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Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor (8.5)
When is Brock Larson going to start getting some respect? Even if you don't think the dude is main-event material, at least put him in there with some high-level fighters to test him. Larson just keeps tearing through whoever they put him in there with. The UFC should match Larson with Thiago Alves or Marcus Davis, or someone on that level. Hell, rematch him with Jon Fitch, I don't care. I'd love to see Larson fight Josh Koscheck or Martin Kampmann. My point is, they need to put him in there with guys that might actually challenge him.
The Hughes vs. Serra fight was pretty boring to me. I was hoping for a slugfest or at least some good ground action. I didn't find Hughes laying atop Serra all that exciting. Where was the bad blood? I thought Hughes' wife had said that she wanted blood? Didn't Hughes say that he wanted to pound Serra for 3 rounds? Didn't Serra say that he wanted to shut Hughes up? Perhaps I was expecting too much.
The real deal was Machida destroying Rashad. I thought Rashad would win, but I knew that Machida was a tough fighter to prepare for. I don't think this establishes Machida as the dominant figure at 205 just yet. Defending the belt is harder than winning it. I think what will help Machida, though, is his desire to continue to prove that karate is legit in MMA. What hurts that is that Machida is a tremendous athlete. It's his combination of all his fighting disciplines and his athleticism that make him as dangerous as he is. If Machida wasn't as quick or as strong as he is than his karate skills wouldn't be as effective. Machida using karate is dominant; a lesser athlete using karate is good, but not great. Rampage has that puncher's chance, but I think Machida will win.
Machida doing what he does is where I get my score from. The rest of the card was good, but I was more focused on the main event. I was 5-6 in picking winners. Career mark is 114-101.
Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist (7.5)
This was a solid show with a great, potentially historic, main event. It got off to a good start with Sherk-Edgar (which by the way, my first of several formal apologies goes to Frankie Edgar. I'm sorry I said Sean Sherk was better than you in every aspect. I was wrong. You were the better wrestler and you out-kickboxed the crap out of him. My bad). Sherk becomes gatekeeper to the stars, and Edgar should be next in line for a title shot. He's done more in the division than Diego and deserves the winner of Florian/Penn. That said, its never gonna happen. Edgar will need at least one more fight to prove to Dana White and Co. that he's even higher than Xtreme Couture golden boy Gray Maynard in the division pecking-order.
Chael Sonnen vs. Dan Miller was as one-sided of a beating as we've seen since GSP-Penn II (formal apology #2 goes to Mr. Sonnen. Did I say you didn't belong in the UFC? Umm...sorry?). Miller and his brother have both been outclassed in their last fight, respectively. I still love to watch them fight though. I really don't know what you do with Sonnen now though. He either loses to the guys who are good enough on the ground to submit him, or he beats the guys who aren't.
Soszynski-Gusmao was a fun little one round brawl, but I'm just not convinced Soszynski has the talent to ever be more than a solid gatekeeper.
Hughes-Serra was a big letdown for me, and I think Serra won the third round. Hughes entire offense was stereotypical lay-n-pray. The Grudge Match of the Century and nobody got punched in the face? In the immortal words of The Hurricane, "What's up with that?"
The main event was everything I hoped it would be. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Rashad Evans fan, and I firmly believe he's clearly the second best light-heavyweight in the world. The problem is, he is to Machida what Rich Franklin is to Anderson Silva. Machida is just that much better than everyone else. Don't try to kid yourself into thinking Rampage, Forrest, or even Shogun have what it takes to unseat him. The Machida Era will be long and filled with perfect performances. If you weren't a fan of his style before, I don't know what else he can do to win you over now. I'm also glad they tried hard to work in undercard fights. Brock Larson should be on a main card next fight with a step up in competition, so it was important to show his fight. Pat Barry might want to think about hiring a jiu-jitsu coach. I don't care how talented a striker you are, you won't go anywhere in the heavyweight division with that kinda ground game. All-in-all a pretty good show to get us warmed up for the summer, and the UFC continues to build goodwill with the fans by showing eight fights.
Jason Bent, MMATorch Columnist (9.5)
Wow! Are any of you still feeling a little pumped following this one?
Lyoto Machida's post-fight speech was better than Rocky Balboa calling for Adrian and has me thinking I can do just about anything I want to do. Don't ask me what it is I want to do but just know that I feel I can do it now. Machida did a better job of motivating than Obama showing up at a women's group meeting with a jar of foot lotion, a gallon of ice cream, two spoons and a smile as he tried to stump for votes prior to the election. Not since Daniel LaRusso has a karate expert kicked so much ass and looked as wholesome as a glass of milk while doing so.
This was a three fight card for me as I was anticipating Sean Sherk vs. Frankie Edgar, Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra and Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida. As Meatloaf once sang, "two out of three ain't bad," and that was the story of the night for my picks for these three fights, but the show itself was as perfect as this one could have been.
Sherk failed against Edgar and this tells me more of Sherk than it truly does Edgar's readiness to be a challenger for the title. Sherk did not give a poor showing of himself, but he didn't use his head at all and his poor gameplan lost this fight for him. I mean, he was jabbing with thirty seconds to go! Jabbing!
