Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 169 "Barao vs. Faber II"
Feb 5, 2014 - 11:40:58 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 169 "Barao vs. Faber II"

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

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

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

The UFC's first pay-per-view event of 2014 hit New Jersey last weekend with UFC 169. Let's get to the breakdown!

UFC 169

GOOD: Abel Trujillo stops Jamie Varner

This was wild and sloppy, but a lot of fun. Varner took the first round, and was getting the better of most of the exchanges. Trujillo was getting his shots in as well, though. Varner rocked Trujillo, but Trujillo countered with a counter hook that put Varner out cold. This had that barroom brawl feel to it. It was really exciting, on a night that needed it.

GOOD: John Lineker vs. Ali Bagautinov

Bagautinov put on a good, solid performance. It wasn't the sort of fight that makes you sit up and say "Wow," but it was good. It's expected that Bagautinov gets the next shot at UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson. I think you make Johnson the big favorite in that fight because he's shown he's the best fighter in the division.

BAD with a little bit of GOOD: Alistair Overeem vs. Frank Mir

At times this fight was GOOD, but it also drug on too long and Overeem should have stopped Mir. That's where the BAD comes from. Mir had absolutely nothing for Overeem. It was another bad performance by Mir. I don't know if he's just getting too old, or if he has some injuries we don't know about, but he's been looking really badly lately. Overeem played it safe, which was smart but also boring.

GOOD: Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas

Aldo is one of the best fighters in the world. Lamas is a really good fighter in his own right, but Aldo is just simply better. That's about as simple as it gets. I would have liked to see more killer instinct from Aldo in this fight, as it was clear that Lamas wasn't going to win. Aldo has said that he's the best fighter in the world and that he wants to break every record. That's a good goal to have, but he needs to show it more. There were times he had advantages over Lamas that he could have done more with, but it's hard to find too much fault with a dominating decision victory.

It looks like UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis is next for Aldo. I don't know what happens with the UFC Featherweight Championship that Aldo will have to vacate, though I think that's the wrong move. I would love to see a guy trying to become a two-division champion. It'll be interesting to see how the UFC resolves the title picture.

GOOD: Renan Barao stops Urijah Faber

Barao showed that he's one of the best fighters in the world with this performance. He dropped Faber over and over, and proved his dominance. The stoppage was odd in its timing, but it wasn't wrong. Barao was clearly winning and would have likely ended the fight for sure later. It's unfortunate that the stoppage happened when it did instead of earlier or later, but that doesn't take away from what Barao was doing. I don't know who's next in line for a title shot, but I do know that Barao will be a huge favorite because he looks almost unstoppable at this point.

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

QUICK HITS

-Anthony "Rumble" Johnson is returning to the UFC to fight Phil Davis at UFC 172. I've always liked Rumble so I'm glad to see him back. Fighting Davis is going to be a big chance for him. If Johnson wins he's only probably one more fight away from getting a chance to fight for the title.

-The Julianna Pena injury is something that doesn't sit well with me. Obviously, we don't know all the details, but I just find it hard to believe that she would suffer such catastrophic injuries from a training accident. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle of what both sides are saying, as it usually is. It'd just be nice if we could find out the truth.


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