UFC 112 "Invincible" = Disgraceful

UFC 112 went off on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, a significant event in the history of the organization. By the end of the event, it would become a public relations nightmare. The storm may calm over the coming days and weeks, but at the time it was clear that everyone outside of Anderson Silva’s camp thought the main event was a disgrace to the sport. Dana White was fuming.

I sincerely hope the UFC finds a way to punish the middleweight champ for his antics in the octagon and the embarrassment he brought to the sport on this massive stage. If I were the UFC president, I’d consider stripping Silva of the belt and creating a Sonnen vs Silva, Belfort vs Marquardt tourney for the right to claim the title. Even if Silva won the belt back, he’d have to earn it and the 6 months removed from the title of middleweight champ would be a clear message that this sort of crap would not be tolerated.

Anderson Silva def. Demian Maia (unanimous) – In case you missed it, Silva spent five rounds dancing away from Maia, acting like an ass and landing just enough jabs to bloody his opponent and retain his belt. Silva’s taunting of Maia was almost violent as he urged the challenger to attack him. Message to Anderson Silva: counterstriking is YOUR game. Forrest Griffin and Chris Leben proved that attacking you with reckless abandon is just this side of suicidal. Why does Maia have to play your game? How about you attack him and finish him if he is so unworthy? Let’s get something straight: this was another example of terrible match-making. Sure, the UFC might have had this particular pairing thrust upon them because Sonnen, Belfort and Marquardt were all unable to fight on this date (and apparently Silva insisted on fighting in Abu Dhabi) but there was little doubt that this fight would be a repeat of the Silva-Leites fight that set the stage for Leites’ exit from the UFC. How is a jiu-jitsu practitioner with no real power in his fists supposed to handle Silva if Silva won’t go to the ground? It’s called a stalemate. Boring as hell. Maia, to his credit, did attack Silva more in the later rounds and landed a few good shots on the champ. Silva even said afterwards that he was surprised by Maia’s power. Was Silva so scared that he decided to just jump on his bike and backpedal for the last 5 minutes? Maybe. I’m glad Dana White did not try to sugar-coat the facts with some PR spinning. In fact, he showed his anger before the fight was even over, giving the belt to Silva’s manager and telling him to put the belt on “the champ”. I’m praying this is not the end of this story and that Silva will be sanctioned somehow. (1-0)

Frankie Edgar def. BJ Penn (unanimous) – This was the shocker of the night. Did anyone see this coming? Penn was apparently a 7-1 favourite. But did Edgar deserve the decision? I dunno… See, I always believed that to be the champ you had to beat the champ. If it was a close fight and it went to decision, odds were the champ would retain. I look at Arlovski-Silvia III for the best example of this. In my mind, Arlovski won that fight on points, but it was close, lacklustre and went to decision with Silvia getting the nod. Ok, fine. So what about this fight? Well, Edgar spent the five rounds dancing and circling around Penn, trying to land punches and feigning takedowns here and there (at least, I assume they were feints because if they were real efforts he failed miserably). He did land one takedown in the 5th round (I think) which I felt would give him that round, but for the rest of the fight it was Penn who was landing the more effective strikes. Edgar threw far more punches, don’t get me wrong, but Penn’s were landing at a far greater rate, it seemed. Penn did seem to fade in rounds four and five, but even then he seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges. When the scores were announced, I was disappointed that one judge had the fight 50-45, meaning he didn’t think Edgar deserved even that one takedown round. I was floored when the unanimous decision was actually going Edgar’s way, meaning that HE was being given all five rounds by that one judge. Wow. So what happens now? Will Penn want to regain his belt or will he use this as an opportunity to move back up to welterweight? (Man, I hope not – at least not if it means an undeserved second rematch with GSP!) It would seem inconsistent with Penn’s ego to vacate the lightweight division without the title in his hands, so I’m betting on a rematch in a few months, with Penn moving on if he wins that night. If that isn’t the plan, look for lightweights to be positively salivating at the prospect of facing Edgar for the belt and not Penn. First up, the man who last beat Edgar – Gray Maynard. Boy, wouldn’t Kenny Florian be pissed, too, since Edgar didn’t have to go through him to get his shot. If Penn, like other champs who have lost their belt, is forced to take a redemption fight before getting a rematch, then I’d love to see him square off against the Energizer bunny, Clay Guida. (1-1)