I would like to see Edgar take on Stevenson or Sanchez and then we'll have a better idea of just where he belongs in this division, but for now he is moving up in the ranks due to this victory. Sherk will be back but he needs a win in the worst way because at 35 years of age he will be risking becoming the name opponent rather than the championship contender should he fall to another young lion such as Edgar. For now he is the "Gatekeeper to the Elite" but another performance like this and he will just be the "gatekeeper."
Hughes vs. Serra was more dramatic than it had any right to be, and thanks to an inadvertent clash of heads it ended up being closer than it arguably would have been. The bad blood was there and yes, I have to agree with Joe Rogan in that I do not wish to ever hear Matt Serra say the word, "dick" ever again. I mean, I am not a big fan of the word "dick" anyway, but the way Serra says it it just cuts through like nails on a chalkboard or Dr. Ruth explaining something to the masses.
The fight itself offered a little bit of something for everyone as Hughes was hurt, Serra was controlled and with the fight up for grabs we saw Serra lock on a submission which was just too late as time ticked down and the horn sounded. Had this fight taken place in 2007 it would have probably ended sooner, but I think it can be successfully argued that the clash of heads in the first round and the subsequent concussion of Hughes made this one more competitive than it would have been, even in 2009. Both men will be back, but thankfully this feud will be put fast behind them and we can all move on. We may not all get along, but move on we shall.
Lyoto Machida is the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Rashad Evans was knocked for a loop. Evans crumpled like Matua and Machida looked nothing like the fighter once deemed "boring" by a large section of the public. Boring no more is Machida who is on a roll having scored two stoppages in a row and now has the championship firmly placed around his waist and over his black belt in karate.
The video game version Dana White says that you cannot just walk off of the street with a karate trophy and expect success in the UFC, but the real-life version will have to swallow those words and watch as the man no one wanted in the title picture is now the man no one wants to fight.
However we all want to watch.
My rating for this show is a very nice 9.5. Or maybe great. Yeah, this one was a GREAT 9.5.
Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief (8.5)
This was simply a really good show that will be remembered as the true emergence of Lyoto Machida. Toss in three undercard fights making the broadcast and nothing overly terrible on the show and UFC 98 did a lot to wash out the bad taste many had left in their mouths after UFC 97.
Frankie Edgar came in with a brilliant gameplan and executed it to perfection against Sean Sherk. For the life of me I don't know why Sherk refused to even attempt to take this thing to the ground in the first two rounds, and his half hearted attempts in the third were far too little too late. He didn't fight a terrible fight by any means, but he played right into Edgar's gameplan. While he didn't take much damage in the fight, he also was on the receiving end of some extremely well timed combos from Edgar and wasn't able to get in close enough to land his own.
Dan Miller showed a ton of heart in holding off the larger Sonnen after gassing immediately in the first round after that guillotine attempt. Sonnen should have been able to finish that fight, and it's a testament to both Miller's resilience and Sonnen's not-top-tier status that this one reached the scorecards.
Krzysztof Soszynski continues to impress against the lower mid card and mid card talent in the division, and I want to see what he's got against tougher competition his next time out. I don't know if he can continue this streak against a higher level of competition, but I'm not ready to count the "Polish Experiment" out of any fight he takes in the UFC.
Despite the lack of true closure in the "bad blood" feud between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, I really enjoyed their fight on Saturday. The inadvertant headbutt certainly made things a bit more even than perhaps they would have been, and may have led to Hughes reverting to a bit of lay and pray throughout the rest of the fight, but it also provided a bit more excitement and gave Serra a true fighting chance. Because of the headbutt I'm on the other side of giving Serra the first round, but I still think he won the third. Either way, both guys showed they've still got something in the tank and they're not leaving the sport just yet.
Brock Larson needs a main card slot for his next fight. He's a perpetually underrated welterweight who can finish his fights and who can be extremely exciting every time he steps into a cage. He needs a step up in competition in the UFC and I'd love to see him rematch Jon Fitch or Carlos Condit, the only two men who beaten him. I'm not so sure he doesn't even the score against both men at some point in this UFC tenure. Watch out for Larson in 2009-10.
Tim Hague got very lucky and Pat Barry beat himself. I thought Hague would win, but not the way he did. Barry's power is impressive considering his size against the larger heavyweights in the division, and the head kick he delivered was awesome, but he killed himself here with a less than average ground game that put his head right into the guillotine of Hague. Big win for Hague in come from behind fashion, but Barry gave him that one.
The main event was everything it could have been and more. Lyoto Machida was absolutely brilliant in his destruction of a very good Rashad Evans. I'm not going to write off Rampage for when the two ultimately clash for this Light Heavyweight Title, because I think if he's entirely focused and comes into the fight like he did against Chuck or Wanderlei then he's going to be able to get in some offense on Machida and test him more than he's been tested. That said, the gut feeling after Saturday's performance is that Machida's not losing this belt for a long, long time. He has so many tools at his disposal on top of being the frustratingly elusive fighter that he can be. It's a full package that can't be matched by anyone at 205 right now, and until a new phenom comes up the ranks this is Machida's title to lose. It's Machida's world now, and we're all just living in it.
[Rashad Evans art credit Cory Gould (c) MMATorch]
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STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
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