Fight For The Troops 2 Musings

The Fight For The Troops 2 event is in the books...Michael DiSanto checks in to survey the lay of the land after Saturday's bouts. SPEED KILLS, BUT THE THANKS SHOULD GO TO FLORIAN

Melvin Guillard has always been an underachiever in my eyes. Few other lightweights possess the same combination of speed, power, experience, technical prowess on the feet and general wrestling ability. His glaring weaknesses have always been his submission defense and his inability fight big in big fights.

Guillard erased the big fight element of that equation with a career-best performance in the biggest fight of his career. It was evident right from Jump Street that Guillard’s speed was too much for Evan Dunham. It was just a matter of time, therefore, before the New Orleans native scored a knockout, unless Dunham was able to take the fight to the ground and keep it there.

Stepping up under the bright lights of a major main event fight is as much about preparation as it is talent. Guillard has always had the talent, but it seemed that his preparation always left something to be desired—maybe not in terms of his effort, rather in terms of the quality. Training guru Greg Jackson finally filled that void for the ultra-talented lightweight, and the results showed.

It was evident from the first minute that Dunham was in for a short, painful night if he wasn’t able to take the fight to the ground and keep it there. Despite his perceived advantage in overall skill level, he had no answer for Guillard’s elite hand speed. Guys can prepare all they want, but if they cannot fight behind a dominant jab or take the fight to the ground, then speed typically kills.  It certainly did on Saturday night.

The win puts Guillard squarely into the 155-pound title mix. There is no question about that. Guillard should send Kenny Florian a nice “thank you” present because he almost didn’t get this opportunity.  Guillard was originally slated to face Yves Edwards on the non-televised undercard, while Florian was scheduled to face Dunham in the main event. Florian suffered an injury in training a month ago, opening the door for Guillard to get his second opportunity in a headlining matchup.

From a style perspective, I actually think Edwards is a tougher matchup for Guillard, and a win over the veteran definitely doesn’t carry the same weight as a win over Dunham.  Like I said, Guillard should spend some of that win bonus on a nice shiny gift for Mr. Florian.

MITRIONE KEEPS ON KEEPIN’ ON

I don’t think many people viewed Matt Mitrione as a serious fighter after watching the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. The former NFL player came off as an arrogant, half-focused (albeit gifted) athlete who thought it might be fun to try his hand at mixed martial arts. He didn’t seem committed to the sport and definitely did not seem like the kind of guy who had fighting ingrained in his DNA.

Wrong.

Mitrione is rapidly developing into a very good heavyweight and remains the division’s most promising prospect. He has the size, athleticism, power and natural boxing ability to really do some damage in the UFC. The big question for Mitrione, however, continues to be his ability to stop takedowns against top wrestlers and survive on the ground against Brazilian Jiu Jitsu belts.

Tim Hague could not force him to answer either of those questions on Saturday night, as he fell prey to Mitrione’s fast hands and excellent footwork. After the bout, Mitrione made it clear that he wants to continue upping the level of his opposition, but he noted that he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself just yet.

It is easy to forget that he only has four professional fights under his belt after watching him dominate a veteran like Hague. But this isn’t boxing. Mitrione won’t have the luxury of 15 to 20 fights against weekend warriors, career opponents and fading former contenders as he builds his skills, confidence and general fighting IQ. The UFC doesn’t work that way. UFC President Dana White doesn’t own a pair of kid gloves, so he will likely get his wish for stepped-up competition, though White won’t likely worry about whether he is tossing the former footballer into the deep end too soon.

HOMINICK SENDS ALDO A MESSAGE

Lots of guys clam up when fighting under the pressure of a title eliminator. Not Mark Hominick. Knowing that a shot at reigning featherweight champion and pound-for-pound list occupant Jose Aldo was on the line, the Canadian delivered a dominant performance, knocking out George Roop in a mere 88 seconds.

Hominick seemed like a man possessed right from the opening bell. He stalked Roop with a purpose, firing punches dripping with bad intentions at every opportunity in his quest to earn his first shot at UFC gold. When he finally found pay dirt just over a minute into the bout with a clean left hook that dropped Roop like a sack of potatoes, he finished with the efficiency of a highly trained assassin, leaving nothing to chance as he secured his bout with Aldo.

There are many pundits in the sport who consider Aldo to be the baddest man on the planet, pound for pound. They might be correct. But he will be tested like he has never before been tested before in the standup realm. Hominick is the real deal, and has a very real chance at unseating the champion, if the battle remains on the feet.

I’m already excited about this matchup.

OUTGUNNED BELTRAN AS TOUGH AS THEY COME

I will never know how Joey Beltran survived for three full rounds against Pat Barry. Imagine allowing Albert Pujols to take full swings with a baseball bat at your left leg. That is what Beltran experienced on Saturday night courtesy of the most fearsome lower body striker in the heavyweight division, bar none. The severity of the lower body attacks was evident when Beltran collapsed immediately after the bell, unable to hold himself up any longer.

If we are being honest with ourselves, Beltran didn’t have much of a chance to win. He does not have good takedowns, and the standup disparity between the two is like pitting a chess-playing teenager wielding a stick against a Green Beret carrying an M-16.

The fact that Beltran survived for three full rounds is a testament to his fighting spirit and iron chin. He had plenty of opportunities to quit, most notably when he took a finger to the eye late in the third round. He could barely walk and knew he had absolutely no shot at winning. Beltran could have escaped the beating at that point by admitting that his vision was blurred from the inadvertent eye poke.

Not “The Mexicutioner.” There is no quit in that guy, which is why I will tune in to watch him fight anybody, anytime, anywhere.

WIMAN NO LONGER AN ALSO RAN

With seven wins in his last nine UFC bouts, Matt Wiman has officially established himself as a contender in the lightweight division. The win over Cole Miller was arguably his most complete performance to date. He showed excellent striking, unyielding tenacity, solid top control and brutal ground and pound. The former TUF star did all of that against a well rounded, well prepared opponent in Miller.

With that said, all fighters, Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre included, are constantly on a journey toward perfection—a goal that cannot possibly be reached by mortal men. Wiman is no different, and when he looks back at the tape of the fight, he will notice that he covers up far too often during exchanges on the feet.

Covering up is a completely passive move, and, more importantly, it takes a fighter’s hands and arms completely out of the equation for anything, other than serving as punching bags. A fighter is far better served to keep his hands in an attacking position and use slight upper body movements up, down and side to side to defend incoming strikes. That way he remains in a good position to counter.

To be fair to Wiman, I’m really being nitpicky with that piece of constructive criticism. He was firing on all cylinders on Saturday night. In fact, I think he was so dominant that I’m having trouble justifying the decision of the lone judge who scored a round for Miller. I had it 30-27 and didn’t think any of the rounds were close.

Wiman may be only another win or two away from putting himself in position to fight in a title eliminator.  He appears to have really taken his confidence and game to a new level over his last two bouts.  It is now time to take it up one more notch to see whether he really belongs among the 155-pound elite.

BIG NIGHT FOR EDWARDS

I remember talking with Yves Edwards several years ago before his fight with Josh Thomson. The bout should have been for the UFC Lightweight Championship, but the UFC had made the decision to take the division in another direction for the time being. Edwards mentioned during our conversation that he was sick of eating ham sandwiches for every meal because the economic realities for UFC lightweights back then didn’t really allow for much more money in the food budget.

Well, Saturday night certainly went a long way toward getting the affable lightweight a steady diet of USDA PRIME dry-aged steaks (or whatever else he prefers to eat). Edwards’ thrilling second-round submission win over Cody McKenzie earned him both Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night honors, which resulted in an extra $60,000 in his pocket, something he could not have possibly expected.

Not bad for nine minutes, 33 seconds worth of work. Not bad at all.

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UFC 124 Musings

The dust has settled from UFC 124 Saturday night...Michael DiSanto breaks things down and what the results mean for 2011... I’M NOT PICKING AGAINST THIS GUY AGAIN

Watching Georges St-Pierre basically toss a perfect game against Josh Koscheck, a guy who without a doubt is among the five best welterweights in the world, highlights that he may indeed be the most complete fighter in the game, across all weight classes.  His virtuoso striking performance eliminated any argument that the champion has largely become a one-dimensional fighter over the last couple of years.  

Anyone who read my breakdown of the matchup knows that I viewed Kos as the perfect foil for GSP’s game.  I was convinced that if GSP chose to stand and trade with the challenger, he would leave Montreal with a massive headache and a suitcase that is about 20 pounds lighter thanks to the disappearance of his championship belt.

Whoops.

GSP proved me wrong yet again.  I’ll bet that I’ve picked against this guy more than anyone else in the business.  I’m not sure why I continually underestimate him.  It is what it is.  The only thing I know for sure is that I’m not doing it again.  I’ll go so far as to say that I’m not picking against him in his next fight, no matter who he faces—Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, Anderson Silva, King Kong or the Loch Ness Monster

Ok, those last few names are a bit ridiculous, but I’m standing by my word.  I’ll pick GSP against anyone in his next bout.

Of course, that raises the question of who he should fight next.  Jake Shields is next in line.  Much like Kos, Shields has the right tools to unseat the champion because he possesses a world-class blend of wrestling, ground control and submissions from the top position.  If someone asked me prior to UFC 124 who would win between GSP and Shields, I would have said that I liked Shields in that matchup.  Remember my edict.  I’m picking GSP if they fight next.

The winner of the late February matchup between Jon Fitch and BJ Penn is another possibility, if something were to happen to Shields in training.  Been there, done that.  GSP dispatched with Fitch in a spirited affair back in August 2008 and then stopped Penn in four rounds five months later.  Just for the record, I picked GSP to suffer an upset loss in both bouts.  I would pick differently if either man faced the champion again.

Thiago Alves looked like a more complete fighter at UFC 124 than he has at any point in his career.  Like Shields and Kos, Alves has a blend of skills and athleticism that should give GSP problems, though his skills are based in Muay Thai, not wrestling.  GSP handled him immediately after stopping BJ Penn in their rematch.  Yep, I picked Alves to win that fight.  I do think that Alves would present more problems for the champion today than he did last year.  But I will not pick Alves to win, if he happens to be next up.  I won’t do it.

Other than those names, there is nobody who I view as a legitimate threat to GSP’s 170 pound reign.   Considering the fact that he already has wins over every top contender in the division, maybe it is time for GSP to begin preparation for a fight of fights against fellow pound-for-pound kingpin, Anderson Silva.

Again, had someone asked me about that matchup prior to UFC 124, I would have laughed off GSP’s chances at winning.  Silva is far superior on the feet, has long enough legs to control the action with a body triangle, if he were to suffer a takedown, and, simply put, just do darn big.  The Brazilian is probably 30 to 40 pounds bigger than GSP on an average weekday when both are in shape but not focused on cutting weight for a fight.   Those are massive mountains to overcome.  I’m not picking against GSP, though.  Ok, I’ll admit it.  I probably will pick against GSP if that fight ever comes to light.  But I’ll try not to.  

Vitor Belfort may destroy any interest in a GSP-Silva fight by stopping the middleweight king during Super Bowl weekend.  I’ll break down that matchup in detail as it approaches, but I really like Belfort’s chances.   I just don’t see anything that Silva does better than Belfort, other than fighting up to his ability just about every time out, something Belfort has struggled with over the years.  

But even if Belfort defeats Silva, I think that GSP’s next fight (or possibly the one after facing Shields) should be against the reigning middleweight champion.  He should insist upon a 179-pound or 180-pound maximum contract weight, just to make things a bit tougher on his larger foe.  But even if he cannot get that term into the bout agreement, I think that a record-setting fight where he tries to simultaneously rule two UFC weight classes presents him with the sort of challenge that will keep him keenly focused and fully engaged.

