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This was a great show. MacDonald-Maia gave us a classic first round and a very entertaining grappling match that elevated both men's status in the Middleweight division.
Florian-Huerta was a bit of a letdown for me, if you can call a 3-star fight a letdown. I was just hoping that Huerta would make more of a fight out of it, but Florian gets a ton of credit for not amking that possible. I think the upside for Huerta is that this should be a great learning experience for him. He's got to have a better gameplan against technical fighters like Florian, who picked him apart throughout the fight.
Rob Emerson came through with a quick knockout, though the ramifications were few in that match.
Cheick Kongo brutalized his overmatched opponent once he decided to start striking, begging the question of why he didn't do so sooner, but it's still nice seeing Kongo try out his still-weak-but-improving skills on the ground. Some might talk of a match with Brock Lesnar next, but Lesnar would handle Kongo with no problem.
Speaking of Lesnar, he answered any questions about whether he's for real in MMA. Heath Herring does not get dominated like he did on a fluke, and Lesnar is going to pose some big problems to good fighters down the road. The question in the meantime is whom he'll fight next. I think the most viable option is probably the proposed match with Mark Coleman, as there aren't many fighters in the thin UFC heavyweight division that can draw in a main event or co-main event, and Lesnar is getting paid enough that he's going to be in the main or co-main event.
The main event did not disappoint, as it's probably the most entertaining one-sided beatdown you'll see. GSP dominated Jon Fitch, but you'd never know it to look at how Fitch was fighting in the fifth round. I've never seen anyone take that kind of punishment for five rounds and still not only survive, but continue to come forward.
This was Fitch's announcement that he belongs in the top ten (and I believe top two) in the welterweight division. As for St. Pierre, he's over his mental hurdle and he's defended his title. No one is beating him any time soon. Let's not forget that GSP is only 27! He's still got at least 5-6 prime fighting years ahead of him. That's just scary.
Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor (9.0)
The Demian Maia win over Jason MacDonald was a real treat for fans of groundfighting. Maia is amazing on the ground and it's a testament to MacDonald that he was able to do as much as he did on the ground.
Kenny Florian took apart Roger Huerta and made him look much worse than he actually is. Anyone who's ever seen a Roger Huerta fight knows how good he is, yet KenFlo made him look weak and ineffective. It was just a masterful job by Kenny of owning the fight and dominating a talented fighter. Florian deserves a title shot against BJ Penn immediately. BJ shouldn't be fighting Georges St. Pierre anyway, he's just going to lose.
It was fun watching Rob Emerson coldcock Manny Gamburyan back to the under card. Why was this fight on the main card to begin with? It's taken you longer to read this than their fight lasted.
Cheick Kongo looked pretty good in defeating Dan Evensen. It wasn't the prettiest fight but sometimes it takes dating a plain looking chick in order to figure out that she's the most beautiful woman in the world. If Kongo learns from fights like this one, and betters himself as a result, then he could become a dominant heavyweight in time.
It's important to not get too crazy when it comes to Brock Lesnar. Right now his athleticism overcomes many of the mistakes he makes but that will only take him so far. The scary thing for any of Lesnar's potential opponents is that he's not existing in a vacuum. He's still learning and getting better by leaps and bounds.
A good projection for Brock is Josh Koscheck. When Koscheck first started in the UFC he was really green and one-dimensional. But with each successive fight he showed more and more ability. He's probably not on the level of the elite fighters but it's not hard to imagine that he will eventually become a force in the world of MMA.
The same can be said for Brock Lesnar. The improvement we've seen from his last fight against Frank Mir to this fight against Heath Herring follows the same course as Koscheck. And with the heavyweight division being thin it's hard to see a situation where Brock doesn't get a title shot if he wins his next 2 fights. I'd put him in there with Cheick Kongo and let's see what happens.
Georges St. Pierre was superb and Jon Fitch took a nearly unbelieveable amount of punishment, only to keep pushing forward.
I think it's a huge mistake for BJ Penn to be able to fight GSP next. First, unless GSP takes BJ lightly he's going to crush him. BJ has a habit on relying too much on talent and not working hard enough and if he tries that against this GSP he's going to get embarassed. Second, Kenny Florian deserves a title shot and he shouldn't have to wait just because BJ has this need to try to avenge all his losses. A champion shouldn't be able to jump weight until he's cleaned out a division, and BJ certainly hasn't done that yet.
Back to the fight, GSP showed why he's the best welterweight in the world. And Fitch made a strong case for him being the second-best. Josh Koscheck should be Fitch's next opponent, but I wouldn't complain if he rematched against Diego Sanchez.
I went 7-3 in terms of picking the fight winner, but only 1-9 with picking the method of victory. That brings my record to 10-5 in picking winners but only 1-14 with picking the methods of victory. Ouch.
Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief (9.0)
The show definitely receives a boost in rating from me by the simple fact that I was able to take it in live. That being said, this was an awesome show, and the three most heavily hyped fights came through as awesome performances.
Demian Maia looked great with his ground game against another submission artist in Jason MacDonald. Cheick Kongo had a solid victory against an outclassed opponent. Rob Emerson had a nice knockout in the veritable "popcorn" match as well.
Really the only disappointing part of the entire night was Roger Huerta seeming a bit lost at times against Kenny Florian. It was a great fight by Florian, and he employed perfect strategy against Huerta, but there just seemed to be something off with Huerta in the first two rounds especially, and he didn't have much of an answer for anything Florian dished out. Now with that, this was still a hell of a fight, especially the second round and early in the third round, and the fight was elevated due to the massive crowd response from start to finish.
I've said my piece about Brock Lesnar. The man's legit, he's an MMA fighter, accept it, because he's here to stay.
The main event was awesome, and all I can say about Jon Fitch is that he is one tough man. GSP is on another level in that Octagon, and the simple fact that Jon Fitch continued to push forward until the last second of the fifth round goes to show that he is the next best welterweight in the UFC. That also goes to show how much better GSP is over the rest of the field.
