There are literally thousands of people writing “official” UFC 101 recaps. All of which pretty much say the same thing. So in spirit of UFC 101, I decided to offer a decidedly different take. The following notes are part of a running diary I kept while watching UFC 101. You’ll find everything from some serious fight talk to what I thought about the fighters walkout music. Enjoy.

Finally! Dish Network is inundated with requests for UFC 101. After being on hold for about 20 minutes I finally get through to a sweet young lady with a southern accent who hooks me up with the UFC 101 PPV. Nice girl. Sounded kinda’ hot.

Opening montage begins. Anderson Silva looks like a young Harry Belafonte and Forrest Griffin looks like a more “in-shape” version of Shrek.

Again with the war of words between Penn and Florian? Yuck. I’ve seen enough already!

Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan are our commentators for the night. Isn’t Rogan a comedian? I’ve yet to hear him say anything funny.

Wow. As soon as Rogan mentions Anderson Silva, Goldberg’s face lights up like a 12-year old girl seeing the Jonas Brothers. Kinda’ creepy.

First fight up is Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino.
Pellegrino comes out with an awful blonde dye job. The judges should take points off just for that. My lord. How many tattoos does this man have? Neer enters the octagon looking like a bad ass. I always go with the man with pro boxing appearance. Neer has it.

The first Bruce Buffer sighting of the night! Is he the Frank Stallone or Johnny Drama of MMA?

Damn, Neer’s nickname is the “dentist”. I like it. Frightening.

The two touch gloves. Some brawling at first. A nice high leg kick by Neer. Amazing takedown by Pellegrino. Pellegrino is from Jersey and the Philly crowd seems to be pulling for him. Neer seems to have a nice ground game as well. Pellegrino has a black belt in BJJ, but he has his hands full. Neer attacking from his back. Round One over. I think the round goes to Kurt Pellegrino.

Second round begins with a nice leg kick by Neer. Pellegrino had a nice combo. Shoots on Neer, Neer sprawls, but eventually ends in the guard position. Pellegrino doing a nice job on top. Joe Rogan doing a nice job announcing, but Goldberg has nothing to add sometimes. Seriously! Add something Mike! Kurt takes the mount then the back. Blood coming from Neer’s nose now. Round over. Another round for KP.
Third round up. Neer looks a little more tentative than he did at the beginning of the fight. KP takes Neer down again. Goldberg says Pellegrino’s hometown is the wrestling town of Point Pleasant, NJ. Really? I thought it was the town of boardwalk bars and drunken 20-somethings. But whatever.

Neer is taking a beating on the bottom. Goldberg says Neer has to do something dynamic to win. WTF does that mean? He needs a KO or submission to win. Is dynamic enough for ya Mike? KP on the bottom for a second and Neer rains some elbows down, but too little too late. Pellegrino doesn’t seem to like Neer too much and sneers at him as they walk back to their corners. But it’s ok. He should come out on top here and does.

Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida up next.
Almeida comes out to a kick ass walkout song. Can’t place it though. It’s gonna’ drive me crazy. Almeida is also fighting out of Jersey. Two Jersey boys in Philly in one night? Think that was done on purpose? Grove walks out. Someone should tell him to fold the brim on his hat. It looks idiotic. Damn Grove is 6’6”? I didn’t realize he was that tall. Grove’s nickname is the Spider. I hate it when two fighters have the same nickname. Sorry Grove, but that name belongs to Silva. You have to change it. How ‘bout “Stretch” or “The Flyin’ Hawaiin”?

Fight begins. Most of it is up against the cage at first. Grove looks a bit like Don Flamenco from Mike Tyson’s Punchout. Almeida finally takes Grove down and works the ground ‘n pound. If this fight stays on the ground Grove is done. OH! Almeida nails Grove in the ribs with some knees, but Grove gets up for about three seconds before Almeida slams him again. Round goes to Almeida.

GSP sighting in the audience and the crowd goes nuts. Unusual for Philly fans. These are the same folks who booed Santa Claus. Guess they like French Canadians more than jolly Old Saint Nick. Almeida immediately takes Grove down and Grove almost gets an arm lock, but Almeida spins out of it. This round is pretty boring so far. Dana White is probably not too happy right now. The fight goes back to the feet. Grove scores a nice knee and uppercut. Almeida scores another takedown. Another round for Almeida.

Third round starts and, SHOCKER, another takedown for Almeida although this time it goes back to the feet quickly. Almeida goes for a flying arm bar and misses. After a brief stand up, Almeida scores yet another takedown. Grove has been spending more time on his back than Lindsay Lohan after one of her benders. Fight ends and Almeida is the obvious winner.

Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks.
Hendricks look like the Geico Caveman and walks out to Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones. What’s with the one “N” in your first name Johny is it lost in your beard? Sadollah comes out still rocking the mullet and some weird ass music. The crowd loves Amir. I think I do too. Seems like a cool dude. Unfortunately that does nothing for Amir and Hendricks takes him out in just 32 seconds. Seems a tad early if you ask me. People are going to be talking about this for some time. Amir seemed to be trying to get to his feet.

Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley is up next.
Riley looks like Mike Meyers’ dad in “So I Married An Ax Murderer”. Nelson walks in and I really can’t think of anything to say about him except that his nickname “Sugar” is so unoriginal I don’t even know what to say and he has a tattoo across his stomach. Can we end the “Tupac tattoo across the stomach” fad already? What’s that thing gonna’ look like in 40 years? Yuck. Riley is jumping around like the Lucky Charms leprechaun. Riley is clearly the aggressor in this round. He should win it. Riley is clearly bigger than Nelson. Did he stand on the scale with one foot on the ground just to make weight?

Phillies outfielder, Shane Victorino shows up on camera in between rounds showing off a World Series ring that’s bigger than my head. Randy Couture is next to him with cauliflower ears that are also bigger than my head.

Second round begins. Riley scores with a nice kick to the head and takes Nelson down. Rogan calls Riley a “big gorilla”. Not sure why, but that struck me funny.

Fight breaks out in the crowd. (A fight at a Philly sports event? I’m shocked!) I wanna’ see that fight! This one sucks. Apparently Chuck Liddell is also watching the fight in the crowd. I’m guessing it’s a couple of big, drunk, fat cheese steak eating Flyers fans. Anyway, back to the other fight. The crowd gives the two some luke warm applause. Riley should win this easily. And he does.

The main event better be good or this crowd might go nuts. The fights thus far have been pretty boring. We don’t want a bunch of drunk and angry fight fans on the streets of Philly tonight. That could get ugly.

Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva on now.
Shouldn’t Silva be able to speak English by now? How long has he been fighting in the US? The crowd is solidly behind Griffin who is once again walking out to the Dropkick Murphy’s. This guy is cool. He’s also the only guy who has a walkout shirt that isn’t sponsored by a MMA clothing company so far. (Nifty bit of trivia for you there.) Silva walks out looking a little too cocky. Then again if I won 9 straight UFC fights I’d be an arrogant prick!

Anderson always bows to his opponents. I like that. Very classy.

Fight starts. Silva catches Griffin’s leg and almost puts Griffin down. Silva puts Forrest down with a right, but the big guy comes right back at him. Silva puts him down again and then AGAIN for the third time with a walking away right to end the fight. Damn. Griffin was out and runs right out of the octagon to the locker room. Geez. Silva looks unstoppable winning in just 3:23 of the first. Griffin must have been hurt. That punch didn’t look like much.

Post fight interview showcases Silva’s English speaking skills. Apparently he has some after all, but lets just say they’re not as good as his striking.

Gerard Butler is touting his new movie “Gamer”. I didn’t realize King Leonidas knew how to play video games.

Time for the main event of the evening. Kenny Florian vs. BJ Penn.
Florian coming out to some Rocky quotes. That’ll get the Philly fans behind him. Why do I get the feeling the “I finish fights” quote is gonna’ come back to bite K-Flo on the butt? Honestly, can Rogan stop telling us that Florian is a different fighter than he was on Season One of TUF? We get it already, Joe! He’s gotten better since then. Enough!

Penn comes out to some weird moaning music. He looks crazed and won’t stop licking his lips. Weird. Not to mention his receding hairline. Has anyone ever had a receding hairline that noticeable at such a young age? I think he may have set a record.

First round starts. Some nice back and forth stand up. Penn seems like the aggressor so far. The round ends with a nice right hand by Penn. K-Flo saved by the bell in Round one. Round one for Penn.

Second round has some nice stand up. Florian seems to be trying to wear BJ down with take down attempts. Not sure who wins that round. Florian seems to be the aggressor, but Penn caught Florian with a nice upper cut. Tough call, but I’ll give it to Penn.

Round three is more of the same. I have to pee. Haven’t got off the couch all night. I think it says more for my laziness than it does the quality of the fights so far though.

Championship rounds are coming up. Florian needs to step it up. He’s losing on all cards most likely. Penn scores a huge take down in round four. Nice to see two BJJ black belts going at it on the ground. Florian just looks out classed on his feet and even on the ground. Penn takes the mount! Reigns down some punches and takes K-Flo’s back and eventually slips in the rear naked choke for the submission. Not a bad fight.

Well. It’s 12:40 am here on the East Coast. Time for bed. There is another fight coming up, but I just don’t have the energy. Overall, I was a bit disappointed in UFC 101. It just didn’t have “it” tonight. Lets hope UFC 102 is a tad more exciting. Until next time!