Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 186
Apr 29, 2015 - 12:30:51 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 186

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

UFC 186 was this past weekend. It was a record-breaking event in one regard, but I'll get to that later. Let's start the rundown.

UFC 186

GOOD: Thomas Almeida stops Yves Jabouin

Almeida is a young up-and-comer who remains undefeated, and he showed why in this fight as he unleashed hell on Jabouin. His striking was really good and crisp. He showed good power as well. This was a very good fight and makes you want to see Almeida again.

GOOD: John Makdessi stops Shane Campbell

Campbell was doing really well until Makdessi connected with some power shots to end things. Campbell got dropped and turtled up and Makdessi forced the stoppage by aggressively throwing punches until the ref stepped in. Good fight, Campbell looked pretty good for taking the fight in short notice.

GOOD: Michael Bisping vs. CB Dollaway

Bisping was doing his usual work in the first round until Dollaway dropped him. Dollaway wasn't aggressive enough, though, and Bisping was able to survive. The second and third rounds were your usual Bisping rounds, him connecting on a ton of punches that don't do much individually but start to add up after a while. Bisping won the decision, but I'm not sure where he goes from here. Whether you like Bisping or not, the odds are that he's not ever going to get close to a title shot. At this stage of his career it's just not likely to happen. I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it's certainly improbable.

As for future opponents, I talked about this with a friend and he suggested Lyoto Machida. I think that's a great idea. It's a name opponent for each and it's definitely interesting. I think this would be a great addition to a UFC on Fox card or it could easily be the headliner on a UFC Fight Night card.

BAD: Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonaldo

The first round was fairly interesting, but it fell off quickly after that. The second and third rounds got progressively worse in terms of action. Even the crowd was booing, and I didn't think they'd boo Rampage in his UFC return. This fight deserved it, though. We were all expecting action, but Maldonaldo tried to slow things down. Probably not the best career move for him. The UFC will keep exciting fighters around for a while even if they keep losing but if you're not exciting you had better win often.

BAD/GOOD: Demetrious Johnson submits Kyoji Horiguchi

First things first, Johnson submitted Horiguchi with an armbar with one second left. That's amazing, and it's awesome that he was trying for the submission so late in the fight. It's a record that can't be broken, though I did discuss this with people and it's possible that a referee would stop a fight just as time expires in the fifth round, but I think in that case they would just call the stoppage at 4:59 of the fifth round or just go to the scorecards. Anyhow, there was some problems with this win.

Johnson showed his skill again throughout this fight, as he controlled Horiguchi and dominated him throughout. He also showed why he's the worst drawing champion in UFC history, though. Some of it is the weight issue. There's just some people out there who don't want to watch flyweights. That only accounts for some of the apathy, though, with regards to him. Most people will watch a fighter no matter his size, if he's exciting or at least somewhat interesting to watch.

When you combine a smaller fighter with a boring fighting style, you get a major problem. Plenty of heavyweight fights suck, and are incredibly boring. However, there's always the possibility of a sudden finish, at least early in the fight before they blow their gas tank. You don't get that sense with Johnson, that he can end the fight at any moment. He's all about methodically taking you apart piece by piece. The skill level is tremendous, Johnson is one of the most talented fighters of all-time, but something doesn't seem to click. Johnson is fully capable of ending fights early, he's done it before, but you never get that sense that it could happen at any time. Johnson's fighting style is such that a lot of people don't consider it must-see. It takes loads of talent to do what he does, but not a lot want to see it.

My biggest complaint with Johnson is that he doesn't always try to win every moment that he can. Too often, he seems content to get a guy down and start grinding away at him instead of trying to finish him. There were moments in this fight where Johnson seemingly could have stopped Horiguchi earlier. If he had pushed forward and been more aggressive, he could have stopped him sooner. Again, no one is saying that Johnson should get reckless and take chances, but if you've got a guy down and can put him away by trying, it becomes a source of great frustration for fans when you don't do that.

Regardless, though, Johnson is without a doubt one of the best fighters around. I like him, and I want to trumpet him more, but that becomes more difficult when a lot of people don't like watching him fight. Maybe he just needs more of a challenge? If John Dodson beats Zach Makovsky at UFC 187 next month, he'll certainly bring enough of a challenge to force Johnson to work his hardest if he wants to win. That's a fight I definitely want to see.


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