Live in:
Franklin and Griffin in Safe Company
Zuffa's first fight card in Northern Ireland (and third overall in
the United Kingdom) was actually better than most people described
it.
Even still, my impression from watching UFC 72: it left something to be desired. Starting at the top, the award for Dullest Fight of the Night belongs to Rich Franklin (Pictures) and Yushin Okami (Pictures).
I didn't expect some magical 15 minutes of explosions, fireworks and enemy soldiers performing pirouettes after John Matrix throws grenades at them. But I did anticipate a competitive fight that would have some action during the first two full rounds.
Okami was going to play it cautiously and try goading Franklin into mistakes, but someone in the Japanese middleweight's corner should have ordered him to take a shot of espresso several minutes sooner. Franklin was trying to secure a title shot for his next outing, so one can't truly blame him for inducing early afternoon naps across the United States.
The blame rests mostly on Okami's shoulders. I understand that he fought using his trademark style, but he was a little too cautious for my taste and his passivity cost him dearly.
When he actually did something in the fight -- and didn't happen until the third round -- Okami forced "Ace" into a world of trouble, as the Japanese fighter almost submitted the former UFC middleweight champ. Had Okami tried take a shot or outmuscle Franklin during the two earlier clinches in the fight, he might have wound up scoring his seventh straight win, a victory that would have thrown a swarm of flies into Franklin's title ointment.
There's almost nothing more frustrating in combat sports than watching two fighters with immense talent play it safe and do whatever it takes not to lose.
UFC 72 needed to close with a bang (no, the televised undercard bout featuring Tan and Davis doesn't count as a show closer) considering it was already on shaky legs, yet both Okami and Franklin stunk up the arena.
I was waiting for Okami to open up and force the fight to the canvas, but that didn't happen until a minute or so into the final round. And since the fight was already triggering viewers the world over to ingest various pesticides, I expected Franklin, a man who always is a crowd pleaser, to start pressing the issue.
The event opened up with a very entertaining tussle between Scott Smith and Ed Herman (Pictures) and continued with the remarkable war between Clay Guida (Pictures) and Tyson Griffin (Pictures).
From there, though, the air from the Zuffa hot air balloon was released with a figurative shotgun blast and the vessel plummeted toward the earth faster than Raven Baxter falling off of Gumdrop Pass.
The Jason MacDonald (Pictures)-Rory Singer (Pictures) fight was alright and then came the dreadful contest between Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Hector Ramirez (Pictures). Of course, the main attraction between Franklin and Okami featured more staring than a Peeping Tom brigade.
Forrest plays it… safe
If this is the Forrest Griffin (Pictures) of the future, can someone please pass me a Flux Capacitor. I understand that the typically entertaining Griffin played it safe to ensure he'd return to his winning ways, but come on: even Forrest himself hated his performance.
Griffin looked good as he darted in and out, confusing Ramirez the entire time they fought, but he played it a bit too safe at times. Heck, Griffin at one point in the second round literally ran away from Ramirez after he landed a crisp combo to the East Los Angeles native's dome.
Watching that fight a few times, it seemed like Griffin could have turned it on whenever he wanted and might've taken out his opponent had he been more aggressive. But he was coy about opening up and, at times throughout the fight, Forrest seemed as though he doubted his own skills.
Either way, a win is a win and someone like Forrest Griffin (Pictures) can be excused for having a slumber-inducing fight considering how many times he's pleased the fans with his all-out wars.
(The same goes for Franklin -- he can be excused for his abysmal performance in the main event.)
UFC Fight Night 10 …
…was absolutely sensational. There were highlight reel knockouts, solid submissions and the fights that went the distance were entertaining from start to finish.
Hopefully Zuffa can arrange more events like this because, to be quite honest, I usually don't look forward all that much to watching them. But after the one from last Tuesday, I might actually get pumped up for them.
Too bad the one we had to actually pay for was of bargain bin quality.
Misc. Debris
Since the fight was so thrilling and the outcome was dubious, I wonder how long it'll be before Clay Guida (Pictures) and Tyson Griffin (Pictures) have their rematch. And for the record, I thought Guida should have gotten the nod 29-28. It wasn't an outright robbery like so many in that "other" fightsport that was miraculously saved thanks to De La Hoya-Mayweather (sarcasm in full force), but the decision was unjust. …
I knew Ramirez wasn't going to win when he fought Griffin for one reason: he was too focused on telling the fans in attendance about the shamrock he had on his hat. I stopped counting how many times he pointed to said shamrock somewhere around 32. …
Mike Goldberg is without question the most entertaining commentator in all of MMA. He's a good guy and he truly loves what he does. But, like many others, I wonder what he watches sometimes and if he just makes things up as he goes along.
In keeping with Goldberg, it seems like everybody has been attacking him for being who he is and making the viewers laugh lately. My jabs at him are just out of fun as I mean no harm whatsoever. It's easy for me to poke fun at him from time to time, but let's be real for second, he's a thousand times better as a commentator than I could ever be and the same is said about 99.9 percent of anyone else out there who rips on him. …
I'm interested in seeing how good Anthony Johnson will become. His 13-second knockout over Chad Reiner was fun to watch. I'm willing to bet, however, that Johnson won't have it so easy when he faces someone in the octagon who actually tucks his chin. Reiner should learn from that mistake in no time. …
And finally, before I receive a ton of e-mail regarding the IFL, the reason why I didn't mention their latest event in this column is because I didn't see it. Even though it was in my adopted hometown of Las Vegas, I opted not to cover the event. I was too busy consuming the glorious tunes of Pink Floyd live in concert instead (well, it was Roger Waters live, but it's mainly his material).
