Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 159
May 1, 2013 - 9:50:57 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 159

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

UFC 159 was this past weekend and it was a slightly above average show. I gave the event a 6.0 and that was being very generous. Looking back, I think I over-scored the show for two main reasons: the performances of Pay Healy and Jon Jones. I'll expand on that in the rundown.

GOOD: Pat Healy submits Jim Miller

I'm not saying that Jim Miller is the best lightweight in the world, but the guy is tough as hell and any win over him means something, especially a submission. Here's the list of the guys who have beaten Jim Miller in his career: Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, and now Pat Healy. Only Diaz and Healy have finished Miller. That's pretty damn good company to be in. Miller is one of the gatekeepers to the elite at lightweight so this was an important win for Healy. He's won seven fights in a row, and 10 of his last 11 fights. It's time for Healy to take another step up. He's still a good three strong wins away from a title shot, but at least he's got a path now.

GOOD: Jon Jones finishes Chael Sonnen

This was entirely expected, and anyone who thought Sonnen had a legit chance were just kidding themselves. I'm not talking about those who picked Sonnen on a whim, I'm talking about those who legitimately thought this guy was going to win. I'm fine with picking an upset, but this was one of the biggest mismatches in MMA history. Jones showed why he's one of the best fighters in the world. More on this fight later in the list.

GOOD: Miscellaneous

Just a few quick bits in this section. Sara McMann looked very strong in her first round win over Sheila Gaff. I expect her to make a title run soon. Roy Nelson knocked out Cheick Kongo in the first round as well. If he keeps fighting like this he's going to get a title shot whether Dana White and the UFC want it or not. Finally, Bryan Caraway beat Johnny Bedford on five days notice in what was a very good showing for Caraway.

BAD: Alan Belcher takes a horrible eye poke

There were other eyepokes, but this one deserves a special mention because of Belcher's history. For those who don't know, Belcher had his retina detached years ago and it nearly cost him his sight. To see him take another eyepoke and it start bleeding like it did was just hard to watch. My initial reaction was one that I can't write here, but it was probably the same one everyone else had. The news that Belcher "only" required 8 stitches and suffered no eye damage is why this is in the BAD section instead of the UGLY one.

UGLY: All the eye pokes

Something's got to be done here. That was just horrible. I don't remember if I've ever seen so many eye pokes in one event in my life. It just drug down the show to have it happen so many times. The UFC has requested a rules change regarding a ref stopping the fight without consulting a doctor, but the real issue is trying to prevent the pokes in the first place. They need to start deducting points from guys who stick their fingers out towards their opponent. They're not doing anything other than trying to poke the other guy. There's no reason for a fighter to be standing there with their hand open and fingers pointed towards an opponent.

It's one thing to grab the cage, it's another to poke someone else in the eye. You can do some serious damage that way. I take a very hardline stance on this. The first time you see a guy point his fingers towards an opponent, you warn him. It doesn't matter if no contact has been made, you still get a warning. The second time it happens, a point gets deducted. This will stop the eye pokes real quick, or at least lessen them. Sometimes it's a legitimate accident, but it always has the potential to be a damaging blow so we need to try to prevent as many of them as possible.

UGLY: Jon Jones breaks his toe

This was ugly for two reasons. The first reason was the actual break itself, that was just nasty. If you want to gross yourself out go check out the super slow-mo replay of it. The injury alone is reason enough for it to make the UGLY list, but it also could have lead to the biggest travesty in UFC history. If Jon Jones hadn't finished Chael Sonnen when he did there would have been an injury stoppage and Sonnen would have won the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. That is not a world I would like to visit.

I make no attempts to hide my strong dislike for the character Chael Sonnen plays in interviews and promos and such. However, I would feel this way regardless of who was in this spot. That's not how you want to see someone win or lose a championship. Making it worse would be the BS job we would be feed by the UFC and Sonnen himself, as though he would have deserved it in some way. Again, that is not a world I would want to visit.

****BONUS****

NEUTRAL, possibly GREAT: Chael Sonnen retires, sort of

After the fight, Sonnen gave all credit to Jones and was really harsh on himself. It was refreshing to hear him be real, though he was harder on himself than I thought he would be. Sonnen basically laid the groundwork for a fight with Wanderlei Silva by namedropping him, though it's also possible for him to transition fulltime to broadcasting. The reason I put this in NEUTRAL is I want to see the retirement of the character Sonnen plays. If he wants to keep fighting, I'm all for it. I never want to tell anyone what to do.

The reason I put possibly GREAT is that Sonnen has a lot of potential to be a great broadcaster. What I would love to see happen is Sonnen follow the example of another retired personality who turned into a great announcer.

John Bradshaw Layfield was an insufferable tool throughout his wrestling career, under many different names. He would put up a fuss about having to loss to smaller wrestlers (at least early in his career), and just generally played an arrogant jerk. People loved to see him lose, which wasn't nearly as often as he should have lost. WWE also pushed him harder than they should have, given his limited abilities. Does this sound familiar? Injuries would end JBL's career earlier than he would have retired, though he was getting older so it wasn't as big a deal as it could have been.

An amazing thing happened, though. They put JBL on commentary and he was fantastic. As a matter of fact, fantastic is probably an understatement. JBL was the best announcer not named Jim Ross WWE had. All the energy that JBL used to put towards putting himself over at the expense of others he now directed towards putting others over. He had lost the reason to put himself over so now he became a master of putting others over. It's my hope that Sonnen could do this.

I realize that wrestling is a different beast than MMA is, but I do believe that Sonnen could transition over and become the best announcer the UFC has. Even if Sonnen doesn't throw his full energy into becoming the best announcer he can be, he'll still be much better than any of the alternatives. All the years that he's worked on his mic skills would reap big rewards for him and the UFC. If he wants, Sonnen can pick the spot he wants in the announce position and just take it. Of course, he could decide that he still wants to fight for a few more years and that would be fine with me. I'd have no problem waiting a few years for this Chael Sonnen.

Ed. note: This article was submitted prior to Chael Sonnen announcing he would not retire.

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