UFC 109: Matt Serra Strikes Again, Chael Sonnen Shocks Nate Marquardt

Going into UFC 109, I had great expectations and more than a little bit of fear for my "friends" who were fighting.

Those who have followed me from the very beginning may recall that I love Matt Serra. As with most of my favorite fighters, I have written a few poems about him, although I do not recall if he has seen any of them.

When Matt has been injured, I have sent him get well wishes, and when he married Ann, I sent congratulations, as I also did with Angelina's birth last year. Matt has a beautiful family and I envy his extended family, too. I wish I had more family left to appreciate.

Even though I have joked around a lot with Frank Trigg and also consider him a friend of sorts, I really wanted Matt to win this fight, especially since I think he was robbed outright in the battle with Matt Hughes.

I was yelling myself hoarse as he fought with Twinkletoes last night, greatly irritating my dog, who doesn't understand how I react to the television. Thankfully, it didn't have to go three rounds.

The elation I felt when Matt got his win using strikes with that famed right hand was shared by Misty, who enjoyed the celebration that followed, which involved a lot of ear scratching for her.

(Petting a faithful dog during a PPV of a UFC event has been proven to decrease the incidence of strokes and lowers the blood pressure in MMA-smitten grandmothers, or at least it does for this one.)

So following Serra's win, I was feeling confident that Nate Marquardt would successfully wipe up the mat with that mouthy Chael Sonnen.

If anyone recalls, Grandma Dee has a history of having strokes that interfere with her love of MMA and have curtailed all sports writing activity for months at a time. The night of the recent Strikeforce event saw me seated in ICU, keeping vigil on my 90-year-old mother, whom neurological doctors informed me had experienced a massive fatal cerebral hemorrhage.

I missed the fights that Saturday night without a bit of remorse because I insisted that my mother receive the care that anyone should receive. She is alive and in a rehab unit, having physical and occupational therapy prior to returning to her assisted living apartment at a local nursing home.

Readers who hate Grandma Dee now are in the company of a neurological group of doctors and surgeons who proclaimed that said GD was a nut. Hmph! Oh well, I admit that I am crazy, so be forewarned.

When Nate and Chael squared off, I was sure that from Chael's meandering opinions, which included him being able to beat Marquardt, GSP, Rashad Evans, and Anderson Silva, I was just counting the seconds waiting for Nate to finish Chael.

Well close my mouth and color me red with embarrassment!

I had forgotten where I had seen or heard of Chael Sonnen before—suddenly I had an epiphany—WEC! Being my favorite branch of Zuffa, I forgot that there used to be higher weight divisions than lightweight! See what an actual stroke will do to one's memory?

Being much like other MMA fans, I had often thought of WEC as being like a farm team with up and comers who did not equal the talent pool of the UFC. Ha! How wrong can one grandma be?

Not only does Chael Sonnen have great talent, he equals the UFC middleweights and actually bested my favorite, Nate the Great. Wow, I did not see that one coming at all. Apparently, neither did Nate and his team of partners and coaches.

If what BJ Penn thought about his first fight with Georges St-Pierre was true, then by virtue of his injuries, Chael really lost the fight with Nate, who appeared to be unscathed post-fight.

Chael "greased" Nate's back with blood from an elbow strike to above his right eyebrow, which spurted blood persistently during the second round. Even as a former nurse who had recently watched a doctor stitch up a similar cut on my mother's forehead, I was nauseous from the blood fest.

Nate had a tremendous choke on Chael, who turned a nasty, dusky, bluish-purple hue as he almost succumbed to the technique. Wouldn't you know that with mere seconds left, Chael peeled Nate's hand away and freed himself from imminent loss?

Holy cow! What a tremendous brawl and test of will.

Even though there were other awe-inspiring moments in the event, these two fights were what made the greatest impression on me and are what inspired me to write. I was impressed with the end of Swick and Randy's stranglehold music and winning choke out of Coleman.

The PPV was worth the money, even without a title fight, in my humble opinion. I only hope everyone else who watched was as satisfied as I am after viewing the fights.

Grandma Dee here signing off, but hopefully I'll be back.