The most exciting fight card of the year happened just last night. UFC 100 gave us not one, but TWO title fights, a bout between the recent "The Ultimate Fighter" coaches, and a showcase of some of the UFC's top talent. I had been amped up for this event for many months now. Before I highlight the fights, I do want to congratulate Chuck Liddell and "Mask" from TapOut for their induction into the UFC Hall of Fame the night before. Like I always say, "There's always room for the legends."
I'll actually start with the fight that was shown last during the event because of how the title fights went: Jon Fitch vs. Paulo Thiago. Thiago's last fight was a surprise knockout against favorite Josh Kosheck. Fitch has been working his way back up after losing his title fight to Georges St. Pierre, and won his last fight. Thiago wasn't expected to win, but Fitch even had problems with him in the first round. Thiago worked for submissions the entire round, and Fitch didn't look good. But the last two rounds saw Fitch gain the upper hand throughout, and ended up getting the unanimous decision. Good win for Fitch, good show of skill by Thiago.....maybe he's no flash in the pan after all. Up first on the actual main card was a middleweight fight between Alan Belcher and Yoshihiro Akiyama. Belcher was on an upswing after a couple of wins, while Akiyama was a promising new talent with an impressive 12-1 record. The fight was back and forth, but it was apparent that Akiyama was getting the better of the exhanges, and a couple of well-timed takedowns earned him enough points to get the split decision victory. Belcher was upset, but myself and everyone watching the fights with me agreed that Akiyama earned the decision.
Before I get to the three main fights of the main card, I'll just run through the undercard. Shannon Gugerty defeated Matt Grice with a guillotine choke in the first round of what was supposed to be a close and exciting fight. Tom Lawlor's guillotine choke win over CB Dolloway in the first round was the upset of the night for sure. Dolloway should be really humbled now I'm sure. Dong Hyun Kim, who I've been watching with much interest, won a one-sided decision over TJ Grant, continueing his climb up the welterweight rankings. Jon Jones got his first UFC finish with the third guillotine choke of the night against Jake O'Brien in round two. And in what I thought was very disappointing result, Mark Coleman got a unanimous decision win over Stephan Bonnar. Now, I'm a little upset with this because Bonnar was supposed to be a promising fighter, and after two losses in a row lately, he was a favorite in this one because of how Coleman looked in his last fight. Also, Coleman's strength is his takedowns, and Bonnar, who's had problems with these in the past, did nothing to correct that. So now, he's almost likely to get released, and Coleman, who's unfortunately way past his prime, will get to stick around.
Now, the highlight of the night for me was the middleweight fight between Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping. When I heard before the fight that Bisping was going to look for the knockout on Henderson, I knew without a doubt the Henderson would be the inevitable winner. And now there was a chance that we would get a knockout finish. I was more than right. Throughout the first round Bisping kept circling to Henderson's right side. Henderson has one of the hardest right hands ever seen. Even after Bisping's cornermen yelled at him for what he was doing, he continued to move the same way in round two. He payed for it when Henderson connected with his right, and even though Bisping was already out, Henderson came down with a forearm shot that looked like it could've broken Bisping's jaw. It was a clean, then it was a brutal finish. Easily my favorite knockout of the year.
We then got the first title fight between welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre and challenger Thiago Alves. It was funny how the cdommentators were saying that Alves would be the stronger stand-up fighter, and had excellent takedown defense. St. Pierre proved both points wrong. He took down Alves at least seven out of nine attempts, and even standing St. Pierre was able to pick away at Alves while setting up for his takedowns. And he continued to do so even after he apparantly tore a groin muscle in the third round. This led to St. Pierre retaining his title with a unanimous victory win.
The main event to determine the undisputed heavyweight champion was last: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir. There was some trash talk between both fighters, and Lesnar was looking to avenge his loss to Mir in his first UFC fight. Even when they stod face-to-face in the octagon, Lesnar refused to touch gloves with Mir. Then the fight was on. Lesnar got Mir down to the ground, and stayed on top of while he pummeled away throughout the entire first round. Mir's face was already tenderized pretty good. The second round saw the same, only this time Lesnar got better control of Mir, and pummeled away mercilessly until the ref had to stop the fight by technical knockout. Unfortunately, Lesnar's big victory was ruined by what he did immediately after. He got in Mir's face as he was getting up. When the crowd responded with boos, he gave them the middlefinger on both hands. In his talk with Joe Rogan (who's still a ridiculous commentator as any in case you needed an update on that), Lesnar berated a major UFC sponser, and basically made a lot of comments that weren't exactly sportsmanlike. And that was how the night virtually ended. I know after the event Lesnar made a public apology for his actions, but I'm sure he lost a lot of fans for what he did, despite the fact that he's become an unstoppable force in the UFC.
There you have it. Despite the drama and disappointments of several fighters, we got one of the most entertaining UFC events that was promised. I'll never forget the incredible highlights, and display by some of my favorite fighters in the UFC. I guess down the road I'll have to do a post on my favorite and hated fighters in the UFC (and complain about Joe Rogan too). Until the next exciting UFC event (UFC 101: Declaration featuring lighweight champion BJ Penn vs. challenger Kenny Florian and the superfight between middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin at light heavyweight.........I'm drooling already), I'll have to find something entertaining.....maybe a video game......or a movie........or a book, comic or otherwise.......or a good TV show. Hey, now you have some suggestions too. You know what to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment