What a weekend it was! After a relatively meager few weeks of mixed martial arts non-action, the two biggest organizations in the world bombarded us with solid shows.
For starters, UFC 62, while nowhere near the best card assembled by the suits at Zuffa, was light years better than their dreadful UFC 61.
Chuck Liddell (Pictures) quickly dismantled a frenzied Renato Sobral (Pictures) to solidify himself as the best — or at least second best — 205-pounder on earth. Forrest Griffin (Pictures) peppered Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) en route to victory in a somewhat disappointing rematch. And Nick Diaz (Pictures) scored a victory in the UFC for the first time in four fights, as it seemed like the kid from Stockton, Calif. hadn’t won in a decade.
For the three main bouts on UFC 62’s roster, it essentially was a win/draw/win situation for Zuffa.
Sobral Iced
For some reason Sobral tried to bang with Liddell and at one point he even bull rushed in an attempt to wrest Liddell’s light heavyweight title. However, that bull rush tactic wound up being Babalu’s undoing, as he not only charged headfirst into a right cross, he also found himself feasting on a vicious right uppercut.
The punch wasn’t the single greatest shot ever delivered by Liddell, but it was enough to plant Sobral face first on the canvas. From there, it was a matter of time before Sobral was either knocked out cold or rescued by referee “Big” John McCarthy.
In just 95 seconds the fight Sobral had trained so hard for and sought out so desperately was gone. “Babalu” was as confident as anyone could get coming into the fight, but for reasons only he knows he decided to go toe-to-toe with Liddell. That decision was fatal as it most certainly cost the tattooed Brazilian fighter an opportunity to avenge his loss to Liddell. And after being taken out in the first round again by Liddell, it’s doubtful that he’ll ever get another crack at “The Iceman.”
Sobral can easily challenge for the UFC light heavyweight title down the road, especially if Liddell is serious about moving up to heavyweight sometime next year if no other legitimate challengers appear on his radar. As long as Liddell is not holding the title, Sobral can become the champion in no time.
For Liddell, his latest win sets up a huge rematch between himself and former champ Tito Ortiz (Pictures). It’s a great fight that will make a ton of cash for both fighters and the UFC, and it’s a fight Liddell will probably win.
If Tito can first get by Ken Shamrock (Pictures) in October … I mean, when Tito destroys Ken Shamrock (Pictures) for the third time in October, the guy dating Jenna Jameson will finally get another crack at the man who last defeated him.
Hey, if Tito can actually take Liddell down we might be in for a very interesting battle. But if Ortiz can’t take Liddell off of his feet and onto his back, it might be another short night of work for ol’ Chuck.
In keeping with Liddell, it’s too bad that there will be no fight against PRIDE 205-pound champion Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) anytime soon. I knew it wouldn’t happen as early as November anyway, but I at least thought there was a glimmer of hope that it would happen on Super Bowl Saturday. I guess Silva comes with a price tag so hefty even the mighty Fertitta Brothers can’t afford him.
Griffin-Bonnar II was an OK fight
It certainly wasn’t anything close to their epic first encounter. Most figured that the two light heavyweights wouldn’t be able to replicate their magical fight that concluded The Ultimate Fighter’s first season, but those same people thought that the ballyhooed rematch would have much more excitement and drama.
While Griffin-Bonnar II was by no means a terrible fight along the lines of Sylvia-Arlovski III, it wasn’t exactly a great fight. It was pretty good and a little one-sided.
Griffin, in my opinion, won rounds one and three easily and I also gave him the second. I can see giving Bonnar the second round, but there’s not a chance that he won the fight.
The crowd inside the Mandalay Bay Events Center viciously booed the official verdict, but since I can’t talk to everybody in attendance, I’ll just assume that they were booing the fight because it failed to live up to pre-fight expectations — not because they felt Bonnar was robbed. If the latter is true, then Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) has many, many, many more fans out there then I realized.
The next question is where do these two cats go from here?
Well, they both were taken to Valley Hospital for precautionary tests and Bonnar suffered a busted hand. Bonnar said that he hurt it early in the fight and that would explain why he wasn’t as effective during exchanges.
