play along with me on TWITTER and FACEBOOK if you want, I'd love to hear from you!

And we are LIVE!!!! The crowd sounds great, proving that while Brits can't wrestle, we do love our fighting!!

Jon Butterfield: Alves, Pickett and Leben get biggest live cheers from the VT in the arena

Lightweight Bout: Terry Etim Vs Eddie Faaloloto

Etim comes out to "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins. Can't decide if that's really intense, or really lame. The crowd LOVE it.

ROUND ONE:
The crowd go CRAZY for the Buff. I would too. I'll toast him by opening a beer. You should do the same.

Huge cheers throughout Etim's introduction.

ITS ALL OVER!! Before I could even type anything, Etim ran at Faaloloto, got hold of a SICK guillotine and that's all she wrote! INSANE start to the evening!

OFFICIAL RESULT: Terry Etim: Submission (guillotine, 17 SECONDS into round one!

Jon: Live crowd went MAD! That's how you start a show!

There won't be much between fights I'm afraid guys, ESPN UK insist on having ad breaks whenever they can!

Light Heavyweight Bout: Cyrille Diabate Vs Anthony Perosh

Perosh coming out to "Kickstart My Heart"!!! WIN. Shame I've picked against him.

FYI: Combined age is 77 years old. Should be fun.

ROUND ONE: Diabate has some height advantage. He's threatening with strikes to stop Perosh aiming for takedown. It's working. Perosh looking for the takedown, but he's not so desparate that he's willing to eat a knee for it. Anthony has a slight cut, didn't spot what cause it. Perosh lands a decent punch, but doesn't phase Cyrille and the stalemate continues. Great sprawl by Diabate prevents the single leg, the crowd are getting restless. Perosh pulls guard, big mistake as he eats a few. Diabate gets taken down and finds himself in side control, then head and arm. Perosh looking to advance, can't get any further than half guard. The Aussie tries a little ground and pound, but Diabate is competent off his back, at least well enough to avoid any danger. The round comes to an end.

SCORECARD: Perosh 10-9

Watching the replays, Diabate was all over him standing, but the takedown will have won Perosh the round.

ROUND TWO: Perosh ducks an attack and gets another takedown on the Frenchman, and quickly jumps into full mount. He works around the defence and gets a choke in from the back. Diabate turns out of it, but still finds himself mounted. Arm Triangle sunk in by Perosh, guard passed but didn't feel it so moved back to mount. Perosh finds the back once again and just starts throwing punches and sinks in a choke, Diabate has no choice but to tap out.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Anthony Perosh- Submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round Two

May have mis-scored round one, thankfully Perosh just took it so I don't look TOO foolish. Lovely.

Big BOOS for Rashad. Alves says this camp was the best of his career. I'll decide, Thiago.

What's that? An ad-break? Great. (Unrelated: why on earth have they remade Straw Dogs?)

ESPN takes us back just in time for a preview of Shogun Vs Hendo. They both promise violence. Can't wait.

They show Chris Cope Vs Che Mills from earlier. Great knockout. Sorry Chris Cope.

Welterweight Bout: Thiago Alves Vs Papy Abedi

I'm pretty excited to see Abedi fight here. I've not really been convinced by Alves for some time, to be honest. We'll see.

Abedi wins entrance of the night, with a flat cap and cigar! Brilliant. Even a bit of dancing! Great stuff. His coach even has a face tattoo. Jeebus.

I predicted this one for Alves, but I'm FULLY behind Abedi now. This might get biased, I apologise in advance.

Jon: Huge cheers for Alves in attendance. The crowd love him.

ROUND ONE: Abedi honestly looks like a monster. Early flurry makes Alves cover up. Alves right ankle is taped, wonder if that's where his extra pound came from. Abedi bullies Alves into the clinch against the cage, throwing kneews but little else. They struggle a little and Thiago returns a knee and they break. Both seem happy to trade, but neither takes advantage. Alves seems to be looking for big punches, but Abedi is landing combos. Another clinch to the cage by Papy, but once they separate Alves ROCKS Abedi and he goes wobbly. Dan could have stopped it, but Thiago gets full mount. Papy is cut open, Alves takes the back and we see yet another Rear naked choke finish!!

OFFICIAL RESULT: Thiago Alves- by Submission (rear naked choke), Round One

Guess I cursed that one then. Alves looked great. Crowd go mad.

Jon: Crowd loving fight and especially the finish!

I'm out of beer, thank goodness for this ad break.

Bantamweight Bout: Renan Barao Vs Brad Pickett

Sure the crowd will be behing Brad Pickett, but he'll need more than that against the dangerous Barao. The guy is a beast and he trains with Jose Aldo.

Remember when I said about the entrance of the night? I'm swapping it over to Brad Pickett, who comes out to Chas and Dave, reading a copy of the Daily Telegraph. I shit you not. Crowd love it.

Jon: What were you saying about entrance of the night?

ROUND ONE: Touch of gloves in front of the referee, this one should be EPIC. HUGE punches to start. Pickett takes the worst of the stand up and is fortunate to not be wobbled. Barao is landing all the significant strikes as the crowd get right behind him with chants of "Pickett" and "Eng-er-land"! Pickett now controlling the centre sticks the jab right into Baraos face and the two are going to war. They continue to answer one another and Barao rocks Pickett with a huge knee, rocks him on the ground and sinks in ANOTHER rear naked choke! Pickett defends really well, but Barao sinks it in again, holds it for a minute, and Pickett has no choice but to tap out.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Renan Barao- Submission (another RNC!), Round One

Great, great fight. Shame it didn't last a little longer.

Jon: Crowd didn't like it, but now applauding for Barao. What a performance

Since there's ANOTHER advert break, I'll take a chance to tell you all I bought sweet new trainers today. Yep, if I need to suffer through filler while watching this, you need to suffer through it on here. Sorry.

Welcome back for the FIRST 5 round non-title main event fight in UFC history. A slightly auspicious debut, but non the less, it should be a pretty good fight.

Middleweight Bout: Chris Leben Vs Mark Munoz

Shocking choice of walk out music for Leben. Good response from the crowd when he steps in the cage.

The crowd sing along with Buffer for "iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's TIME!!!" I bet Alex Watt and Butterfield were all about it!

ROUND ONE: The crowd aren't sitting down, they might not need to. Munoz throws first, he's already lasted longer than Wanderlei as he gets the fight to the ground. Leben looks to hold the neck but Munoz pulls out. Crowd chanting for Leben. Mark looks for the arm triangle, but Leben walks up the cage and up. Both go for the others body, but Munoz is searching for the takedown again. Leben scores the takedown this time, lands a couple of shots and this time finds himself in control against the cage. Munoz has taken some big shots already but he isn't looking keen to take more. They clinch once more and Munoz gets slammed down by Leben, who looks for a standing guillotine, which drops down. Munoz pops his head out easily and finds himself in side control. Mark lands a couple of big shots to the body of Leben and starts unloading on Leben. He almost rocks Leben, who struggles to get back into it. They finish on the ground, but Leben is cut under the eye.

SCORECARD: A close round, but I'll give it to Munoz 10-9

ROUND TWO:Leben seems slightly slower coming out here, Munoz may have got the measure of him in the first. Munoz get's the fight down with a plodding takedown and finds himself in Leben's guard. He drops BIG hands down on Leben but Chris is throwing back. As he rises, Munoz lands more stiff body shots and we can see the eye of Leben is now bleeding. Munoz tries to take the back and throws six of his best into the side of Lebens face, but he somehow manages to get a choke on Munoz, but lets go. The doctors are called in. Leben says he can't see. When the ref says "if you tell me you can't see I'll stop it" and suddenly he can see. Chris aims for a guillotine again, but Munoz gets the switch into full mount and grinds away again. He's absolutely battering Leben. The Crippler looks for the choke again, but Munoz doesn't even think about getting out of it, he just does. A few punches to try and finish, and the round ends.

SCORECARD: Munoz 20-18

Lebens corner are saying he can't see. It's all over everyone.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Mark Munoz- Corner Stoppage (cut to eye), round two

The eye of Leben looks absolutely fine by the time the decision is announced. Hmm.

Munoz Vs Sonnen? Think Silva is a bit of a stretch at the moment.

Thanks very much for joining me for my live coverage! It's always great covering MMA for you guys! I really hope you enjoyed it! I'll leave the final word to our live correspondent, who was unable to do this for you guys due to internet problems at the arena. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jon Butterfield:

Well if UFC 138 lacked star power and name value, I'd say this show has more than made up for it in terms of action and finishes! Awesome performances (and finishes) from Alves and Barao, and big HOME wins for John Maguire and Che Mills keep the crowd pumped throughout! And as for the main event, well, what do you say about that?! Chris Leben showed the heart of a warrior, but Mark Munoz is a vicious ground and pound artist who never rushes a punch. And they said those guys shouldn't main event – well, for my money, Munoz certainly will be main eventing again in the very near future! We've had a lot of fun reporting LIVE on this one from ringside, and we'd like to thank you for joining us here for our round by round coverage of UFC 138!