Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: UFC 105
Randy Couture and Brandon Vera failed to bring the house down, but thankfully the rest of the fighters on the card gave their best performances to make this one of the finest events ever held in the United Kingdom. Several of the UFC’s British stars shined brightest on their own soil with season 3 “Ultimate Fighter” winner Michael Bisping scoring a huge win in his hometown. Dan Hardy is now slated to become the first Brit to get a shot at UFC gold after his one-sided decision over Mike Swick, and one season 9 “TUF” champ got an impressive victory while another was not so lucky.
THUMBS DOWN to a thoroughly unsatisfying main event. I’m not talking about the judging, as the decision rendered was what it was. This was a close fight but when the final buzzer sounded neither man had really made it clear that they deserved to win. Randy Couture seemed to be showing his age a bit more than usual as he took a page straight out of Clay Guida’s book: How To Win Decisions (Without Inflicting Any Damage). Like most MMA fans I’ve got a mean man-crush on “The Natural” but he was completely lackluster in Manchester, and I don’t want to hear any talk of him fighting for the title until he gets a more convincing win under his belt.
Meanwhile you’ve got perennial runner-up Brandon Vera failing to capitalize on crucial opportunities in the biggest fight of his career. Vera clearly won the striking portion of the bout, it’s just too bad that it only amounted to roughly 2 minutes of a 15 minute fight. Why couldn’t he turn on the aggression when he knocked Randy down? Why wasn’t he able to spin off the cage and get out of those never-ending clinches? I don’t know the answers to those questions but I do know that Brandon Vera will never be a UFC champion.
THUMBS (WAY) UP to the rest of the card. Sour ending aside, this was easily one of the best events we’ve seen this year from the UFC. This show outshined several of 2009’s PPV offerings with great performances from (almost) every one of the night’s winners. In terms of production and commentary there was little to be upset about, although I know I’m not alone in wishing Joe Rogan would downplay his outrage when a close fight ends in a decision he doesn’t agree with.
THUMBS DOWN to Dan Hardy‘s upcoming shot at the welterweight title. I’ve enjoyed Hardy’s run in the UFC thus far but I do feel his shot at gold is too much, too soon. Let’s not forget who the champion is. Georges St. Pierre has had his way with anybody and everybody that faces him in the octagon, and he’s currently in possession of the most dominant ground game of anybody in the welterweight division. Hardy’s got big power, this is true, but is there anybody that thinks he’s stronger than Thiago Alves? He defended Swick’s takedown attempts but I don’t think he’ll have as much luck when GSP shoots in. The only chance anyone will be giving “The Outlaw” is the tried-and-true puncher’s chance.
While we’re on the subject, I don’t like the idea of having these two coach the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” either. With the company’s current drought of healthy champions there’s no reason to stretch out a title fight with such a foregone conclusion.
THUMBS UP to Michael Bisping being somewhat likable now. My problem with Bisping is probably the same one so many other people have; the dude is just too cocky. There were questions about how he would react after his cobweb-clearing insta-nap at UFC 100, but it appears that Dan Henderson’s vicious KO served to remind “The Count” that he’s only human. While he didn’t have much to get excited about in the first round against Denis Kang, Bisping got a fire lit under his butt when he hit his corner’s stool. He was a completely different fighter in the second round and as a result he’s got what could arguably be called the biggest win of his career. He was humble and straight-forward in his post-fight interview, and I’ll be damned but I’m actually starting to like the guy. What’s next? Am I going to become a Tito Ortiz fan?
THUMBS UP to Matt Brown being one bad dude. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Matt Brown is better than his record. If he’s got a weakness against submissions he must’ve gotten rid of it before the show, because that kimura was sick. I don’t know how he didn’t tap out to that but I know my arm was sore as hell just watching it. I’ll give some credit to James Wilks for taking some serious punishment and still nearly finishing the fight in the third, but this was clearly Brown’s night. I still want to see him matched up with Anthony Johnson (a bout that was postponed earlier this year) but I have a feeling that won’t happen anytime soon if Johnson is victorious this Saturday.
THUMBS DOWN to Andre Winner not winning “Knockout of the Night.” I still have yet to see Dennis Siver’s spinning back kick against Paul Kelly, but from reading the descriptions it doesn’t sound like a KO. Siver knocked Kelly down with the kick and then unleashed a flurry of punches to get the TKO win. So why does Siver get the end of the night bonus for a knockout when Winner actually knocked his opponent out? This was a candidate for “Knockout of the Year,” and Dana can’t give Winner a little extra scratch? I don’t get it.
And while we’re at it, Brown and Wilks should have won “Fight of the Night.”
THUMBS UP to Ross Pearson for proving almost everybody wrong. He was the underdog on every betting line despite the fact that he was an “Ultimate Fighter” winner making his post-show debut. I picked the “TUF” 9 champ to squeak out a decision against the always-tough Aaron Riley, but even I was surprised to see Pearson thoroughly outclass his opponent for the entire duration. “The Real Deal” lit up Riley like Christmas had come early by throwing all manner of punches, kicks, and knees. If that first round didn’t constitute a 10-8 then I really don’t know what does. Pearson’s run on “The Ultimate Fighter” proved he had talent, but now that he’s quit his day job and focused entirely on training we’re starting to see what kind of potential this young man from Team Rough House really has.
