UFC 78: Evans and Bisping prove little, Alexander’s ground game not as good as advertised
By Adam Morgan
Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping proved very little. Well, that may be exaggerating it a bit, but this fight certainly didn’t propel Rashad Evans into the top five light heavyweights in the world, as Dana White had claimed it would. This fight doesn’t even push Rashad Evans into the top ten, in my opinion. As for Bisping, the only thing it proved for him was that he needs to drop to middleweight where he will have the size advantage. He got overpowered by Rashad and paid for it as the fight wore on. Although Bisping pushed the pace and tired Rashad early in the fight, it was eventually Evans’ raw strength and wrestling that won him the fight. This fight did nothing for either fighter’s career or for the fans. Never should another fight like this be booked as a main event.
Someone get Houston Alexander a gi immediately. For all the talk about how his ground game “is as good as anyone in the UFC,” it ended up being Alexander’s glaring weakness and led to his eventual demise on Saturday night. Watching Houston struggle to get out of Silva’s mount and get pounded out reminded me of watching Jon Koppenhaver struggle to escape Tommy Speer’s mount on one of the latest episode of TUF. It was BJJ 101 and Houston looked clueless. Alexander’s ground game was exposed and he needs to strap on a gi tomorrow and start training jiu jitsu extensively.
Karo Parisyan just can’t finish a fight. Despite his best efforts in the cage, Parisyan can’t seem to find a way to take it out of the judges’ hands. Chonan, however, is a tough fighter to finish, so it’s not surprising to me that this fight went to a decision. In a relatively unexciting affair, Parisyan was unable to throw Chonan like he normally does his opponents, didn’t look in the greatest of shape, and fought a decent technical fight. While not the most exciting fight in the world, it’s a quality victory over a quality opponent and what matters is the win. With the welterweight picture still in a state of limbo until Hughes and Serra fight, Karo is going to have to fight at least one more time before he gets a title shot.
Ed Herman made a mistake and almost paid dearly. Herman was caught in a tight triangle choke but was saved by the bell at the end of round two. If it wasn’t for the bell, we almost surely would have had a different outcome in this fight. Aside from that one mistake, however, Herman was impressive. He looked to be the more crisp striker on the feet and more than handled his own on the ground. And to top it all off, he got his first knockout victory. Herman is a good prospect in the middleweight division, but I need to see him several more times in several more convincing victories before I think of him as a legitimate threat to Anderson Silva’s title.
Frankie Edgar represented. Edgar represented hard for the New Jersey crowd, completely taking Spencer Fisher out of his element. Edgar and Fisher spent most of the fight on the ground with Frankie on top. Edgar continually tried to pass guard which kept Spencer spending most of his time trying to get back to full guard and didn’t allow him to try any submissions from the bottom. Edgar looked like the much fresher fighter going into the third round. Edgar’s performance was, once again, impressive. One or two more wins against top lightweights and he’s in line for a title shot.
Joe Lauzon took Jason Reinhardt’s lunch money. Man, did Lauzon look sharp or what? He controlled the entire fight and ended it with a slick rear naked choke. Reinhardt’s lack of experience against quality opponents really showed here and Joe just overwhelmed him. All the training with BJ Penn is paying dividends and yet another very talented lightweight in the UFC is throwing his name into the hat of possible contenders.
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I was disappointed in Bisping for not taking advantage of his time on the feet. His striking was below the level displayed in the Hamill fight. He has a knack for neutralizing a fighter’s ground offense from top position, but he didn’t use the stand-up portion to his advantage.
If you’re interested, you can check out the stats and analysis of the fight at the FightMetric blog:
http://www.fightmetric.com/blog/
crap event. bisping-evans was garbage. neither fighter pushed to finish the fight, each looked like they were trying to protect. karo-chonan was a matchup of two guys whose styles matched evenly and neither could break through. herman is lucky the round isn’t 5:05, and joins chris leben and other fighters who’ve KO’d opponents with sloppy, lame striking with their eyes closed. not only will herman have to get some more victories before he challenges anderson silva, he’ll have to develop a different game. what he brings results in a R1 TKO or sub in the cage with the spider. Edgar-Fischer had the only chance to save this card, and didn’t deliver. who wants to watch a guy get smothered by a wrestler? tamdan “zelg USA” mccrory, supposedly an up and comer, gets subbed by a PRIDE journeyman.
overall a D- event. the lack of a belt on the line wounded it, and the fights themselves made sure it died. worst card i’ve ever witnessed, as predicted. the free fights on yahoo sports last night were WAY better, more competitive, and more interesting. If i were Zuffa, i’d be seriously concerned that the competition was catching up with me. I’ve already paid for showtime to catch the ShoXC shows. how long til I pay for HDNet? keep pputting up subpar events, UFC.
