UFC 136 Thoughts, Where Do We Go From Here?

Despite another dreadful nite of Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan on commentary, UFC 136 proved to be an excellent card. From Joe Lauzon’s opening fight upset of Melvin Guillard to Frankie Edgar’s comeback win over Gray Maynard, UFC 136 had a little bit of everything.

Again, it must be noted that Rogan and Goldie were woeful on commentary. To be fair, it wasn’t as bad as UFC 135, but still really not good at all. The best (or worst) examples of this would be during the Nam Phan-Leonard Garcia fight and the Aldo-Florian one. Rogan was raving about the knockout power and all around skill of Leonard Garcia, but Garcia was getting the shit beat out of him for the bulk of the fight. He also said that “if you don’t like Leonard Garcia, then you aren’t a fan of MMA.” Slow your roll, Joe Rogan. Leonard Garcia is kinda neat the first time you see him fight, but after that it’s like learn to block and stop just throwing sloppy punches from your arms with no real power in a windmill fashion. After you see him brawl like that once or twice (like against Roger Huerta and Chan Sung Jung), you’ve seen it enough times. Against Phan it was tedious. It’s like watching a barfight without the probability of prison time for one of the combatants. To say not liking him is akin to not liking the sport is absurd. It’s not like watching Anderson Silva and being like “that dude ain’t shit.” If you can’t appreciate the skills of a champion, you probably don’t like MMA. To not like Leonard Garcia means you most likely actually appreciate the finer points of the sport. You know, the ones Rogan should be espousing.

The other fight Rogan was awful during was Aldo-Florian and this was due to his obvious bias for KenFlo. He kept talking about Kenny’s aggression and strong gameplan when all Kenny was doing was leaning Aldo against the fence and try (and fail) for a takedown. Leaning and failed takedowns are not aggression. Then they would separate, Aldo would block most of Kenny’s strikes and hit him with a few punches and kicks. It wasn’t until the fourth round that Rogan acknowledged any of Aldo’s offense, despite the fact Florian’s leg was bruised badly by the third round. The fact that Kenny went to his corner after the fight with his head down in shame while Aldo looked triumphant says all that needed to be said. It isn’t like Aldo was particularly outstanding (more on that later), but Rogan acted like he was getting dominated in a fight that he was pretty clearly winning. And of course Goldberg was Goldberg and spouted ridiculous things all night, like hyping up the destructive powers of a gassed Joey Beltran. I might have to write an article soon about how Rogan and Goldie need to go and all the damage they do to fights with their dreadful commentary, but let’s just go right into what’s next. I’m omitting the Phan/Garcia combatants because I don’t really know or care what either of them do next, even if they got Fight of the Night. I guess that isn’t fair since there are fights I enjoyed less than theirs, but the commentary telling me how great it was really turned me off. It wasn’t like it was a trainwreck like the heavyweight fights on the last card, the fight just meant nothing to me. But again, I digress.

Melvin Guillard: Man oh man did Melvin screw up in this one. He showed up in this fight far too cocky and it cost him. He landed a punch and then started dancing and showboating for his hometown fans. Then he got caught and submitted inside of a minute and now his championship aspirations are on hold for another year. Very disappointing showing for Guillard. I would consider either Gray Maynard or Jim Miller. Both guys were top contenders and are coming off losses. Maybe that and this humiliating defeat can get him back on track.

Joe Lauzon: Lauzon got the surprise win of the night by submitting Guillard. I think it was more of a fluke, but this puts Lauzon in a good spot. While he will never get a title shot, he always tries hard and could make a solid little run into the top ten. I would say put him up against a fringe top ten guy like Dennis Siver, but Siver fights in a few weeks. Nate Diaz makes sense, as a win for Nate makes him a fringe contender and a win for Lauzon puts him on the cusp of the top ten in the division.

Chael Sonnen: Sonnen utterly abused Brian Stann on the ground and actually finished an opponent for the first time since the Bush administration. His dominant win showed that Stann has no ground game whatsoever and that he probably wasn’t anywhere near ready to be included in the title picture. This was overshadowed by Sonnen’s ridiculous “loser leaves town” WWE themed post-fight interview. I’m not going to get into it too much because I can’t stand him and my brother already delved into why Sonnen is such a lowlife in an excellent post earlier this week. His next opponent will likely be Anderson Silva, unless Silva takes longer to recover from injury. I think it should take place in Brazil just because he has no business calling out Silva after he cheated and still lost, yet still gets to be a contender. If he gets to dictate fights and not be reprimanded by Zuffa for being a scumbag, at least make him fight in hostile territory. If the Silva fight doesn’t happen next, he should fight Dan Henderson in a title eliminator or fight Vitor Belfort, so the two most annoying fighters in the division (to me) can go at it and I can skip it.

