Penick's Take
PENICK'S UFC 152 NOTEBOOK: Jon Jones survives adversity, Bisping and Swanson impress, and more
Sep 23, 2012 - 10:35:21 PM PENICK'S UFC 152 NOTEBOOK: Jon Jones survives adversity, Bisping and Swanson impress, and more

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC's first event in 42 days ended in dramatic fashion, as Vitor Belfort very nearly pulled off a wildly improbable upset over Jon Jones in the night's main event. A new Flyweight Champion was also crowned, and Michael Bisping had one of his best all-around fights inside the Octagon. That, along with an exciting preliminary card, gives us a lot to get through on tonight's event notebook:

--Vitor Belfort deserves a lot of credit for giving his all despite being massively out-classed by Jon Jones. He made the fight so much more dramatic than anyone could have guessed by nearly pulling off that armbar. He injured Jones' arm, and had the Champ a bit wary to engage on the ground for a short time. Still, despite that brief moment of shock, the fight was still all Jones. He wasn't at his best, and yet he was still quite clearly the better fighter throughout. Belfort wanted to find Jones at the right time, but it never came once the armbar failed, and Jones' Americana was doubly sick after surviving the tight hold earlier in the fight.

--The Flyweight Championship bout was simply not that entertaining of a fight. You can appreciate Demetrious Johnson's ability to avoid punishment, but that doesn't make it fascinating to watch. I had Benavidez winning the fight, pressing the pace, landing strikes, and doing damage, but Johnson's avoidance throughout played to his favor. Of course, Benavidez came closest to finishing the fight, but Johnson walks away with another potentially questionable decision win under his belt. One thing's for sure, based on the reaction to the fight, the Flyweight Title won't be taken seriously as a pay-per-view headliner for some time.

--Michael Bisping looked very good against Brian Stann, perhaps the best fight he's had in the UFC. He was the superior technical striker, but he mixed in takedowns and kept Stann off guard throughout the three round fight. Stann had a moment late in the first round where his power came through, and he sent Bisping reeling, but it was too late in the round, and he couldn't repeat it later in the fight. Bisping still needs another win before he gets to a title fight in the division, but this was the performance he needed against one of the better fighters he's faced off against in his career.

--Not much to say about Matt Hamill's UFC return. It was a bad fight against an opponent who didn't have much to offer, but it was a win nonetheless.

--There's plenty more to say about Cub Swanson, who has emerged out of nowhere as a legitimate threat in the featherweight division. We may know what his ceiling is already, as his last three losses have all come against legitimate top competition in Ricardo Lamas, Chad Mendes, and Jose Aldo. However, he's also shown improvements over these last three fights, and has defeated three very good opponents in a row. Is he going to challenge Jose Aldo in a rematch? Perhaps. We only got eight seconds of it the last time because of an insane double flying knee from Aldo. And his bouts with Lamas and Mendes saw him defeated by superior grapplers. He looked pretty good there on Saturday, and on the feet he's shown he's got the power to hurt just about anyone. I don't know how far he can climb, but I'm intrigued to see him attempt it.

--Onto the FX prelims, it was great seeing Vinny Magalhaes picking up a sweet submission win on the big stage. He's not a top ten or 15 fighter at 205 lbs. at this point, but he's improved a lot of the aspects of his game while out of the UFC, and his submissions are as dangerous as ever. That flip he pulled on Pokrajac was fantastic, and his submission game is just a blast to watch. On the other side of that coin, Pokrajac showed some poor fight I.Q. in taking Magalhaes to the ground in the first place.

--Outside of that, the FX prelims were filled with lengthy fights, but it was T.J. Grant and Evan Dunham who put on a fantastic show in a back and forth three round bout. Grant's pressure fearlessness in firing from the pocket against Dunham earned him a decision, though Dunham deserves tons of credit for hanging in there with him throughout. The cut Grant opened on Dunham's forehead was sick, but Dunham continued on and got the upper hand in the final minute of the fight. Too little, too late, but it was fantastic to watch nonetheless.

--Sean Pierson had a solid performance over Lance Benoist, getting the hometown crowd into a frenzy as he out-struck him for two rounds. However, Benoist fought through till the end, and even though he was getting beat throughout, he scored a late knockdown and nearly stopped the fight. It's good to see a fighter giving it his all in desperation time, as we see far too many fighters coasting when they're clearly behind in a fight.

--Marcus Brimage was just relentless with his striking attack against Jimy Hettes to kick off the FX prelims, but Hettes' hype-killing poor performance was the bigger story on the night. He had been undefeated entering the night, but fought an uninspired fight, getting cracked again and again and failing to do much of anything as he continued moving forward. Brimage was landing at a ridiculous pace throughout the fight, and outside of a short stretch in the second round, Hettes didn't have much to offer himself. Not the fight that was expected from him, and after he looked to be a very promising young fighter, a new set of holes has been spotlighted.

--On the Facebook prelims, Seth Baczynski was losing the opening round in his bout against Simeon Thoresen, but after four minutes of lackluster action on his part, he landed a beautiful left hook that put Thoresen out cold. The punch was just perfectly placed as he countered Thoresen, connecting on the button and dropping the Norwegian in brutal fashion. It was a nice continuation of finishes to kick off the event, as the first two Facebook preliminary card bouts saw favorites go down in quick fashion.

--Both Charlie Brenneman and Walel Watson were favored over Kyle Noke and Mitch Gagnon, respectively, and yet both lost in less than two minutes combined. Brenneman's striking defense was non-existent, and he got cracked numerous times before getting dropped twice. He complained about an early stoppage, but getting your lights turned on and off a couple of times in a ten second span is worthy of a ref stoppage. As for Watson, he got overzealous on a superman punch that brought him into range when he had a massive reach advantage. Gagnon leapt at the opportunity, landed the counter strike in impressive fashion to knock him down, then worked toward the choke. Both good performances from the victors, while the favored fighters were left wondering what hit them. At the very least, it was an entertaining start to the night's event.

So all in all, this was a solid event, and though it wasn't perfect, it was a mostly enjoyable night of fights. After more than a month without a UFC event, that was certainly enough to end the drought of MMA action.