Recap of UFC 101 and a Brief Look at WEC 42

Hello fight fans,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My reactions to UFC 101:
A decent card put together by the UFC last night. Philly proved to be a fairly intelligent MMA fan base with knowledgeable fans that appreciate the ground game. Never mind the fight that broke out in the crowd during the Riley-Nelson bout (see the link at the end of this post)

1) As far as my predictions, it was a pretty rotten night for me (4-7).
[The splits: 0-5 for the undercard, 4-2 on the main card (Nelson vs. Riley moved to main card), 4-3 on televised bouts, 0-2 on co-main events.]

For the two feature bouts, I worked so hard to make a case for: (1) underdogs Forrest Griffin and Kenny Florian and (2) why the favorites COULD lose, that I overlooked the obvious. Anderson Silva and BJ Penn are freaks of nature! WOW!

2) Sadollah-Hendricks: Hard to claim early stoppage by Dan Miragliotta (Some of you may recall Miragliotta was the same ref that stopped the fight between Kimbo and James Thompson). Sadollah had a choice: block or try to get back up. He had difficulty getting up and in the meantime he was getting hit repeatedly. If it wasn't for the flurry of uppercuts that knocked him down in the first place Dan may not have stopped it but you're talking about close to a dozen clean punches that landed in mere seconds.

One of the ref's responsibilities is to protect the fighters. This is what separates MMA from boxing. You want guys beaten to a pulp with their brains knocked into next week, watch boxing and see those fighter 20 years from now and tell me they're better off than the MMA fighters.

3) Also, I'm not looking to make excuses for Forrest Griffin but am I the only one who thinks he looked out of sorts? He was very tentative (yes, I know it's Anderson Silva across from him in the Octagon but this seemed different). Griffin ran off after the bout and still managed to win Fight of the Night. I wonder if this was a reward for fighting hurt/sick/etc. Food for thought but it'll add fuel to the naysayers' fire when they claim that MMA is rigged (like pro wrestling).

4) I said it earlier I'll say it again. BJ Penn? WOW! What a slick sub on KenFlo! And Ken was barely winning the fight scraping by much the way I expected. But it looked as if KenFlo tired and to Penn's credit BJ exploded for his takedown and stayed on top of Kenny until he took his back and sunk in the RNC. Ultimately, no matter what you may think of BJ's conditioning issues in the past, you cannot give that man an opening and Kenny did just that.

I had the first round fairly even but Penn's striking edged out KenFlo's Octagon control (an often overlooked judging criteria by many MMA fans, new and old). The second round went to Kenny and the third was another close one which I hesitantly gave to Florian. If we were to stay with the scorecards, BJ Penn dominated round #4 but the RNC was the exclamation point.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEC 42:
We're hours away from tonight's WEC 42 on Versus (check your local listings for the live broadcast and the replays during the week).



(Note: difficulties in compressing the rest of the video resulted in a late post. To follow is the transcript from the rest of the video)

Alan: "...who is a tough opponent but has come upon some hard luck lately. Curran lost to Urijah Faber. His bounce back fight was a loss against future featherweight champion Mike Brown. Last fight was against Benavides, a decision loss. Curran needs this win to bounce back. No word on what will happen with his career should he lose this fight but a 4-fight losing streak is not what he needs at this point in his career.

The main event is between Miguel Angel Torres, the bantamweight champion versus Brian Bowles. Torres is on a 17 fight win streak. He's fought five times in the WEC with a record of 4-0 in championship bouts. This will be his 4th title defense. He has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Carlson Gracie, Jr which is not something that should be dismissed as this is a big deal in the MMA world. He's a fairly precise striker once he establishes his range. If you look at him he looks like a skinny lanky dude but in actuality he's a dangerous striker in addition to being excellent on the ground. Anyone who challenges Torres will have to be at his best.

Which bring us to Brian Bowles. He's 7-0 and he is a wrestler and boxer. He hasn't had a fight go to a decision yet. He's managed to win 5 fights by submission and 2 by TKO. His submission wins have come via rear naked choke and guillotine. It's a fairly safe bet that he won't be able to pull off either of those moves on Torres. As some of you have read in my comments above Stephan Bonnar's suggestion for Bowles to win the fight is something that may work short term but not something he can sustain for 5 full rounds. It is essential that he uses his wrestling skills to his advantage to fare well on the judge's scorecard. One of the overlooked aspects of judging. It's not just striking or grappling but it's also about ring/cage control and dictating where the fight goes. he's able to do this with his wrestling then Bowles has a good chance of winning a decision against Torres. Although 'lay and pray' is not necessarily the way to go but his wrestling is the key to victory for him.

Nevertheless, I'm giving this fight to Torres who I suspect will make Bowles look like a lesser fighter. Bowles is definitely a top contender and maybe one of the toughest Torres will face in a while. But it's someone Torres should be able to beat and I think it'll end in a TKO in the 3rd round.

We have a few other exciting things in line for this week with the Strikeforce event coming up. Keep your eyes on the blog. We're expecting some commentary from a special guest blogger who will provide a fresh perspective on the Strikeforce card. Until then... Peace."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related Links:
i) For SI's Josh Gross' article on Brian Bowles, click here.

ii) Video of the fight in the crowd at UFC 101 last night, click here.

iii) Five Ounces of Pain article: "Anderson Silva makes great fighters look bad"