UFC 101 - Results : Penn defends, Griffin humiliated

Well, you can’t say I didn’t call it.

Sure, I wasn’t willing to “bet” against my boy Forrest, but I knew when the fight was first announced that he’d get trounced by Anderson Silva.

I was right.

It wasn’t even close.

They say styles make fights, and this was a complete mismatch. Griffin is a puncher with a relatively weak chin and no knockout power. How the hell was he supposed to beat a guy who has awesome stand up and has insane knockout power? His only hope was to clinch and use his weight to try to take Silva down – that strategy was nowhere to be seen.

The UFC sold some tickets and some PPVs, but in the process, they may have spoiled one of their golden geese by exposing Griffin’s weak chin and, essentially, humiliating him in front of millions.

Griffin certainly didn’t help matters by running out of the ring and, as some are stating, the arena. There were some reports that he ran to the back to get medical attention for a broken jaw and loss of hearing, but those reports appear to be false. I’d still like to hear Griffin’s take on the fight and reason for bolting. I thought he had learned from the fiasco that followed the Keith Jardine fight (another fight that shouldn’t have happened – for completely different reasons), but I guess not. He lost a little bit of my respect, but I’m still hoping there’s a decent explanation.

Who should Silva fight? The obvious choice is champion Lyoto Machida, but apparently that won’t happen since they’re training partners and “like brothers”. Machida is a high calibre fighter with skills similar to Silva’s – hard to hit with good knockout power. Clearly, Silva ought to remain in the light heavyweight division, so if he doesn’t fight the champ… Other “tune-up” fight opponents might include Rampage, Rashad Evans or, get this, Randy Couture. Rampage and Rashad are big guys with good chins and knockout power. Randy, on the other hand, would challenge Silva in close and is known for brilliant strategizing.

If the UFC had big brass balls, though, they’d put Silva in with Lesnar and set up a clash of titans. I’d give Silva even odds against the inexperienced Lesnar - at least.

Ok, let’s move on to the results from UFC 101:

BJ Penn def. Kenny Florian (sub 4) – I thought Florian might pull off the upset, but I didn’t count on a stupid strategy of single-leg takedown attempts and cage hugging. This was clearly not working. I don’t know if Florian was trying to take a page out of training partner GSP’s book, but let’s just say he’s no GSP. Florian had to take Penn down or, failing that, stick to leg kicks all night long and wear down the champ until he could pounce into a ground and pound game. Instead, Florian got outboxed by Penn and hugged his leg while Penn punished him. Seriously. WTF? (picked wrong 0-1)

Silva def. Griffin (TKO 1) – See above. Not even close. This was a non-fight from the start. Had Griffin won it would have been the biggest upset in UFC history. (picked “wrong” 0-2)

Johny Hendricks def. Amir Sadollah (TKO 1) – Despite what some may think, this was a good stoppage. Sadollah was out of it, defenceless (he was on all fours and not looking at his opponent) and at risk of injury. Hendricks looked pretty good in this brief bout. I’m looking forward to his next fight. (picked right 1-2)

Ricardo Almeida def. Kendall Grove (Unan Dec) – Grove was never really in this, except for an arm bar that was set up when he illegally grabbed the cage for leverage (which the ref either missed or dismissed). It drives me nuts when refs don’t call cage grabbing when it leads to a submission opportunity. I’ve seen it a number of times. Anyhow, Almeida didn’t look great, but we ought to see more of him after this. Grove, well, I think he’s out of his league in the UFC, but I’m sure they’ll keep him around due to his name recognition. (picked right 2-2)

Kurt Pellegrino def. Josh Neer (Unan Dec) – I missed most of this fight, but hear it was pretty dull. Looked like a lot of laying and praying in the third. (picked wrong 2-3)

UNDERCARD

Aaron Riley def. Shane Nelson (Unan Dec) – This was the famous rematch. Neither fighter was very impressive, but Riley got the nod, justifiably. (picked wrong 2-4)

John Howard def. Tamdan McCrory (Split Dec) – Wish I’d seen this. Sounds like it was a decent fight, but Howard wore McCrory down late. (picked wrong 2-5)

Alessio Sakara def. Thales Leites (Split Dec) – If reports are true, both of these guys should be kicked out of the UFC as I suggested. I hear it was a crazy boring fight and the fans booed. Thales Leites is coming off a title shot, for Pete’s sake, which goes to show how thin the middleweight division is. (picked wrong 2-6)

Matthew Riddle def. Dan Cramer (Unan Dec) – Would have liked to have seen this, too. (picked right 3-6)

George Sotiropoulos def. George Roop (Sub 2) – George looked good, but should have finished sooner. He had boatloads of opportunities and completely outclassed Roop on the ground. Looking forward to seeing more of him. (picked right 4-6)

Jesse Lennox def. Danillo Villefort (TKO 3) – I picked this blind, so can’t take too much credit. (picked right 5-6)

Ok, so the divining rod let me down, but considering I didn’t really pick Forrest to win, it was more like 6-5 than 5-6. I’ll try to do better next time.