When MMA fans hear about new promotions coming into the U.S. market, many of them think about the countless promotions that have lived and died. Others think of the current promotions that obtained a peak of less than good and then descended to the bottom are are barely hanging on. On Saturday night, the fans of this sport saw something different. HDNet Fights not only had very good production value, but also did things that other promotions seem to just throw together. There are, of course, a few differences between most upstarts and HDNet Fights. Mark Cuban can infuse the promotion with some money that many organizations simply cannot produce, and he has the capability to hold the event in a huge venue, the American Airlines Arena, in Dallas, Texas, an arena that houses his own Dallas Mavericks. Nonetheless, the event kicked off with some great action.

Great preliminary action, Main event works

The good thing about upstart promotions is that it forces them to find up-and-coming talent to fill their undercards. In this case, it wasn't exactly the most veteran of undercards, but definitely a suitable stable of young fighters and old fighters. Marcus Lanier improved his record against a weaker opponent in Lee King, but showed some promise in his wrestling abilities. Liam McCarthy got a much needed TKO win over Jason House. Jay White's record of 1-5 deceived everyone, but he pulled out an impressive submission victory over Patrick Castillo. Nissen Osterneck lived up to his new found hype as he defeated a decent Freddie Espircueta via ground and pound in the first round. Corey Mahon surprised some people with his win over an able Chris Bowles and improved his record to 8-0. There are definitely some flashes of talent within the group of guys on the undercard, and I'm sure we'll see more of them in future shows

Although there wasn't much in the realm of upsets on the main card, we did see some surprising outcomes. Tristan Yunker looked sickly on Friday when he failed to make the 170 pound cutoff, but Pete Spratt agreed to take 25% of Yunker's purse in order to fight. It worked out well for Spratt. Spratt smashed Yunker's eye early in the first round, cutting a deep gash below the left orbital. The referee stepped in and ended the bout in the first round. Krzysztof Soszynski defeated Robert Villegas after Villegas apparently broke his foot and was "flopping" to the ground according to the HDnet broadcast crew. Yves Edwards had a shaky first round, but came back in the second and was able to take Alonzo Martinez's back and sink the rear naked choke. Some excellent battles from some MMA veterans that seemingly haven't made their way back to the big leagues that are the UFC. Either way, it looks like HDNet has tapped into a resource that they can continue to use.

In the main events, Frank Trigg demolished a smaller looking Edwin Dewees by sinking in a kimura while on his back and rolling as Dewees tried to escape it. Dewees did not tap, and eventually, it looked as if Trigg may have cracked Dewees's arm. In the post-fight interview, Trigg led us to believe that it was broken. In the final fight of the night, Mayhem held off Tim Kennedy and won unanimously 29-28 to edge out Kennedy. After entering the cage with pinatas and candy, he walked toward the ring in silver tights and a red cape with a mask as if he was a pro-wrestler. Very entertaining for the Mayhem Monkeys in attendance.

Overall, the fights were fairly entertaining without too much controversy. Good performances from some unknowns, great outcomes for some veterans, and the main events set up the Frank Trigg vs. Jason Miller II. It wasn't a bad night for the first LIVE broadcasted event for HDNet Fights.

What really shined...

The most evident difference between HDNet and many of the other promotions was the commentary and broadcast interviewers. Although HDNet didn't provide the most in-depth broadcasting team, they did keep it informative and in-depth at times. It wasn't overly analytical and sounded more professional than many of the other promotions. Their in-cage interviewer was smooth in his asking of questions and asked questions that we as the fans would actually consider hearing. A vast improvement from Frank Mir's bumbling talk after WEC fights, and Joe Rogan's questioning after UFC fights. Impressive to say the least.

The production was also done in a different way than what we may see in the UFC. The arena wasn't lit up like is usually is for UFC events. It was dark, and the only light that was bright was the light hitting the cage canvas. During the entrances, the light show was full blown, but for viewers watching, the dim lighting around the cage had a very professional look and feel to it. We've seen this in boxing matches specifically, although not many of the huge title fights. In definitely kept up with the theme of not showing off ring girls, and more of the theme of professionalism that Mark Cuban stated in the past.

On another note, kudos to the balls of the man who interviewed Couture. Not only did he ask questions that MANY MMA interviewers never ask because they think it's respectful to just leave the issue alone, but he asked the question we all wanted to hear: When will we see you back in the cage, and will it be with the UFC? Couture stated it could be with the UFC if the co-promote with M-1, but that his fight contract ends in July and his employment contract ends in October. Couture hinted that we may see him against Fedor in October. They also asked Ken Shamrock some questions and he eluded to the fact that there may be a fight between himself and his brother Frank Shamrock. Why is it that HDNet has the balls to ask these questions and nobody else does?

What do we think about HDNet Fights?

HDNet Fights is definitely not a poorly produced or commentated event. They have been able to pick up on some of the other MMA veterans out there that remain unsigned, and they have also been able to find some talent that is up-and-coming around the country and locally in the state of Texas. The event definitely had a more professional feel to it and was without the extravagant ring girls and the flashy lights and spectacle of some of the other U.S. promotions. It was a simple, laid back MMA promotion that had a feel of real professionalism, at least to this viewer.

