Anderson Silva & Sean Sherk Retain Titles: Full UFC 73 Results Inside

Anderson Silva only needed one round to retain his UFC Middleweight Championship by TKO. Sean Sherk took a different route, by completely controlling his opponent for five rounds to retain his UFC Lightweight Championship.

Nate Marquardt simply looked outclassed early on in the fight. He was finally able to take Silva to the ground, but Anderson once again proved to everyone that his Jiu Jitsu game is actually damn good. Silva used his long legs to work a very high guard, and attempt to transition for a plethora of triangle chokes. Eventually, Big John McCarthy stood the fighters up, and Anderson quickly took advantage.

"The Spider" was able to drop Marquardt to the ground with a left hand, and followed Nate to the ground to unload numerous undefended blows. McCarthy had enough, and pulled Silva off, stopping the fight.

After the fight, it was very well hinted to that Anderson Silva's next title defense will be in a rematch against former champion Rich "Ace" Franklin.

In what many uneducated MMA fans will call a boring fight, Sean Sherk absolutely impressed. For five rounds, Sherk was able to control Hermes Franca and earn a well deserved decision.

Every round seemed to go exactly the same. At the start of each round, Hermes Franca was able to connect with a huge strike, usually a vicious knee strike. After taking the blow, Sherk would muscle Franca to the ground, and the fight would stay there until the end of the round. The fight went this way for five rounds, and Sherk was able to retain his UFC Lightweight Championship. Sherk will apparently be set up in a showdown with BJ Penn sometime in November in what will be his toughest defense yet.

The much anticipated fight between Rashad Evans & Tito Ortiz really didn't live up to the hype. Or, it's quite possible, that the hype is what made it so lackluster. It seemed Rashad Evans was incredibly tentative to engage with Ortiz, and he needed a few rounds to get his feet under him.

Rashad was able to cut Ortiz early on, and the replays showed it was a thumb to the side of the eye. UFC commentator Joe Rogan pointed out that the cut was in the exact shape of a fingernail.

Tito Ortiz seemed to be cruising to a decision, albeit, by simply laying on Rashad, but he was able to score the most take downs in the first two stanzas. Near the end of the 2nd round, Tito was penalized a point on the scorecards for grabbing onto the cage to prevent a huge take down from Evans.

This put Ortiz up by only one round on most of the judges scorecards. Rashad continued to put on the pressure in the third round, and with only 10 seconds left in the round secured the round with a huge take down.

The judges gave Ortiz the first & second round, and Evans the third round. Because of the point deduction, this put both fighters at 28-28 on the judges scorecards, forcing a very rare draw. This likely sets up a rematch between the two fighters in the near future.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was able to defeat Heath Herring for the third time, but not without trouble. After continually peppering "The Texas Crazy Horse"'s face with jabs, and busting him open, Herring hid a huge leg kick reminiscent of Gabriel Gonzaga's against Mirko Cro Cop that floored Nogueira to the ground.

Somehow Nogueira was able to slightly defend Herring's ground attack, & to many people's surprise Herring backed off, and allowed Nogueira to get back on his feet. Nogueira looked to be out on his feet, but Herring seemed gassed, and didn't capitilize on finishing the Brazilian icon.

From there, it was a very slow fight with Nogueira still nearly dazed for the final two rounds, & Heath Herring incredibly tired. Nogueira was able to turn it up a little more in the third round, busting open Herring's face even worse. The fight went to the judges, and all three gave Nogueira the decision 29-28.

Kenny Florian made quick work of Alvin Robinson forcing Robinson to tap out from a vicious barrage of strikes from in the mount. Florian was not shy about his desire to get another shot at Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk.

In the undercard, Stephan Bonnar was able to win in his return to the octagon with a 1st round submission victory over Mike Nickels.

Jorge Gurgel won a unanimous decision over Diego Saraiva in what many fans who saw the fight are calling an absolute war. Although the judges scored the bout 30-27, many reports are that it was a great fight to watch.

Chris Lytle won the UFC's Submission of the night by overpowering late replacement Jason Gilliam and securing an Inverted Triangle Choke.

In the opening fight of the night, Frankie Edgar needed only one round to finish off Mark Bocek with strikes.