Chuck Liddell won a unanimous decision over Jeff Monson. This was one of those rare occasions where the kickboxer beats the wrestler. Monson, who is in the Couture camp, had total control early on, but you don't get many points here for holding or riding. Liddell starting dictating in standup in the 2nd half of round 1, but he was in no hurry to take a chance with a strike and Monson kept backing up so it was a terrible round.

The second round was much better because the first 4 minutes was Liddell beating Monson's thigh raw with low kicks. Monson finally found some method of defense for this, catching a kick and landing a combination of punches, but he was unable to take Liddell down.

Liddell continued to exploit Monson in round 3. A wrestler that has nothing in standup can usually beat a kickboxer because they take them down before the kickboxer can get going. Monson didn't have the takedown skill though and Liddell does have some takedown defense. Since Monson was unable to take Liddell down after the beginning of the fight, his huge disadvantage in standup was exploited throughout. Monson does have some boxing ability and doesn't leave himself open for knockout blows, but since it was so easy for Liddell to score on him with low kicks, Liddell never had to go for the homer or nothing.

15:00

Dennis Hallman vs. Matt Hughes

Dennis Hallman made Matt Hughes submit to a cross armbreaker just 20 seconds into round 1. This was a revenge match because Hughes lost to Hallman in his first pro fight then ran off 18 consecutive wins. Hughes did one of his patented slams right off the bat, but Hallman put him in the sankakujime. Hughes beat himself here because there was little pressure on Hallman's lock, but Hughes chose the brute method of escape where you lift your opponent and slam him into the mat. The problem with this method is that is there's about as much chance of your opponent tightening the lock as there is of them loosening or losing it. Hallman switched to the arm bar while Hughes was slamming him and improved his leverage by getting to his side, which forced Hughes to tap.

Round 1 0:20

Evan Tanner defeated Lance Gibson, Sr. when the ref stopped the bout at 4:48 of round 1 due to mount punches. This was one of the better fights because both men had some success from each position they were in early on. Gibson did a good job of striking from the bottom. Tanner concentrated on mounting Gibson. His attempt to go from the side mount to the full mount failed, so the next time he got side mount he busted Gibson open with knees to the face then went to the body with punches and forearms. Tanner was really mixing up the methods and locations of his strikes. Eventually Tanner took full mount and threw a flurry of punches for the ref stop. Tanner does so many things well, and knows how to implement them.

Round 1 4:48

Fabiano Iha vs. Daiju Takase

Fabiano Iha TKO'd Daiju Takase at 2:24 of round 1. Iha took Takase down right away, and the rest of the match was basically Iha throwing punches while in Takase's guard. This was apparently fine with Takase because he didn't even release the guard when Iha was standing. The finish came when Takase made virtually his only offensive move of the match, trying to apply some type of ankle lock, but Iha just punched down on him for the stoppage. The first punch pretty much put Takase out; he just rolled to his side and covered up until John McCarthy stopped it.

Round 1 2:24

Matt Lindland vs. Yoji Anjo

Matt Lindland defeated Yoji Anjo via TKO when the ref stopped the bout at 2:58 of round 1. Anjo apparently put a lot of stock in the element of surprise because he went right in for the takedown against the 2000 Olympic wrestling silver medalist. Lindland just overhooked him and threw a series of knees to the head. Lindland pushed Anjo against the Octagon and transitioned into a full mount where he punched away. His striking wasn't that impressive, but most guys don't have the skill to get such a good wrestler off of them, and Anjo doesn't have the skill of most guys. A minute or two of Lindland throwing punches and elbows without Anjo being able to improve his position was enough to warrant the ref stop once Lindland flurried. All four UFC-J's have been disappointing from a match quality standpoint, but it's always enjoyable seeing Anjo & Yamamoto lose.