Hit me up at www.myspace.com/sherdogsloan
Even still, my impression from watching UFC 72: it left something to be desired. Starting at the top, the award for Dullest Fight of the Night belongs to Rich Franklin (Pictures) and Yushin Okami (Pictures).
I didn't expect some magical 15 minutes of explosions, fireworks and enemy soldiers performing pirouettes after John Matrix throws grenades at them. But I did anticipate a competitive fight that would have some action during the first two full rounds.
Okami was going to play it cautiously and try goading Franklin into mistakes, but someone in the Japanese middleweight's corner should have ordered him to take a shot of espresso several minutes sooner. Franklin was trying to secure a title shot for his next outing, so one can't truly blame him for inducing early afternoon naps across the United States.
The blame rests mostly on Okami's shoulders. I understand that he fought using his trademark style, but he was a little too cautious for my taste and his passivity cost him dearly.
When he actually did something in the fight -- and didn't happen until the third round -- Okami forced "Ace" into a world of trouble, as the Japanese fighter almost submitted the former UFC middleweight champ. Had Okami tried take a shot or outmuscle Franklin during the two earlier clinches in the fight, he might have wound up scoring his seventh straight win, a victory that would have thrown a swarm of flies into Franklin's title ointment.
There's almost nothing more frustrating in combat sports than watching two fighters with immense talent play it safe and do whatever it takes not to lose.
UFC 72 needed to close with a bang (no, the televised undercard bout featuring Tan and Davis doesn't count as a show closer) considering it was already on shaky legs, yet both Okami and Franklin stunk up the arena.
I was waiting for Okami to open up and force the fight to the canvas, but that didn't happen until a minute or so into the final round. And since the fight was already triggering viewers the world over to ingest various pesticides, I expected Franklin, a man who always is a crowd pleaser, to start pressing the issue.
The event opened up with a very entertaining tussle between Scott Smith and Ed Herman (Pictures) and continued with the remarkable war between Clay Guida (Pictures) and Tyson Griffin (Pictures).
From there, though, the air from the Zuffa hot air balloon was released with a figurative shotgun blast and the vessel plummeted toward the earth faster than Raven Baxter falling off of Gumdrop Pass.
The Jason MacDonald (Pictures)-Rory Singer (Pictures) fight was alright and then came the dreadful contest between Forrest Griffin (Pictures) and Hector Ramirez (Pictures). Of course, the main attraction between Franklin and Okami featured more staring than a Peeping Tom brigade.
Forrest plays it… safe
If this is the Forrest Griffin (Pictures) of the future, can someone please pass me a Flux Capacitor. I understand that the typically entertaining Griffin played it safe to ensure he'd return to his winning ways, but come on: even Forrest himself hated his performance.
Griffin looked good as he darted in and out, confusing Ramirez the entire time they fought, but he played it a bit too safe at times. Heck, Griffin at one point in the second round literally ran away from Ramirez after he landed a crisp combo to the East Los Angeles native's dome.
Watching that fight a few times, it seemed like Griffin could have turned it on whenever he wanted and might've taken out his opponent had he been more aggressive. But he was coy about opening up and, at times throughout the fight, Forrest seemed as though he doubted his own skills.
Either way, a win is a win and someone like Forrest Griffin (Pictures) can be excused for having a slumber-inducing fight considering how many times he's pleased the fans with his all-out wars.
(The same goes for Franklin -- he can be excused for his abysmal performance in the main event.)
UFC Fight Night 10 …
…was absolutely sensational. There were highlight reel knockouts, solid submissions and the fights that went the distance were entertaining from start to finish.
Hopefully Zuffa can arrange more events like this because, to be quite honest, I usually don't look forward all that much to watching them. But after the one from last Tuesday, I might actually get pumped up for them.
Too bad the one we had to actually pay for was of bargain bin quality.
Misc. Debris
Since the fight was so thrilling and the outcome was dubious, I wonder how long it'll be before Clay Guida (Pictures) and Tyson Griffin (Pictures) have their rematch. And for the record, I thought Guida should have gotten the nod 29-28. It wasn't an outright robbery like so many in that "other" fightsport that was miraculously saved thanks to De La Hoya-Mayweather (sarcasm in full force), but the decision was unjust. …
I knew Ramirez wasn't going to win when he fought Griffin for one reason: he was too focused on telling the fans in attendance about the shamrock he had on his hat. I stopped counting how many times he pointed to said shamrock somewhere around 32. …
Mike Goldberg is without question the most entertaining commentator in all of MMA. He's a good guy and he truly loves what he does. But, like many others, I wonder what he watches sometimes and if he just makes things up as he goes along.
In keeping with Goldberg, it seems like everybody has been attacking him for being who he is and making the viewers laugh lately. My jabs at him are just out of fun as I mean no harm whatsoever. It's easy for me to poke fun at him from time to time, but let's be real for second, he's a thousand times better as a commentator than I could ever be and the same is said about 99.9 percent of anyone else out there who rips on him. …
I'm interested in seeing how good Anthony Johnson will become. His 13-second knockout over Chad Reiner was fun to watch. I'm willing to bet, however, that Johnson won't have it so easy when he faces someone in the octagon who actually tucks his chin. Reiner should learn from that mistake in no time. …
And finally, before I receive a ton of e-mail regarding the IFL, the reason why I didn't mention their latest event in this column is because I didn't see it. Even though it was in my adopted hometown of Las Vegas, I opted not to cover the event. I was too busy consuming the glorious tunes of Pink Floyd live in concert instead (well, it was Roger Waters live, but it's mainly his material).
Hit me up at www.myspace.com/sherdogsloan
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