Kenny Florian: Florian came up short again in a title fight, but it isn’t really fair to say he choked. Much like the BJ Penn fight, he ran up against a fighter with excellent takedown defense and superior striking. It’s not like he dropped a fight to Leonard Garcia or something. That being said, his gameplan was not good. It was the same one he used against BJ Penn to no avail: grind his opponent against the fence and work for takedowns. But just like Penn, Jose Aldo has some legendary takedown defense. I think Kenny should move back up to lightweight for a fight or two before calling it a career. Maybe a rematch with Sean Sherk or something like that. Either way, Kenny has nothing to be ashamed of. He has been one of the better fighters in the UFC over the past five years and despite never winning a title, he’s been smart AND exiciting in the cage and has a lot of wins by finish to his credit. Not a bad legacy at all.

Jose Aldo: I think it is pretty much set in stone Chad Mendes is his next opponent, so I’ll talk more about Aldo’s performance in this fight. He showed great takedown and striking defense, as well as crisp kickboxing. He still wasn’t as impressive as he should have been. His leg kicks were absolutely brutal and his punches busted KenFlo up. However, he didn’t use that killer instinct he showed in the WEC when he could have. There were points where Florian was absolutely hurt and Aldo didn’t follow up like he should have. Florian’s leg started to give out after a hard kick in the third round, but Aldo backed off instead of throwing another one or pouncing. In fact, much like in the Hominick fight Aldo didn’t use nearly enough of his leg kicks. He still won a clear cut decision, but his nonaggression was curious and disappointing to me. He has failed to truly impress since moving to the UFC, so hopefully the strong wrestling of Mendes forces Aldo to push the pace and action more.

Gray Maynard: Unlike Florian, Maynard did choke. For the second straight fight, he had Edgar on the verge of unconsciousness in the first round and failed to finish. And again, after the first round he had nothing left to offer Edgar. It wasn’t like he gassed out like the first time either. He just kind of stood around and got outworked until he was surprisingly finished in the fourth round after Edgar hit him flush on the jaw with four straight rights. He tried to argue the finish, but it was a good stoppage. This leaves him in a weird spot in the division. He should be able to beat the bulk of the division, but there’s no way he gets a rematch with Edgar in the next year or two. The only way that will happen is if he just starts finishing dudes left and right, which is unlikely. Welcome to being the new Jon Fitch, Gray Maynard. I could see him against Melvin Guillard, Jim Miller, or the loser of Clay Guida and Ben Henderson. If Edgar drops the title in his next defense or two, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Maynard back in the title hunt sooner rather than later.

Frankie Edgar: As someone who didn’t really care for Edgar before this fight, all I can say is Jesus Christ. I don’t know how he survived the beating he took in round one, much less dominated the fight from that point on. His finish of Maynard after surviving that drubbing was the highlight of the night by far. I could run out of superlatives describing what went down. His next opponent will be the winner of Henderson/Guida, with Strikeforce Champ Gilbert Melendez lurking as well. While he would beat Guida, the Henderson and Melendez fights are tougher. Bendo is relentless and can match Edgar’s pace. Melendez, by all accounts, is an absolute beast with his wrestling and ground and pound. Either way, after Edgar’s performance against Maynard, I’ll be tuned in. And I won’t be surprised if Edgar pulls out another win either.

UFC 137 is in a few weeks. Keep a look out for some stories about the fighters on the card and predictions.

UFC 136 Predictions

UFC 136 is coming up, so that means more predictions. If it seems like I just did one of these, you’re right. For some reason, Zuffa decided to put this card two weeks after UFC 135, and one week after a UFC card on Versus. However unlike UFC 135, this has to be considered one of the best cards of the year (even if I don’t like either guy in the main event). It features two title fights: Lightweight Champ Frankie Edgar against Gray Maynard and Feathweight Champ Jose Aldo against Kenny Florian. It also has Chael Sonnen against Brian Stann in a title eliminator and top ten lightweight Melvin Guillard will be in action as well. Let’s just get down to predictions.

