This is yet another new feature here, a DVD review. The item up today is the new release UFC Best of 2010. I'm not going to focus on the specs or anything like that, just a review and recap of the fights and segments on the disc. The fight reviews aren't going to be blow by blow recreations, but my general opinion of what's going on and how I thought each round went. I'm going to be more blatantly subjective about the fights and fighters than I normally would be. For the purpose of this DVD, I'll also state whether or not I believe the fight was worthy of inclusion on the Best of list. So, in the words of Mike Goldberg, "Here we go..."
The DVD begins with an unknown voice welcoming us to the DVD and telling the viewer about the rise and fall of fighters and the transcendent power and thrill of competition set to a montage of footage from throughout the year. After this, it leads into some of the overall highlights of the year, from new markets for shows to the top fighters of the year.
The next topic: Frankie Edgar's rise to the top of the lightweight title at the expense of longtime champ and 155 lb. legend BJ Penn. This sets up a highlight package for Penn-Edgar 1. Luckily they don't show this whole fight as it would only serve to infuriate me. Edgar won a unanimous decision victory based mainly on the fact that he looked busier, but the truth is that it was at best an even fight that I thought could have went either way. This is followed up with highlights from Penn-Edgar 2, a clear decision win for Edgar. I still don't get how BJ blew both of these fights so badly. Prior to these fights, he hadn't lost at lightweight in eight years and had looked more dominant than ever, but Frankie Edgar beats him twice?
The narrator then goes over Edgar's new foe: Gray Maynard. Brief clips of his split decision win over Nate Diaz and his boring decision win over Kenny Florian follow.
After about twelve minutes, we get our first fight of the DVD: Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk from September's UFC 119.
Round 1: Disclosure - I hate Sean Sherk and his baby T Rex arms and the fact he tested positive for roids a few years back. I've never seen Dunham fight before this DVD. Sherk holds an advantage through most of the first round with some takedowns and minor ground and pound from the guard position. With about a minute and a half left, Dunham throws a pretty swank choke on Sherk, who eventually reverses position into open guard, where he lands a nasty elbow that busts Dunham open badly above the eyebrow. First round is 10-9 Sherk in my book.
Round 2: As the round begins, Dunham's cut is still bleeding. Sherk spends a solid 30 seconds working on a takedown that Dunham turns into a guillotine. Sherk escapes, then spends another minute and a half shooting for a takedown that leads to nothing. Dunham looks for a guillotine the whole time. Rogan and Goldberg make the point that Sherk may win this round just because Dunham is bleeding a ton, like that's a sign of effectiveness. The last minute and a half or so consists of some kickboxing that Dunham clearly gets the better of, landing a few kicks and like three knees to Sherk's mug. 10-9 Dunham, as he landed most of the significant offense, stuffed Sherk's takedowns, and had a few submission attempts that nearly worked.
Round 3: This round would determine the winner for me. Dunham drops Sherk early with a head kick, but Sherk recovers and pushes Dunham against the cage for an eternity, looking for a takedown that only happens for a second before Dunham gets back to his feet. Basically two minutes of the round consisted of Sherk's takedowns getting stuffed. They stand and trade for a bit, where Dunham lands a lot more than Sherk, who responds by whiffing on uppercuts since he has the reach of a twelve year old and then pushing Dunham into the cage for a takedown. They trade some more and Dunham gets him against the cage with some nasty kicks and knees to the mug. Another 10-9 round for Dunham. That makes it 29-28 Dunham to me. Pretty good fight, I must say. The judges give it to Sherk by split decision. Wow, Dunham got robbed.
The DVD then goes into another lightweight fight, this one from UFC 110 between George "G-Sots" Sotiropoulos and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson.
Round 1: I saw this one live when it happened and remember it being pretty good. Sotiropoulos gets a bit of lee way with his trunks, wearing knee pads and ankle wraps underneath that in essence give him pants (which are illegal). I do not approve. G-Sots gets an early takedown and works to pass Joe Daddy's guard, but Stevenson stops his progress. That is literally all that happens for about sixty percent of this round. G-Sots eventually lands some punches from up top, but receives a vicious upkick to the grill for his trouble. Joe Daddy almost gets him in an arm triangle, but Sotiropoulous ends up in the mount and lands some ground and pound and nearly gets Stevenson in an armbar to end the round. 10-9 G-Sots.
