A very mild thumbs up for me, and the show was really saved by the top two fights. I'ts not that anything was really bad (except for the Rolles Gracie fight, which was the worst fight I've seen in the Octagon in a LONG time); it's just that every fight was starting to look the same, and with the exception of Serra-Trigg (nice gameplan, by the way, Frank) it was Decision-fest '10 last night. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't mind a fight going to the scorecards if both fighters are giving everything they have (Sonnen-Marquardt), but I don't care for glorified sparring matches (Guillard-Torres and Maia-Miller).
Despite the weak main card, I was intrigued by the debut of three highly touted prospects in three different divisions. Only Phil Davis lived up to the hype, but even he showed he's still at the very beginning of his progression. Torres looked okay, but he ran into a surprisingly mature Melvin Guillard and didn't have the striking to keep up with his takedowns started to fail. And as I said before, Rolles Gracie should be embarrassed by that performance. He was blown up before the fight started. I understand the first-fight jitters, but there's no excuse for being that sloppy and under-prepared for a UFC fight.
Chael Sonnen made me look like a very smart man, as the fight played out exactly as I predicted, only even more dominant in Sonnen's favor. He's earned his title shot... unlike the winner of the main event. Randy Couture is a living legend in the sport of MMA. I get that. What I don't get is on what planet does beating Brandon Vera and Mark Coleman (Couture's only wins since dropping down to 205) earn you a title shot? Sure, Couture looked great. Did I mention that he was fighting MARK FREAKIN' COLEMAN?! All I ask is that Couture beat one - just one - legitimate contender before being granted a title shot.
ANDREW O'DONNELL, MMATORCH SPECIALIST (7.0)
Fight of the Night: Marquardt-Sonnen
Worst of the Night: Maia-Miller
Fighter of the Night: Chael Sonnen and Phil Davis (couldn't decide)
I wasn't expecting these fights to be really great matches, but I was very surprised that some of the sleeper fights turned out to be excellent fights. Rather weird night with some upsets - specifically the Sonnen-Marquardt fight. I was in awe that whole match. It was the exposing of Nate Marquardt who essentially had no answer while on his back. Definitely think Nate took him lightly or underestimated Chael to a degree. I mean, Chael dominated him. Very interesting twist in the division. He's clearly got the tools and experience to beat the winner of Anderson and Vitor for the title.
The prelims turned out a big longer than expected. I thought Torres beat Guillard. I know Ronys didn't fight last year at all, but this was supposed to be an easy match for him. It was pretty average of a fight for free television.
Mac Danzig and Justin Buchholz was a loser leaves town match. I really liked it because they were fighting to just stay in the UFC. I thought Mac should've finished him quicker, but Justin was giving it his all as well.
The PPV seemed to answer a lot of questions about the future. One, Serra ending possibly Frank Trigg's career with that knockout. I'm sure Serra is looking for Matt Hughes next.
Maia and Miller put on one of the worst bouts I've seen on a PPV possibly bringing Maia's credibility down big time as an exciting ground fighter. An embarrassing fight to have friends over for the fights and everyone is yawning during the second fight.
That changed quickly, after Phil Davis and Brian Stann prelim match aired. Phil Davis is a stud. He's an a immediate threat. I can't remember the last time I've been as impressed with someone's first UFC fight in my life. He looked like Kevin Randleman and Mark Coleman with technique and skill.
A Gracie fought on the prelims as well, but not worthy mentioning him because he pulled a Joe Scarola on us. Paulo Thiago and Mike Swick put on an okay fight. Both of them hit hard which caused a stalemate, but Thiago had the advantage on the ground.
The main event Couture-Coleman was a old fashion beatdown. From the looks of it, Coleman seemed like he had been run over. I think Randy knew he was going to choke him out by the entrance song he chose, which was "Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent. A lot of what Randy was doing made Mark Coleman look slow and, well... old. I'm not sure if Randy Couture would've won back in the day. He showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon. He's definitely still the man in that division. Always a treat to watch Randy compete.
A better PPV than I initially thought. If anyone's to blame it's UFC for this title drought, especially knowing that there saving two title fights on the same card in Abu Dhabi.
LARAMEY LEET, MMATORCH COLUMNIST (6.5)
UFC 109 was nothing special. The majority of the fights in UFC 109 had a decent name in it. This event was the exact opposite of UFC 108. UFC 108 had great fights, but few had that BIG (PPV selling) name involved. In UFC 109, we had big names, but we just did not have the excitement in each and every fight. Although we got to watch 9 of the 11 fights, which is a treat coming from the UFC!
Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg was just another fight where Trigg got Told and argued that he was okay. I am glad to see Serra get back on a winning streak, but he needed a better opponent. Trigg will either be out of the UFC or he will have one more fight and then be cut. Paulo Thiago vs Mike Swick was a good fight. Thiago came out wanting to exchange with Swick, which I thought might be a mistake, but he caught Swick and pulled the submission.
My Fight of the Night was without a doubt Chael Sonnen vs. Nate Marquardt. Just WOW. I did not see that coming at all. Nate can blame the fight on a bad game plan if he wants to, but I did not see anyway that he could have stopped the takedowns. Chael was relentless in the fight and proved to everyone that he is just not a politician with a big mouth.
Worst fight of the night would have to be Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller. Maia did not want a repeat of his last fight and was not trying to push the fight. Miller was trying but just getting frustrated with the striking. It was just a boring fight.
The main event did not disappoint at all. Couture and Coleman came out and wanted to test each other on the feet. Couture took a couple of shots, but Couture kept great footwork and head movement. Coleman on the other hand moved straight backwards (which you should never do) and had almost no footwork or head movement. Couture pulled out the submission in the second for a great Hall of Famers Fight.
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