Melvin Guillard vs. Joe Lauzon: Guillard is a top ten lightweight that is on the cusp of a title shot, while Joe Lauzon is probably somewhere in the 11-25 range in that class. Guillard is a striker with solid takedown defense, like a 155 lb version of Chuck Liddell but much more athletic. Lauzon is a submission specialist. I like Lauzon and he is a good fighter, but he isn’t good enough to beat the top of the division and Guillard has been on an absolute tear for the past year and a half. His time at Greg Jackson’s camp has really helped shape him into a much better fighter and he has the most knockout power in the division. He’ll use it to devastating effect here. Guillard by second round KO.

Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia: This fight was bumped to the main card after Dave Herman pulled out of his fight with Mike Russow due to injury. This is a rematch of a fight from last December, where Garcia somehow won a split decision in a battle he clearly lost. This has the potential to be an entertaining brawl, one that Phan needs to win in order to stay employed. Garcia will always have a job because he just brawls, for better or worse. He isn’t actually that good and he wings punches with no real force, but he can take a punch and always comes forward. Phan isn’t a particularly good fighter, but he is more technically sound and should end up the winner. Nam Phan by decision.

Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann: I should preface this by making it clear that I loathe Sonnen. He is a cheating, obnoxious, lying lowlife scumbag that shouldn’t even be allowed to fight, much less do so in a top contender’s bout. Stann is an American war hero and by all accounts, a good guy. People want to see if Sonnen could beat Silva in a rematch. I am not one of them. He was on the roids and Silva was injured, but Chael still lost. In a rematch, Silva will beat his head in nine ways to Sunday. That being said, this fight comes down to whether or not Stann can stuff Sonnen’s takedowns and nullify his top game. If he keeps it standing, there is a good chance he can either KO or bust open the paper thin skin of Sonnen and get a doctor stoppage. If it does go to the ground, Stann does have one win by triangle choke so he should be able to beat Sonnen there. Stann has also been improving steadily with each fight at middleweight and even if he wasn’t, there is no way I’m picking Sonnen. Stann by second round TKO.

UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo vs. Kenny Florian: This is the main reason I’m buying this card. I love Jose Aldo. He is an absolutely vicious striker and has been a one man wrecking crew since he started fighting. Florian is a veteran who was on the Ultimate Fighter Season One as an undersized middleweight, then became a successful lightweight that lost two title shots and a number one contender’s bout before moving to featherweight this year. Florian looked OK in his lone match, but it was obvious the weight cut was not the easiest. At the age of 35, this is likely Florian’s last chance at gold before he hangs it up. He will come into this fight as the larger fighter and is probably the most well rounded fighter Aldo has faced and ever will go against. His range and Muay Thai could make it difficult for Jose, but Florian has never gone up against someone as explosive as Aldo. I expect his speed and power to cause KenFlo some problems and he showed decent ground defense and takedowns against Mark Hominick, so I don’t think Florian can grind away a decision. I expect Aldo to make use of some brutal leg kicks to wear Florian down like he did to Urijah Faber last year to win the belt. Aldo by decision.

UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard: Speaking of decisions, this is a fight between two men that had a draw in their last fight and combined haven’t finished a fight since 2007. I’m just happy this fight is happening so that the lightweight division doesn’t have to be at a standstill anymore like it has been all year. By all accounts, their January fight was a wild, exciting affair. I’m having a hard time getting excited for this fight, as I think Maynard is about as exciting as a Joe Biden speech and Edgar doesn’t particularly interest me. I don’t see Edgar finishing the bigger, stronger Maynard but I also don’t see Gray finishing it either. If he couldn’t after putting the beating of a lifetime on Edgar in the first round of their last fight, how could he now? I just want to see the winner get slapped around by Ben Henderson (provided he gets by Clay Guida). I guess I would prefer Edgar because I think both Bendo and Guida can beat him, whereas only Bendo would beat Maynard. I think I lean towards Edgar on the strength of the fact he beat BJ Penn twice and would have won the Maynard fight if he hadn’t had to overcome such a lopsided first round. Edgar by decision.
That does it for this batch of picks. Feel free to leave yours on the comments section or on facebook.