FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Hyden's Take HYDEN BLOG: Rogers gave glimpse of how Fedor might fare against Brock's size, analysis of top Strikeforce CBS bouts

Nov 9, 2009 - 2:42:34 PM
By Frank Hyden, MMATorch Contributor
I usually rank Jake Shields pretty high on my Welterweight Top 10, but that's because he's good enough at what he does to be able to beat most of his opponents. His ground-game is good enough to overcome his pathetic stand-up. I think I buy into the hype too much, though.

I don't think Shields is the second-best welterweight in the world anymore. However, now that he's the Strikeforce Middleweight champion, that may be a moot point. I damn sure don't think he's a top three middleweight. I might put him at no, 4, but that's more a product of the dearth of great Middleweights out there. Shields is a good fighter, but he's incredibly boring. I generally take the side of "Do what you have to in order to win," but Shields vs. Jason Miller wasn't very fun to watch.

The best part was when Miller had Shields beat, but Jake got saved by the bell. Some groundfighting can be exciting, but not the stuff Shields does. I give Miller credit for trying to make it more exciting, but Jake wasn't having it. It's effective, but you don't want to make people think they're watching Tim Sylvia's younger brother when you fight.

Fabricio Werdum vs. Antonio Silva was good early, but sucked late. They both ran out of gas after the first round.

Gegard Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou was a nice chance for people to see Mousasi if they hadn't before. The fight itself was fairly good. Mousasi showed some good striking and looked like a champion.

The main event was awesome and lived up to the hype. Fedor showed why he's one of the best fighters in the world. Brett Rogers busted up Fedor's nose with a freaking jab. You have to give it to Fedor; he battled back and dropped Rogers with that right from nowhere. He didn't even wind up or anything; he just reached out and tagged Rogers right in the jaw.

You could make a case that the ref should have let Fedor throw a few more punches before jumping in because Rogers was trying to defend himself, but I understand why he stopped it. It's all about safety first. I'm not a big fan of that. I say let's have it be perfectly clear who wins, but I understand why they do it the way they do.

Brett Rogers isn't Brock Lesnar. He may be better in some areas, he might be worse in some areas. However, I do think you can paint a picture of how Fedor would do against a large fighter like Brock. Rogers is almost the same size as Brock, and Fedor was able to handle it. I'm not saying this proves Fedor would beat Brock, but it does kind of shoot some holes in the theory of the size difference playing a huge role in a potential fight between the two.

I think Brett Rogers acquitted himself rather well in this fight. He didn't win, but I could see him possibly beating Fedor if they ever rematch. Yeah, he'd have to be on his game, but it could very well happen. Brett Rogers proved that he belongs in the cage with great fighters.

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