Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 104 and UFC 166
Oct 23, 2013 - 11:50:53 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 104 and UFC 166

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor

Bellator 104 and UFC 166 took place this past week. Let's get right to it.

Bellator 104

BAD: Eric Prindle vs. Peter Graham

Both guys gassed hard, and that always leads to bad fights. They were moving like they were chest-deep in mud. They get credit for trying, but that's about it. Graham got the decision, but it wasn't pretty. Still, a win's a win, I guess.

GOOD: Kendall Grove vs. Joe Vedepo

Grove got the decision here, and I have to go GOOD here because it wasn't a bad fight. Both guys were trying, and they remained active throughout, so there's that. I thought Grove looked fairly good here.

GOOD: Ron Keslar submits War Machine

Keslar was all over War Machine from the start. He kept trying for the submission, before finally locking in the rear-naked choke. A great win for Keslar that raises his profile.

GOOD: Rick Hawn vs. Brent Weedman

Hawn got the decision here because he outworked Weedman. Both guys were working hard, and Weedman showed some good striking, but Hawn was the better fighter tonight. Hawn showed good striking of his own, he also showed good defensive fighting. That lead to him getting the win.


UFC 166

GOOD: Fox Sports 1 prelim fights

I'm including the prelims because there's a few things I want to hit on. Hector Lombard knocked out Nate Marquardt in impressive fashion to stay alive in the UFC. Marquardt is likely out, but Lombard saved himself with this performance. Of course, he's still on the chopping block if he doesn't keep it up. He has to keep fighting like this. I'm not a believer just yet, I want to see Lombard do this again, but this could be the start of Lombard's resurgence.

A fight that I would actually consider GREAT came from Jessica Eye earning a close split decision win over Sarah Kaufman. This was a very good fight. Kaufman had Eye hurt badly a few times in the third round, and damn near finished her, but Eye battled back and got the win. This was a razor thin margin of victory here that could have easily gone to Kaufman. I really liked this fight, I loved the effort of both women here.

UGLY: C.B. Dollaway eyepokes Tim Boetsch twice

Boetsch picked up the win by decision here. The fight itself would probably be considered GOOD, although it was pretty sloppy at times. What turns the fight into UGLY was Dollaway poking Boetsch in the eyes twice on purpose. Those weren't accidents, there's no way. Dollaway had his fingers extended towards Boetsch as though he were a warlock casting a spell or getting ready to shoot lightning out of his fingers. There's no way that's an accident. That's like foot stomping a guy and then saying you weren't trying to break his toes.

I understand it's gamesmanship, it's like flopping or trying to draw fouls or whatever. Well, I hate flopping, but at least you're not putting someone in serious danger. When you extend your fingers out like that, you can do major damage to your opponent's eye. You can ask Alan Belcher or Michael Bisping what they think about eye pokes. There's many others as well. What Dollaway did was absolutely reprehensible. That's just as bad as what Roushimar Palhares did, if not worse.

UGLY: Joe Rogan defends eyepokes, blames gloves

Quite frankly, I can't put my exact thoughts on this here because they would never make air. Rogan blames the gloves for the eye pokes, and that's absolute garbage. The only proof you need as to what's the real culprit here is the fact that every fighter in the UFC wears the same style gloves, yet a tiny percentage ever commit eye pokes. I would love to ask Rogan how he reconciles that information with what he was spewing on commentary Saturday night.

If the gloves are truly to blame, then why don't we see eye pokes more often? What Dollaway did was horrible, as it was when Kevin Burns did the same to Anthony Johnson years ago, and plenty of other guys have done over the years. That's horrible, and deserving of scorn. However, you could make the argument that Rogan is just as bad for condoning such behavior, and blaming the gloves. Rogan's broadcast partner Mike Goldberg deserves a BAD for not calling Rogan on his BS.

Dollaway needs to suspended for three months, a token punishment because he's not likely to fight for at least three months anyway. However, if he does this again, he's suspended for one year. One more time is a lifetime ban. Also, the UFC should make it clear that from now on, these type of eye pokes will be met with a six month suspension, followed by a lifetime ban for a second offense. They need to get this out of the sport, you can end someone's career doing this. And now, onto the pay-per-view

GREAT: John Dodson knocks out Darrell Montague

Dodson looked fantastic as he showed his power. Montague is a tough guy, and Dodson just took him out. Anytime you stop a guy in the first round that's impressive. Dodson is making his way back into title contention, and he's doing so in a big way.

GREAT: Gabriel Gonzaga knocks out Shawn Jordan

This was quick, and vicious. There's really not much else to say because Gonzaga got the knockout as soon as he started throwing. I hope Gonzaga can build on this and make his way back to title contention. This was a really good start.

GREAT: Gilbert Melendez dominates Diego Sanchez

This was a ridiculous fight. I'm still wondering how Sanchez was able to make it to the end of the fight. Melendez laid waste to Sanchez, but couldn't secure the finish and had to settle for the decision. If you haven't seen this fight, you should go watch it now because it's that good. The pace was intense, and the action was relentless. At one point Sanchez was almost able to pull off the upset, but Melendez dominated the rest of the fight. Sanchez showed incredible toughness as he absorbed a superhuman ass-kicking.

GOOD: Daniel Cormier vs. Roy Nelson

I didn't think this fight was GOOD, but I couldn't give it a BAD. It was somewhere in between, honestly. I've been thoroughly unimpressed with Cormier in his two UFC fights. Just like his fight with Frank Mir, it was pretty obvious early that Cormier is on a different level than Nelson is. My problem is that Cormier didn't do much with it. I expect a lot from guys who claim to be title contenders, and we're not getting that from Cormier. It doesn't help him, though, that he was sandwiched between the Melendez-Sanchez fight and the main event.

GREAT- Cain Velasquez proves he's the best heavyweight in the world

Heading into this fight, I thought that Junior dos Santos would pose a challenge to Cain, but that Velasquez would ultimately win by decision. JDS was able to do some stuff to Velasquez, but it was plainly obvious that Cain is the best heavyweight in the world. He should have gotten the stoppage earlier in the third round, but I'm sure he'll take the fifth round stoppage he got. Referee Herb Dean made a big mistake by not stopping the fight in the third round. All that happened was JDS got his ass kicked for a few more rounds.

Velasquez respected the power of JDS, and you could make the argument that he respected it too much, but he didn't want to get caught again. I'm always in favor of guys going for the throat, but it's not like Cain was coasting. He did an excellent job and showed he's the best.


Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank