Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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UFC 118 has come and gone and so has the experiment to bring pro boxers into the mix. A lot of observers were interested in this card for the co-feature featuring James Toney stepping into the octagon.

Randy Couture did exactly what he was supposed to do and beat the crap out of the big mouth fat slob over the hill boxer that is James Toney. Couture shot in for a single leg takedown two seconds into the match. He secured it, and then went to work with his ground and pound. The fight was stopped when Toney waved to the ref instead of tapping from a head and arm triangle choke. It was a beautiful sight.

In the night’s main event Frankie Edgar dominated BJ Penn again to retain his lightweight belt. Edgar was the busier fighter as BJ Penn again looked confused and somewhat disinterested.

Is BJ Penn washed up? That is the thought that kept running thru my mind as I watched him lose all five rounds to Edgar. Frankie fought a brilliant fight and I don’t want to downplay his talents but Penn hasn’t looked anything like the fighter we have seen many times in the past.

Penn looked slow and his defense was very bad. Edgar hit him with a lot of clean shots and was also able to secure takedowns almost at will. There were few flashes from Penn that made you think he could win the fight. Edgar won 23 out of the 25 total minutes if I had to look at it from that persceptive, the fight was never in doubt.

Now after beating Penn twice, Edgar will get a chance to fight the only person ever to beat him, Gray Maynard.

Maynard won a unanimous decision over Kenny Florian is typical “Bully” fashion. Gray used his timing and striking to set up picture perfect takedowns. His ground and pound looked better than ever and he did some damage to Florian’s face. Kenny on his back seems to be the only hole in his game.  The supreme wrestling of Maynard easily cancelled out the submission skills of Florian.

The performance of the night goes to Joe Lauzon. The kid from Boston dominated Gabe Ruediger in three minutes and looked exceptionally quick doing so. He scored a beautiful armbar victory.

Full results:

Champ Frankie Edgar def. B.J. Penn via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to retain lightweight title

Randy Couture def. James Toney via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 1, 3:19

Demian Maia def. Mario Miranda via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Gray Maynard def. Kenny Florian via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Nate Diaz def. Marcus Davis via technical submission (guillotine) - Round 3, 4:02

Joe Lauzon def. Gabe Ruediger via submission (armbar) - Round 1, 2:01

Nik Lentz def. Andre Winner via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) 

Dan Miller def. John Salter via submission (anaconda choke) - Round 2, 1:53.

Greg Soto def. Nick Osipczak via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Mike Pierce def. Amilcar Alves via submission (cross-body armbar) - Round 3, 3:11

All in all, it was a very solid night of fights. It wasn’t the greatest card I have ever seen but it was still very entertaining. We saw a changing of the guard at 155 pounds and we saw James Toney get destroyed. One of my all time favorite fighters, Gray Maynard, secured a title shot so that has me pretty pumped.  It was just another very solid evening of mixed martial arts courtesy of The Ultimate Fighting Championship.