UFC 104 Results

Turns out I pretty much completely missed the event, what with all the hob-knobbing I had to do that night, so I couldn't telepathically tell the fighters what to do. And so, many of my picks lost.

Let's inspect the dammage:

Lyoto Machida def. Mauricio Rua (unanimous) - It seems the three judges at ringside were the only ones who could unanimously agree Machida won this fight. There was an immediate uproar and booing of the champ when he retained the title. I only saw the last two rounds but when I walked in the door, the other guys were already calling it for Rua. One guy even paid his losing bet before the fight was over. We were stunned - STUNNED - when Machida's arm was raised. Judging by the champ's reaction, he was, too. Now there's talk of a rematch. Seriously? Ok, I get it that the UFC thinks Rua might have been robbed, but there are a bunch of guys waiting to fight the champ. Guys who HAVEN'T lost to him. Former champs who didn't get a rematch. When do THEY get their shot? Well, at least I picked the "winner" right. (1-0)

Cain Velasquez def. Ben Rothwell (TKO 2) - More controversy. Apparently this one was stopped early. From what I saw of replays, it looks like Rothwell was getting hammered, but was in no real danger. Oh, the ref was Mazzagatti, by the way. Go figure. From what I hear, Velasquez wasn't exactly impressive in terms of punching power. We'll see how far his wrestling takes him. (1-1)

Gleison Tibau def. Josh Neer (unanimous) - Yup. Should have gone with my heart. (1-2)

Joe Stevenson def. Spencer Fisher (sub 2) - This was a shocker for me. Looks like Stevenson threw Fisher around and then lay the smack down. I'm still in disbelief. Wanna see the replay. (1-3)

Anthony Johnson def. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (TKO 1) - I'll be shocked if this isn't the end of Yoshida in the UFC after two massive knockouts. Johnson is gonna get a bigger push now. I'd pay to see him and Koscheck. (2-3)

Ryan Bader Vs. Eric Schafer (unanimous) - Bader dominated most of the fight. He lost some gas in the second but regained enough composure to take the third. Hopefully he learns not to tucker himself out in the first round. Schafer impressed with his chin (is that a compliment?). (3-3)

Pat Barry def. Antoni Hardonk (TKO 2) - Wow. Did Barry ever impress! Look for him to get more face time in the UFC. Fight of the Night for sure. (4-3)

Chael Sonnen def. Yushin Okami (unanimous) - No idea what happened here. I think Okami is likely on his way out of the UFC. (4-4)

Jorge Rivera def. Rob Kimmons (TKO 3) - Apparently Kimmons lost yet another big fight. Didn't see it. (4-5)

Kyle Kingsbury def. Razak Al-Hassan (split) - No idea. (4-6)

Stefan Struve def. Chase Gormley (sub 1) - Seems I did well on the fights I saw. Struve used his height to his advantage, wrapping his legs around Gormley for the choke. Not surprisingly, it won Submission of the Night - it was the only one! (5-6)

So 4-0 on the fights I saw (yay telepathy!) and 1-6 otherwise. I should have been one of those goat staring guys.

TUF 9 Finale - Results

Let’s see:

Diego Sanchez def. Clay Guida (split decision)
James Wilks def. DaMarques Johnson (rear naked choke - 1)
Chris Lytle def. Kevin Burns (unanimous decision)
Ross Pearson def. Andre Winner (unanimous decision)
Joe Stevenson def. Nate Diaz (unanimous decision)
Melvin Guillard def. Gleison Tibau (split decision)
Brad Blackburn def. Edgar Garcia (split decision)
Tomasz Drwal def. Mike Ciesnolevicz (TKO – 1)
Nick Osipczak def. Frank Lester (rear naked choke - 1)
Jason Dent def. Cameron Dollar (anaconda choke – 1)

I thought Sanchez was going to get robbed in the decision based on previous judges’ scoring. While Sanchez was clearly delivering the majority of the punishment, Guida was on top for a good chunk of the decisive third round and usually top position is equated with winning. I assume, of course, that it was the third round that was decisive since Guida was on top for most of the second – but Sanchez delivered some brutal elbows in that round, so who knows which one swayed the third judge. Further clouding the issue is the fact that the UFC would benefit more from a Sanchez win as he is the more colourful character and would likely sell more tickets in a title fight than Guida. I’m not convinced judges aren’t influenced by this sort of thing. We can now look forward to a Sanchez vs Penn/Florian fight for the 155 belt in 4 months or so. It ought to be interesting either way, but, while I like Florian, I don’t think there’s much doubt a Sanchez-Penn match-up would be more desirable to the UFC and fans. After all, Sanchez humbled Florian once already (though in a different weight class) and it’s always more interesting to see an established champ defend the belt than first timers (see the light heavyweight division).

I also correctly predicted Wilks would beat Johnson. Wilks struck early, putting Johnson on the defensive and the American couldn’t get out of the round to gather himself. Despite a few decent exchanges, Wilks was clearly in control and got the much-deserved win. It’ll be interesting to see how he does going forward. I was impressed with Wilks’ skills.

I went 3-for-3 in the top portion of the card when Lytle got the nod over a game Kevin Burns. Lytle threw bombs from the opening seconds and didn’t let up until the horn sounded. I was really impressed with Lytle’s cardio, which allowed him to give it all for 15 minutes and was the difference in the fight; Burns was gassed and was in retreat mode for much of the third round. Lytle isn’t champ material, but he’s one of those guys who acts as a gatekeeper to the upper ranks – if you can beat him, you deserve top-flight fights. Burns just isn’t there yet.

I really wanted Ross Pearson to win, but I thought Andre Winner was going to squeeze out a decision. I thought these two would stand and trade shots, with Winner having the jab advantage. I didn’t expect that these guys would hug for 15 minutes with no intervention by the ref (have I mentioned how much most refs suck? Herb Dean is by far the worst with Mazzagatti second). For a TUF “title fight” this was a dud. The two competitors negated each other’s offence and the result was a fight too close to call; not enough happened to distinguish the two competitors. I thought it fair that the first two rounds would be split and the third would decide the outcome since no one seemed to deserve being up 2-0. That said, I thought Winner was getting the best of Pearson in the first two and might have gotten the nod as the result. But Pearson was a little more active in the third and, thanks to the split rounds, got the decision. I really wasn’t impressed, but am looking forward to seeing more of Pearson in the future to see what he really has to offer.

What was Nate Diaz thinking? His loss to Joe Stevenson was due to one thing – strategy. Diaz is the more talented fighter, but he allowed Stevenson to take him down and stay on top – which was enough to earn the victory. Stevenson really didn’t do much, but Diaz was happy to stay on his back and attempt submissions. What he should have done was stay on his feet as much as possible and pick Stevenson apart a la BJ Penn. Instead, he pulled guard, made no real attempt to get back up and tried…what? Kimoras? Come on… Diaz has pulled this kind of stupidity before and obviously needs new coaching ‘cause his current approach sucks. This is a serious speed bump for him. Both of these guys have careers going nowhere fast.

In the undercard, I went 1-4, but I blame part of that on bad info from the UFC website. Tomasz Drwal and Mike Ciesnolevicz were fighting at light heavyweight which explains the discrepancy in their stats. Ciesnolevicz failed to make weight, though, and the big cut he did make probably factored in his loss. I’d have to see the other fights to comment on them. I’d like to see the Guillard-Tibau fight, for one.

So 3-2 on the main card, 1-4 on the undercard, 4-4 with fighters I knew, 4-6 overall.

Let the hype and build-up to UFC 100 begin!