Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, Bad, and the Great From UFC On Fuel 8 in Japan
Mar 6, 2013 - 11:45:10 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, Bad, and the Great From UFC On Fuel 8 in Japan

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

UFC on Fuel 8 was this past weekend and it was an okay show all in all. There were some good moments, a great moment, and some bad moments from the event emanating from the Saitama Super Arena in Japan, the old PRIDE stomping grounds.

Good: Mark Hunt breaks Stefan Struve's jaw

Mark Hunt made his return to the Octagon as he fought 7'0" Stefan Struve. Hunt showed his punching power again as he smashed Struve with a powerful left hook that broke his jaw. Struve's achilles heel, if you will, is his jaw. I'm not saying he's Glass Joe from the Punch-Out series, but there can be little doubt that he doesn't have the chin to take these types of power punches. All four of Struve's UFC losses have come by knockout, sometimes just by a single power shot. He needs to work on utilizing his insane reach to avoid the big punches.

Struve has good skills on the ground, but he'll have to do a better job of avoiding power shows if he wants to become the UFC Heavyweight champion. As for Hunt, he's now won four in a row and he says he wants a top five opponent. I think that's a very reasonable request because the division isn't very thick and Hunt is on the longest win streak of anyone in the division.

I don't legitimately think that Hunt can make a title run, but he damn sure deserves the chance to prove the doubters wrong. I like Hunt, but he's 38, and I just don't think he can go all the way. Upsets happen all the time, though, and it would be an ever better story than it is now. Hunt's comeback story is great to watch, and I hope he gets a chance to continue it against someone in the top 5 in the heavyweight division.


Great: Wanderlei Silva knocks out Brian Stann

Wanderlei Silva channeled that old-school PRIDE magic and knocked out Brian Stann in a nutso main event. It was a Pier 6, barroom brawl that was crazy intense. Both guys were swinging for the knockout with every punch. Silva lived up to his Axe Murderer nickname again. Stann said that his overaggressiveness lead to his defeat and he's absolutely right. I think Stann got caught up in the moment and it cost him. It's hard to blame Stann too much, though, as the atmosphere was electric. Sometimes you just feel it in the air and you know something's up.

It's hard to say where either guy goes from here. Stann will return to middleweight while Silva will continued to be asked about retirement. I don't think either fighter gains or loses much of anything from this fight. You can't expect Silva to return to his old form, this was a one-off. At the same time, it is fair to expect Stann to implement his gameplan better in his next fight. This was an exciting fight, that's about all you can take from it.

Bad: Yushin Okami fails to impress

Yushin Okami beat Hector Lombard by split decision. A win's a win, but Okami hasn't shown the improvement that he should by now. He did stand with Lombard for a bit, but it's becoming more and more apparent that Lombard was overrated so that diminishes that a bit.

Okami is really good at what he does, but he's very one-dimensional. I've talked before about how guys like that are very limited. They can enjoy some success, but they'll never be champion. Shouldn't that be the main goal of every fighter in the UFC, to be champion? The guys at the top of every single division aren't one-dimensional, they're not content to just be good at one thing. They turn themselves into well-rounded fighters, they always want to keep getting better and better.

I don't see that from guys like this. They're content to just keep doing what they do. They'll win more than they lose, but when it comes to fighting the best fighters in the division, they'll struggle. Their ceiling is that top tier of fighters. If they don't make an effort to better themselves and break through that ceiling, there's not much point to keeping them around. That's a gots-to-go situation. There's always someone trying to take your job out there.

UFC on Fuel 8 was a decent show. It was free so it's hard to dock it too much, but this was really a 2 fight show, Hunt vs. Struve and Silva vs. Stann. I hope the UFC returns to Japan as soon as possible.


Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com