Forrest, though, has certainly come a long way since their first battle and his stand-up game is much more refined. He’s no longer the crude bomber who flails away with reckless abandon. After toppling Bonnar convincingly and barely losing to Tito, his stock has just soared through the roof.
My gut tells me that the winner of Liddell-Ortiz will face off against Griffin sometime in early spring, provided Griffin he passes another test, maybe on the under card of Liddell-Ortiz II.
As for Bonnar, I don’t know. He’s dropped two in a row and didn’t look terrific in either fight. He’s got the talent to make some noise but he appears to be a little too lax out there.
Could be injuries. Could be distractions. Could be confidence issues. Could be anything. It’ll take a while before Bonnar will get back into the thick of things, provided he is able to rack up a nice string of wins over decent opposition.
Misc. UFC debris
Cheick Kongo (Pictures) looks like a monster out there that can eventually contend for the UFC heavyweight title. He escaped a deep armbar with the ease of Rumina Sato (Pictures) and then took out Christian Wellisch (Pictures) with a crippling knee to the face. Kongo won’t be taking out the elite just yet but the monstrous Frenchman has a ton of potential.
Nick Diaz (Pictures) is finally back on track and this was the best Nick has looked in many moons. Let’s hope that the likeable guy can keep it up and eventually mold himself into the welterweight terror I know lurks deep within his body. Only time will tell but Diaz can eventually turn himself into an elite fighter; he’s got tons of time to become great.
It’s too bad to see a military man like Wes Combs (Pictures) lose. I always cheer for soldiers and while I never met the former Marine, I always root for the true heroes and not worthless role models like Terrell Owens.
Hermes Franca (Pictures) had his hands full with relative unknown Jamie Varner (Pictures). I am not sure if Franca has slipped a bit or took Varner lightly, but had he not pulled out the armbar Franca might have lost the fight. Was it Franca or is Varner actually this good? Either way, I can’t wait to see the Rage in the Cage veteran in action again.
PRIDE: Bushido 12
For the first time Japan’s legendary PRIDE organization was aired on basic cable and not pay-per-view. Yes, PRIDE has featured dozens of best-of type shows on FSN, but never a full-blown event for public viewing.
That alone is huge for a company that’s planning on taking over the American MMA scene starting in October. Obviously PRIDE won’t boot out the UFC anytime soon, but at least they are making some drastic progress.
It was a bit weird watching PRIDE and then having the crummy commercial breaks. The only true setback was that just six bouts were shown out of a possible 14. But with the event on FSN, it’s OK.
It’s hard to really break down the event as a whole because most of the between-fight action was scrapped in favor of Frank Trigg (Pictures), Jay Glazer and Mauro Ranallo. Also, it was a bit of a momentum killer when a string of old highlights were shown instead of additional fights from August 26’s event.
(Uh, isn’t that what the PRIDE best-of shows on FSN are for?)
Out of the fights that were shown, however, Takanori Gomi (Pictures) proved once again that he’s one of the best fighters on the planet. Also Denis Kang (Pictures) has been one of the best-kept secrets in the sport. Gilbert Melendez (Pictures) also has to be wondering what exactly kept Nobuhiro Obiya (Pictures) awake for their entire fight because Gilbert had him out at least three times. Obiya’s recovery time was absurd to say the least.
And lastly, Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) scored a shocking upset over Dan Henderson (Pictures), who dropped a unanimous decision to the Japanese fighter. Debates have already been raging on the forums but to throw my two cents in, I thought that even though “Hendo” landed the harder shots, Misaki did enough to win.
The fight was about as close as they come, but Henderson didn’t seem to put forth enough effort to clearly win. I can see someone’s points about Henderson winning, but in my eyes the unheralded Japanese won it. That does set up a nice little rubber match, doesn’t it?
Aside from that, FSN’s airing of Bushido 12 was great. A two-hour block to me is nowhere near enough, especially with a card as important as PRIDE’s welterweight tourney quarterfinal round. Hopefully next time we in the States can enjoy at least a three-hour block and we’ll see more fights and fewer highlights from PRIDE’s past.