Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from World Series of Fighting 11, UFC 175, and the TUF 19 Finale
Jul 9, 2014 - 2:35:57 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from World Series of Fighting 11, UFC 175, and the TUF 19 Finale

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor

World Series of Fighting 11 and UFC 175 were both this past Saturday. Let's get right to it.

World Series of Fighting 11

GOOD: Melvin Guillard vs. Gesias Cavalcante

It's a little bit of a stretch to go GOOD for this, but it was more GOOD than BAD, so here we are. The fight was all right, but nothing special. Guillard did what he wanted, and got the ref stoppage. I was only half paying attention so it looked early to me, but reports online were that it was a good stoppage, so I'll go with that. Besides, I'd rather it be an early stoppage rather than a late one, which we saw later in the card...

GOOD: Cody Bollinger submits Pablo Alfonso

This only went about three minutes, but that was all Bollinger needed to get the submission. Both guys were going for submissions, which was nice to see. Bollinger finally secured the rear-naked choke for the win.

UGLY: Jon Fitch vs. Dennis Hallman

Typical garbage Fitch fight, where he lays on the guy for the entire time. I give Fitch credit for being able to do this to a lot of guys, but you can't win championships like that. You damn sure won't win any fans, either.

GOOD: Justin Gaethje stops Nick Newell

Gaethje landed a few illegal blows in this fight, which detracts some from his performance. He looked great, but it was clear from the outset that Newell was at a severe disadvantage. He couldn't defend his left side effectively, and Gaethje took advantage of that. That's what he should do, though. An illegal Gaethje knee to a grounded Newell is what opened up a big cut on Newell's head, and it's hard to say what that meant to the fight. I'm sure the illegal kick and knee had an effect on the fight, but this was just a mismatch so that gets somewhat mooted. It still stains things, though.

Another thing that really bothered me about this fight was the horrible stoppage. This same ref stepped in when Gesias Cavalcante was getting beaten by Melvin Guillard in what was perhaps a few seconds early, but allows Newell to stumble all around the cage like a drunk after last call? That's just ridiculous. There's a total disconnect there that shouldn't be. I don't know if Newell went to the ref before the fight and told him to let it go, or if some WSOF suits said that to the ref, but that can't be allowed to happen. The ref is there to stop the fighters from taking undue harm. It doesn't matter if it's the first fight of the evening or the last, all stoppages must be treated equally.


UFC 175

BAD: Marcus Brimage vs. Russell Doane

Not much action here. That's actually a bit harsh, as there was some action, but this is pay-per-view. You can't have this stuff on here. Doane won the split decision.

UGLY: Uriah Hall vs. Thiago Santos

This fight was even worse. Hall somehow won the decision, even though he probably lost all three rounds. He lost at least two of them, that's for sure. Hall had some kind of toe injury that looked like the bone was sticking out of the skin. If that's what actually happened, and the fight was allowed to continue, someone needs to be fired. That's inexcusable. A bonus UGLY for Joe Rogan's tone deaf commentary during this fight. I kid you not, at one point he actually said this was the "Uriah Hall Show." If this were a show, it would have been canceled quicker than Hieroglyph was. For those who don't know, Hieroglyph was canceled before it even aired a single episode. I guarantee you that this fight was even worse than that.

GREAT: Ronda Rousey stops Alexis Davis

This fight represented the worst nightmare of every fighter in the division. Ronda Rousey took out Alexis Davis in sixteen seconds. Not with a submission, but with her striking. That's got to make the blood run cold in the rest of the field. The thinking used to be that if you could keep the fight standing that you could beat Rousey. Welp, guess that just went out the window. I'm not saying she's the best striker in the sport or anything, but she did just take out a tough-as-nails opponent in sixteen seconds. That's pretty damn impressive. The sixteen seconds of this fight had more entertainment and excitement in it than the entirety of the thirty minutes of crap action in the two fights preceding it combined.