GSP can certainly remain at welterweight and attempt to put together a Bernard Hopkins-like rule over the division where he racks up 20-plus consecutive successful defenses.  There is a reason that no UFC champion has ever successfully defended his title even half that number of times.  Fights can end in literally hundreds of ways, and all it takes is one mistake to forever alter the course of history.  Thus, the odds would be stacked heavily against GSP accomplishing a goal like that.

Moreover, there is a very real chance that he may lose focus if he remains at welterweight because he won’t view anyone, other than maybe Shields, as a legitimate threat to his reign.  One doesn’t have to look far to see the realities of such a mistake.  Remember Matt Serra?

GSP has mentioned retirement on a couple of occasions over the last year or so.  Retirement?  This guy hasn’t yet turned 30 years old, which means he isn’t even entered his fighting prime.  Such talk suggests that his focus could be waning.  Kos did him a tremendous favor by trash talking him into a state of heightened focus and determination.  Few other opponents will likely have the same impact on GSP.

What is next for the champ?  Probably Shields.  Maybe the winner of Silva-Belfort.  Whatever the case, I’m picking GSP.

KOS FOUGHT BRAVELY, BUT SOMETHING WASN’T RIGHT

Is it just me or did Kos seem more focused on adjusting his shorts and wiping sweat off of his hands than defending the jab in the first round of his inaugural title challenge?  This guy continually pulled up his shorts while standing within striking range.  He repeatedly wiped his hands on his thighs while standing in the pocket.  GSP thanked him for those mistakes by peppering him with jabs each time he lowered his hands and, well, at just about all other moments of the fight.  

What was the problem?

I have no clue.  All I know is that Kos didn’t seem like himself in the opening round.  He was far from the calm, focused welterweight contender who dominated Paul Daley, Anthony Johnson and Frank Trigg in his prior three bouts.  He lunged with his punches, rather than sitting down and firing.  He completely ignored his biggest advantage in the fight—his wrestling—aside from a lone takedown at the end of the first.  And he generally seemed fidgety throughout the fight.  In other words, he just didn’t seem like himself.

I’m sure GSP’s jackhammer jab had something to do with his performance.  I’m also sure the pressure of a first-time title challenge, particularly in GSP’s native land, had something to do with it. But now it’s back to the drawing board for the talented contender.

ALVES PUTS ON CAREER-BEST PERFORMANCE

Thiago Alves is one bad man.  Nobody has ever denied that fact.  With 10 wins in 14 UFC bouts, his success speaks for itself.  Nonetheless, coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his career, Alves knew that he had to make some changes in his game if he wanted to return to the top of the division and earn a second shot at welterweight gold.

The Brazilian striking phenom displayed those changes at the expense of a very game, extremely talented John Howard.  Alves not only completely outclassed his foe on the feet, he scored two dramatic takedowns, something few expected from the “Pit Bull.”  I think those takedowns were the most significant moments of the fight because they will forever raise the question of a takedown in the collective consciousness of Alves’ future opponents, and that will make his striking that much more effective.

Speaking of striking, is there any welterweight in the world who throws more damaging leg kicks than Alves?  I dare say no.  Watching him hammer away with his right leg is a thing of pure beauty.  The athletic move reminds me a lot of Tiger Woods hitting a driver.  Woods uses his legs to clear his hips long before his hands square up the club face to the ball.  The movement creates a tremendous amount of lag in his swing, which, in turn, generates an insane amount of speed and explosive power.  Guys who clear their hips first in golf hit the ball further than those who don’t.  That is an incontrovertible fact.  

Alves does the same thing with his leg kicks.  His hips clear long before his shin finds the meat of his opponent’s thigh.  He creates the same torque with his hips that Woods does when hitting a driver.  As a result, Alves’ shin arrives at the target with much more speed and explosive power than shins thrown by anyone else in the division, bar none.

Alves’ win over Howard was a deafening message to the rest of the division that he is not resting on his laurels.  The 27-year-old fighter still has an unquenchable thirst to improve his game, and that is exactly what he has been doing since his last fight.  

Note to the division:  Anyone who dares stand and trade with Alves is going to come out on the short end of the stick, absent catching lightning in a bottle.  Future opponents had better spend 90% of their training camps figuring out how to put this guy on his back and keep him there.  Otherwise, he will be back fighting for a title before long—maybe before the end of 2011.

STRUVE MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Stefan Struve more closely resembles an NBA center than a UFC heavyweight fighter.  Standing 6’11, he towers over every other heavyweight in the promotion.  His long arms and legs beg to be submitted.  His slight frame for his height suggests that he can be overpowered by bruising heavyweights, particularly those with a wrestling background.

Yet, this guy just keeps on winning.  Seven trips to the Octagon.  Five wins.  Two by knockout.  Two by submission.   Not bad for a tall, lanky kickboxer from the Netherlands.

Struve continues to impress with his come-from-behind wins.   Sean McCorkle had him in very deep waters in the first half of the opening round.  Struve merely bided his time and capitalized fully when the opportunity presented itself.

It was another in a long line of impressive outings for a guy nicknamed “Skyscraper.”

I still think Struve, who is only 23 years old, needs to add weight if he wants to compete with the heavyweight Preferiti.  At 253 pounds, I think he can easily hold another 30 pounds on his frame, which would require him to cut a decent amount of weight the day before he fights, but I think that will help him offset some of the strength advantages held by guys like Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir and others.  If he gains weight, he needs to do it while maintaining his flexibility and speed.  This guy has a tremendous offensive guard, and that is a very useful weapon in a division largely dominated by wrestlers.

I’d like to see him face Mir next.  I think that is the perfect next opponent to really gauge where Struve stands in the division.  After back-to-back wins, both in very impressive fashion, he has certainly earned that type of marquee matchup.

