UFC 78: Put It in the Books

The highlight of the night was absolutely Bruce Buffer telling Ed Herman, "Yeah, you fucked him up," after knocking out Joe Doerksen. As for the fights themselves...nothing special at all.

- I expected a lot more from Frankie Edgar-Spencer Fisher fight, but Edgar had no problem taking Fisher down whenever he wanted, so it's hard to argue with what works. Edgar may not have pleased the crowd, but he scored takedown after takedown and did some damage on the ground. Fisher, on the other hand, mounted virtually zero offense for 15 minutes. Good win over a dangerous veteran for Edgar.

- Rashad Evans beat Michael Bisping, just as I expected, and I'm still not sure how one judge scored the fight for Bisping. Bisping's takedown defense was good, but Rashad took him down enough to impress the judges. Neither fighter did much damage on their feet, but Rashad seemed to have gotten the better of those exchanges in my estimation. If this fight launches Rashad to title contention, Rampage has nothing to worry about. Also likely is the possibility of Rashad fighting Tito Ortiz again. Yes, again.

- Once Joe Lauzon got Jason Reinhardt to the ground, it was lights out as expected. This was nothing more than a showcase fight for Lauzon, who wasn't really tested. It was good to see Lauzon back in action, though.

- I thought Joe Doerksen was going to pull off the submission, but Ed Herman was saved by the bell and went on to score a vicious KO in one of the better fights of the night. It's hard for me to get excited over this win because Herman is still a middle-of-the-pack middleweight who's no match for Anderson Silva (not that he's in line for a title fight).

- I thought that Houston Alexander and Thiago Silva were going to slug it out, which is why I went with Alexander, who for some reason or another decided to clinch with Silva early. he was then promptly taken down and beaten like he stole something. Silva pounded the seemingly invincible Alexander from the mount and at one point was bouncing Alexander's head off the mat with punches. I like Silva. I like his Chute-Boxe camp, I like his tattoos, and I like the way he snarled after finishing off Alexander.

- The Karo Parisyan-Ryo Chonan fight went down as expected pretty much. Karo controlled his body for 15 minutes, avoided any real damage, and took home a one-sided victory. Anyone else think Karo's ready for - and deserving of - some tougher competition?