GOOD: Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida

This fight perfectly encapsulates Machida's career and legacy. Here's a guy who's one of the most talented fighters in MMA history, and he squanders it with performances like this. The first two rounds were a microcosm of Bad Machida. He basically did nothing but backpedal and soft-shoe around, sprinkling a little bit of offense here and there.

In the third round he finally woke up and started exerting some effort. Still not enough effort, though, but it was better than nothing. The fourth round is where he finally came alive and showed us Good Machida. By then it was too damn late, though. Machida had let Weidman get his rhythm going and get comfortable. Machida had to finish here, and he couldn't do it. The fifth round was wild, but it wasn't enough to boost it for me.

For Weidman, it's hard to blame him for being tentative in the early rounds. Machida is a dangerous fighter, and you can't take him lightly. Weidman fought smart, he was trying to finish Machida, he just couldn't. And now he moves on to a new opponent, looking to further his own legacy.

This was a very frustrating fight to watch for the first three rounds. We all know Machida is capable of so much more, yet he chooses to pull this stuff over and over. He's going to end up regretting doing this when his career is over. He's going to look back and say, "Damn, I could have done so much more." This happens all the time in sports, but you don't even have to look far to find another example of this in MMA.

B.J. Penn could have been one of the all-time greats. The natural ability he had is almost unparalleled, but he never worked as hard as he could have. He won titles in two different divisions, something that not many have done. Machida had a chance to win a title in a second division last week, but he decided to sleepwalk through the first few rounds. It's a damn shame to watch this, but we can't be surprised by this anymore. Just as the saying goes, "That's Manny being Manny." you can say, "That's Machida being Machida."


The Ultimate Fighter 19 Finale


GOOD: Dustin Ortiz vs. Justin Scoggins

Very close fight that was also very good. You could easily make an argument for either guy. Ortiz won the decision, but Scoggins did quite well for himself in this fight. Good way to start the main card.

GOOD: Derrick Lewis stops Guno Inocente

There wasn't much going on here until they went to the ground and Lewis pounded Inocente out. Nice power from Lewis.

GOOD: Eddie Gordon stops Dhiego Lima

Gordon got the early finish with a big flurry. He hit Lima in the back of the head quite a few times, but the ref didn't do anything about it. It was a violent finish, though. Gordon wins his weight class on TUF this season.

GOOD: Corey Anderson stops Matt Van Buren

Another quick finish and another one-sided beatdown. Anderson wins his weight class on TUF for this season.

GOOD/BAD/UGLY: Frankie Edgar stops B.J. Penn

This gets the full clean sweep of categories. The GOOD is for how Edgar looked, as he was lively and energetic. The BAD is for how Penn looked, lethargic and slow. The UGLY is for this fight ever being made in the first place. They wasted all this time filming TUF for this? I'm sure there were plenty of people who were hoping to see a return on the old B.J. Penn, but that's just nostalgia. We saw an old B.J. Penn in this fight. Frankie Edgar's not getting any younger, either, so it was just a waste of time to book this fight.

At the same time, though, Edgar has taken a lot of abuse in his fights, so maybe it was a good thing for him to have so much time off. That's really shining a turd, though, because they could have matched him against someone more on his level rather than Penn.

After the fight, Penn retired. That's the right thing to do here, as he just didn't look good at all. Now Penn can retire with his legacy intact, for better or worse.

B.J. Penn's legacy is defined by two things. There's the brilliance of the guy who won a championship in two divisions, something only a rare few can say. However, there's also the unfulfilled potential. When you start talking about the all-time greats, Penn usually isn't among the names you list. Looking at his accomplishments, though, would certainly put him in that category. The natural ability, the raw talent, that Penn had is astounding. For whatever reason, his work ethic and drive just never matched that ability and talent. Just as with Lyoto Machida, I think Penn is going to look back at his career and regret not pushing himself as far as he could.


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