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Alvin Robinson Post Fight Commentary (UFCResults.com)

The fighters come out and Alvin Robinson comes out fast. Robinson lands an awesome arm throw. They get back to their feet and Kenny Florian tosses Alvin Robinson. The ref strangely stands them up quickly. Robinson closes quickly and lands a good strike that may have staggered him but Florian recovers quickly and trips Robinson. Florian mounts and starts to throw elbows. Robinson bucks Florian but is quickly smothered again and is mounted almost immediately. Robinson pushes him off again and they get to their feet. Robinson closes on Florian but Florian pushes back and takes down Alvin Robinson. Florian mounts again and rains down elbows and punches. Robinson tries to tap but keeps getting punished until the ref stops the fight.

Sean Sherk Post Fight Commentary (onthemat.com)

Sean Sherk fought Kenny Florian for the light weight title. In this fight Sherk uses his strength, endurance, and wrestling skills to win. Florian shows a lot of heart and excellent BJJ skills throughout the fight.

Round 1 Sherk shoots in and takes Florian to the ground. Florian and Sherk exchange elbows from the ground. Florian sinks a guillotine but is unable to finish it. Sherk gets side control and works punches. Florian pulls guard and Sherk lands more punches.

Round 2 Florian lands a good roundhouse kick to Sherk but is taken to the ground. Florian opens a cut to the right top portion of Sherk’s head with an elbow. This strike turns this fight into the bloodiest fight of the night. The doctor allows the fight to continue. Florian attempts an arm bar but misses. Sherk lands several good strikes. Florian gets top control and Sherk pulls guard.

Round 3 Sherk is still bleeding and continues to throughout the bout. Sherk takes Florian down and lands some shots. Sherk gets Florian back but Florian has good JJ skills and rolls back to guard. Both fighters stand back up and Florian lands a body kick to Sherk. Both fighters exchange blows to end the round.

Round 4 Sherk takes down Florian. Sherk is working his strikes and Florian trying to defend them using his JJ skills. Both fighters are started back on their feet and Florian lands a nice roundhouse kick to Sherk’s ribs.

Round 5 Sherk takes Florian to the ground. Florian tries several submissions including a guillotine choke but the choke is not sunk deep enough. Florian tries to stand up but Sherk goes for another take down. Florian grabs the fence to avoid being carried into the center of the ring and is still slammed on the ground. The fight ends with Sherk winning the unanimous decision.

Kit Cope Post Fight Commentary (KenFlo Newsletter - review by KF)

My fight against 4 time World Champion Kit Cope on Nov. 5th went exactly as planned. Kit went into the fight talking a lot of trash. He had won his last two MMA fights on the ground and had been working hard on his ground game for the last couple of years. He even got the help of ADCC Absolute Champ Dean Lister, MMA veteran Dennis Hallman and former UFC Champ Tito Ortiz to help him with his grappling.

I stayed focused on the fight itself and concentrated on nothing else but executing my game plan. Kit was strong in the beginning and desperately tried to avoid the ground. Once on the ground, Kit was not able to put up much of a fight. After working punches and elbows from side mount on Kit, and after threatening with a shoulder lock, I secured the mount position with about 30 seconds to go in round 1 and started raining down punches. He raised his arm to protect his face and I immediately went for the arm bar. He tapped just as the round ended and injured his arm in the process by holding out for too long. I knew he was tired and he looked deflated going into round 2. I immediately pressured him against the fence and took him down with another single leg takedown. I worked to his back and secured the Rear naked choke where Kit was forced to tap out only 37 seconds into round 2.

This was a good opportunity to finally demonstrate my ground game to everyone. I felt extremely relaxed and comfortable in the octagon. Luckily, I was never injured nor in trouble at any point during the fight. I left the fight with a win and without suffering any damage at all. This my friends, is always a good thing. :)

I would like to thank all my fans and friends for their amazing support before and after this fight. You guys really motivate me and push me to be better everyday. Being the first fight of the night live on SpikeTV was a tremendous honor and it was truly thrilling to be part of such an amazing night of fights. Everyone truly fought their heart out.

My brother Keith really made sure that I was on top of my game for this fight and pushed me to my limits technically and physically. He always demands perfection on the mat and has amazing feedback for me that always raises my game to higher levels. I am lucky to have a BJJ black belt and pain in the butt as a brother. My Muay Thai instructor, Mark DellaGrotte from Sityodtong in Boston was pivotal in both the technical preparation for this fight and for setting up the sparring for me. His world class muay thai skills and crafty MMA game was challenging me everyday in sparring and his tough and technical students were always there to spar with me as well. My boxing coach Peter Welch was important as well in developing my footwork, head movement and mental game for this fight. Helping me with my strength and conditioning along with some meditation was Doug Dupont. His knowledge and approach is truly revolutionary when it comes to preparing for MMA fights. I felt in great shape thanks to him. In only two months of working strength and conditioning with him, I made great gains in becoming a more capable fighter. I must thank Frank Trigg and the R1 gym as well for the great coaching while I was in Southern Calif training for a couple weeks. He really helped my wrestling a great deal and showed me some good stuff.

A big thank you to the following training partners for getting me ready:

Jorge Rivera, Andreas Jeudi, Nuri Shakir, Matt Fletcher, Mike Littlefield, Lance Everson, Andy Wang, Kengo Ura, Steve Medina, Mike Pellegrino, Nate Ryan, Steve Whittier, Bobby Diaz and everyone else from Boston BJJ, Sityodtong and the Boneyard.

I will continue to stay humble and work hard to improve as much as I can for my next fight. I do not know when I will fight next or against whom, but I assure you that you guys will know who it is before anyone else does

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Alex Karalexis Post Fight Commentary

I was very aggressive in this fight and put pressure on Alex from the beginning. I wanted to put on a good show and demonstrate my striking skills in this fight. I surprised Alex with punches, kicks, knees and elbows. I kept him at bay with body kicks and when he went to get close, I secured the thai clinch and worked his body even more with knees. In the middle of the 1st round, Alex took a kick in the liver that almost dropped him and had him hunched over in pain. My game plan was working very well. Although I ate a couple of accidental headbutts which threw me off and I needed to be weary of trading hands with him when we were close. Alex started to come with his own offense with 20 seconds to go, but I had the 1st round under control and in my favor. In the 2nd round I took him down early, but Alex capitalized on my lack of body control and stood up at the right time. We were back to the feet and Alex started putting the pressure on hard, looking for the big right hand. After backing me up on the fence, Alex threw a flurry of punches that were mainly blocked by my high guard or shell that they use in boxing. I countered his hook with a hook of my own in the form of an elbow. It landed perfectly on his nose and literally split his nose in half, spewing blood all over us. I followed up with two more elbows to the face. He tried valiantly to keep going after me with punches, but the ref stepped in and the doctor checked the cut. It was way too deep and long for Alex to continue. The fight was stopped, giving me the win after the 2nd round. I congratulate Alex for going toe to toe with me and making it an exciting fight. It takes two to put on a good fight and it was recognized by many as the fight of the night. In fact, SpikeTV did a replay of Ultimate Fight Night and showed our fight as the Main Event, which was a great honor.

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Diego Sanchez Post Fight Commentary

"My fight with Diego was heartbreaking to say the least. I have never trained harder for something in my life. I have never wanted something more than to win that fight on April 9th. Everything was superb leading up to the fight. I was confident I was going to win and get the upset.

Unfortunately I think my inexperience got the best of me and Diego Sanchez was the better fighter that night. I did not circle when I needed to and did NOT use the full strategy that was planned. After the takedown up against the fence, Diego did a quick pass that got me to wake up. I immediately put him back to guard and received a punch down directly on the nose. The punch did not hurt me but opened up a gash on the nose that sent blood streaming into both of my eyes. In two blinks, my eyes held pools of blood and I was completely blind only seconds of fighting on the ground. Not being able to see, I first covered up and felt him try to pass. I turtled up and felt him trying to take the back. I rolled and fell back to guard not really knowing where he was. If I was able to see exactly where he was I would have had a good chance to get on top of him or get back to my feet. Once again feeling him in open guard he passed into mount and of course saw the blood and kept punching. I actually got calmer when he mounted because I could feel exactly where he was and did not need to see where he was as much but I still needed to cover up to protect my face. My hope was to reverse from there and get on top hoping that the ref would see the blood everywhere. From there, I had hoped to get the cut cleaned up so I could go back at it. I never once considered tapping and was ready to fight blind, cut or whatever. Obviously, the fight was stopped and I lost. I was blind out there with an opponent mounted trying to punch me, the stoppage was correct.

