Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC Fight Night 71, Bellator 140, and UFC Fight Night 72
Jul 22, 2015 - 1:35:04 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC Fight Night 71, Bellator 140, and UFC Fight Night 72

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

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

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

UFC Fight Night 71, Bellator 140, and UFC Fight Night 72 were all this past week. Let's get right to it.

UFC Fight Night 71

GOOD: Alan Jouban vs. Matt Dwyer

Jouban had a point deducted for an illegal knee, but it didn't matter as he controlled the fight and hurt Dwyer several times. Jouban was the busier fighter and picked up the decision win.


GOOD: Kevin Lee submits James Moontarsi

Lee picked up a really nice submission win. He slammed Moontarsi down and took his back and it was basically over then. He worked for the submission, and got it. Good win for Lee.


BAD/GOOD: Scott Jorgensen vs. Manvel Gamburyan

This fight was just kind of there. It's a bit of a stretch to call it BAD, but it certainly wasn't all that GOOD. It was a pretty forgettable fight. Gamburyan got the decision win.


BAD: Holly Holm vs. Marion Reneau

Just not a very good fight at all. Holm didn't do nearly as much as I thought she might, but Reneau did way less than that. This was a BAD fight, the less said about it the better. Holm has to show more if she hopes to face UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey anytime soon.


GOOD: Tony Ferguson vs. Josh Thomson

Ferguson dominated this fight, and damn near finished Thomson in the second round. Thomson proved to be too tough to finish, though, so Ferguson had to settle for the decision win. This was a good win for Ferguson, who's looking to make a move in the division. He should get another big name contender in his next fight out.


GOOD: Frank Mir stops Todd Duffee

I didn't know what to expect from Duffee, given the amount of time he's been out of the cage, but Mir continues to surprise with his striking. I thought Mir would take the fight to the ground as Duffee is a hard hitter, but I guess he wanted to test himself on the feet. Well, consider that test aced. Mir just absolutely leveled Duffee with a counter left that was just right on the button. That was beautiful and so well-timed. Mir took some big shots but kept coming. He's got a chin on him, that's for sure.

It's too early to be talking about a title shot for Mir, but with the way his striking has improved it's extremely possible. He's got the power and chin, and if his technique keeps improving, then it seems likely that he gives it a strong run. He should work on his evasion and head movement more, though. It doesn't matter how good your chin is, if you take enough shots, you're going out. That said, this could be very exciting. I love a rebirth story. I love the way that UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum has improved his skillset, and it's possible we're seeing the start of that with Mir.


Bellator 140

GOOD: Michael Page stops Rudy Bears

Some really good striking from Page here. He showed good power and technique. Bears was just overmatched from the beginning and Page finished things about a minute into the first round.


BAD: Chris Honeycutt vs. Paul Bradley

The fight was okay, but an clashing of heads led to this being ruled a No Contest. Meh.


GOOD: Brennan Ward stops Roger Carroll

Another mismatch, as Ward was just too much for Carroll. Ward basically did what he wanted and got the finish about two minutes into the first round. These are more showcase fights, and that's ok to a degree. Too much of it is bad, but a few here and there can bring some excitement to a card.


GOOD: Paul Daley stops Dennis Olson

Daley worked the ground-and-pound a lot in this fight, but he finished things on the feet. He delivered some bigtime punishment to Olson to force the stoppage. It was a solid fight with a brutal ending.


BAD: Douglas Lima vs. Andrey Koreshkov

I don't know, maybe I'm being too hard on this fight, but it was boring and seemed to drag on forever. This was a five-round fight for the Bellator Welterweight Championship which Lima entered as the champion. Koreshkov won the decision, though, and became the new champion. I didn't care much for it, but a friend of mine thought it was all right. Either way, not the best way to end a pretty entertaining card.


UFC Fight Night 72

GOOD: Stevie Ray stops Leonardo Mafra

Mafra was super tough to absorb some big shots from Ray and stay standing, but Ray kept it up and got the finish. Ray stayed on him and dropped him again and kept going until the ref stepped in.


BAD/GOOD: Leon Edwards vs. Pawel Pawlak

The GOOD is for an awesome headkick from Edwards, the BAD is for everything else basically. Edwards was entirely too hesitant. He should have gotten the finish, but he decided to get on the ground with Pawlak. That made zero sense, especially since Edwards was clearly the better striker. Anyhow, nice highlight in a bad fight otherwise.


GOOD: Joanne Calderwood vs. Cortney Casey

Casey hurt Calderwood early in the first round, but Calderwood came storming back in the second and third rounds. Casey was too tough to finish, though, so Calderwood had to settle for the decision win. This was a really good performance from Calderwood, to fight through the early Casey onslaught and pound her down and pick up the win.


GOOD: Joseph Duffy submits Ivan Jorge

Duffy was just too good in all aspects for Jorge. His striking was really good (though Jorge showed some good stuff, too), and his submission skills are very slick. He pulled off the triangle so smoothly to pick up another good win.


BAD: Ross Pearson vs. Evan Dunham

The first round started off well, it had some great moments. The highlight was Pearson's escape from a Dunham submission attempt. He straight-up Houdini'd his way out of that somehow. After that, things faded quickly. The second round was bad, and the third was even worse. Dunham picked up the decision.


BAD: Michael Bisping vs. Thales Leites

This was another fairly boring five-round fight. Leites didn't bother to show up for long stretches of the fight, and Bisping was content to pepper him with jabs and weak punches. Leites did some stuff, but not nearly enough. He seemed like he was preparing for a ten round fight or something. There was no urgency from him at all during the fight. Bisping did his usual stuff, where he hits you over and over until the damage creeps in. This wasn't a good fight at all. Even the Scottish crowd couldn't do anything to save this fight. Not a good way to finish the evening.


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