What an absolutely incredible night of fights put on for free by the UFC and Spike TV.    If you wanted to draw people into the sport of MMA that had never seen a Mixed Martial Arts event, then this was the show to do it.  I know, I know it didn't have any real big names on the card, there was no Randy Couture, or Chuck Liddell anywhere to be seen in Omaha Nebraska, but the fighters that were there came out and fought their asses off and showed that you don't have to have the big name guys to have a night of big time fights.  From the very first televised fight the show was non-stop action and showed just how dynamic and exciting the sport of MMA can be. 

Eric Shaffer showed great heart and determination in getting a submission victory over Houston Alexander by use of his favorite technique the head and arm triangle choke.  Houston came out on fire, looking to impress all of his hometown fans in Nebraska.  Shaffer ate a huge knee to the face while he was on the ground that was not called, but kept ferociously working for the takedown that would spell the beginning of the end for Houston Alexander.  I do have to question what is being taught to Houston by his coaches.  I have heard people saying that Houston gasses and is not really in shape.  The man is in tremendous condition, just look at him, the problem lies in the fact that everything he does, he does with strength.  He is an incredibly explosive and powerful man that can hurt you at the start of the fight, but falls off of the cliff when the fight goes past the three-minute mark because he pushes so hard.  His technique on the ground involves nothing but power which leads to him gassing and not being able to handle a skilled ground specialist like Eric Shaffer.  I would love to see Houston take sometime and get with a trainer that could harness that power for the right moments.  Help in getting Houston to relax during portions of the fight so he wouldn't be gassing himself by using up all of his energy resources in ineffective ways, and show him that proper technique will keep him from having to use up all of that power when just protecting himself in normal ground positions.

The Alan Belcher vs. Ed Herman fight was great from the start.  Alan has always been the guy who can really make other guys look bad, and sometimes make himself look bad, by not performing the way you expected.  Ed Herman is a tough as granite keep coming forward, do or die fighter from Team Quest who normally fairs well against strikers, but tends to have problems with submission specialists even though he has had a couple of slick submission victories in his career.  Going into the fight they both have had a common opponent in Kendall Grove who won the Ultimate Fighter 3 finale by taking a split decision victory over Ed Herman, and beat Alan Belcher by darce choke at UFC 69.  All I can say to both of these fighters is WOW!  Alan Belcher looked great in the stand-up portion of the fight.  He used his jab effectively to set up blistering right hands that caught Ed several times and obviously hurt, but Ed kept coming back time after time.  This was a true war with Alan being more effective on his feet, while Ed worked hard to get the fight to the ground and once there used an effective ground attack to wear down Alan.  The fight ended up being a split decision victory for Alan Belcher, but both fighters can hold their heads up high for delivering a gutsy performance in a very closely contested battle

On to one of my favorite fighters to watch, not because he fights pretty or has flashy moves, but for sheer will power, aggressiveness and conditioning.  Clay Guida is simply put a "STUD".  This is a guy who wins fights through hard work, persistence and just being a junkyard dog.  I love watching Clay Guida fight.  I have never seen him in a bad fight, and several of his fights are some of my all time favorites.  Facing Mac Danzig in the co-main event, this is the type of fight you look at and everything tells you that Mac is the more technical fighter, his stand-up is cleaner and sharper, his ground skills are more diverse, but the Guida factor keeps bringing you back to the fact of can Mac hang with the pace of Clay if he doesn't hurt Clay early.  This is what made it such a compelling fight and neither fighter disappointed.  During the early parts of the fight Mac showed his technical superiority by out striking Clay and utilizing good kicks and great footwork to off balance Clay and frustrate him into making early mistakes.  Eventually as the fight wore on you knew that the "Guida Factor" was going to come into play.  It had to, the fight was action packed with an incredible pace that would be hard for anyone to maintain.  It was obvious that Mac came into this fight in tremendous condition, but it is very hard to prepare for the non-stop, relentless attack that Clay Guida brings.  Into the middle of the second round you could see the fight slipping away from Mac, he was fighting hard and doing well, but he just couldn't get rid of the Tasmanian Devil buzz-saw that kept coming after him.  At the end of the fight Clay Guida was given the decision and then gave great respect to Mac Danzig for the fight he had put on.  I just want to say thank you to Clay Guida.  You never disappoint and you are always a class act that elevates not only the sport of MMA by your actions and performance inside the cage, but also by the way you show respect to your opponent which in turn shows everyone who really doesn't understand our sport, or thinks fighters are a bunch of mindless brawlers, that the sport of MMA is made up of great athletes performing at very high levels, because they like to compete, not because they are out to hurt someone.

Last but not least on the night was Josh Neer vs. Nate Diaz.  The winner of season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter against a guy that is just tough as nails.  I spoke with Nate while I was in his hometown of Stockton California and talked about his up coming match with Josh Neer.  Nate knew that Neer was tough and told me that he was working really hard so he could push the pace on Neer to try to break him.  Nate's brother Nick had previously fought Josh Neer, but that was a fight that was put together with little more than a week's time before the fight and was fought at 170 lbs instead of Neer's true weight of 155 lbs.  This time Josh Neer had plenty of time to prepare for a fight that was being contested at lightweight instead of welterweight, so this was going to be a better opponent than Nate's brother had faced over a year ago.  What a performance by both fighters!  Nate Diaz has definitely stepped out of the shadow cast by his big brother Nick.  Both fighters had chances to end the fight at various times and both fighters hung tough when put into bad situations.  It was a back and forth battle that could have kept going on and on and on.  I know that is easy for me to say because I was not the one fighting, but it was such an entertaining battle that I would have loved for it to have been a 5 round fight instead of 3.  Nate you have come a long way!  Keep training hard and you are going to be a big part of this sport for many years to come.  Josh Neer, you having nothing to hang you head about.  You fought a tremendous fight in which you showed technical precision, toughness and heart.  I think one of the best complements any fighter can receive is when someone tells you that they would pay their hard earned money to see you fight.  Josh, I would pay to see you fight anytime, thank you for a very entertaining night.