Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 121 and UFC Fight Night 42; and Jones-Gustafsson 2
Jun 11, 2014 - 11:35:09 AM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 121 and UFC Fight Night 42; and Jones-Gustafsson 2

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Both Bellator 121 and UFC Fight Night 42 took place this past weekend. Let's get right to it.

Bellator 121

BAD: Egidijus Valavicius vs. Carlos Eduardo

This fight was pretty bad. Valavicius won the split decision. There's not a whole lot to say because there wasn't a whole lot to the fight.

GOOD: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou submits Terry Davinney

Sokoudjou was just the better fighter. You could probably say that he walked through Davinney, but Davinney did have some offense. Not much, as the fight ended in about four minutes, but he did a little.

GOOD: James Thompson stops Eric Prindle

Thompson got the quick takedown and then just pounded the hell out of Prindle, who just took it and turtled. I think the fight was about two minutes, so it wasn't very long. Total mismatch.

GOOD: Steve Garcia stops Cody Walker

Garcia got the knockout early in this one. This was a prelim fight they aired due to some of the main card fights ending early.

GOOD: Philipe Lins submits Austin Heidlage

This was another short fight. Lins got the early takedown and took Heidlage's back. From there it was just a matter of time before he got the choke locked in.

GOOD: Ray Sloan submits Jamelle Jones

Another prelim fight they aired due to the quickness of the card. Sloan submits Jones very quickly. Nice work by Sloan.


UFC Fight Night 42

GOOD: Bryan Caraway submits Erik Perez

The mile high altitude contributed to this fight being too slow-paced to be much of anything. It wasn't BAD of course, but it wasn't very GOOD. Nonetheless, Caraway worked for the submission and got it, I give him credit for that.

BAD: Piotr Hallman submits Yves Edwards

Again, the altitude contributes to this fight slowing way down the longer it went. Normally I give automatic GOOD scores to any fight that ends with a submission or knockout, but this whole fight just rubbed me the wrong way. Hallman with two eyepokes and Edwards with one, and they all took place in the first round and a half or so. No point deductions. Then, Hallman gets warned for down elbows and strikes to the back of the head. No point deductions there is fine, but referee Mario Yamasaki needed to take points for eyepokes.
I don't know, maybe the fight was better than I'm giving it credit for, but the snail pace after a good first round just dragged it down for me.

GOOD: Rafael dos Anjos stops Jason High

Dos Anjos is just a better fighter. High fought very well, and he had his chances, but he couldn't capitalize on them. High made it very interesting, but it was just a matter of time before dos Anjos finished him. I should point out that dos Anjos poked High in the eye during the fight as well. Something needs to be done about this crap.

GREAT: John Dodson stops John Moraga

That first round was fantastic work from Dodson. He slowed in the second. I'm not sure if he was trying to bait Moraga or was getting tired, but I'd bet that it was likely he was trying to bait him. I know they were at altitude, but I can't imagine Dodson was that tired. Dodson was on his game; he looked strong, his footwork was great, and his speed was incredible as always.

The fight actually was ended in between the second and third rounds. At the end of the second Dodson had landed a combo and a thunderous knee to Moraga's face that plastered his nose. Blood was everywhere after that one. Dodson has to get the next title shot after this performance. UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson is fighting Ali Bagautinov at UFC 174 this weekend, and Dodson will almost assuredly get the winner. Dodson and Bagautinov are campmates, but I think Johnson wins against Bagautinov and makes that a moot point for now.

GOOD/UGLY: Ross Pearson vs. Diego Sanchez

Pearson controlled this entire fight. Sanchez had nothing for him. At times, he looked confused out there, like he didn't know what he was doing. Pearson worked the body very well, which got Sanchez to drop his hands. Pearson knocked down Sanchez, and just generally beat him up around the cage. That was the GOOD, Pearson had Sanchez's number throughout the fight. However, the judges saw it differently. That's where the UGLY comes in.

One judge gave the fight to Pearson 30-27. Makes sense since Pearson controlled things. The problem is with the other judges. One judge gave it to Sanchez 29-28. I don't see how this is possible, to be quite honest. I don't think you can make an argument that Sanchez won one round, let alone two. The other judge had the inconceivable score or 30-27 Sanchez. How in the hell can you justify that score? To say that Sanchez won all three rounds is a load of garbage. I don't see how anyone can say that they scored the fight that way.

GOOD: Benson Henderson submits Rustam Khabilov

Henderson was much more aggressive than he normally is because he had no fear of Khabilov's striking. He had no reason to be cautious of it, to be quite honest. Khabilov has some pretty bad striking. He has the wrestling, but that's largely it. Henderson was more reckless than I thought was necessary, but at least he was aggressive. Henderson had a gameplan and he executed it pretty well.

BAD: Altitude

A bonus BAD for the altitude, which sapped the energy from some of these fights. This event was about 5,300 feet above sea level. The UFC should be careful to not have too many events in cities like this. It's nothing against Albuquerque, but when guys are gassing hard it's not exactly the most viewer-friendly card ever.

The reason I bring this up is because UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez will defend his title against Fabricio Werdum in November at UFC 180 in Mexico City. The altitude there is almost 8,000 feet. I understand the UFC wants to capitalize on the Latino drawing power of Velasquez and Werdum, but I really don't think a fight between two heavyweights should take place at 8,000 feet. Yeah, both guys have good cardio for heavyweights, but that's not saying much. I think it's asking a lot for guys that size to fight at such a high altitude. I think it's really going to hurt the fight, which is for a title.

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

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones is officially scheduled to meet Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 178 in September. Jones was playing some head games with Gustafsson and Daniel Cormier before signing the contract to fight Gustafsson. I don't think that kind of stuff is too effective, especially considering the time delay until he would fight either man, but I guess it gives people something to talk about.

I'm just excited to see how Jones responds to fighting the man who was his toughest challenge, without question. Gustafsson fought very well against Jones the first time. Can he replicate that performance, or was that a one-off where he capitalized on weaknesses in the strategy Jones has employed? Now that Jones knows what Gustafsson can do, how does that change things? Does it change things? Is it inevitable that Gustafsson dethrones Jones? Or will Jones respond like a champion and make a statement by finishing Gustafsson?

This is like a different version of what happened when UFC Bantamweight Champion T.J. Dillashaw dethroned Renan Barao. I can't wait to see Barao work his way back to a title shot, to see what will be different the second time they fight. When great fighters are faced with adversity, the drama ratchets up and we often get some of the greatest moments in sports history. Just as I can't wait to see Dillashaw-Barao 2, I can't wait to see Jones-Gustafsson 2


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