MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis

Last night was UFC 57 which featured Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture for the light heavyweight belt. As expected, Liddell KO’d Randy in the 2nd round and kept the belt. After the fight, “The Natural” announced his retirement from MMA.

Also on the card were two of my favorite MMA fighters, Frank Mir and Nick Diaz. Unfortunately, both of them lost their fights. This was Mir’s first fight back after the motorcycle injury that cost him the Heavyweight title that he held at the time. Mir was knocked out in the first round by a punch from Pe de Pano. A punch?? I thought Cruz was supposed to be a superb ground guy? I don’t know what’s next for Mir now. Maybe he’ll match up against Paul Buentello who won his fight last night against Gilbert Aldana?

Nick Diaz is my other favorite from this card and he lost a unanimous decision to Joe Riggs. Now, I haven’t seen this fight yet, but word floating around the internet is that Diaz clearly won the first round and might also have won the third. No way that Riggs won the first round, so there was no way all three judges should have scored the bout 30-27. What makes this more interesting however is that reports are coming out that later on at the hospital Diaz did what he couldn’t in the ring… he knocked Riggs out! Apparently, Diaz clocked Riggs in the ER at the hospital and layed him out flat after they exchanged some words. Now, I think its clear that Nick Diaz is somewhat of a hot head, but man, that is crazy.

Now Diaz has lost three fights in a row and acted very unprofessionally after the fight. His UFC days may be over for the near future. I think Nick is going to be looking at having to claw his way back to the UFC after spending some time in some of the smaller promotions. Too bad, I really enjoyed watching him fight. I’ll never forget his fight against Robby Lawler. I have it permanently saved on my TiVo.

Now, we all look forward to UFC 58 on March 4th. This is the “USA vs Canada” event and matches up four of the best fighters out there right now. In the main even, middleweight champ Rich Franklin will face off against David Louiseau and in the welterweight division, Georges St. Pierre will face off against BJ Penn and his return to the UFC. Can’t wait for this one!