When I was choosing my picks last week, I sat for ages trying to decide which underdog I was going to pick between Sonnen and Silva. Two fights, two underdogs – I had to pick one to win! I was very aware that I had picked the favourites for all the main events fights and I usually don’t like to do that. This time however, I went against my better judgment and chose Marquardt and Swick to get the victories and how wrong I was..... I should have picked one of the underdogs at least.... if not both. I did mention in my picks that Sonnen could get upset of the night – deep down I must have known!

Marquardt v Sonnen
Sonnen put on an awesome display versus Marquardt and demonstrated that wrestling is in fact the key solid base when it comes to MMA. Sonnen was able to take Marquardt down at will and was quite dominant throughout. However, I must say that despite his wrestling dominance, Sonnen was very sloppy on the ground, getting caught in a couple of guillotine attempts. Luckily he managed to escape but wasn’t so lucky however on the ‘cut’ front. Marquardt landed an elbow that KenFlo would be proud of, opening a big cut above Sonnens right eye – blood galore on the canvas and anyone sitting at least 10 rows back from the Octagon I expect! Ewwwww....

Overall, this was probably the most entertaining fight of the night (picking up Fight of the Night) with Marquardt coming back with some good action in the last minute of the last round. However, this was not enough to change the unanimous decision verdict by the judges for Chael Sonnen! Anderson Silva here he comes?? Not if Ed Soares has anything to do with it – but I know who I will be cheering on!

Despite being very pleased for Chael Sonnen, I feel for Nate, who was so close to getting the second shot at the title that he really deserved, and was caught out on the last hurdle. Chin up Nate!

Swick v Thiago

My other incorrect pick from the main event was Paulo Thiago catching Mike Swick out in a d’acre choke – oh well – who can really defend themselves from a real life ninja?

I honestly thought Swick would catch Thiago out before he could do any damage on the ground but I clearly underestimated him. Thiago picked up submission of the night to top it off!

 
Serra v Trigg

As I expected, Trigg did not have much of an answer for Serras strikes and got TKO’d in Round 1 – a nice, quick victory for Serra, also picking up KO of the night.

So who next for Serra? Another match up with Hughes? Or maybe Koscheck? Lots of great fights out there for him and I look forward to seeing him again – this guy should fight more than once a year!

Couture v Coleman

Randy Couture took the victory as expected, but what was not expected was the way the fight played out. I was expecting Couture pushing Coleman up against the cage, some ground work and then winning via TKO. However, neither guy seemed to want to take it to the ground. Couture out boxed Coleman in round 1, (which does not say much, considering Coleman looked as though he was caught in a slow motion video when striking!).  In round 2 Couture eventually took him down, mounted him and got him in a RNC. Good job Randy but poor performance by Coleman.....

Coleman said he would return soon and would work on himself more in the post fight interview with Rogan. However, Dana has hinted at Coleman not returning to the Octagon. Is this goodbye Daddy GnP??

Maia v Miller

I chose Maia to win and that he did, but not in the fashion that I expected. I was very surprised by the lack of takedowns attempts by both guys, but particularly by Maia. I’m not sure if he wanted to show off his improved striking technique (which did look much better - good job Wanderlei!) or whether he was weary of Millers ground game?? I was expecting a jiu-jitsu battle but we were left with a slightly stale stand up fight that did not seem to be pleasing the crowd – and as always they made the guys very aware of it with deafening booooooo’s being hollered. The fight lasted the full 3 rounds with Maia taking a unanimous decision victory!

As much as i liked Cheryl's quote from Mark Coleman to Tito Ortiz, my favourite quote of the night was from Maia 'my box is not the best but i can do'. Ah bless

Prelims

We were lucky enough to see some preliminary fights on the card also. The key fights for me were the disappointing loss from Rolles Gracie and the dominating performance by Phil Davis.

Rolles Gracie had a lot to live up to with his name, granted, but I was very disturbed to see how bad his cardio was! Like Cheryl, I am unsure as to if he had prepared himself for a BJJ match rather than an MMA match but he seemed extremely unprepared. Rolles’ stand up and cardio looked terrible! In fact I am pretty sure I saw him lie down for a nap at one point. Will we see him again? I wouldn’t hold my breath......

On the other hand, Phil Davis not only wins cute ass of the night, he also wins my ‘watch out for this guy’ award. He had a very dominating performance against Brain Stann who seemed to be lost on how to defend himself from Davis’s strong wrestling.

I would like to personally thank Davis and Chael Sonnen for proving my point in my best skill set for a mixed martial artist article! Tap on the back to you guys ;)

Anyway that’s all I have to say on UFC 109. Hope you all enjoyed it!

Till next time.....

Hayley Forster, a long-time female fight fan, lives in the North of England with her husband, Pete. Both have deep love for the sport of MMA. Keep up with her MMA chat here on SportsChatPlace.com or follow her on Twitter @FairlyNormal

If you would like to submit a guest post on the subject of Mixed Martial Arts, please forward it to Cheryl Ragsdale at mmafemalefans at thatgirlisfunny.com