Round 2: G-Sots gets some good shots in while they box and Rogan claims that Stevenson is in trouble. I like Rogan, but he acts like any flush blow puts a dude on queer street. Stevenson was just losing in the stand up, he was at no risk of being knocked out. They end up on the ground, where Sotiropoulos goes for a several submissions, none of which land. His ability to transition and attempt different submissions is very impressive. The round ends with Stevenson being caught in an anaconda choke. The grappling in this fight has been very impressive. Closer round, but still clearly 10-9 for G-Sots.
Round 3: Goldberg makes sure to tell the viewer that G-Sots loved Bruce Lee movies as a kid, like it is relevant to the action going on. Rogan jumps in and explains the grappling going on and why Sotiropoulos is so good at it. Goldberg says Stevenson "needs to unleash." Rogan goes back to doing the play by play and color commentary. My recap of this round hasn't been too detailed, but it has mostly been a lot of ground transitions and both men looking for submissions. Stevenson has landed a couple takedowns, but gets tied up and can't get the finish he would need to win. The round could have gone either way, but I'll give it to Stevenson and make it 10-9 for him, and 29-28 Sotiropoulos overall. The judges score it 30-27 for Sotriropoulos.
After G-Sots, a montage of clips for lightweight Jim Miller follow. He won all four of his fights in 2010 and also positioned himself as contender for the 155 lb. belt. Melvin Guillard is the next lightweight to receive a montage, as the narrator discusses the Young Assassin's newfound maturity both in and out of the cage. He won all three of his fights last year and is another potential contender. The last WEC Lightweight Champion, Anthony Pettis, is the last lightweight to earn a montage headlined by his "Showtime kick" on Ben Henderson.
This segues into a bit on the addition of the WEC into the UFC. A highlight reel of my boy Jose Aldo annihilating everything in sight follows, as well as highlights of several of the other exciting bantam and featherweights.
Georges St. Pierre is the star of the next segment. Going into 2010, GSP had won twenty straight rounds. He fought twice last year. His first fight was against Dan Hardy and it was a five round exposition of positional control by GSP. To be fair, he did try several submissions that would normally have ended another fighter's night, but Hardy is tough as hell. The thing that bothers me about GSP is that he sticks so heavily to his gameplan. He was all over Hardy and could have just pounded his head in, but he was so focused on submissions and not taking chances that the clearly overwhelmed Hardy was allowed to survive. His next fight was against Josh Koscheck, where he dominated again for another five rounds. He put on a boxing clinic and broke Kos' orbital in the first round. It really should have been stopped, but instead it was allowed to continue.
Matt Hughes was the 2010 inductee into the UFC Hall of Fame. They run down his resume, which includes his awesome submission win against Frank Trigg, so that's cool. This leads into Hughes-Penn 3 from UFC 123. This should be a short review.
Round 1: I saw this one live as well, and it was exciting while it lasted. Both men start to trade and BJ levels Hughes back into Iowa in about twenty seconds. That pretty much settled their rivalry. BJ is wicked pumped after the fight, in true BJ Penn fashion. When the doctors check out Matt, you can see him ask "What happened?" As a huge BJ fan, this almost made the two losses to Edgar worth it since it led to this massacre.
The focus on welterweights continues with Carlos Condit, the former WEC Welterweight Champ. This leads to UFC 115's Condit vs. Rory MacDonald.
Round 1: This is the first time I've ever seen this fight. These two dudes are just going at it in this round and seem to be pretty evenly matched in the stand-up. MacDonald probably gets a slight advantage because he blocked a couple of kicks and turned them into some takedowns. Neither man was really dominant and there wasn't a lot to say about it. I'll go 10-9 MacDonald, but it was really close.
Round 2: MacDonald and Condit continue to trade blows and both men land some takedowns on each other. On Condit's, MacDonald gets a nice reversal and ends up in the guard. Rogan is yammering about how MacDonald has dominated this fight and dictated where it takes place and is clearly winning, but I feel like it's still pretty even. MacDonald lands some nice strikes and Rogan goes nuts, but stays silent when Condit lands a knee square in MacDonald's face and a nice leg kick. Goldberg and Rogan are acting like MacDonald is GSP reborn. Right at the end of the round, both men land push kicks at each other and Condit slips. Rogan acts like MacDonald levelled him, but he didn't. Close again, 10-9 MacDonald if I had to guess what the judges would say.