DANZIG RESURRECTS HIS CAREER WITH A SPECTACULAR ONE-PUNCH KNOCKOUT

Mac Danzig might be a former winner of the UFC’s hit reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter.”  But the fact remains that this guy was fighting for his professional life when he entered the Octagon to face fellow TUF winner Joe Stevenson.  To think otherwise would be a bit naïve, since Danzig came up short in four of his last five fights.

He certainly didn’t come up short against Stevenson.  His one punch knockout, courtesy of a perfectly thrown left hook, was more than the Knockout of the Night (which resulted in an extra $100,000 for Danzig).  It was career altering.

Danzig now places himself on the cusp of contender status.  That is what happens when a guy annihilates a former title challenger who many still consider to be among, or very near, the division’s top 10.  

STEVENSON JUST DIDN’T LISTEN

Stevenson was the rightful favorite entering his matchup with Danzig.  He is a more accomplished UFC lightweight.  He is the physically stronger of the two.  And he has a very real edge in takedowns and ground dominance.  

It was clear from the start of the fight that “Joe Daddy” wanted to stand and box with Danzig.  It was equally clear that such an approach was a significant deviation from the game plan devised by his head trainer, Greg Jackson.  Jackson repeatedly yelled for his charge to follow the game plan in the opening moments of the fight.  Stevenson refused and kept pressing forward with punches.

Literally seconds before the fateful left hook landed on Stevenson’s chin, Jackson emphatically called for a takedown.  Stevenson ignored those words and suffered a highlight-reel knockout as a result.  

I don’t know if a takedown would have changed the result.  Nobody knows.  Nobody will ever know.  Yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that Stevenson would have lasted longer than 114 seconds had he changed levels when instructed by his coach.

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UFC 123 Musings

The fact that Rampage clearly won the fight in my eyes doesn’t mean that the fight wasn’t winnable for Machida.  I think he might have stopped the former undisputed champion had he opened up full throttle with strikes on the ground. Was there really any doubt?

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida engaged in a very competitive fight.  There is no doubt about that.  But it is tough for me to understand why so many people are surprised by the fact that the judges awarded Rampage a split decision victory.  The only thing that surprised me about the outcome was one judge’s decision to score the fight for Machida.

The criteria for deciding the outcome of a fight are pretty straightforward.  Judges are instructed to evaluate effective striking, effective grappling, Octagon control, effective aggressiveness and defense.  The criteria are listed in order of scoring impact from most to least, meaning that effective striking carries the most weight in scoring a round, whereas defense carries the least weight.  Keep that fact in mind because it is outcome determinative for this fight.

Effective striking takes into account both the total number of legal strikes landed and the significance of those strikes.  There is no guidance as to which of those two aspects of effective striking carries more weight, so each judge gets to make that decision on his or her own.  Effective grappling takes into account takedowns, reversals, guard passes and an active, threatening guard.  Octagon control is determined by who is dictating both the pace of the action and where the fight unfolds.  Effective aggressiveness means moving forward and landing strikes or executing takedowns.  

Each of those is fairly intuitive.  The one that isn’t intuitive is defense.  Defense doesn’t mean avoidance.  The scoring system does not reward a fighter for merely slipping a strike, stalemating a submission attempt or stuffing a takedown attempt.  It is supposed to reward fighters for slipping a strike and countering, defending a submission and reversing the position, or sprawling and brawling.  In other words, it is neutralizing an attack and using that moment to counter attack.

Remember that each round must be scored in isolation.  Applying the scoring criteria on a round-by-round basis, it is very clear who deserved the judges’ nod.

The first round didn’t feature much action by either man.  Rampage snapped back Machida’s head with a left hook and again with a right uppercut.  That was about it in terms of punches with bad intentions from the big fella.  Machida’s only significant strike in that round was a kick to the body landed with 94 seconds remaining in the round.  The kick was a good one, but it definitely did not trump the two clean punches landed by the more powerful Rampage.

Rampage also landed twice as many total strikes in the round.  Remember that one must consider all legal strikes landed, which includes all those body punches, knees and foot stomps in the clinch.  Rampage was much more active, particularly in the clinch.  That is what gave him the edge.  

Whether one’s bias is with total strikes landed or the significance of those strikes, Rampage has to get the nod.  

There weren’t any takedowns or real take down attempts, so effective grappling is a non factor.  I’m not sure either man controlled the Octagon more significantly than the other, since both wanted the action to unfold on the feet.  But Rampage without question was the one who was more aggressive, and since he landed more strikes while coming forward, he wins effective aggressiveness hands down.

I’ll give Machida the defense category because the few strikes he landed were counters.  Rampage didn’t do much in the way of slipping and countering.

So, the first round has Rampage winning effective striking and effective aggressiveness.  Machida wins defense.  Since both of Rampage’s categories carried more weight, it is tough to argue anything other than a 10-9 round for Rampage.  

The second round was just as easy to score.  Rampage again landed at more than twice as many total strikes because of his work in the clinch – and if we’re just talking punches, that margin increases dramatically.  In terms of significance, the right uppercut on the chin followed by a left hook on the temple that Rampage landed with 97 seconds left in the second round hurt Machida.  No doubt about it.  I don’t know why he didn’t instantly press for the finish because his foe was on less than sure footing for the next dozen seconds.  

In any event, those shots were far and away the most significant strikes of the round.  Machida landed a few knees and kicks, but none of them came close to the damage caused by Rampage’s combination.  

Rampage also scored the only takedown of the round.  He didn’t do much with it, but he did keep Machida down for almost 20 seconds.

So, the first two scoring categories – effective striking and effective grappling – have to go to Rampage.  I’ll stalemate Octagon control yet again because neither man really dictated where the fight unfolded to the detriment of the other.  Rampage stalked Machida, just like he did in the first round, and was able to land from time to time.  Machida countered almost exclusively.  Thus, Rampage gets the nod for effective aggressiveness and Machida wins defense.