Check out HDNet Fights on HDNet. The channel also re-airs past events such as the IFO, and will be broadcasting Yarennoka from Japan as well on New Year's Eve. Definitely check out that card as Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting Hong Man Choi, as well as a plethora of RANKED lightweight matchups will be occuring.

Mark Cuban's brainchild, HDNet Fights, will hold its second event in the promotion's short existence on Saturday evening. It will also mark the first live telecast for the promotion. The event will feature a main event rematch between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Tim Kennedy. Also on the card, Frank "Twinkletoes" Trigg will put his wrestling to the test against a streaking Edwin Dewees, The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 contestant. Other interesting bouts include Pete "Secret Weapon" Spratt vs. Tristan Yunker, Yves Edwards vs. Alonzo Martinez, Nissen Osterneck vs. Freddie Espiricueta, and Jason House taking on Liam McCarty. We'll take a look at the fighters and make some bold predictions for the card.

Main Event
Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy

Jason "Mayhem" Miller (19-5) must be chomping at the bit for this fight. Mayhem hasn't fought since May of this year during his short stint in the WEC in which he defeated Hiromitsu Miura. Before his move to the WEC, he was fairly successful in Icon Sport, racking up a 3-1 record while in the promotion with a big win over the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler. Mayhem also has some key wins over Falaniko Vitale, Egan Inoue, and Denis Kang.

The hype surrounding this battle is the rematch aspect. Tim Kennedy defeated Mayhem back in February of 2003 in a Extreme Challenge card. Kennedy won by decision, but Mayhem has stated in some recent interviews that he felt he was much stronger now. Although we haven't seen promotion from HDNet on national television, for hardcore fans, this should be a matchup of interest due to the fact that Tim Kennedy is riding a huge win streak.

Kennedy (8-1) has had a very good career so far. He's currently on a seven fight win streak and has been dominant in his performances in the IFL. Much like Mayhem, Kennedy has not fought since May of this year either. His last win was over the cardio machine in Ryan McGivern in the IFL.

Kennedy is a banger and has some knockout power. He has the ability to set up some great combinations and will use kicks to set up his gameplan from the get go. He has some wrestling abilities as well, but mainly will be looking for a ground and pound victory or a straight knockout. During his last battle with Ryan McGivern, he showed some great wrestling ability against another very able wrestler in McGivern. Kennedy may try to stay away from Mayhem's ju-jitsu, or simply pound him while trying to avoid being submitted.

If you've had the pleasure of seeing Mayhem battle it out in the cage, he's fairly well-rounded. He has some significant reach, decent striking, great knees in the clinch, and will also utilize leg kicks to set up his gameplan. His main "win" trait is his jiu-jitsu ground game. He has some decent takedown abilities, but if you take him down and get into his guard, his length is definitely an issue to deal with. Combine a plethora of submission game along with some fairly good standup, Mayhem is a handful for many fighters... ask Georges St. Pierre who was unable to finish Mayhem.

Leland's Prediction: Jason "Mayhem" Miller via submission, Round 3

Mayhem tends to start slow, which may be an advantage in that Kennedy may tire later on in the bout. I look for Mayhem to either stand and trade or become a victim of a takedown. Either way, Mayhem should have the advantage unless Kennedy happens to catch him. I'll take the wiley activeness of Mayhem over Kennedy in this one.
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Frank Trigg vs. Edwin Dewees

Frank Trigg (15-6) is a veteran of PRIDE, UFC, and was once the champion of Icon Sport. He's been around the MMA scene for quite some time, and is also the co-host of TAGG Radio. Trigg has an impressive skillset in that he's a black belt in Judo as well as a seasoned wrestler who was a finalist in the 2000 Olympic Trials. Trigg has also demonstrated some heavy hands in many of his past fights as well. He has defeated notable fighters such as Kazuo Misaki, Jason Miller, Renato Verissimo, and Dennis Hallman while having losses to Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Condit, and his most recent loss to Robbie Lawler.

Although he had some fairly bad stints of running into the top fighters in the UFC, he has been making a fairly good run as of late. He defeated both Misaki and Miller toward the beginning of this year, and was involved in a war with Robbie Lawler that Trigg looked good in. He will be a very tough test for Edwin Dewees.

Dewees (34-10) has a significant amount of fights under his belt. His experience in the cage far exceeds Trigg's experience, but Trigg has fought some of the world's best fighters. Dewees, on the other hand, has fought a good amount of mid-tier fighters as well as fighters making their way up into the upper-echelon of his weight class. As of late, Dewees is coming off two losses, a knockout loss to Art Santore and a TKO loss to Jorge Rivera. His last fight was last November, and it looks like Dewees is refreshed and ready to continue his career.

Edwin is mainly a submission fighter, but has shown to have some power in his hands. His main skills revolve around wrestling on the ground, although he may be looking to keep it standing against an able wrestler in Trigg. Trigg has been known to be susceptible to having his back taken as was evident in his losses to St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. It'll be interesting to see if Dewees tries to take it to the ground or stand with Trigg.

Leland's Prediction: Frank Trigg via TKO, Round 2

Trigg has been working out at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas getting ready for this bout. I expect his wrestling to be very good, and he should be able to counter Dewees' attempts if they come along. Although Trigg has had problems getting his back taken in the past, I imagine Trigg will try to work his fists a bit more on top to soften up Dewees. I'll go out on a limb and take Trigg by devastating ground and pound or a stoppage due to strikes standing.
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