Round 3: Wow, Greg Jackson went apeshit in Condit's corner before it started. Never seen Greg Jackson do that before, screaming about it being "a fucking war." Who knew Mr. Positive could be so intense? Condit gets top control and lands some monster blows to the dome of MacDonald. Condit is just teeing off from top position, but MacDonald gets up with about half the round left. Condit proceeds to pummel him and get him back down and land some more ground and pound. MacDonald looks like he's done. If this was Pride, Condit would win a decision based on this round alone. Most dominant round of the fight thus far for either man. Jesus, Condit is just all over him and MacDonald is gassed. Goldberg then starts talking about how great MacDonald has done in this fight. What the fuck is he talking about? If he wins, its solely based on the inadequacy of MMA judging. With ten seconds left, the ref stops it and gives Condit a TKO win. MacDonald is gassed and his right eye looks like it is has been obliterated. Rogan continues to put over how good MacDonald is, and not that Condit just threw a massive beating on MacDonald in that round.
A brief package about welterweight contenders follows, highlighted by Condit levelling Dan Hardy and the debut of Jake Shields in the UFC. Highlights of his "win" over Martin Kampmann are shown. This was a total bullshit win for Shields, as I had Kampmann winning. Oh well, GSP is going to beat him anyways. Jon Fitch is another contender for the title and boring highlights of his boring decision victories remind me that Jon Fitch is the most boring man in the history of MMA. There's some other people like Chris Lytle and Rick Story that are hyped as contenders, but that ain't happening anytime soon. And that ends the disc.
Bonus Fights
Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon (sometime in 2010): I've never seen this one before. Miller and Lauzon trade some big shots from the standup, ground, and the clinch through the first few minutes. Miller lands some kind of funky inverted triangle/kimura submission in the first round to win. Pretty cool fight while it lasted.
Melvin Guillard vs Waylon Lowe: I believe I saw this fight back when it happened, but the highlights in the main feature showed the finish to this one. Waylon shoots for a takedown early and Melvin shows good takedown defense. While up against the fence, Guillard lands several monster knees to Lowe's mug. Lowe is using way too much energy going for a takedown that just isn't gonna come. They dance around and when Lowe shoots for another takedown gets a hard knee to the solar plexus and crumples. KO win for Guillard in Round 1.
Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit: This one won't be very long. I remember it taking place in England and the Brit fans being rabid for Hardy. He seemed so pumped to be in front of the home crowd and the energy while watching it live was incredible. The two engage in a pretty good kickboxing contest through the first few minutes and then it happens. About four and a half minutes through the round, both men throw a left hook. Hardy's hook just misses Condit's jaw, Condit's lands right on the button and puts Hardy out cold. Nasty knockout.
Dennis Siver vs Andre Winner: I think I've seen this one before, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. The first round is all standup, with the edge going to Siver. With about two minutes left, Siver floors Winner and puts him in a read naked choke to win it by submission.
George Sotiropoulos vs Joe Lauzon: Man, the bonus fights don't do any favors for the Lauzon family. Lauzon starts well in the first few minutes, landing some decent strikes standing. G Sots is not heavily layered in gear, so no shady advantage for him. They end up scrambling on the ground and Lauzon ends up on top, for a little while, before G Sots ends up on top. He ends up in the mount and almost gets an armbar before the round ends, but Lauzon ends up on top and lands some strikes right before the bell. Round 1 would be 10-9 Lauzon, but close. Lauzon is much more fatigued to start Round 2. He is getting tagged with a lot more punches now and eats some Muay Thai knees. Sotiropoulos ends up on top and almost lands an armbar. Lauzon is gassed and Sotiropoulos lands a nice kimura for a submission win.
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira: I think I saw this one. Oliveira came into this one as a highly regarded prospect and throws some head kicks to start. Miller gets a takedown, but Oliveira is very active from the bottom, trying several submissions. Miller somehow rolls him into a kneebar and gets a submission win. Pretty crazy fight for its whole two minute duration.
That does it for Disc 1. I'll try to do Disc 2 sometime this week.
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