UFC 109 Recap

It was a night punctuated by a battle of legends and underdogs taking home big victories this past Saturday at UFC 109: Relentless at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, with both Randy Couture and Chael Sonnen inching closer to potential title shots.

Couture, who fought his second fight since moving back down to light heavyweight from heavyweight, took care of the underdog Mark Coleman with ease, utilizing his superior clinch game and polished boxing skills to put the suddenly old-looking Coleman to bed early in the second round, finishing the fight in the second round via rear-naked choke.

Couture was a big favorite on the BetUS Sportsbook and he made it look just that easy in the win over Coleman, but he's likely to be perhaps as big of an underdog as he's ever been in his career if he ends up taking on the winner of Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship sometime later in 2010.

Whether or not Couture will get the title shot is up in the air still but it is believed to be the most likely course of action for the UFC, Dana White, and company.

As for Sonnen, also an Oregonian and an elite wrestler like Couture, the night was a little bit tougher but just as fruitful.

The huge underdog on the BetUS.com going in, Sonnen took the fight to his opponent, the betting favorite Nate Marquardt, smothering him with his wrestling all fight long.

Sonnen took some solid damage, however, catching a sharp, hard elbow from the top position from the crafty Marquardt, and he almost got choked out in the third round by Marquardt as well before popping Marquardt's hands out and getting back to safety.

Sonnen's win was surprising to many in the MMA and UFC betting community, and perhaps even more surprising is the attention the former no-name middleweight fighter is now getting.

Sonnen has ruffled tons of feathers with his disparaging comments about Anderson Silva and Mark Coleman, two UFC stars, but he's backed up his brash talk with the biggest win of the new year in the UFC.

Next up for Sonnen will be a likely title shot against the winner of Silva and Vitor Belfort, who will fight at UFC 112 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates this March.

Other winners on the night among main card fights were Matt Serra, Paulo Thiago, and Demian Maia.

Serra made quick work of former studio analyst and ex-contender Frank Trigg in a welterweight bout by KO in the first round, cashing in his status as the favorite on the night with a crisp performance.

Thiago upset Mike Swick making it two wins in three tries against opponents from the vaunted American Kickboxing Academy in California by d'arce choke in round two. Thiago has proven to be one of the best MMA upset picks for the UFC betting community by adding the Swick win as an underdog to his even bigger upset against Josh Koscheck.

Finally, Demian Maia emerged victorious, defeating solid underdog Dan Miller in a hard-fought win by unanimous decision. Miller surprisingly was able to hold his own on the ground against the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert Maia, validating his newly-obtained black belt status in the martial art. But Maia out-positioned him and out-struck him for the most part as well in taking home a big win in the UFC's welterweight division as the betting favorite.