Matt Hughes def. Renzo Gracie (TKO 3) – When the fight card was announced, I feared it might turn into a complete dud of an evening with three boring fights to end it off. Aside from the shock of Edgar’s win and the insanity of Silva’s behaviour, I was right. All three main event fights were uneventful, boring fights. The fact that this one actually ended before it went to the scorecards is testament to the fact that Renzo had no business inside the octagon. Before this fight, Gracie hadn’t fought in 3 years. By his own admission, he hadn’t trained in two and a half years leading up to the six months of training for this fight. That’s ridiculous. Why did the UFC even make this fight? The guy makes his UFC debut at 43? WTF? Matt Hughes fights once a year and this is the match-up you give him? What a waste of time. That said, it’s not like Hughes dominated Gracie. He landed very few clean shots, basically wearing his opponent down with kicks. But Gracie still looked terrible. He clearly did not have the gas for this fight and went down at every occasion simply from fatigue. One knockdown was clearly a phantom punch. Eventually, Herb Dean stepped in not because Hughes was threatening to hurt his defenseless opponent but because Gracie simply could not continue. Pathetic. And he has a six fight contract? Let’s hope the UFC cuts him. (2-1)

Rafael Dos Anjos def Terry Etim (sub 2) – Sure, the main events were garbage, but the prelims/undercard fights weren’t bad. Etim had Dos Anjos in serious trouble in the first round with a deep guillotine choke but Dos Anjos turned the tables in the second, securing an arm bar submission for the win. Good fight. (2-2)

Mark Munoz def. Kendall Grove (TKO 2) – This was another one where one guy dominated in the first but got put away in the next round. Munoz took a big uppercut in the first and was on queer street for the rest of the round. His wrestling saved him as he was able to tie up Grove against the cage and ride out the storm. He didn’t look much better in the second, but still managed to land a few shots that shook Grove and then he dropped some bombs from the top to draw the ref’s mercy. Grove’s soft chin was exposed again. (3-2)

Phil Davis def. Alexander Gustafsson (sub 1) – I’m not sure why I picked Gustafsson in this one. Davis was insanely impressive in his beatdown of Brian Stann though he did have holes in his game. Still, they weren’t holes Gustafsson was going to be able to take advantage of on his feet and once this went to the ground it was pretty much over. Davis secured an anaconda choke that had Gustafsson tapping with just 5 seconds left in the round. Ouch. (3-3)

Rick Story def. Nick Osipczak (split decision) – Apparently Story eked this one out after a tough battle with the always game Osipczak. Wish I had seen it. (4-3)

DeMarques Johnson def. Brad Blackburn (TKO 3) – Didn’t see it, but Johnson earned KO of the Night. (5-3)

Paul Kelly def. Matt Veach (sub 2) – Oh well, my underdog pick didn’t pan out. Kelly was very successful in his lightweight debut, finishing Veach with a guillotine. Veach’s face was a mess afterwards. I’m looking forward to seeing Kelly’s future lightweight matches. (5-4)

Jon Madsen def. Mostapha Al Turk (unanimous) – Ok, that’s three losses in three appearances for Al Turk. Surely this is the end of his UFC career. I thought he’d redeem himself, but I was wrong. Time to go. (5-5)

Paul Taylor vs John Gunderson – This fight didn’t happen for medical reasons. I was a bit confused as to the weight class for this fight and apparently Taylor was, too.

So a .500 record for the night. A couple of dogs didn’t pan out and you can’t blame me for not picking Edgar. Still, I thought I’d do better. Next time.