Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: UFC on Fox Aftermath, and Chael Sonnen Promos
Feb 1, 2012 - 8:50:21 AM HYDEN BLOG: UFC on Fox Aftermath, and Chael Sonnen Promos

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

The second UFC on Fox event was this past Saturday, and it was a pretty bad show. I've read some comments online that some of the fights were ok, or even good, and I couldn't disagree more.

Rashad Evans had a lackluster win over Phil Davis. A win's a win, and I'm sure Rashad will take it, but it doesn't exactly inspire fear in the hearts of the other UFC fighters. It certainly won't make UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones shake in his boots. I'm sure Rashad can, and will, up his game and he's going to need to; if Rashad fights the same way he did Saturday against Jon Jones, he's going to get crushed. I think Davis can recover from this loss, but he's not on the fast track to superstardom like some thought.

Chael Sonnen earned a bogus decision win over Michael Bisping. Some people have sent me FightMetric numbers showing that Sonnen outstruck Bisping. Analyzing the numbers shows you that Sonnen landed three more head power shots and one more body power shot. I don't know where they come up with Sonnen having a 40-30 advantage in significant strikes, the numbers say four strikes.

Here's the thing, though, despite what a certain show on ESPN2 says, numbers can, and often do, lie. It's very possible to compile impressive stats, but that isn't the entire story. I watched the fight with several friends. None of us thought Sonnen should have won. There's no question Sonnen won the third round, but we all thought Bisping had won the first two rounds. You could argue that Sonnen won the first round, or make a case for a draw. However, I don't think you could make a convincing case that Sonnen won all three rounds, as one judge thought.

This isn't the first time that judges have made an unpopular decision, and it won't be the last. This is why I hate decisions; sometimes they're conclusive, but a lot of times you end up with a bad taste in your mouth. We've all gone down this road before about how there needs to be set criteria for judging. I personally thought Bisping should have earned more points for pushing Sonnen up against the cage so often. We're running a poll on this site, and so far more people think Bisping won the fight than Sonnen. Are all these people wrong?

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I've noticed a lot of people have a problem with Chael Sonnen and his pro wrestling-style promos, but I don't as long as they're not insane. The problem with Sonnen's statements are that they're delusional. He goes around talking about how he's the undefeated champion and blah, blah, blah. Here's the guy who will say things like Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer by taking drugs (steroids), then deny that he said that even though it's on tape, then get busted for having an extraordinarily high level of testosterone-to-epitestosterone himself.

When I was watching his fight against Michael Bisping Saturday, one of the guys I was with was rooting for Sonnen to win. This friend of mine hates Bisping. He's a casual fan who doesn't follow MMA as much as the NBA or the NFL, so he'd never heard of Sonnen. I told my friend Sonnen is the guy who almost beat Anderson Silva. This got him excited because he figured that Sonnen would lay waste to Bisping.

The fight was very disappointing to my friend, as well as the rest of us. Then Sonnen opened up his mouth after the decision was announced and went on his pro wrestling rant to Joe Rogan about "Are you not mesmerized?" and about how Rogan was inches from greatness. My friend had one thing to say, and I won't type exactly what he said, but you'll know what it means, "STFU".

That's the problem with Sonnen's rants, they're too over the top. If he wants to go pro wrestling, he should have said something about how Bisping gave him a hell of a fight, but he managed to pull out the victory because that's what he does, find a way to win. There's a way to be cocky, to be the heel, without being so over the top that you become a caricature. Sonnen could have talked about how he only had 11 days to prepare for Bisping, but he still managed to pull out the win because that's how good he is.

It's one thing to talk big before a fight, it raises expectations, but you can always counter with a statement on how your opponent raised his game to a high level. To talk in such grandiose terms after a lackluster fight, though, is a fool's game. People don't take Sonnen seriously because he only has one gear for his mouth, full-bore. If he were to dial it down a few notches from time to time it would benefit him greatly.

Another thing that really bothers me is when outside people play along with his schtick. I've heard Sonnen on the Jim Rome radio show a few times and Rome is playing along. The same thing happened on Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable. Playing the straight man for Sonnen's routine is ridiculous, that's as bad as pro wrestlers staying in character when they're giving interviews, or Tom Hanks playing Forrest Gump when he's being interviewed by Stephen Colbert.

I don't blame Sonnen for this, I blame the guys doing it. Sonnen's character is such that he'll tell you that he's undefeated, or that he's never lost a round. He's got to do that, that's his character, that's his routine. However, that doesn't mean that you have to agree with him, or that you can't call him on his BS.

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I've noticed a lot more talk recently about how the UFC should utilize the lighter weight classes on their FOX televised events in order to ensure more excitement. I totally agree with that. I even jokingly created the principle of Hyden's Law months ago, which states that "the lighter the fighter, the more exciting the fight." I'm definitely in favor of showcasing lighter fighters, these guys always have great cardio and are always trying to win. Far too often you see guys gassing out early in the heavier divisions.

The UFC needs to use the guaranteed excitement that the lighter divisions bring to create interest in their shows among non-fans. There's always a chance for an exciting fight regardless of the weight class, but there's a much greater chance the lower the weight class.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com