FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Matthew's Take MATTHEW: The Chopping Block - UFC 115 edition (and why Yves Lavigne should be fired)

Jun 15, 2010 - 2:04:30 PM

By: Sam Matthew, MMATorch Columnist

It’s that time again as fallout from the weekend’s UFC 115 event is upon us. Featuring a win or go home main event between Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell as well as a similar last chance co-main event for Mirko Cro Cop and Pat Barry, this week’s edition of The Chopping Block focuses on these headline bouts as well as the undercard, and includes critiques of both judges and referees.

Directly following his come-from-behind, submission of the night victory over Pat Barry, Cro Cop fans were excitedly whispering about the legend returning to the Octagon soon with a new UFC contract, this particular fight having been the last on his contract. However, Cro Cop himself has mentioned retiring from the game on a highpoint, not a bad idea considering the kind of damage he took from some of the other Top 10 heavyweights the UFC has on their roster. I actually like the idea of Cro Cop leaving with a win under his belt, something he can feel good about instead of being plagued by the need to go out with a victory, something the likes of Kevin Randleman and Chuck Liddell have been desperately attempting at the decline of their health.

Speaking of Chuck, “The Iceman” can finally hang up his gloves and leave the UFC, though unfortunately for him, not exactly holding his head up high like Cro Cop. The guy is in his 40s, he’s weathered some serious punishment over his career, and his recent string of knockout losses just goes to show how weak his chin has truly become. The punch that put him out this time was actually a short right hook that didn’t even look like it landed flush, more of an awkward-angle glancing blow that he ran into as he mistakenly charged in aggressively thinking he had Franklin hurt. The ultimate counter striker got countered one too many times, and to be honest, he’s lucky he wasn’t carried out of his last UFC fight on a stretcher.

Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald put on a fight of the night and I guarantee both fighters will be back in the UFC. MacDonald not only controlled Condit for the first two rounds of their bout, but he’s also a Canadian fan favorite, and we all know how much the UFC loves to protect their valued foreign fighters in the UK and Canada because of the large fan base they bring with them. Condit earns himself a step up in competition and I’d like to see him square off with Mike Swick, another well-rounded fighter on the verge of breaking into the Top 10.

Another foreign competitor likely to be protected by Zuffa management because of his marketability to the much-needed German crowd is Peter Sobotta, who lost a unanimous decision to James Wilks as an underdog but still lasted much longer than anybody gave him credit. Even I tagged Wilks to send Sobotta out with a first round TKO and Sobotta likely impressed the UFC with his durability in lasting the distance.

Gilbert Yvel may very well find himself on The Chopping Block for his lack of any wrestling game, which allowed Ben Rothwell to take him down at will, pass guard and generally control from top position in what proved to be a boring affair. Oddly enough I actually scored the fight a draw with a 10-8 second round going to Yvel because of the massive amounts of damage he dropped on a downed Rothwell. If referee Yves Lavigne hadn’t been booed for prematurely stopping the Danzig/Wiman fight earlier that night (see below), the usually meek Lavigne would have undoubtedly stopped that fight in the last couple minutes with Yvel raining down heavy hammers to a dazed Rothwell.

For me, the ultimate factor deciding who wins a round/fight is how much damage was dealt - not control. Anyone watching that fight could pretty easily tell that Yvel hurt his opponent a lot more even while being almost constantly out-grappled. Though I’ve been pushing for a rematch between Yvel and Cheick Kongo (YouTube that fight; it happened overseas a few years ago and almost nobody knows about it) that would actually be a bad matchup with Kongo able to easily use his newfound wrestling to win. Come to think of it, there’s only one UFC heavyweight that would NOT exploit Yvel’s weakness on the ground, and that’s Pat Barry.

So maybe Pat Barry and Gilbert Yvel get one last chance against each other because it’s probably the only decent matchup for either fighter, both of whom have shown extremely weak grappling skills that won’t get very far in the wrestling-oriented style the UFC has become known for.