Round 1 2:58

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship Match: Pat Miletich vs. Kenichi Yamamoto

Pat Miletich successfully defended the UFC Lightweight Championship, forcing Kenichi Yamamoto to submit to a zenpo choke shiki no hadakajime/guillotine choke at 1:58 of round 2. Miletich controlled the whole fight, taking whatever Yamamoto gave him but at the same time never playing into his hands. His timing and transitioning between positions was great.

Early on, Yamamoto tried for a takedown, but Miletich overhooked him and went down on top. Instead of trying to knee Yamamoto in the head, Miletich released Yamamoto and nudged his head so Yamamoto would go to his back and try to get guard. As soon as Yamamoto's back hit the canvas, Miletich popped Yamamoto in the face with a right hand. This was a great tactic because with Miletich's perfect timing, the chances of Yamamoto blocking or avoiding this blow were really slim because he hardly even had time to see it coming.

Yamamoto got guard, but Miletich didn't care because he did his damage and if he couldn't pass quickly, he'd just stand up to force a reset. That was basically the story of the fight. Miletich wasn't the least bit afraid of Yamamoto in stand up and knew that whatever slight chance Yamamoto had of beating him would be from a submission, so he was never going to give Yamamoto that opportunity. That's a big reason why Miletich is so successful; he lives in whatever positions he has the biggest edge over his opponent in. Miletich didn't do a lot of damage in the first round, but he was beating Yamamoto mentally because the positions he forced gave Yamamoto almost no chance to succeed.

In the second round, Miletich used his fists to beat Yamamoto physically. The finish came when Yamamoto went down to his knees to end a combination of Miletich punches. Miletich followed him to the ground and locked in the choke. Yamamoto probably wouldn't have lost here, but he made a stupid mistake in going from his knees to his butt. Once Yamamoto was on his knees, Miletich leveraged down, which virtually eliminated any movement Yamamoto could make to alleviate the pressure, thus forcing him to submit. Yamamoto came into this fight looking cocky, as always, but the only damage done to Miletich was done by Miletich. His heel was already injured, and he reinjured it jumping up after getting the submission.

Round 2 1:58

In an alternate match from UFC 28, Ben Earwood won a boring unanimous decision over Chris Lytle after 2 rounds. The whole match was Earwood, who is from Miletich's camp, trying to strike from the side mount or usually Lytle's guard. There was a concession made to get UFC into Atlantic City where fighters can't knee on the ground (New Jersey only rule) , which takes most of the potency out of the side mount. Lytle, who is from Jason Godsey's camp, showed good defense, but he was unable to mount any kind of an offense so it was an easy decision.

10:00

Tito Ortiz successfully defended the UFC Middleweight Championship, forcing Yuki Kondo to submit to a kubigatame at 1:52 of round 1. This was the most exciting fight of the night. Kondo got off to a strong start. He landed a left high kick, although to the upper arm/shoulder. The thing that was amazing was practically as soon as he pulled his leg back and regained his footing, he jumping in and kneed Tito in the chin. Normally any more where you leave your feet is recipe for your own disaster, but Kondo did it so quickly after hitting Tito the first time that Tito couldn't defend it. It was a hard shot that put Ortiz down, but Tito can take them and they seem to just piss him off.

Ortiz got right back up and proceeded to take Kondo down and throw punches and elbows with a vengeance. Kondo gave Tito his but rather than choke, Tito mixed punches to the head with going under Kondo's body and uppercutting him in the face. Kondo really disappointed me here because his defense was simply covering up while he took blow after blow. He survived, but he took a lot of unnecessary punishment doing so and was lucky that the fight wasn't stopped on the count of him kneeling there taking blows and looking helpless. Anyway, Kondo got up only to be taken down onto his butt since they were against the fence. Tito hit one knee, which seemed to be designed more to get Kondo to move his head than to do damage. When Kondo moved, Tito got up high across his body and applied a neck lock I've never seen before where he essentially pulled Kondo's neck into his own chest and Tito's waist, cutting off Kondo's air for the submission. Kondo is one of the better fighters out there, but he was totally overwhelmed from the moment Ortiz got up from being knocked down.

Round 1 1:52