That was weak, every fight with the exception of Silva KO of Alexander, was like watching a IFL fight…I knew, I shouldn’t have order that fight…first of all Edgar just laid on top of Fischer the whole fight, I know it’s apart of the game , Herman is weak with his “Swing and hope that it hit’s something Punch”…Karo looked slow and alittle soft to me? Chonan shouldn’t be in the UFC, it’s funning how when he was signed everyone was like he beat Silva, he’s like the next big thing.. Please…Evans/Bisping was a UFN Main Event both can’t finish fights, Evans just dances around just like every fight, I hope Bisping drops down to MW because he’ll never be able to compete with the Top 10 in the LHW…
UFC 78 wasn’t that bad, i give it like a C. Edgar and Fisher was a clinic of how to control position and have effective ground and pound, even it was still a little dissapointing.
Herman and Doerksen was a very good fight. That passage in the second round where Doerksen took Hermans back and then Herman reveresed and took his back and then ended up being caught in a triangle was feckin sweet.
Parisyian against Chonan was a little lacklustre. Chonan is just your typical tough Japanese fighter who knows enough to survive but not enough to threaten. Parysian did look a little flabby, but hes never been a ripped fighter. He should fight Fitch next.
Alexander vs Silva was a little…sad for want of a better word. Silva just made it look like Alexander just learnt the guard.
Bisping vs Rashad was also a very good fight. Even it was a slower pace and Rashad once again refused to do anything when he takes someone down but it was very tense and I found myself actually caring who won.
It was pretty funny how every ‘face’ in the audience got a shout out, but we weren’t supposed to notice a cleverly disguised Randy Couture (“Steve walks slowly down the street with his hat pulled way down low”), way to go UFC.
Just like last Thanksgiving when Grandma and Grandpa insisted that nobody should notice that Uncle Dave had breasts put on. Way to put the “fun” back in disfunction, UFC!
We punch each other in the face, because we’re bold and tough! And we pretend the most well known UFC fighter in the world isn’t in the house.
How stupid.
I was pretty geeked for this card…and it was pretty boring overall.
The Edgar/Fisher fight was a wrestling match that would have been booed until the crowd’s throats were sore if not for the Jersey boy in the cage.
Houston needs to improve his ground game or make sure it never goes to the ground again. Why did Houston WANT to get into the clinch with Silva so quickly? Was that the strategy? I hope not.
Either Rashad isn’t as good as I thought or Bisping is better than I thought. Either way, a close if slightly boring fight. I agree with Adam that this does zero for their careers. Why did they show Dana making a point to both fighters how “great” the fight was?
funny how randy recieved no love last night. he wasnt in disguise, he was in plain view, took off his hat and waved at the fans too, but joe rogan was very careful not to mention it or randys name and cameramen swiftly moved camera to an angle where you couldnt see randy. very classy ufc. randy was in karos corner behind the cage during fighter intro.
I’m with Zack….. why the f#@k did Houston rush into a clinch??.
I thought that was it right there… and it kinda was. Silva looked a lot bigger to me (when they touched up) than I had remembered him being, made me think it might not be as easy a fight for Houston as I was expecting.
Frankie fought a very smart fight, impressive domination of a seasoned vet – I couldn’t have guessed that happening in a million years. I was convinced he’d slug it out at least until the king started catching him too frequently. A clinic, for sure.
Karo mailed it in. A day at the office.
bisping/ Evans ? I dunno man, just seemed weak. No real surprises. Zack, I’m with you on this one too maybe leanin toward bisping being a little better than I think he is.
Herman got lucky. Not that he didn’t deserve the win, just lucky the bell rang when it did. That reversal in Rd 2 was the highlight of the night for me. Herman, doerkson, many or most 185′s in with Anderson Silva are laughable to me right now.
Just the announcement of Henderson/Silva in March is way more exciting for me than the whole event last night.
I too agree with posters’ 6 and 8.
Was this something new for Houston? He shouldn’t have rushed in and stood up with this guy for domination and knockout.
Weird, very weird.
Jay K.
Rashad is the best fighter nobody wants to watch. He wins, and has smart game plans, but it’s like watching paint dry.
Awesome pic…hahaha