Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC Fight Night 34, plus Chris Weidman on Anderson Silva
Jan 8, 2014 - 11:25:24 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC Fight Night 34, plus Chris Weidman on Anderson Silva

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

The UFC's first event on "UFC Fight Pass," UFC Fight Night 34, took place last weekend from Singapore. I'll be perfectly honest, I didn't watch this live as it was on early in the morning here. Regardless, I was able to watch the majority of the event so I'll do an abbreviated The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

GOOD: Kyung Ho Kang submits Shunichi Shimizu

Kang looked really dominant in this fight. It was his fight from the start. Thankfully the horrible referee didn't mess everything up for him. He had to get the finish, though, thanks to that incompetent fool.

UGLY: Steve Perceval

This was the referee in the aforementioned Kang fight. Perceval deducted two points for illegal elbows with no warning. That's just a terrible call there. Then, on top of that, he totally blew an incredible easy stoppage during the Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Sean Soriano fight. Kawajirii had Soriano in a rear-naked choke, Soriano tapped, but Perceval didn't even move despite being right freaking there. How he could have missed that is beyond me. Soriano got choked out because of this guy. How are you allowed to keep your job when you're this bad at it? That's just horrible.

GOOD: Tatsuya Kawajiri submits Sean Soriano

Both guys looked really good at times during this fight. Kawajiri showed that he's got the potential to be a legit contender. This was a good fight marred by a horrible referee.

BAD: Tarec Saffiedine vs. Hyun Gyu Lim

This never should have gone to decision. Saffiedine should have gotten the finish but he decided to coast. When guys do stuff like that it makes you wish that they'd find a way to lose somehow. I just can't get behind that type of fighting.

*************

Chris Weidman had some recent comments about Anderson Silva and they really make him look bad. Weidman said that he'd feel bad if he fought Silva again and that it wouldn't even be a fair fight. Quite frankly, this makes him sound awful. And this isn't just confined to Weidman himself, his whole camp has this kind of air about them. Every comment they'd made about this fight has been condescending. To be blunt, he comes off as only slightly better than Johny Hendricks did after his fight with Georges St. Pierre, with the whining and persecution complex. And that's only because Weidman won. Here's the problem that I have with this, and I can sum it up with three simple words:

Have some class.

The only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner. This is especially true when it comes to elite veterans. Regardless of where you place Anderson Silva on the all-time list, he's got to be in the top five. I consider him to the greatest, but that's me. I don't think it's right to be so dismissive, especially for a guy who hasn't done as much. As I've said before, Weidman's story is just beginning. He doesn't have the track record to be making such comments. Even if he did, though, I still don't think these are things you should say. This is like Kyrie Irving burning Kobe Bryant or LeBron James and talking trash.

This would be like Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts beating Tom Brady and the New England Patriots this weekend and then talking trash by saying it wouldn't be fair to play them again. I guarantee you that there's exactly zero chance of that happening. If the Colts beat the Patriots, Luck will have nothing but effusive praise for Brady. Why? Because that's showing class. That's what you do. You need to respect the history of the sport you compete in, and those who have come before you.

Now, it's certainly possible that Weidman misspoke or didn't put his thoughts out there in the right fashion, but if this is true he really needs to learn how to speak better. However, considering comments made by Ray Longo and Matt Serra after and during the fight perhaps Weidman is the classy one amongst that group? One final thing, I really hate seeing the bogus non-apology apology, as Serra gave this week. That "I'm sorry if any member of Anderson Silva's family was offended" stuff is such junk. You might as well be saying, "I'm sorry anyone heard me say that." How about apologizing for even saying that in the first place? Again, show some class.


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