Jun 16, 2009 - 1:44:05 PM By Wade Keller, Torch editor
-Dan Hardy vs. Marcus Davis followed one of the likely storylines, which was Davis being too wound up by the poking and prodding and mind-games that Hardy played to ever really let loose. As badly as he wanted to win, he was even more petrified of losing by knockout, especially after Hardy stood up to him early and rocked him with the knee. The job UFC did hyping this fight was top notch in the sense that there wasn't a lot of mainstream appeal or casual MMA fan investment in this fight, but the pre-fight soundbites by the fighters and the announcers setting the stage made this feel like it deserved the virtual semi-main event billing it received in the pre-show hype. Hardy came across as a nice guy afterward, admitting he used Davis's hatred for him as a tool to get a psychological edge.
-Spencer Fisher vs. Caol Uno wasn't the most exciting fight, obviously, but it was fascinating, a bit of a throwback to the early UFC days in the sense when fights were billed more often as "striker vs. grappler." This was a case where the fighters truly did cancel each other out. Joe Rogan did his best to convey that to viewers, even taking a shot at the casual beer drinking sausage heads (or something like that) who will boo a fight like this, but it's really a case of excellent defense offsetting excellent offense in opposing styles. It's one of those fights you don't show someone to make them a fan of the sport, but it's a fight you show someone who's skeptical of MMA being something other than a bar fight or toughman no-rules brawling to earn their respect. For both fighters, though, it showed they're not necessarily well-rounded enough to be top tier in the lightweight division as they're relatively one-dimensional on offense compared to top competition, and not so good at their strength that their specialty makes them unstoppable.
-Ben Saunders vs. Mike Swick was a nice match-up on paper in terms of being a test of the trajectory of both of their careers. This ended up providing evidence that Swick deserves to be fighting top tier welterweights to see what his upside really is, while for Saunders it showed he's not quite ready for Anderson Silva, as Rogan said he's been talking about lately. When a fighter like Saunders is on a win streak and feels good about himself, this is the type of reality check fight for him and his fans that shows where he needs work. This was much better for his career right now than another win against mediocre competition. He knows what to work on now.
-Mirko Cro Cop vs. Mostapha Al-Turk solved nothing. Al-Turk was rocked, sure, but he got back up and was still fighting when he got poked in the eye. When UFC thought Cro Cop was sticking around and there were money fights in his future, the company line was Cro Cop was in control and inevitably about to finish Al-Turk decisively. Now that Cro Cop bailed out on them, it's obviously Al-Turk was holding his own, Cro Cop didn't look like the old dominant Pride heavyweight, and in fact he probably poked Al-Turk in the eye on purpose because he knew he was running out of gas and the tables were about to turn. Honestly, you can interpret the fight in a variety of ways, but there are too many fighters - including Cain Valasequez in the next fight - who came back to win after looking like they were in worse shape than Al-Turk was here. I wasn't impressed with Cro Cop up until the eye poke, so I don't feel this is a huge loss for UFC to lose him again. Had Cro Cop looked devastating and won decisively, UFC fans would have been clamoring for a Cro Cop vs. top heavyweight battle, perhaps even Lesnar or Randy Couture or Frank Mir later this year, but because it was a tainted win, he didn't gain much of anything rep-wise. Al-Turk might have earned another fight in UFC because, honestly, the ref blew that call badly and no fighter who battled as hard as Al-Turk did deserves to have his final moment in UFC be a loss due to a blown ref call.
-Cain Velasquez vs. Cheick Kongo was a fascinating fight in that both fighters were impressive, but neither were fully proven as top tier heavyweights. This fight exposed both for being a notch or two below deserving title fight consideration. Velasequez has to work on knockout power, and if that's not ever going to be his strength, he needs to figure out how to grind out a win another way because he was impressive in many other ways, including the invaluable, unteachable tough chin. It was maddening to watch Kongo because so often when it seemed he was about to get out of a rough spot on the mat, he didn't back off and invite more stand-up, but ended up engaging Velasquez on the mat and getting tied up again. Kongo could have potentially won this had he stood up every time he had a clear path to do so. He'll be as frustrated as any fighter on this card when he watched back the footage. Or he should be, at least. I actually came away from this fight more impressed with Kongo because I was very (very) skeptical of his ability to survive on the ground, and as sloppy as he was, he did against an apparent future title contender on the rise. I don't look at his inability to KO Velasquez as a necessarily a big deal, because Velasquez showed a good chin and has a great ground game. In other words, Kongo's problems are "teachable" in that in another year he could have just enough seasoning and training to avoid some of the situations that cost him this fight and polish up what he needs to in order to finish a fight like this. Velasquez is definitely intriguing and young enough to figure out how to make up for his lack of current KO power and figure out how to finish, not just grind out, wins. But each fighter needed a decisive win to move into a title shot, and this was not decisive.
Wanderlei Silva [artist Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]
-I loved Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva. Obviously the final half minute was crazy good. Franklin was good early, but shaky later. Wanderlei redeemed himself a bit here in terms of being a contender at 185. You just can't ignore his track record or his age (his ring age is older than his chronological age, though). If he were 38, I'd be down on his ability to do much more than have special attraction fights like this. Just seeing Franklin vs. Silva in the Octagon together was special, and thankfully Silva is still legit enough (the Chuck Liddell fight was close), with the main concern being his chin, that this didn't have that "too late to matter" feeling. Both Franklin and Silva did come across as tremendously nice, affable people. Franklin's interaction with his corner was fascinating, and I'm glad UFC brought as much of that to us as they did.
-Production-wise, I'd want to see more corner discussions and fewer highlights between rounds. There are certain highlights that should definitely be shown, especially if the initial camera angle wasn't the best, but replaying the same camera angle of a takedown is frustrating when all I'm thinking is how much I'd like to be hearing and seeing what's going on in each fighter's corner between rounds. I'd rank this show at four-stars-minus on a four-star scale for entertainment value and historical significance. That fight between two non-legends would be three-stars or maybe three-stars-plus, but the star-power and novelty of seeing them battle takes this into the four-star (must-see!) range.
-This is another show where I'd pay to see rematches. Jason Bent wrote this, too, in his report. Another Davis vs. Hardy fight would be fun and worthwile. So would Velasequez vs. Kongo, assuming each win their next fight. Franklin vs. Silva doesn't need to happen again as both fighters are going another direction right now, but if Wanderlei beats Anderson Silva, and Franklin moves back down to 185, well, I'd pay to see that rematch a year or so from now. I don't want to see Fisher vs. Uno again anytime soon, though, as we know what we're likely to do. It won't happen, but obviously a Cro Cop vs. Al-Turk rematch would be in order given how it ended, although it'd make more sense if Al-Turk won another legit fight first to make it worth Cro Cop training for him again.
-Mike Goldberg has been back on his game lately. I don't know if the criticism of his work deteriorating over the past few years caused him to kick up his investment in the product or if other factors are at work, but that sense that he was "faking his way through" which was present increasingly in recent years was missing here... Bruce Buffer is almost much better (or I've just grown used to him). He was almost intolerable in the early UFC days, trying so hard to develop a signature style and coming across as clunky and desperate. He's much better now, and his voice is so identified with big UFC fight intros, he's earned his keep...
***
Wade Keller is the Supervising Editor and Founder of MMATorch.com. He has covered MMA for the Torch since before UFC existed, including Japanese shoot-fight cards such as Pancrase in the early 1990s, plus all of the early UFC PPV events (some of those reports can be found in the MMATorch Flashbacks category). He covered the first UFC event in Las Vegas in person in 2001 and Brock Lesnar's recent return to his hometown Minneapolis when he defeated "Crazyhorse" Heath Herring. He has interviewed Dana White, Mike Goldberg, the original UFC match-maker Art Davie, and others in MMA over the years. He has also been interviewed as an MMA reporter by major newspapers dating back to the mid-1990s. He has trained in karate, judo, and jiu jitsu, with over 12 years of formal martial arts training and tournament fighting. He is a double black stripe belt in tae kwon do.
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