I'll begin by offering my apologies for the spotty coverage on UFC 109, as I was attending a wedding out of town all weekend.  I was able to catch the replay late yesterday and formulate a breakdown of how the fights unfolded and a summary of how each result may impact the future.

Ronys Torres x Melvin Guillard

In his first showing on the big stage, Torres looked poised, and his stand-up has become noticeably more technical.  He snares two quick takedowns and works to advance through Melvin's guard, but Melvin is too slippery and gets back to his feet to poke with his jab, switching stances.  Melvin finds range and lands a few shots that Torres seems to shake off, and the Brazilian throws a flying knee.  Melvin commits with a good combination that is returned by Torres, who is standing in the pocket and dueling hands with Guillard confidently.  Torres shoots, and Guillard plants a quick flying knee of his own at the perfect time, but Torres is unfazed and works briefly before finishing the takedown.  Guillard gets up again, but chews on a hard Torres hook for his efforts.  10-9 Torres.

Melvin comes out aggressively in the second, but it's matched by Torres who cannot answer punches but snags another takedown--but again Guillard sacrifices position but is able to get back on his feet.  Guillard is finding rhythm on the feet, and lands two strong knees just as Torres shoots, but Torres has a head of iron and refuses to relent with his forward movement, and from the feet, Melvin rolls to escape Torres' back body-lock, but ends up in side control.  Torres angles for a kimura, and although he seems to have a vice-like grip, Guillard powers out and stands above Torres, landing a windmill right hand through the grounded Brazilian's guard as the bell sounds.  10-9 Guillard.

Both fighters stand in the pocket and swing to open the final round, and Melvin is light on his feet, throwing beautifully crisp combinations, and he's now able to read and evade the left hook that Torres has been countering with.  Torres times a shot and Melvin sprawls, but Torres drives through and puts Melvin on his back with a trip, and struggles to secure the feisty striker from inside his guard.  Melvin scrambles and gets back to his feet again, Torres is able to land with a combination during an exchange.  Torres grabs another takedown, and just before the bell, Torres slams the scrambling Guillard, but ends up in the mount underneath a hail of punches. 

Summary:  I would've scored the third round and the match a draw.  I can understand how the final seconds of Guillard flurrying the mounted Torres could have been a deciding factor, but I just don't choose to score that way.  The rules state that effective striking and grappling are the highest credentials, prioritized by wherever the fight is taking place.  I didn't use a stopwatch, but thought Melvin scored with effective striking when they were standing, and Torres scored with all of the criteria for effective grappling, and that roughly equal time was spent striking and grappling.  Both fighters effectively defended their opponent's offense, but were able to initiate their own.  This may be a controversial choice, but I don't feel there was a clear-cut victor.

Mac Danzig x Justin Buccholz

Danzig presses on the feet, but Bucchholz is sharp and fends him off with counters.  Danzig shoots, and can't catch hold but arcs a right hand that Buccholz indicates may have been to the back of the head.  Buccholz with the superman punch, but Danzig defends and shuffles left, then charges with a double left hook/right straight combo, then Buccholz recovers and advances with his own set of straight right hands, the last of which lands, but Danzig counters with a stiff left hook while circling back to open space.  Buccholz clinches, bombs a knee to the body, then immediately releases and drops Danzig momentarily with a right.  Buccholz is all over Danzig against the fence, and leans low in the Thai plum to plant a hard knee to the midsection.  Danzig's pace slows a notch, but he attacks with punches and leg kicks aggressively, until Buccholz dips right and unleashes a Belfort-like flurry to the covering Danzig.  They clinch, Buccholz is active with a knee and short elbow, Danzig respond with a knee and they break free.  Fighting spirit is high with both men as they continue trading until the bell sounds.  10-9 Buccholz.

They exchange to kick off the second, and Buccholz seems longer with his strikes, and is landing more.  He defends a Danzig takedown well, but soon after gets caught with a double, and Danzig quickly sneaks to side control, then works toward mount.  Buccholz counters by stretching out a kimura.  It takes a moment, but Danzig fights it off and then scrambles to mount, raining punches.  Calmly, Buccholz gives up his back, and slides out the back door while slipping out of a Danzig armbar attempt.  Danzig works his guard, lands some spiked elbows to the top of Buccholz' head, and then breaks out the rarely seen "double ear-box" before eventually pulling off a slick sweep back into the mount.  Right at the horn, Danzig fires two textbook examples of illegal downward elbows, which Buccholz protests briefly to referee Herb Dean, who warns Danzig.  10-9 Danzig.

Danzig hits a takedown to open the final frame, and smothers Buccholz against the fence.  Buccholz calmly fends him off, and the fighters are a bit slower on their feet after the frenetic pace of the first two rounds.  Danzig musters up his energy and blasts punches while stalking forward, and Buccholz sluggishly paws counters and shuffles out of range, and is then snared in a Danzig takedown.  Mac goes to work again, hopping to side control, and again to mount.  Buccholz again gives his back, but Danzig swarms him and sinks both hooks while writhing for the mata leao.  The round ends with Danzig in a dominant position and dropping punches. 

Summary:  the tides turned strongly towards Danzig with a solid 10-9 score on account of his aggressive takedowns, ground control, and dominant position work.  Although it was not his most impressive performance, Danzig holds strong and perseveres through the "loser goes home" match.