Taking all that as true, Rampage wins the second round 10-9, which means a two-point lead heading into the final round.  Machida won the third, no doubt about it.  But he didn’t dominate Rampage by any means.  The only significant moment was a 13-strike barrage where roughly half of the shots landed.  Rampage was retreating the entire time, and then got dumped on his backside thanks to a nice takedown.  Machida moved into the mount briefly, though he did absolutely no damage whatsoever on the ground.

There is no plausible argument for scoring the third 10-8.  It was more definitive than either the first or second round, but it was not a truly dominant round at all.  As a result, I just don’t see how anyone, including Rampage, was shocked by the judges’ decision.  

This is one time when they got it right.

Machida simply waited too long

The fact that Rampage clearly won the fight in my eyes doesn’t mean that the fight wasn’t winnable for Machida.  I think he might have stopped the former undisputed champion had he opened up full throttle with strikes on the ground.  Machida had nothing to lose at that point.   He was behind on two of the three cards.  A stoppage was the only way he was going to win – 10-7 rounds are about as common as legitimate Bigfoot sightings.  

My question is why did Machida wait until halfway through the final round to open up?  He showed that he had much faster hands than his foe, so why not be more aggressive from the jump?  

The reality is that the knockout loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is to blame for Machida’s cautiousness.  He admitted in the weeks leading up to the fight that he fought too aggressively against Shogun, and that is why he got knocked out.  It wasn’t much of a surprise to see him shy away from such aggression until he was hopelessly behind on the cards.

I believe the fight would have ended by knockout if Machida would have fought aggressively right out of the gate.  Maybe he would have caught Rampage.  Maybe the howling striker would have clipped Machida.  Either way, someone would have gone to sleep.

Penn erases any doubts

BJ Penn couldn’t have scripted his third fight with Matt Hughes any better.  A 21-second knockout win is about as good as it gets.  

The win erased any question that Penn can compete in the welterweight division.  His previous three-consecutive losses in the division don’t really mean anything anymore.  He is a contender at 170-pounds.  It’s written.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I had no doubt that Penn was going to win the fight when I saw him walking to the Octagon.  I haven’t seen “The Prodigy” that focused and amped up for a fight since his first bout with Hughes.  Emotion was dripping from face while his trademark entrance mix by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole boomed through the arena.  It was as if Penn was fighting for all Hawaiians.  I know that is a silly concept, but Penn identifies with that song better than any other fighter and his entrance song.

Quick knockout loss should not deter Hughes

I know Hughes lost in just about the most definitive way possible.  I get that.  I don’t care.  He shouldn’t let the loss get to him.

The former champion was in the midst of a three-fight winning streak before getting obliterated by Penn.  I submit, though, that a 21-second knockout loss is no different than getting knocked out four minutes into the third round.  A loss is a loss.  Period.

Hughes looked much better in his last three fights than he has in years.  He is a better rounded fighter now than he has been at any point in his Hall of Fame career.  Granted, he isn’t as dominant because he can’t outwrestle the world like he used to.  So what?  There are more than one or even two ways to skin a cat.

Hughes should take a week to rest and forget the loss.  He should then jump back on the horse and look to get another fight against a top 170-pound contender.  I think Hughes can make a bit of noise in the welterweight division next year.

Davis continues to impress

Phil Davis is a special athlete.  Four time Division I All-American in wrestling.  2008 National Champion.  116 collegiate wins.  He is definitely a special athlete.

Eight fights into his mixed martial arts career, Davis remains undefeated, and the best part is that the guy seems to dramatically improve with every fight.  Saturday night was the perfect case in point.  The submission hold he used to end the fight was a modified Kimura, and being able to pull off such an unorthodox move shows a level of understanding of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu that’s almost unheard of for a guy just two years into his career.  

Davis hasn’t yet reached super prospect status like fellow former collegiate wrestler Jon Jones, but he isn’t far behind, either.  I’d like to see Davis next fight a dominant striker with excellent takedown defense because we still don’t know if this guy can survive on his feet against a true killer.  It’s time to throw this kid into the deep end and see if he can swim.  

Sotiropoulous makes his case

George Sotiropoulous is now 7-0 in the UFC.  Seven straight wins ties for sixth all time.  Only Anderson Silva (12) and Gray Maynard (8) have active streaks that are longer.  Silva is the best fighter on the planet.  Maynard is fighting for the title.  Sotiropoulous is somewhat of an afterthought in the division, failing to register on most lists of top contenders.  I’ll bet that all changes after his impressive win over Joe Lauzon.  I firmly believe that he has done enough to warrant a spot on Dana White’s short list for 155-pound title contenders.  

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UFC 122 Musings

With UFC 123 rapidly approaching, Saturday night’s results seem like an eon ago.  That isn’t a criticism of the fights.  There were lots of entertaining bouts.  But UFC 123 is a stacked card that has me salivating as we enter fight week.  So, we’re going to keep this short and sweet. DID THE PRESSURE PLAY A ROLE?

Yushin Okami finally earned a shot at UFC gold after 10 wins inside the Octagon.  But Okami’s win over Nate Marquardt was anything but decisive.  He refused to put punches together in bunches.  He never really landed any extremely damaging blows, despite the fact that his opponent was bleeding from a pretty good cut on his face.  And he did not spend any significant time working his ground-and-pound game, other than in the first round.  

None of that is surprising.  Marquardt is an exceedingly difficult riddle to solve.  The fact that Okami won, regardless of what he looked like in so doing, makes a major statement to the rest of the division.  Okami remains a very real threat to win the world title.  There is no doubt about that.  He will finally receive his opportunity sometime around mid-2011, assuming no injuries to any of the participants.

Whether he will face reigning champion Anderson Silva or number one contender Vitor Belfort remains to be seen.  I think there is a good chance that he may end up facing Belfort.  Okami prefers Silva.  I’m not sure he is better off either way.