For me, the story of the night was Martin Kampmann’s upset over Paulo Thiago. While not destroying the Brazilian policeman, Kampmann absolutely controlled the fight no matter where it went. Both standing and on the ground, the Danish kickboxer proved he belongs in the Top 10, if not Top 5 in the rankings with a dominant performance over Thiago, threatening with chokes on the ground while controlling position and using fast, technical striking to land punishment on the feet while avoiding the wild, heavy hands of his opponent.

I’d love to see Kampmann fight Thiago Alves, but with his next fight likely to be a third attempt at a rematch with Jon Fitch, expect to see “The Hitman” square off against Dan Hardy in what could potentially be a Fight of the Night (or Year). Thiago drops in the standings for a rematch with Swick, though I’d love to see him welcome Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz back to the UFC.

With Evan Dunham’s win over Tyson Griffin, expect the fast-rising star to face a Top 5 guy, maybe Gray Maynard if he loses his upcoming match against Kenny Florian. Poor Griffin is quickly becoming the working horse of the UFC’s lightweights and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get an easy rebound fight welcoming some young undefeated hot shot to the UFC.

David Loiseau is one fighter that was cut for his continued lack of progress on his grappling as Mario Miranda outclassed and likely sent him out of the Octagon for good.

Ricardo Funch finds himself treading thin ice after a submission loss to the debuting and highly-promising Claude Patrick, his second in a row and probably enough to send him packing.

After Jesse Lennox’s defeat due to Mike Pyle’s triangle choke, I’m not sure where he stands. I think the UFC will probably give Lennox one last shot and the former WEC prospect will probably shine with the pressure really on him to perform. Pyle sticks around to face some tougher competition but I just don’t see the wily old vet making a title run at this point in his career.

Now for the most important cut that needs to be made, one that is absolutely necessary in my opinion. Referee Yves Lavigne. Get the hell out of the Octagon and go back to the amateur circuit where you belong. I can’t stand these bandwagon fans that have been protecting this moron through mistake after mistake after mistake. How many times can you f*** up and still have people saying, “Oh, come on, it’s a hard job.” Yeah, so is construction and people get fired if they screw up over and over again. For some reason, once MMA refs are in, its like they’ve got a tenure and are set for life, not only that, but are even in high demand!

Yves Lavigne is infamous throughout the industry for early stoppages. Everybody could clearly see this on Saturday night as he halted Matt Wiman’s guillotine choke on Mac Danzig and gave a premature victory to a distraught Wiman. Danzig was simply defending the choke, even lifting his right hand to give Lavigne a sign he was okay when requested. This is just poor refereeing and in my opinion should be punishable, at least by a fine amounting to the losing fighters win bonus and paid to that figher, but preferably in the manner accustomed to the real world, where people get fired for doing a bad job.

This is not the first time Lavigne has messed up as I remember watching an old IFL fight where Lavigne stopped the bout because one fighter was locked in a choke and briefly slapped his open hand down once, but not multiple times as you technically should to tapout, and Lavigne stopped the fight. Realizing the fighter didn’t actually tap, he simply restarted the fight standing and pretty much screwed over the fighter who had the choke locked on tight, who went on to lose the bout and keep Bas Rutten’s Anacondas out of a deserved finale.

Another early stoppage from Lavigne occurred in Martin Kampmann’s bout with Paul Daley as the idiotic ref called a TKO win for Daley with Kampmann still on his feet despite taking heavy shots from the British punk. I’ve never ever seen a standing TKO and probably never will, unless Lavigne is kept around. While the competitor’s safety is and should be the referee’s primary concern, they need to remember this isn’t golf, it’s a fight and should be treated as such. While many fans have complained about late stoppages, I’ve never seen or heard of a fighter doing so and would imagine they prefer late stoppages over early ones.

And while I’m on a tirade, get rid of the frickin’ moron judge who gave Tyson Griffin two rounds in his split decision loss to Evan Dunham. There's no way in hell that anyone can even argue a case for Griffin winning a single round of that fight. Bad judging and bad refereeing are going to be the downfalls of this sport (in addition to greedy promoters) and I honestly hope it doesn’t go the way boxing has.

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