THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
After last night’s spectacle in the main event title fight, the biggest question on every fans mind is “what’s next for Anderson Silva?” Having already laid claim to the middleweight division, he has competed at light-heavy and recently set his sights on the welter and heavyweight classes as well. But with Dana White expressing concern after some of his performances against lesser competitors everyone’s left wondering if Zuffa will even let him compete against other division champs.
What could possibly be mentioned about the main event that hasn’t already been said? To me, Anderson Silva looked bored, at times standing completely still with hands below his hips showing no respect for his opponent and he really looked like he wanted to embarrass Maia, though why he never really committed to finishing the fight is beyond me.
Hell, Silva wasn’t even winded at the end of a five-rounder. I do think he was trying to send a message to Joe Silva and Dana White to stop feeding him outmatched opponents, almost as if to say, “Look what happens when you don’t challenge me, I play down to my competition and don’t even challenge myself.” We can only hope the Zuffa brass don’t continue making this same mistake and allow The Spider to pursue titles at welterweight, light-heavy and heavyweight, while a legitimate contender becomes established at middleweight.
This transitions nicely to the co-main event where Frankie Edgar pulled off the upset of the century, out-pointing lightweight champ B.J. Penn. While I hope Penn doesn’t make any excuses for his loss as everyone online has already done so for him (knee injury, bad decision etc.) it almost looked like Penn didn’t take his challenger seriously either. Not to take anything away from Edgar, because this was probably his best performance to date implementing the perfect gameplan of sticking and moving, but I wonder if Penn was unprepared and out of shape for this fight.
The last couple rounds especially he just looked haggard and worn-down. And while I was surprised by the decision, like everyone, because of the fact that I really believe a Champion needs to be decisively beaten (Lyoto Machida) you could easily argue that Edgar looked better as the fight went further.
Edgar also looked like he put on a lot of muscle for this fight without losing any of his speed and I have to congratulate him on winning when nobody, including myself, gave him any chance at all. This upset is actually a great thing for the UFC’s lightweight division as it finally brings some much-needed change and stimulation to a fairly stagnant weight class. Kenny Florian should get his shot at Edgar’s belt next, while B.J. needs to beat Gray Maynard before being allowed a rematch for the title.
Even though looking very comfortable on his feet and peppering Matt Hughes with crisp punches in the first round, Renzo Gracie was only as good as his gas tank lasted. At 43 years of age the aging warrior looked exhausted by the end of the second as an ingenious gameplan by Hughes was put in effect. Starting off with leg kicks early, genius because nobody, including Renzo, was expecting a crafty Matt Hughes to throw leg kicks, he eventually wore down the Gracie and was even knocking him down with those heavy shins.
This strategy was very deceptive because I can’t recall Hughes ever having thrown a kick in his entire career and it proved effective as it wore down the older fighter. This setup some hard boxing combinations as a fresh Hughes took over the standup in the third and forced the TKO stoppage in the last half minute of the fight.
Watching this fight I also realized what was at stake. It was quite obviously a matchup of technique (Renzo) versus athleticism (Hughes). While Renzo is probably the better technical grappler, and looked like a better striker before tiring out, Hughes possesses that unbelievable wrestler work ethic. His physique just looked bigger, properly cutting weight allowed him to use his size to his advantage while his cardio is what really won the fight.
Respect has to be given (especially by me as I’m always critical of lackluster wrestling performances) to the raw power that the Greco-Roman sport has infused into MMA. Much in the same way I always found it easier to chase a ball through years of soccer and lacrosse practice, I absolutely hated simply running laps to get in shape.
Most fighters enjoy rolling on the mat and hitting bags, but the intense power-lifting routines, hardcore weight-cuts and insane cardio workouts that wrestlers are notorious for can really be a recipe for disaster. Matt Hughes once again showed that technique can be bested by strength and fitness, and props have to be given to him for his come from behind victory.
Other great action from UFC 112 included well-deserved Fight of the Night bonuses to Kendall Grove and Mark Munoz for their back and forth battle that saw slick submission attempts by Grove in the first, only to be countered by vicious ground and pound from Munoz in the second.
I actually thought the Submission of the Night honors should have gone to Phil Davis with his beautiful anaconda choke that finished Alexander Gustaffson, but Rafael Dos Anjos’ textbook armbar upset over Terry Etim was sick and certainly deserving of a bonus in its own right.
Dos Anjos effectively neutralized the taller Brit’s reach by taking side control and mount to get past the long legs of Etim. He setup his armbar with punches and elbows first and transitioned from a kimura keylock hold to end Terry Etim’s meteoric rise to power and establish himself firmly in the UFC by finishing his opponent with outstanding jiu-jitsu.
RELATED STORY: Penick's detailed UFC 112 event report with star ratings and analysis: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
This article initially stated Vitor Belfort was in the corner of Anderson Silva at UFC 112 but the author was mistaken.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP