Well the dust has settled on the most recent UFC event and I will give my thoughts.
Carwin/JDS was extremely one sided. Junior dos Santos just dismantled Shane Carwin for three rounds straight. JDS' technical ability was superior to the tremendous power packed in the punches of Shane Carwin. JDS displayed expert boxing, takedown defence and even managed to take down former NCAA Division 2 wrestler Carwin! I honestly think Velasquez is going to have a torrid time dealing with JDS and the only way he can beat him is if he takes him into the deep waters and tires him out because JDS has shown he can punch himself out, he even admitted it at the post fight presser. Major props to Herb Dean for letting the fight to continue. Shane Carwin was blocking the majority of Junior's punches with his arm and was constantly moving trying to stay active and Dean regonised it. Best in the business by far.
Kenny Florian's fourth respective weight class debut was good, not great. Florian out-grappled "The Gun" on route to a unanimous decision victory (more on that later.). Diego Nunes displayed that he never gives up despite gassing out late in the second round. Nunes rocked Florian at the end of the 1st and 3rd rounds and Kenny was luckily saved by the bell. I firmly believe that if KenFlo was to be in a championship fight with the superior Jose Aldo, he would be picked apart on the feet. Nunes will bounce back stronger and I would love to see him matched up with The Korean Zombie. Ok back to the final outcome, some ******ed judge decided to score the fight 30-27 in Florian's favour. Sure Florian won the fight but he was getting tagged by Nunes in the 1st and Diego Nunes CLEARLY won that round. Hell, a case can even be made that Nunes could have won the fight but moving on.
What the hell happened to Damian Maia? The one dimensional jiu-jitsu kingpin was replaced with a head hunting, grappling warrior. I was amazed with the development in Maia's stand-up ability. I couldn't believe my eyes when he rocked Munoz early in the fight and proceeded to chase him around the octagon for the knockout. Before this fight took place I invisioned a repeat of Maia/Marquardt with Munoz knocking out Maia but instead we got a great technical fight. Lots of grappling, brawling and excitement. Munoz rightfully walked away the victor but IMO the real talking point was the improvement in Maia's stand-up ability. Munoz should fight Stann next, that would be a sick fight! Oh and once again BS judging. The third round was very, very close and the first round was definitely won by Maia. However, Munoz was somehow awarded a 30-27 again! Urgh!
I freaking loved this fight! John-Olav Einemo and Dave Herman went to war! I was picking Herman to walk away with the second round TKO prior to the fight and it seemed everyone else had Einemo via submission. Einemo rocked Herman several times in the fight but "Pee-Wee" retaliated every time. A similar situation to Pete Sell/Scott Smith occurred in the fight when Einemo clocked Herman with a knee and chased him down only for Herman to deliver a massive knee which dropped Einemo to the mat! Herman and Einemo slugged it out on the feet again before Herman dropped Einemo again with a knee and finished him off with the punches. Great fight and both guys walked him with 70k due to the FOTN bonus.
Vagner Rocha was completely out of his element in this fight. Joe Rogan said it best, "Rocha is a black belt in jiu-jitsu and Cerrone is a black belt in stand-up. Rocha is about blue belt at best." Cerrone just kicked lumps out of Rocha for 15 minutes and Rocha didn't check a damn one of them. Donald was just lacking that killer instinct in the fight and cruised his way to a one sided decision win. I would LOVE to see The Cowboy matched up with Anthony Pettis next. That would be a sweet stand-up war. WEC lives on!
I thought Sam Stout had killed Yves Edwards. That counter left hook fucked Edwards up!! I expected this to win FOTN but Stout proved why he has "Hands of Stone." Disgusting knockout. Edwards was twitching after he smacked off the canvas and his eyes were glaring wide open, very similar to when Phil Baroni KO'd Scott Jansen back at Cage Rage. Definite contender for Knockout of the Year but Machida's flying crane kick is going to be hard to beat.
The future of the middleweight division is Chris Weidman. The dude is a phenomenal wrestler and under the tutelage of Matt Serra, he can only get better. Weidman defeated Ryan Bader and Phil Davis in his collegiate wrestling career which just highlights how good he really is! Weidman managed to successfully take Bongfeldt down after Bongfeldt had him dazed from a head kick. Weidman then hooked up a tight standing guillotine choke to take home the submission of the night award. Awesome prospect. He has similar hype to when Jon Jones and Velasquez were rising up through their respective divisions.
Probably the most boring fight of the card but credit to Mike Massenzio for stepping UP in weight to take a fight with Soszynski (I have finally learnt how to spell it correctly!) on ONE WEEKS notice. What makes things even worse for Massenzio is that Soszynski is one of the largest lightheavyweight's there is, having competed as a heavyweight for 22 professional fights. Soszynski stuffed almost all of Massenzio's desperate takedown attempts on route to a decision victory.
I wasn't really looking forward to this fight at all but it surprised me. I didn't care for Nick Ring or James Head (Is his nickname "Gives"?) but they provided a decent scrap for us Facebook fans. Ring was rocked earlier by Head but everything after that was all Ring. Head was cut open badly and was leaking all over the octagon floor. Once again, major credit to Herb Dean who stopped the fight to allow the doctors to look at Head's, well, head! He then correctly adjusted them into the position they were in previously despite both men protesting they were in differently. Dean done a brilliant job handling the situation and when the fight restarted, Head was already gassed out and Nick Ring managed to hook up a very sloppy RNC victory, similar to the one utilised by Mirko Cro-Cop on Pat Barry back at the last UFC card in Vancouver, UFC 115.
I am an avid fan of Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour so I was curious to hear what Jason "Shotgun" Young had to say a week before his fight with Dustin Poirier. He came across as a very respectable chap and didn't have a bad thing to say. In his fight, he earned a fan in me. Young fought hard with Dustin Poirier for 15 minutes straight but was unfortunately out-wrestled in the third round. Once again the wrestling ability, or lack there of, of the Brits was exposed and Dustin successfully scored the decision but this was a really exciting fight! Both men will be studs in the featherweight division and it was great to see them so respectful of each other post fight. Again, bullshit judging returns to the octagon as someone scored it 30-27 in Poirier's favour. Fair enough he won the fight but give Jason Young his due, he battered Poirier in the second and definitely won that round. A major overhaul to the judging system is needed now more than never.
Joey Beltran and Aaron Rosa may not be the most technical fighters in the world but man they provided a very entertaining slugfest for us. These guys were just swinging heavy leather until somebody dropped. At the end of the second round, they were in a position eerily similar to the PRIDE war between Don Frye and Takayama! Beltran eventually managed to get the better of Rosa by dragging him to the ground and smashing his face in on the mat. Joe Silva did a fantastic job matching those two dudes up, awesome stuff.
By FAR the worst robbery of the year so far if not ever. Darren Elkins was awarded a 30-27 on one judge's card which was completely ludacris. Round one was debatable but Michihiro Omigawa was peppering him on the feet. Round two was Omigawa blooding Elkins standing-up and he definitely won that round. Round three was Omigawa taking down Elkins and fucking him up on the ground. Did you see all the blood on the canvas after Omigawa got done with Elkins? I am in complete disbelief that the judges can even score that in Elkins favour. Even if he won the first round, he would clearly have lost 29-28. Un-fucking-believable. I'm glad Dana White is going to treat Michihiro Omigawa as if he won the fight by paying him his bonus money. Bullshit robbery of the year hands down.
Overall this event delivered from top to bottom. Very enjoyable, I score it 9/10