People are talking about weight and strength being an issue. In my eyes, it was not the issue. I should have executed better, simple as that. I know I possessed the skills and mindset to defeat Diego Sanchez. The loss was devastating for me. I was angry and depressed. However, I have never let a loss break me. In my BJJ and submission career, it has fueled me to much greater things. It is hell for me right now but I am ready to fight every demon, climb whatever I need to climb and cross any pitfall that comes my way in order to win again. In MMA, and at the high levels, you can lose a million different ways which is why I respect anyone and everyone who gets in the ring/cage and fights. For others who have never done that but are quick to comment and criticize, until you go out there and actually fight, you have no idea. There is a small % of the MMA community who crack me up. They are usually the people who don't train or have never fought in their life. They are the people who called Randy the best fighter in the world 2 weeks ago but then say he is washed up after the 2nd Chuck fight.

The training for this fight alone has made me a much better fighter and the experience of this loss has made me a wiser and more experienced fighter. I fought in the cage for the 2nd time in my life and in the biggest show on earth against a tough, experienced and talented fighter. As much as I have beat myself up for this loss, and as much as I feel like I let a lot of people down, I keep coming back to one thing, "I must move forward". I am healthy, loved by friends and family and I am still able to fight another day. Things can be much worse and I am more motivated than ever to train and fight again.

The great Martin Luther King Jr. said "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." And so begins my journey back. I have a contract with the UFC to fight again and I could be back as early as June or July. I will be ready to fight at 170 for sure and will be ready for 155 as well as soon as I get word that the division is back.

I would like to thank my training partners and incredible coaches, Mark DellaGrotte, Peter Welch and Keith Florian. Of course, I need to thank the UFC/ZUFFA, Craig Piligian and everyone from Pilgrim Films and Spike TV for the opportunity of a lifetime. The other 15 fighters in the house need to be thanked as well for their awesome contribution to the show. I made some new friends and learned so much from each and every one of them. The greats Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture cannot go without mentioning as well. These two legends showed me so much of what it means to be a professional fighter. I wish all the cast much success in whatever future endeavors they decide to pursue.

Special thanks to Brian Cimins and Grapplers Quest (www.grapplers.com) for helping me out with sponsorship money. You da man Brian! Last but certainly not least, thanks and much love to the fans and new fans of MMA who have made this sport what it is today. You have been incredible in your support of me and the sport. We have made some great jumps in the last couple of years and I hope that you continue to support the sport and pass along that same passion to others and to a new generation of MMA fans. This is only the beginning for MMA.

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Chris Leban Post Fight Commentary

Going into this fight, I knew it would be difficult for Chris to knock me out. My chin has been tested before and I knew that if I would be able to contain the storm a bit, I could get him tired and work for a takedown midway in the 2nd round or early in the 3rd round. I had a badly sprained wrist and a deep bone bruise on my knee so I would have to use my strikes wisely. Chris came out guns blazing so I did not want to match his intensity just yet.

He was strong early and ready to avoid takedowns. Being much lighter and Chris having an advantage in strength, I would have to wait for right opportunity to take him down. Too often grapplers try immediately and too hard to get the takedown. They get tired wasting energy on the takedown and then lose from being gassed. Chris has used this against some good grapplers earning him the win. I was going to let HIM gas and then turn it on in the end. I knew if I had 2 minutes on the ground with me on top of Leben, I could work my way to a position to submit him. Me jumping guard was an option, but I knew that Chris would be conservative there and would just try to grind out a win by not moving too much. My clinching was terrible partly from training too much with boxing gloves. I started to wrap the head up as I would with big gloves on instead of working for the underhooks. This was very uncharacteristic of me and the training practice of tying up this way turned it into a bad habit during the fight.

Exchanging on the feet with him was risky but I was confident I could take his shots, get some of mine in and work for a takedown when he got too overzealous. Elbows are weapons I have always wanted to use in a fight but never had the rules before to do them. I threw them early in the 1st but it was not until midway through the 2nd round when it actually landed. It was a short elbow and it opened up a large gash over Chris' eye. I was excited after the cut because I knew Chris would be badly handicapped not being able to see out of one eye. This would have opened up more strikes and takedowns for me that would have been extremely difficult for Chris to see. All of this was to no avail. The Doctor claimed it was too close to the artery and it was too deep and too dangerous.

I learned a tremendous amount from this fight. Chris is a great competitor and he brought everything to knock me out. While I thought I proved to everybody that I have a lot of heart and will, this was not a great performance. In MMA, there are so many skills to learn and master. This was my 5th fight and I moved up at least one weight class. I have a lot to learn and have been working hard on all of my skills and strength everyday. I am excited to fight again in the octagon and I hope to gain many more fans with my performance on April 9th in Las Vegas.

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