Demian Maia x Dan Miller

Bypassing the round by round scoring, this fight unfolded in a way that I never thought possible:  Demian Maia picked his opponent apart on the feet.  How incredible is that?  Arguably the highest level BJJ competitor to enter the sport is dismantling experienced fighters with his striking after only 4 years of taking MMA seriously.  I thought Dan Miller's best chance to win was to sprawl and brawl, but the fact that Maia was able to shut him down on the feet is nothing short of miraculous.

Miller isn't a striking wizard, but he's solid standing, and has fought a lot of tough fighters.  I really came away from this fight thinking that Maia truly does have an amazing natural talent for fighting that is not encompassed strictly by grappling.  It looks like all of those hours throwing hands with one of the most devastating strikers in the game, Wanderlei Silva, is paying huge dividends for Maia.

Matt Serra x Frank Trigg

Much like Big Nog, I'm never happier to be wrong about a prediction when I pick against Matt Serra.  I thought Trigg's strong wrestling and more technical (albeit less powerful) stand-up would allow him to wear Serra out and rack-up points on the score cards.  The "stinking right hand" that Trigg was supposedly training for proved to be the biggest factor in the fight, as the Long Island veteran clobbered Trigg with his flaming meat-hook punch, wobbling the former RAW wrestler and stamping him out with another hard punch on the ground to influence the referee to intervene.

Considering that Serra is a smaller welter, and Trigg's success against much larger fighters at 185 (even some knockout artists like Robbie Lawler), I envisioned Trigg to be able to control Serra and avoid danger, but there is no substitute for the mind-altering confusion rendered by absorbing a missile like the one landed by Matt Serra.  Congratulations to Mr. Serra, and we can all rest easy knowing that The Garv has an abundant amount of street-cred in New Jersey that will deliver him safely from all of the assault and batteries that he is sure to encounter should his head writer continue to underestimate local fighters.

Mike Swick x Paulo Thiago

The fighters begin a bit hesitant.  Thiago fires a left high kick that is partially blocked, and Swick later answers by soundly landing the first straight right he throws.  Swick becomes the aggressor, initiating most exchanges while Thiago counters with the same beefy left hook he caught Koscheck with.  Thiago hits a nice leg kick, and is holding his own on the feet with a few fearsome flurries, and then connects with another solid outside leg kick.  Swick's corner urges him to attack, but he's still cautious while increasing his output.  With a half-minute left, Swick wisely snares a takedown and scores points while riding out the remaining seconds safely in Thiago's guard.  10-9 Swick.

Swick comes out looking tenacious and ready to impose his will, and backs Thiago up with a few incoming combinations.  Thiago cracks a leg kick, and then another, and continues to use his strong, sweeping hook to keep Swick at bay.  Then, history repeats as Thiago does in fact land the stiff left hook we saw in the Kos fight, and Swick is stunned and crumples to his back.  Thiago pounces with some hard GnP, and then sees and opening and latches on a tight D'arce choke that Swick is forced to tap to.

Summary:  Thiago proves that the win over Koscheck was not a fluke, and he is indeed a tough-as-nails fighter with a top-shelf Jiu Jitsu game and bricks for hands.  This is a disappointing loss for Swick, but not anything that requires a major reinvention or drastic change.  Thiago has solidified himself as a top contender at 170, and deserves to be ranked behind Fitch and Alves.  The next sensible fight I would like to see is, in fact, Alves vs. Thiago, no matter if Thiago wins or loses against Fitch at UFC 111.

Nate Marquardt x Chael Sonnen

This fight proves once again that elite-level wrestling can shroud and smother every other skill in every other aspect of the game if you cannot stop it.  I thought Mr. Sonnen stole the show with his relentless domination of Nate Marquardt.  Sonnen defined tenaciousness with an unrelenting asphyxiation of Marquardt from inside his guard, burying him underneath a shower of short elbows and nonstop GnP that is the signature style of the great Team Quest members.

In the 2nd, Marquardt landed one of the most beautiful upward elbows I've seen from the guard in some time that was reminiscent of Joe Riggs shot on Chris Lytle.  Marquardt was close with a guillotine in the 3rd, but even with these brief moments of success, the vast majority of the remaining minutes in the round consisted of Chael Sonnen mauling him mercilessly.  Sonnen controlled his hips phenomenally and fed Marquardt elbows all night, which proved to be more than adequate considering submission defense.  Marquardt had a little burst of activity in the final moments, but again, this was not enough to outweigh how far Sonnen slanted scales for the remainder of the fight.  Chael Sonnen institutes a career-defining performance.

Randy Couture x Mark Coleman

This will the only fight that really went down as I expected.  Coleman's stand up was powerful, but sloppy and slow, capped off with zero footwork and head-movement.  Couture agility continues to be astounding for his age and mileage, and he completely outclassed Coleman and gave him the fastest and worst beating of his career.  Couture bombed sharp right straights and uppercuts, while keeping his left hook active when Coleman advanced clumsily.

His commitment to evolve in all facets of the game was most evident when he took Coleman down and immediately transitioned to the mount, where Coleman seemed to panic and give up his back, allowing Couture to slip in the rear-naked choke.  Although I don't know if a win over Coleman at this stage vaults Couture back into immediate title contention, Couture proved he is the veteran with the higher status and is not out of the championship snapshot.