THUMBS DOWN to whoever stole Mike Swick and Randy Couture‘s hats. Not cool bro. Souvenir stand workers have one of the toughest jobs of anyone in the building, and you’re going to deprive them of their hard-earned dollars while simultaneously allowing a fighter’s head to be unnecessarily exposed? What kind of scumbag are you?
THUMBS UP to free MMA. This isn’t so much UFC 105 specific, but I don’t know how you can not love the recent blowout of free mixed-martial arts on TV. We’ve already seen Fedor fight in primetime, followed by this past weekend’s action-packed event. We’ve still got WEC 44 coming on Wednesday and if you’ve got Showtime then you’ve also got two Strikeforce: Challenger events in one week. All of these free events are aimed at bringing in new viewers and the casual fan of the sport, but it’s us hardcore fans that are reaping all the benefits.
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Weak-Sauce.
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Weak-Sauce.
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Aren’t you being a little harsh Jak?
Same topic, differn’t author, differn’t point of view… lets cut Adam some slack. I agree some of the things he commented on have been said else where, but it’s certainly not a bad summary.
Jak does make a good point about GSP vs. Hardy. Adam; if you don’t think it’s the right fight, who do you think they should match GSP up against… I can’t think of anyone more deserving, at least unitl Rumble/Kos have a chance to fight it out. If I were the UFC, I’d also consider a Fitch/Alves fight in 2010 to see who deserves a re-match.
Agreed that Brown/Wilks should have been FOTN. I’m interested in seeing who they will match Matt Brown up against next. I’d love to see Brown against Kampmann or Condit, assuming either of them win their fights at UFC 108.
Well-Done.
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Couture’s fight strategy wasn’t flashy or exciting, but it worked. He should get more credit for neutralizing a danger striker who’s what, half his age?
Matt Brown won due to mental toughness. I was thoroughly impressed.
Dan Hardy /GSP will be like watching a mouse in a terarium with a snake. Or one of those Discovery channel shows where the cheetah runs down a gazelle. Fascinating to watch, but not competitive.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Are you serious, experiment?
The first 3 fights of the card on SF were an absolute Yawn-a-thon!
Agree with all the thumbs up and down. Randy needs to figure out what he wants to do in the future. I can’t see him holding a belt in any division at this point. The spark just isn’t there anymore.
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On the Dan Hardy title shot I agree that he needs to prove himself a little more. I like the guys but i agree with the punchers chance. I wish the UFC didn’t have so many injuries right now because I don’t think they would be as inclined to put this fight together. At the same time though Hardy is always pretty good at hyping fights and I think he will really help sell this event. I hope that they don’t make them coaches in the reality show because in the time it takes to make the show and air the episodes I think Hardy could have participated in one or two more fights to prove himself. But at the same time the UFC could definitely use that layoff to build up another contender for after the Hardy Vs GSP fight.
Also, after this seasons let down on the Ultimate Fighter how many more seasons do you think they will do. I can’t see too many more after this. 10 seasons is a pretty good run for a reality show and I don’t know how much more they can get out of it.
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Couldn’t agree more that’d be an awesome fight. I hope they are able to put that together sometime
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Good read Adam…
The main event was farely “uneventful”, but what was supposed to be expected from it. A Muay thai stand up clinic from Vera against a great ground fighter in Couture? A dirty boxing beatdown on Vera who wrestled with the olympic team, D1, and for the airforce? We got what what should have been expected.
Dan Hardy is perfect for this title shot.Its too close to the last bouts with Fitch and Alves, Koscheck screwed himself when he lost to thiago squared, and AJ is simply to green. Dan Hardy beat the guy who was on the best streak and 10-1 in the UFC. We’ll definately see if how good he looked against Swick was because of the evolution of his game, or the after effects of Swicks concussion.
Matt Brown is a beast. Would absolutely love a rematch between him and Amir Sadollah.
Ive seen both the spinning back kick and Winners overhand right. The punch was twice as exciting.
In the end I though tthe event was ok. Not overly exciting at all. I think the only threat to gsp is koscheck. I still think he matches up best stylistically with him. Rumble’s wrestling is good, but not on either’s level.
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If he can make weight, which I really hope he does. And even then I’m not convinced that he can stop a take down and the subsequent GSP GNP that we’ve come to know and not-quite-love (I miss his standup and the KO’s that came with it)
I think Fitch deserves another shot if he can win against Kos simply because he had the most entertaining fight with GSP lately, even if he was not a real threat. Neither Kos nor Alves really deserves another shot soon as GSP dominated both of them in impressive fashion; Kos at his own game and Alves even after injuring himself.
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Thanks for reading everyone.
@Jak – Yes, some websites will offer more than one viewpoint on the same event. Please don’t be surprised if it happens again.
Excuse me for fanning any hatred towards Couture/Vera, but there’s a lot to hate about how that fight went down.