MARQUARDT UNDERSTANDABLY FRUSTRATED WITH THE DECISION

I’ll admit that I had no idea who was going to be announced the winner of Okami-Marquardt as Bruce Buffer read the judges’ scorecards.  When I heard 30-27, I just assumed that it would be Marquardt, since it is really tough to make a case that Okami won the third round.  Marquardt landed the harder shots, and he scored a late takedown.  Granted, he did nothing with the takedown and wasn’t able to keep Okami down for any length of time.  But in a round consisting of lots of circling and missed strikes, the takedown had to be difference maker because it was the most dominant move executed by either man during that five-minute period.

One judge saw things differently and awarded the round to Okami.  Whether I agree or not is immaterial.  The decision highlights a point that all fighters should take to heart.  Throwing punches one at a time and circling around the cage is not the way to win a round.  Some people view the stalker, even if he isn’t the one landing the more damaging blows, as controlling the round with effective aggressiveness.  Again, whether I agree or not is immaterial because that is a fact of life, and fighters need to adjust their game accordingly.

Marquardt is understandably frustrated after dropping a decision that could have easily gone his way.  But his post-fight acknowledgment that he should have thrown more combinations is spot on.  That is the reason he lost the fight.  Period.  

LUDWIG OUTCOME HIGHLIGHTS THE DIFFICULTY IN SCORING KNOCKDOWNS

On the heels of back-to-back losses, Duane Ludwig needed a win as a badly, if not more, than anyone else on the card.  Headliners might be able to survive three straight losses with their fight contract intact.  Others typically cannot.  Thus, Ludwig was fighting with a tremendous amount of pressure.  Add to the mix that his wife gave birth to their son just days before the fight and it is a minor miracle that Ludwig was able to stay focused on the task at hand.  

Many pundits are probably questioning the outcome of the fight right about now.  I’m not among them.  Osipczak clearly won the second round, and Ludwig certainly won the third on my scorecard.  The first round, by contrast, was very difficult to score.

Prior to the knockdown, Ludwig controlled the action with good, crisp Muay Thai. He got caught and dropped with a left hand late in the round, and that raises the question of whether a knockdown in a sport where jabs can knock down a fighter, should result in an automatic 10-9 round.  The rules do not dictate that a knockdown automatically decides the outcome of a round, and I’m of the opinion that it is the quality of a knockdown, not the mere occurrence of one in and of itself, that should be the deciding factor.

Had Osipczak dropped Ludwig with a clearly concussive blow, then I would give him the nod, despite the fact that he was getting taken apart on the feet for most of the round.  But I didn’t see the knockdown that way.  It appeared to be more of a flash knockdown—i.e., a good hard punch that caused Ludwig to fall, rather than a shot that short-circuited his brain thus rendering his legs unable to support his body.  Since Ludwig defended very well on the ground and was only kept there for a short period of time, I don’t think that the flash knockdown was enough to overcome Ludwig’s total body of work over the full five minutes.  

I’m not suggesting that everyone has to adopt my approach to scoring a round.  Had Osipczak been awarded the victory, I would not have questioned it one bit.  Anyone can easily justify a decision in his favor.  But that isn’t what happened.  And I’m not going to question the decision that two of the three judges because I agree with their interpretation of the action.

VEMOLA REAPS THE BENEFITS OF DROPPING WEIGHT

Karlos Vemola looked like a beast during his first-round destruction of Seth Petruzelli.  It was a much better performance than in his UFC debut, when he entered the cage as an undefeated heavyweight prospect.  He left the cage with his first professional loss after taking a pretty good beating from Jon Madsen.   A drop to light heavy was a no brainer at that point.

Vemola is only six-feet tall – and that may be a bit generous.  His frame is not big enough to compete in the UFC heavyweight division.  Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Cheick Kongo, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir and a dozen other names are much bigger men, simply put.  It is difficult to imagine Vemola finding success against any of those names.

It is not difficult to imagine him finding success in the 205-pound division, particularly after watching him walk through Petruzelli.  

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UFC 121 Musings

The reaction to last Saturday’s epic UFC 121 card continues, with a look at Brock Lesnar, Jake Shields, Diego Sanchez, Tito Ortiz, and much more… Lesnar learns that size and athleticism aren’t always enough

Brock Lesnar was the bigger, stronger man when he stepped into the Octagon to defend his title against Cain Velasquez.  He was also the more explosive athlete.  I’ll even go so far as to say that, despite the result, he remains the better wrestler.  But none of that mattered.  Velasquez is the better fighter – at least he was on Saturday night.  His technique is far better, particularly in the standup realm.  His takedown defense was better, likely due to training with teammate and former Olympian Daniel Cormier.  And, he was much more effective at getting up after being taken down.

Lesnar is great at what he does.  But as we learned on Saturday night, he needs to be on top of his opponent on the ground in order to be successful against elite opponents.  Lesnar is such an athletic savant that I truly believe he will improve his standup.  Actually, I think that, much like fellow wrestler Jon Fitch, Lesnar needs to focus more on improving his confidence in his standup because his technique is far better than he showed against Velasquez.  He will also improve his ability to get up from the bottom, though in fairness to the former champ, he was badly hurt the three times we have seen him on his back.  I’m quite sure he could easily work back to his feet if he was fresh.

In short, Lesnar needs to keep improving at his current hockey-stick rate.  He should not use his purported inexperience as a crutch.  He has seven professional fights under his belt, five of which were against current or former champions.  Velasquez may have a couple of additional pro fights, but I think it is disingenuous to call him materially more experienced.  Lesnar should continue to expect greatness from himself and learn to completely trust his standup, which will only make his wrestling that much more dangerous.

Brock Lesnar will be back.  And I have a sneaking suspicion that he will return to his perch atop the heavyweight division sooner rather than later.

