Did you take a few days to breathe and take in everything that happened last Saturday Night? Did you read all the silly internet “columnist takes” on UFC 102? When you come to World Wrestling Insanity to read my rundown of all rundowns, I promise you a fair unbiased read. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself during my debut column here on the Insanity. So, allow me to introduce myself: my name is Cory P. I have several years experience in Wing Chun, Karate, Jiu Jitzu, and Tae Kwon Do. However, I am NOT an MMA fighter. Some guys walk into a UFC fighter’s training studio, take a few lessons, and all of a sudden their at some beach club telling girls they’re in the MMA. Stupid as it sounds, it happens all the time. I also work in the entertainment industry as a filmmaker & editor and my resume includes production in sports entertainment. I’m also Italian, so I love to get the last word in -- Hence, the title of my column called “The Last Word”. Now that you know, let’s get down to business.

If you read my UFC 102 Preview of All Previews column last week, you would know that my official prediction record stands at 3-2. I am sure you all had a take on each fight, maybe you all placed a few bets. Just like stock picker Jim Cramer’s disclaimer says, “… You should not treat any opinion expressed by Cramer as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion …” Please don’t use my predictions for gambling purposes. I can’t promise you a 5-0 prediction each month, but I do promise my overall record will be better than Jim Cramer’s record on predicting stocks.

Hands down, the fight should be considered a true legend vs. legend match. These fine athletes gave it their all, and left it all in the octagon. Randy Couture, excited to be in his hometown of Portland, gave a stellar performance. Big Nog put Randy to the test with an array of submission attempts. The Natural either slivered through or toughed it out each one, whereas, the average heavyweight would have tapped out early in round 2. The first round, being an absolute rollercoaster of punches, was taken by Minotauro 30-27. The second and third rounds, swarmed with wrestling, submission attempts, boxing and even a couple of notable ground reversals, faired the same score as Antonio took it all getting his hand was raised in the end.

Previously, Couture had a 3 fight contract with the UFC, with one fight remaining after this bout. Well, he announced a 28 month/7 fight extension on his contract which will keep him in the promotion until his retirement, if he ever decides to retire. Ric Flair and Randy Couture should do lunch one day.

The UFC headliner won “Fight of the Night” honors which added $60,000 to Nogueira’s $250,000 fight payout and his $150,000 win bonus. The UFC hall of famer earned $250,000 as well, the $60,000 FOTN bonus. Big Nog has 3 avenues from here: 1) take on the winner of the Lesnar/Carwin fight, 2) Rematch with Frank Mir, or 3) fight the winner of the Cro Cop/dos Santos bout for the #1 contendership for the heavyweight title.
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Light Heavyweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

Winner: Vera (unanimous decision)

My Prediction: Vera (KO)

Trying to earn back his stripes, Brandon “The Truth” Vera took Soszynski to town from the round 1 ding to the round 3 dong. Although we didn’t see the Brandon Vera that beat down fighters like Former UFC Heavyweight Champ Frank Mir or 3-time All American Wrestler Mike Whitehead, he put on an above average performance to score a total of 30-27 across the board.

Krzysztof seemed to be on fire with a 6 fight winning streak, but that very same fire was absent in this match with Vera. Overall, this mediocre opening main card bout needed some special sauce topped on. Having high hopes of Truthboy scoring a KO of the Night comeback story, he did take home a $35,000 payout and $35,000 win bonus. K.S. brought home $8,000 total.Middleweight bout: Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt

Winner: Rosholt (Submission)

My Prediction: Rosholt (none)Rosholt, the 3-Time NCAA wrestling champion and underdog in this fight, took some good shots from Leben but showed superb skill and technique giving himself a leg-up as a middleweight contender. Going into the 3^rd round, the match was cut down the middle, Jake taking round 1 and Leben winning round 2, but the Jakester put a fierce arm-triangle choke on Leben to get the “W” at 1:30.

From here, Rosholt wants to avenge his only loss with Dan Miller as stated in his post fight interview. Let’s see if Matchmaker White will put that together. Rosholt took the Submission of the Night $60,000 bonus, a $13,000 win bonus, and his $13,000 payday. Leben’s pay amounted to $30,000.

Ironically enough, my picks to win actually lost by unexpected one hit wonders.
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Light Heavyweight bout: Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva

Winner: Silva (TKO – punches)

My Prediction: Jardine (decision)Silva proved that his performance against Machida at UFC 94 was like what a third installment of a movie trilogy is … just awful. It is possible that the light heavyweight champ did not actually see the real Silva, but Jardine did. Having a track record of 1^st round KO’s, Silva took the Dean of Mean to school putting him down with a left hook and Herb Dean stepping in while Silva punched Jardine’s lights out on the ground. Not much of a fight, but Thiago walked out with a cool $29,000 salary, $29,000 win bonus, and a step closer to another title shot.

Middleweight bout: Nate Marquardt vs. Demian Maia

Winner: Marquardt (KO – punch)

My Prediction: Maia (submission)This match had a totally unexpected outcome. Some would say that Maia was in the wrong place at the wrong time but it looked like Nate the Great was just waiting for that solid opportunity to cock back his glove and fire. Apparently, Nate and Dan Henderson do not think alike because when Demian dropped, Nate held back a fierce hammer-punch to put a nail in the coffin. Nate left the building with a $40,000 payday, $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, and a $40,000 win bonus. A defeated Maia took home $28,000.

Undercard Match results:

Heavyweight bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Winner: Gonzaga (TKO – punches – Round 1 at 1:27)

Middleweight bout: Ed Herman vs. Aaron Simpson

Winner: Simpson (TKO – knee injury – Round 2 at 00:17)

Heavyweight bout: Justin McCully vs. Mike Russow

Winner: Russow (unanimous decision)

Heavyweight bout: Tim Hague vs. Todd Duffee

Winner: Duffee (KO – punches – Round 1 at 00:07)

Middleweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Mark Muñoz

Winner: Muñoz (split decision)

Lightweight bout: Marcus Aurelio vs. Evan Dunham

Winner: Dunham (split decision)

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UFC Fight Night 19 on September 16, 2009 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Featuring Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard

UFC 103 on September 19^th in Dallas, Texas Featuring Rich Franklin vs. Vitor Belfort & Mirko Filipovi ć vs. Junior Dos Santos

UFC 104 on October 24, 2009 in Los Angeles, California Featuring Lyoto Machida vs Mauricio Rua

UFC 105 on November 14, 2009 in Manchester, England Featuring Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang

UFC 106 on November 21, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada Featuring Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin & Mark Coleman vs. Tito Ortiz

UFC 107 on December 12, 2009 in Memphis, Tennessee Featuring Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans & Frank Mir vs. Cheick Kongo