UFC 118 took place over the weekend so this is sort of late, but I've been a little busy trying to catch up on school/just being lazy, thus this post comes nearly a week after the event itself. But we press on...
Anyway, Preston and I went to Boston last weekend to catch the UFC Fan Expo, and it was fantastic. There were so many MMA companies and fighters there and it was cool to see so many people there just hanging out and checking out the exhibits. But of course the highlight was getting to meet those involved with MMA, fighters or otherwise. We got to meet pretty much everyone we had wanted to, from former Pride great Wanderlei Silva to ring girl Arianny Celeste. There were just a couple people on our list who either weren't there or just too busy, but overall it was a success. I put up a bunch of pics on Facebook so you can go check those out there.
After the festivities, we went to (of all places) Applebees on Saturday night to watch the fights. Some impressions.
- Dan Miller won his fight over John Salter with a second round guillotine choke, his third career win by guillotine and sixth by choke in 16 pro fights. Miller's a great midlevel middleweight who's exciting to watch, and has one of the nastiest guillotines I've ever seen.
- Another great middle of the pack fighter was on display when Joe Lauzon dominated Gabe Ruediger for a couple minutes before finishing him off with an armbar. I love seeing TUF 5 alumni since that was my favorite seeing, and while it's nice to see Gabe back in the UFC after his embarrassing showing on the show, he's clearly not up to par quite yet. Lauzon's a solid young fighter, but I don't think he'll ever be good enough to crack the top echelon of lightweights. Still, he always puts on a show and has a diverse skillset that will help him stick around for a while.
- Speaking of TUF 5 alumns, Nate Diaz had a solid win over Marcus Davis, his second in a row in his new weight class of 170. He's a fantastic submission artist and his cockiness is always entertaining, but I'm not sure how much a win over Davis really says, who's now lost three of his past four fights. Davis is likely done, mostly just being used as a stepping stone from here on out and a guy the UFC can count on to throw leather.
- Although Demian Maia didn't get the finish, he put on a show against Mario Miranda. He made that fight a personal grappling clinic and at times seemed unsure about which of his many submissions he wanted to go for. Exciting guy who seems to have put the memory of his lackluster loss to Anderson Silva behind him.
- A big theme of the night was wrestlers as Nik Lentz, Gray Maynard, and Frankie Edgar basically wrestled their way to victory. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a totally valid way to win, and dictating where the fight occurs is one of the best strategies in the game. However it's not the most exciting, and anyone who saw Lentz basically spend 15 minutes trying to drag Andre Winner to the ground and not much else can attest to that.
It seems to me as if overwhelming wrestling just doesn't seem as dominating as overwhelming skills in other areas. We think of guys like Anderson Silva, who makes opponents look foolish with his standup game as he weaves in and out before brutalizing the other fighter with punches, kicks and knees. There's also Shinya Aoki, who takes over fights with his submission skills, playing with his opponents as if they were grappling dummies before locking in a choke or joint lock for the win. When we get to guys like Maynard or Edgar, it seems to be not about dominating the opponent, but rather neutralizing and controlling. And while a win is a win, I can't help but want more from them. Even the champions of the past we associate most with wrestling (Matt Hughes and Tito Ortiz) had much more than just suffocating takedowns to win their fights. Hughes would dominate his opponents after he took the fight to the mat, striking them until the ref stopped it or he saw an opening for a submission. Ortiz had some of the best ground and pound in MMA history, often doing significant, fight-ending damage from still within his opponent's guard. Out of 18 combined fights, Edgar and Maynard have 14 decisions. Let's see some finishes boys.
- Still, it's sort of unfair to fault them for going out their and fighting their fight in order to win. Their opponents have to be able to stop the takedowns and/or do damage off their back. Kenny Florian, Maynard's victim, simply could not stop Maynard's relentless attack and had very little to offer from his guard except for a couple feeble submission attempts. If he wants to keep rising as a lightweight, he'll have to be able to fight on his terms.
Much more surprising was BJ Penn's inability to do anything in his rematch against Edgar. It wasn't until the 4th round when he took Edgar down, seemingly content to get hit and taken down himself. But the biggest surprise to me was his lack of offense from his back. BJ is one of the best jiujitsu players in MMA, so to see him attempt so few submissions or use his lethal rubber guard left me confused. Was BJ simply uninterested or is he past his prime? He'll have to answer these questions.
- And finally, the Randy Couture/James Toney fight. Anyone who bought this as a true MMA vs boxing fight is simply deluded. Toney, a talented but aging boxer, can't be expected to fare well in MMA against Couture, a talented but aging mixed martial artist, any better than Couture would against Toney in the boxing ring. The takeaway wasn't that MMA is better than boxing, just that bringing one skillset into the octagon won't cut it, something we already knew.