Expect a better Shields next time out

Jake Shields did not look very good in his UFC debut.  He did enough to justify a disputed decision win, but he did not look anything like the fighter who has been dominating the 170-pound and 185-pound world outside of the UFC for the last few years.   He did, however, look like a winner.  Shields was exhausted after the first round after admittedly suffering the adverse consequences of having to cut 20 pounds in the 24 hours leading up to the fight, according to his comments at the post-fight presser.  The act of squeezing every last bit of water out of his system left his cardio tank equally empty.  

Yet, he found a way to win, and that is why Shields is one of the very best fighters in any weight division.  Winners win.  That sounds like a cliché, but it is true.  Shields hasn’t lost since December 14, 2004.  Fifteen straight wins, regardless of the fact that 14 of them came outside of the UFC, is one of the more impressive active streaks in the game.  I’d rather win ugly than lose when a title shot is on the line.  Shields has a history of putting on entertaining fights, so one off night is no big deal.

Next up for Shields is the winner of the battle between incumbent welterweight king Georges St-Pierre and number one contender Josh Koscheck on December 11, 2010.  That means he probably won’t fight before late February, at the earliest.  Shields has plenty of time to slowly shed some of the unwanted muscle mass that he had to pack on for his middleweight run.  Cutting down to the welterweight limit will be as unpleasant for him as it always has been, but it is unlikely to adversely affect his performance come fight time.  Whoever he fights next had better be prepared for the Jake Shields who smashed Dan Henderson back in April.

Sanchez proves that cutting down to the lightest possible weight isn’t always the answer

Anyone who is familiar with Jake Shields knows that the guy who showed up on Saturday night wasn’t the same guy who has been tearing up the sport for the past five years.  Cutting down to 170 pounds proved to be too much for the current size of his physique.  Diego Sanchez experienced the same problem when he decided to head south to the 155-pound division.  He didn’t get exhausted early, like Shields.  Instead, he lost all of his trademark explosive power, particularly in the takedown realm.

Sanchez moved back up to welterweight earlier this year, and in his second fight back, I think he looked light years better than he did as a lightweight.  He looked more like the big nasty, aggressive ground-and-pound fighter who once seemed destined for a welterweight title bout.  

As you can probably guess, I greatly prefer Sanchez at welterweight over lightweight.  He is one of those guys who needs to have fully fueled muscles in order to perform at his best.  Other fighters have cutting weight down to a science, and they are able to get down to their minimum weight without materially impacting their performance.  I don’t think Sanchez is one of those guys.  

Sanchez mentioned before and after the fight that he may return to lightweight.  I wouldn’t do that.  I would instead focus on adding another five to eight pounds and focusing solely on the welterweight division.  Sanchez was carrying an uncharacteristic amount of bad weight around his belly, which is a clear sign that he could lean out a bit more.  The Sanchez of old was a bigger, nastier version.  I want to see that guy back and see what he can do in the welterweight division.

Is the Tito Ortiz era officially over?

Tito Ortiz hasn’t won a fight in more than four years.  Throw away his two wins over a past his prime Ken Shamrock and Ortiz hasn’t won decisively in six years.  He is a far cry from the guy who ruled the UFC 205-pound division for more than three years, setting the standard for 205-pound consecutive successful title defenses that still remains untouched to this day.

Major surgeries to his knee, back and neck have largely sapped the explosive power and limitless cardiovascular conditioning that made Ortiz the dominant fighter that fans either loved or loved to hate.  Either way, he was on everyone’s radar screen.

Ortiz looked great in the opening round of his loss to Matt Hamill.  He looked like a tiring fighter in the next two rounds, something that we would have never witnessed during the peak of his career.  Ortiz claimed before the fight that he is now healthy for the first time in years.  To his credit, he did not back off from that statement in his post-fight comments, something he has done repeatedly after recent losses.  That is the part that gives me some optimism for Ortiz.  If he really is healthy, then I agree with his post-fight comment that he needs to find a college wrestling team and get back to his wrestling roots.

Ortiz is a well rounded fighter, but his game begins and ends with his wrestling base and his cardio.  The rest of his game is predicated by those two things.  If he can get back to a point where he is taking down most opponents and not getting tired, then I believe he will start winning again because Ortiz’s ground-and-pound is as good as it gets.

If he cannot recapture the explosive strength that made him a master of the double leg, then I think his future fights will look a lot like what we saw against Hamill.

Schaub steps into the spotlight

Gabriel Gonzaga might be going through a tough stretch of his career after losing five of his last eight fights.  But people should not confuse that with the notion that he is light lunch inside the Octagon.  This guy is a full meal, as Chris Tuchscherer, Josh Hendricks and Justin McCully each learned the hard way.  Brendan Schaub’s clear unanimous decision over Gonzaga was a major statement for the reality show alumnus.   Anyone who handles Gonzaga like Schaub did on Saturday night is a legitimate contender in the heavyweight division.  I don’t know what Dana White and crew have in mind for Schaub’s next fight.  All I know is that he won’t be sneaking up on anybody anymore.  Schaub is now a very real player in the land of the giants.

McGee keeps on keepin’ on

I continually underestimate Court McGee.   Despite the fact that his head trainer, John Hackleman, told me the last time that we spoke that I should really watch out for McGee going forward, his name never pops into my head when I’m taking a mental survey of the UFC middleweight division.  I know he is around, but I typically don’t associate him with the top guys, partly due to his relative inexperience against top-level guys and the regional nature of his career prior to winning TUF.

The fact of the matter, though, is that McGee is a very tough guy who is just now coming into his own.  It’s not the fact that he beat Ryan Jensen that has me convinced.  It is the way that he beat him.  Many probably saw the first two rounds like I did:  McGee was either down 0-2 or he was tied 1-1.  Either way, he needed to win the third round if he wanted to win the fight.  He didn’t just win the round, he choked out his opponent, eliminating the judges and any potential perception issues out of the equation.

Then again, it doesn’t shock me that McGee survived adversity to win.  That is his life story in a nutshell.  This guy is a resilient human being, and that will serve him well in his quest to navigate his way into contender status over the next year or so.

