UFC 98 Results

Lyoto Machida def. Rashad Evans (TKO 2) – I was a little surprised at Lyoto’s power. I thought this might be another boring ground fight if Evans ever took him down, but the fight never got that far. Since both were counter-strikers, the fight got off to a ridiculously slow start. The second round saw more action, and Evans went down in ugly fashion, looking like he was out of it three shots before he finally hit the canvas. The new champ seems like a decent guy and I hope he defends for a while to return some lustre to the hot potato belt.

Matt Hughes def. Matt Serra (unanimous decision) – This one went just as I predicted. Aside from the brief fireworks at the beginning where Serra clubbed Hughes and almost pulled out a victory, this one was boring as hell. Hughes predictably lay on top of Serra for most of the fight, earning the UFC-style decision. The UFC really has to do something about their judging system, as Serra was by far the more dangerous fighter. Who wants to see Hughes’ boring brand of fighting? Wrestlers are given far too much credit in the current system.

Drew McFedries def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam (KO 1) – This one promised to be a short one and it delivered. McFedries knocked F-P into next week in a mere 37 seconds. Good thing, too, since McFedries is useless beyond his initial barrage.

Chael Sonnen def. Dan Miller (unanimous decision) – Pretty dull fight. Sonnen hasn’t been very impressive since his arrival from WEC where he was the middleweight champ.

Frank Edgar def. Sean Sherk (unanimous decision) – Not a terribly exciting fight. Sherk has become a pretty one-dimensional fighter and NOT as a wrestler. He has somehow convinced himself that striking is the way to go. I think it’s the way for the former champ to go out of the UFC. His striking pretty much blows, especially against guys with a reach advantage. Why Sherk doesn’t take advantage of the pro-wrestler UFC is beyond me. Does he forget how he beat Florian?

Brock Larson def. Mike Pyle (sub 1) – Pyle looked pretty good with his multiple jiu-jitsu submission attempts, but Larson survived and managed to get top position long enough to secure an arm triangle choke. I hope we get to see Pyle again, just to give him a fair shake – maybe against the likes of Joe Lauzon.

Tim Hague def. Pat Barry (sub 1) – The Canadian boy looked like he might get knocked out early, but survived and delivered some thunderous shots of his own before slapping on a serious guillotine (he’s 265lbs!!). Reminded me of Gabriel Gonzaga a little.

Kyle Bradley def. Phillipe Nover (TKO 1) – This was a dark match we didn’t get to see. Seems Nover got schooled.

Krzysztof Soszynski def.. Andre Gusmao (TKO 1) – Soszynski looked pretty good, taking some shots and delivering more in return. He keeps his head up when striking which tends to make him more accurate than his opponent and shows great confidence. He’s on a roll and I’m sure we’ll be seeing lots more of him. Let’s see how quickly the UFC tries to move him up the ladder.

Yoshiyuki Yoshida def. Brandon Wolff (sub 1) – another dark match we didn’t see.

George Roop def. Dave Kaplan (split decision) – Another untelevised dark match. Kaplan has been less than impressive in the UFC. Considering this guy looked awful on the Ultimate Fighter show, I’m not sure why he’s seeing so much action in the big show.

Overall, only an ok show. I had expected some long, dull, wrestling dominated fights, so it wasn’t a big surprise. UFC 99 (June 13) ought to be more exciting with lots of big bangers on the card.