UFC 103 Thoughts

To begin, I thought this was a solid card from top to bottom, but the kind of card that would only appeal to the true MMA enthusiast. It's not the sort of think that would draw in casual fans, as the names on there were not of the "household" variety. (e.g., Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre) But with that said, it was a truly enjoyable card that had a tough fight of its own against the Mayweather/Marquez PPV. Zuffa had a good strategy in play by offering the free fights on Spike (which did not disappoint)

Polish Power. Thomasz Drwal looked dominant throughout this fight, whereas Drew McFedries looked to have gassed early. He just couldn't seem to pull the trigger in the second round, I'm really not sure what happened. Drwal exhibited a good ground game once they went down, and ended the first broadcast fight on a decisive note. More than could be said for Floyd Mayweather's performance.

Success Story. I love the arm triangle. It's one of my favorite submissions, and this may be a contender for sub of the year. Rick Story and Brian Foster had some heavy exchanges, but this is really a spectacular finish. Give credit to story, that is not an easy tap out to pull off.

Iced Cole. Damn. Well, Effrain Escuduero had a successful post TUF finale-debut, and won in impressive fashion. Heavy hands were never something you'd expect from this guy based on his performance on the show. He did an excellent job of smoking Cole Miller, and proved he is more multi-dimensional than meets the eye.

Ow. Steve Lopez's shoulder injury looked nasty. I've never seen anyone dislocate a shoulder while throwing a punch, but it did not look pleasant at all. I was surprised he wasn't wincing after waving off Jim Miller. This was on its way to being competitive in the second round, so the injury finish is really very unfortunate. Hopefully Lopez can rebound soon.

He finally punches like that "other" Tyson. The knockout of Hermes Franca is pretty ironic considering how much flak Tyson Griffin has received for not finishing fights. Indeed, most of his wins are by decision. However, that was just a great KO. An impressive win that's going to put Griffin back on the contender's ladder for sure. Incidentally, Franca's failure to make weight is disappointing. As a former WEC lightweight champion, he has to know how to cut weight properly, so it's even more of a letdown that he couldn't.

You can't spell "Koscheck" without "KO." This one almost seemed academic to me... I don't see Trigg having much left in the tank against quality opponents. He did come out swinging to start, and it could be argued the stoppage was a bit early. However, Wade Keller at MMAtorch.com brings up a great point: referees are likely to step in sooner with veterans due to the excessive wear and tear they've suffered. I'm curious to see where Trigg goes from here in the welterweight division, but I doubt it'll be against anyone near Koscheck's caliber. Meanwhile, Kos rebounds from his own arguable loss against Paulo Thiago, and puts his name right back in the spotlight. From my perspective, Kos landed some big, big shots, and one or two more would've put a cap on the fight anyway.

Speaking of controversial finishes... The big question to the Kampmann-Daley fight is whether or not Kampmann was "out on his feet" or not. He certainly looked rocked to the core, but Joe Rogan commented that the ref could've allowed a few more punches before calling the fight. I'm not so sure. While Kampmann was indeed vertical, I don't think it'd be in his best interest to take many more shots than he did. Impressive showcase for Daley, though. A contenders' match between him and Mike Swick seems to be in the cards, and it makes sense. Although neither of them is anywhere near GSP's level.

(Cro) Cop Out. I'm not even sure where to begin. This fight all but cemented the fall of a legend in MMA. A legend who just barely managed to go 2-3 in the premiere MMA promotion in the world right now. I'll go on the record as saying I'd hoped and expected Cro Cop to come in hungry for this fight, perhaps enticed by the possibility of rebuilding his brand equity. At the very least, he wasn't a complete shell as we've seen with some vets. Dos Santos looked solid throughout in a somewhat underwhelming fight. He's probably a win or two away from a title shot now being 3-0. As for Cro Cop, I'll go on the record as saying he needs to call it a day. At least in the UFC. He may be able to do well overseas, but in a rapidly growing heavyweight division, he's failed to duplicate Minotauro Nogueira's Pride-to-UFC success. Being suspended indefinitely since the fight doesn't help matters much.

Phenomenal. Nothing more need be said about Vitor Belfort's performance. He rang Rich Franklin's bell with authority, and looked amazing in the process. It seemed like a walk in the park for Belfort, and now with the prospect of an Anderson Silva title shot on the horizon, it makes his victory all the more significant.

With that said, we were privy to a whopping eleven (DAMN!) fights Saturday night between the free prelims and the PPV itself. Here's the breakdown of my predictions...

Prelims: 1-1 (0.500)
PPV: 3-2: (0.600)
Event Total: 4-3 (0.571)
Career Total: 13-8 (0.619)

Not too shabby. PTN, Minutiae...

Revisionist History and Balls. Thanks to Joe Rogan for correcting Mike Goldberg's quick praise of Frank Trigg's fights with Matt Hughes. Lets not forget the phantom nutshot he unleashed on Hughes, and his outright neglect in pushing forward with his attack.

"Gonads" is a medical term. 'Nuff said. Moving on.

Please never play that song again. Hearing Beyonce's "Single Ladies" song between fights was agonizing. When I went to Philly for 101, we were treated to "Thunder Kiss '65" by White Zombie and "Killing in the Name" by Rage. Major downgrade.

Always Bet on Black (House). If you didn't already think Lyoto Machida would win next month against Mauricio Rua, chew on this: Junior Dos Santos' win against Cro Cop makes him the third consecutive member of Black House/Team Nogueira in the last two months. Anderson Silva topped Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in August, Minotauro Nogueira defeated Randy Couture at UFC 102 in the same month, and now Dos Santos has bested Cro Cop. With Lyoto Machida defending next month, who else thinks a streak is in the works? It also bodes well for Antonio Rogerio's debut.

An Eye for an Eye. Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that Cro Cop received an injury to his eye following his win over Mostapha Al-turk?

Middle(weight) Man. This division has been the cloudiest regarding contenders. As I mentioned last month, it was up for debate as to who gets the next shot, considering both Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt's recent wins. Anderson Silva has been without a clear-cut challenger since April. However, Dana White seems prime on positioning Vitor Belfort as the top contender. I gotta say, I can't complain with his pick. I don't think Silva would, either. He's expressed disinterest at rematches with Hendo or Marquardt, so going against one of MMA's finest fighters ever would probably perk his ears up. Now that's a fight worth paying for. Meanwhile, a fight between Henderson and Marquardt to determine the next challenger for either Silva or Belfort makes sense.

Ace in the Hole? Rich Franklin's loss puts him in a unique situation. As I mentioned, he's been in back-to-back catchweight fights, which is really unusual. Dana White expressed interest in having Franklin vie for the light heavyweight title, but that seems unlikely now. The question is, where to next? Multiple message boards and rumblings have singled out Forrest Griffin as a potential next fight. I think that'd be great, and it's honestly hard for me to pick someone. I'm leaning closer toward Franklin now just because of his punching power. However, the thought of yet another loss for such a UFC stalwart is really disheartening.

Well put. In the post-fight press conference, Rich Franklin joked about how he tried to plan for Vitor, noting he tends to have problems with Brazilian southpaws. Too funny. But also too true. Vitor is the only other guy besides Anderson Silva to stop Rich Franklin. By knockout, no less.

Quality over Quantity. I'll let boxing pundits revel in their happy little buyrate with the Mayweather/Marquez event. Boxing always has the top grossing PPV every year, and typically one other card in the top ten. Aside from WrestleMania, the balance of the top ten PPV's are owned, lock stock and barrel, by UFC. Moreover, UFC delivered a quality show in which the majority of fights were finished, including the main event. This is in contrast to Mayweather's 12-round decision victory against a much lesser opponent. So fine, take one big pay day for the event and scream as loud as you want that boxing won this night. If there really is a contest between MMA and the sweet science, it's heavily lopsided in favor of MMA, with UFC driving the sport's exposure and growth. I'm not saying there aren't quality boxers out there, nor do I believe all boxing matches are boring. But when you look at the quality of the biggest shows compared to UFC's consistency, there really is no contest. And there's no standing 8-count to recover in this fight.

That wraps up another huge event for UFC, and clarifies some murkiness in the sea of contenders. You can very easily see one who is ready for a title shot, and several who are a fight away from that same honor. The big question as we push through the last quarter of 2009 is, who will be first to be dethroned?