I only mentioned Alves in relation to Hardy’s chances, and I certainly have no desire to see GSP/Alves II anytime soon. My point was that I feel Alves is a better striker than Hardy, so if Alves couldn’t get the job done what reason is there to believe that Hardy will?
@therussianexperiment – I enjoyed the Strikeforce event but I don’t see how you could feel it was better than this show. It’s your opinion so you’re entitled to it but I feel UFC 105 was the superior event.
I am eagerly anticipating Johnson’s fight this weekend so we can see if he’s anywhere near ready to challenge GSP.
@Scott H. – I honestly don’t know of a better match-up for GSP at the moment (at least not amongst fighters in the UFC) but that’s a credit to him for taking out all the top-level competition already. I could get behind a Fitch rematch if he were to keep winning but otherwise the company needs to start pulling more talent up and giving them opportunities against bigger names (Hazelett and Johnson will get that kind of opportunity this weekend).
@Angry Mike & edub – True, Couture’s strategy was pretty apparent well before the fight. He didn’t want to get into a stand-up war with Vera and whenever he did he was clearly in trouble. I’m just more than a little disappointed that he was content to hold Vera against the cage and not work any offense. Where was the dirty boxing? The knees and elbows inside? Couture inflicted no damage to win the fight and that doesn’t sit well with me.
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Goog points and everyone is entitled to there opinion,but I gotta disagree. Koscheck is the only person I can remember winning a round on GSP in his last 6 fights, and if he couldve finished the takedown against him in the third round he had an actual shot at winning. I think it could be viewed that Fitch had the most entertaining fight with GSP because it was so cool to see GSP completely dominate an outstanding fighter.
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For anyone who thought that the Randy vs Brendon fight was going to be exciting needs to get there head checked. Did anyone think the Randy was just going to stand there and let Vera hit him all day?? I knew the game plan, my wife new the game plan, everyone I work with knew the game plan and im pretty sure Vera knew the game plan except he was the only one who had the opportunity to change the game plan and didnt.
Dan Hardy in the UFC
Win Akihiro Gono Split Decision-sure good win
Win Rory Markham Knock Out-nice
Win Marcus Davis Split Decision-ok another split
Win Mike Swick Unanimous Decision-hmmmmm 4 fights 3 decisions and one KO ya I guess is should get a title shot…….it only makes sense. At least he can use his “mind games” to hype up the fight even though I dont think it will have any effect on GSP since he is an Adult. Angry Mike great comparsion.
Brown is the MAN. Dub good call on the Sadollah rematch. Thats one I really wont to see
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I dont think he could land the strikes in the clinch Adam because Vera just wouldve reversed. Everytime Randy let off the pressure against the cage Vera pummeled or tried to spin off. I completely agree with you adam in that it doesnt sit well with me that couture won doing no damage. Thats why I believe he didnt win.
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imagine you are dan hardy, and you just beat the guy who was supposed to be the next contender. then dana white comes to you, telling you: “you know, your stile is similar to alves, and he lost bad, so we will not give you the shot”
thats simply not fair.
even though you are right, hardy will have a very hard time. but im happy enough to see gsp fight, its always something special.
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Funniest thing I have ever read:
“…he took a page straight out of Clay Guida’s book: How To Win Decisions (Without Inflicting Any Damage).”
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I enjoyed UFC 105. Randy looked good and did what it took to win a fight. His fight was better than any of Brock fights in my opinion. I don’t think Bisping looked very good ether. Hardy didn’t look good ether and doesn’t deserve a shot at the belt. But these are just my opinions.
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You should get some thicker skin if you’re a writer for an MMA page
Ha, ha, ha… that’s awesome… the point remains the same, since Alves is the more or less consensus #2 nobody that isn’t as good as Alves should even bother to fight Gsp? That is some solid logic there… i guess you have the same logic in regards to Anderson Silva and Fedor Emelianenko, i guess a guy who’s not nearly as decorated as AA, Barnett or Tim Sylvia won’t be able to put on a solid fight just like Brett Rogers did.
Ironically this site, much like most of them could barely fathom how Hardy would win a fight against Swick and he absolutely dominated 3 rounds. David Anrest picked Hardy to win, but by reading his review it wasn’t because he thought he would win…
And like always happens in MMA, a fighter came in and proved the MMathematicians wrong.
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Clinching and pushing against the cage…well what can I say. 1) it should be punished by the scorers rather than awarded if it is done in a negative smothering way and little is done as far as trying to finish the fight is concerned and 2) reset, reset, reset. It is just a way of avoiding your opponents aggression or strengths a lot of the time. Give them 10-20 sec’s and if not doing anything significant RESET!!!!!!!!. It is a sport not a just a fight so develop rules to suit. Before you say it “that stops wrestlers from doing this” or “that stops BJ guys from doing that” and “it makes it harder to take down” to this I say (again) IT IS NOT GRAPPLING it is MMA. Take downs should be hard and clinching against the cage is just smothering an opponents striking or fighting technique all too often. It isn’t cheating by any means but is it a negative defensive way of grinding out victory?.
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