Last night's UFC 87 matches were some of the best of the year. There was blood, tears, and a 12 second knockout. And when all was said and done in the marquee match there stood two winners, one winner with a title and one winner who took the beating of his life and made it to the end. The blood that covered the canvas told you all you needed to know. Champion Georges St. Pierre defended his title against challenger Jon Fitch in a cage match for the ages. Fitch went all five rounds with St. Pierre, who was clearly the better fighter. St. Pierre leveled Fitch early in the first round and hit him with a flurry of fists in an intense ground and pound. By the end of the round, Fitch already had an eye cut and face swelling. Yet he went in for more.
“After the first round, I tried everything,” St. Pierre said later. “I thought, ‘my God, what do I have to do to beat this guy?’ It was discouraging.”
Fitch took St. Pierre's "everything" like a man. Although he lost the match, he won the respect of all in attendance, especially his opponent who bowed to him when it was all over. After refusing to go to the hospital, Fitch faced the media with an ice pack on his head and a beer in his hand. In an emotional moment, he shed a tear over the disappointment he felt in letting his family down. But he earned that tear and you can be sure that no one watched that match felt let down. The highlight of the undercard was the 12 second knockout of Manny Gamburyan by Rob Emerson. Gamburyan a diminutive and clearly out-sized fighter, came off of the bell swinging wildly and paid for his foolishness. His sloppy guard left him open for a right to the jaw that dropped him the canvas. While on the mat, a left-hook by Emerson finished him off, temporarily making him go limp and forcing the ref to stop the fight. Former wrestler Brock Lesner also got the job done against pretty boy Heath Herring in a unanimous win, his first as a member of UFC. Image courtesy of The Sun