My Picks Results: 7-4 (5-0 main card*)
Where I was right
- I put the asterisk in my main card results because I kind of feel wrong about the perfect record. Realistically, I should have been 4-1 with the loss coming in the main event of the evening. As much as I love being right about Machida winning, I feel terrible for "Shogun" Rua because I believe he got a raw deal from the judges. The three ringside judges scored the bout 48-47 (3 times) for Machida, giving him the unanimous decision victory. However, the general consensus among MMA writers, fans and those in attendance is that Rua did enough to take the belt away from the champ. And I can't really blame them for being upset at the decision as I too had "Shogun" as the winner by a 48-47 score. MMA forums have exploded since the fight with accusations of a fix, judge's incompetence, and the horribly overused term of "robbery". Let's be clear; this fight was extremely close and although the decision may not have been what I, or a lot of others, thought it would be, a robbery this was not.
An argument can easily be made for either fighter to have won the fight, which immediately rules out a "robbery". Shogun, at least from where I was watching, clearly took the 4th and 5th rounds, which leaves the opening 3 frames as the deciding factor. Based on clean striking, I gave the first 2 rounds to Machida (although the 2nd round has very close) and the 3rd was all Shogun, with the exception of a largely ineffective flurry from the champ. All credit goes to Mauricio Rua and his camp who executed a perfect gameplan that made the elusive (or "allusive" as the UFC graphic artists would have you believe) Machida look hittable for the first time in his UFC tenure. "Shougn" peppered the legs and midsection of Machida to the point where his legs were visibly bruised and his ribs were bleeding from accumulated damage. I know that "visual damage" isn't supposed to be part of judging criteria, but during the official decision announcement one fighter looked like they had been on the receiving end of much more effective striking, and it wasn't Shogun.
- Cain Velasquez is for real. Despite the nonsense that was Steve Mazzagatti stopping the fight as Ben Rothwell was using the cage to get back to his feet, Velasquez used his incredible wrestling to dictate where the fight went and completely devastated his opponent with punches en route to a 10-8 (or worse) 1st round and a stoppage early in the 2nd. This kid has all the skills needed to dominate in the heavyweight division for a very long time (yes, Brock Lesnar included). He's still developing as a fighter and it is evident with his improved stand up defense he showed against Rothwell. Granted, he only stood with for about 25 seconds before taking him down, but it only took that long for him to be tagged repeatedly by Cheick Kongo in his previous fight. Despite what overzealous Lesnar fanboys might have you believe, Cain is a legitimate threat to his spot atop the UFC heavyweight ladder. As unstoppable as Lesnar's takedown have been so far in his career, it is not beyond comprehension that Velasquez could take him down as well. Delusional fanboys seem to forget that 46 year old Randy Couture came within a fence grab of bringing Lesnar to the mat. With that in mind, it's possible that Velasquez, who threw a 270 pound Ben Rothwell around like a rag doll, could either shoot a double leg or use his wrestling in "reverse" like Chuck Liddell did for years. Cain sent a message to the heavyweight division on Saturday, "watch out".
- Surprise! Josh Neer got dominated by a wrestler, lost a wide margin decision, and got pissed when he heard it announced. Who could have ever seen that one coming? (*raises hand while smirking arrogantly*) The really sad part about this fight was that Tibau was completely gassed by the time the 3rd round started and Neer still stopped only about 50% of the takedowns in the round. Even when he did stop the feeble attempts, he was reluctant to punish Tibau for it. By the end of the fight, Neer was basically giving up on defending the takedown and resigning himself to being on his back. I told you no one would accuse this of being fight of the year. Both fighters are in a curious spot in the UFC's lightweight division now. Neer doesn't have the wrestling defense to work his way up to the top in a division ripe with top notch wrestlers, and Tibau always gasses as a result of being a huge lightweight. He's too small for welterweight and hardly ever makes the 155 lightweight limit at weigh-ins. Honestly, I wouldn't be terribly upset if both of these fighters were relegated to the undercard of Fight Night cards for awhile, or at least until they can put together a complete game.
- "Rumble" Johnson devestated Yoshiyuki Yoshida in less than a minute, just like I thought he would. Don't really care though because he came in 6 pounds overweight and likely walked into the cage at 190 or more. This was a welterweight versus a middleweight/light-heavyweight and should do nothing to help Johnson towards a title shot. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing Georges St. Pierre truck Johnson and force him to go a his actual weight class. Nothing against "Rumble", I just look at coming in overweight for a contracted fight as horribly unprofessional, and extremely dangerous for both combatants. Johnson is only 27 and it would be a shame if his career was cut short because he destroys his body cutting 40-50 pounds to make 170. Props to Yoshida for accepting the fight even with the huge weight disadvantage. He could have declined the bout and I would have been totally fine with it. It just goes to show how brave these guys really are.
- Ryan Bader and Kyle Kingsbury won decisions. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............. Not really in the case of Bader who almost finished in the 1st, but he really needs more than a 5 minute gas tank if he want to compete in a deep 205 pound division.
Where I was wrong
-Just because it would be a huge cop out to say "the undercard" in the "where I was wrong" section, I'll do my best to breakdown individual fights even though I didn't see a couple of them...
- I missed the Okami-Sonnen fight and haven't been able to find a video online yet, but from the sounds of things, Sonnen absolutely dominated Okami for 15 minutes. For the UFC, this has to be music to their ears. For about a year, fans (AKA, internet fanboys) having been clamoring for Okami to get a shot at the middleweight title. Entering UFC 104 he was 7-1 with the promotion and his only loss was to former champ Rich Franklin. With his loss to Sonnen, Okami now goes directly to the back of the line (or not because he probably already there in the UFC's eyes). Although I haven't seen the fight yet, I can only assume that Sonnen took away Okami's biggest weapon, his wrestling. Okami relies heavily on his ability to take opponents down and work from the top, which Sonnen did not allow him to do. I wouldn't be surprised to see Okami leave the UFC now and sign with DREAM or Sengoku now, simply because he would probably get more exposure fighting in Japan, rather than on the undercard of UFC's for the forseeable future.
- Pat Barry crushed his former training partner Antoni Hardonk. Oops, should have listened to Jordan Breen when he said that Hardonk doesn't move his head and gets smashed in face, even by terrible strikers. I will say this, I only picked Hardonk because I didn't assume he would be stupid enough to trade strikes with Barry, who he obviously knows has powerful striking, when he had the advantage on the ground. They're both awful on the ground (and it showed for the small amount of the time the fight went there) but I was betting on Hardonk being able to control the much smaller Barry en route to a TKO stoppage. Instead, he stood complete stiff with his hands ridiculously far apart (that's his idea of blocking apparently) and got cracked at will by Barry's straight right. Pat Barry probably isn't going anywhere in the heavyweight division simply because he's too small (5'11, 230), but his striking prowess always make him an exciting attraction, even if it's on Spike TV every time.
- Rob Kimmons got wrecked by Jorge Rivera. Didn't see the and I don't really care to in all honesty. Kimmons should have been able to submit him, but instead got pounded out by the 37 year old journeyman. I'm glad for Rivera, who has had some personal tragedy recently, but I'm not going to lose sleep over picking this fight wrong.
- 6'11 Stefan Struve triangled Chase Gormley late in round 1. I blame this one on A) Struve being way better than I thought on the ground and B) Gormley showing up with a 45 second gas tank for his UFC debut. Happy trails bro, I'm pretty sure the UFC doesn't take too kindly to underwhelming debuts. If Struve can pack 20 pounds of muscle on to his frame (he's only 21, it's possible), he could be the second coming of Semmy Schilt in the MMA world.
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