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UFC 119 Musings

As it turned out, Cro Cop entered treacherous waters the moment he stepped into the Octagon with Mir, whether on the feet or on the ground. Mir didn’t need to get the action to the ground in order to win. MIR BEATS CRO COP AT HIS OWN GAME

Former two-time UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir was the rightful favorite heading into Saturday night’s main event against former PRIDE superstar Mirko Cro Cop, though few imagined the muscular submission savant scoring a spectacular knockout on the feet near the conclusion of a three-round kickboxing-only affair.

The win highlights Mir’s growth as a mixed martial artist over his storied UFC career.  This is the same guy who just a few short years ago seemed extremely uncomfortable exchanging on the feet with skilled strikers.  Today, he is unafraid to stand with anyone in the heavyweight division.  The transformation has been nothing short of remarkable.  

Those closely following Mir’s career probably could have seen this coming, particularly in hindsight.  In his last four fights, Mir has shown hockey-stick improvement in his kickboxing, with an equal, if not greater improvement, in his confidence levels surrounding those skills.  

It all started when he became the first man in history to score a knockout win over legendary PRIDE champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira.  He followed that up by consistently getting the better of reigning champion Brock Lesnar for the brief moments that the fight unfolded on the feet.  Mir then scored a first round knockdown en route to an easy submission win over world class kickboxer Cheick Kongo.  And, of course, the pinnacle of his striking career occurred on Saturday night, when he crumbled Cro Cop to the canvas with a perfectly timed Muay Thai knee after slipping a wild overhand left from his foe.  That sequence was as fluid of a moment as Mir has ever displayed during his standup game, and it will likely propel him to even greater confidence levels, which will only lead to better and better standup performances.

But this is a Monday morning quarterback article, so I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the one glaring hole in Mir’s game that continues to plague him – wrestling.  Mir tried on multiple occasions to take down Cro Cop.  He never came close.  Granted, Cro Cop has a very good sprawl, and his double underhooks are very difficult to get past in the clinch up against the cage.  Thus, it isn’t a shock that Mir didn’t score a takedown.  I am surprised, however, that he never attempted to pull guard, either.  There appeared to be two or three occasions when he could have easily pulled guard and brought the Croatian into treacherous waters.  

As it turned out, Cro Cop entered treacherous waters the moment he stepped into the Octagon with Mir, whether on the feet or on the ground. Mir didn’t need to get the action to the ground in order to win.

If the Las Vegas resident can figure out a way to improve his takedowns along the same hockey-stick curve as his standup, he could very well return to the top of the heavyweight mountain before too long.

CRO COP CONTINUES HIS UFC STRUGGLES

I’ve written it before, and I’ll write it yet again.  Mirko Cro Cop will never be the same fighter who struck fear in the hearts of opponents in PRIDE and K-1 until he begins utilizing kicks as a major part of his game plan.  His loss to Mir shines a vivid spotlight on that fact.  

Not to be too critical, but Cro Cop is only an average boxer – he has big power in his left hand, but he is only average in terms of his overall boxing skills.  Let’s face it, his hands aren’t what earned him untold riches in Japan.  His hands aren’t what won him the 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix.  And his hands certainly aren’t what other heavyweights feared when he entered the arena.

Cro Cop is first and foremost a leg-based striker, and that isn’t going to change at this late stage in his career.  Trying to transform him into a boxer is like trying to turn Shaquille O’Neal into a point guard or Randy Johnson into a finesse pitcher.  It’s just not going to happen.

If I were training the Croatian, I would implore him to return to his roots.  When this guy uses his legs with the same frequency that other strikers use their hands, he is darn near unbeatable.  That may sound silly because one-dimensional fighters rarely succeed in the UFC.  The point, though, is that Cro Cop is far from one-dimensional.   He is a skilled fighter whose entire game depends on his kicks.  

Without that weapon, he is a good, but not great, heavyweight.  Again, Saturday night proved that as he was completely outclassed on the feet by a guy who wouldn’t have dared to try and stand with him five years ago.  On Saturday night, Cro Cop threw somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four left kicks, all in the second round (if my memory serves), and each of them was thrown with sort of a frantic, hurried manner, rather than sitting down and uncorking a confident bomb.  Of course, he ended up getting knocked out, something that was almost unthinkable during his PRIDE career.

If I had to point to the root of Cro Cop’s decision to abandon his kicks, it would have to be his April 2007 loss to Gabriel Gonzaga.  The Croatian was making his second UFC start fresh off a five-fight knockout streak in PRIDE (yes, I’m taking literary license and counting a submission due to strikes as a KO).  He looked every bit as confident in his kicks during the opening seconds against Gonzaga, firing a few without reservation and laced with bad intentions.  But then, Gonzaga caught a high kick and used it as a vehicle to take the fight to the ground and began grinding away with some brutal ground and pound.

By the time Cro Cop made it back to his feet toward the end of the round, he was exhausted and physically battered.   Gonzaga capitalized on his wounded foe by landing a high kick of his own, which led to one of the most shocking knockouts in UFC history – a timeless highlight-reel moment that will forever replay itself in Cro Cop’s mind.

We haven’t seen kicks thrown in any meaningful quantities since that time.  If Cro Cop wants to someday fulfill his dream of becoming a UFC champion, he needs to forget the loss to Gonzaga.  He needs to stop fearing getting taken down if someone catches a kick – that risk has existed throughout his career, by the way, and it never stopped him in PRIDE.  And he needs to get back to using his kicks as his primary weapon—mixing up low kicks, body kicks and high kicks so that it is difficult to catch a leg and take him down.

After all, when a guy possesses one of the most dangerous weapons in the history of the sport, it is criminal not to use it with regularity.

BADER PUTS HIMSELF IN CONTENTION

I’m not sure that most fans watching last Saturday night really appreciate how big it was for Ryan Bader to defeat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.  I’m not sure Bader realizes it, either.

The man called “Lil’ Nog” stands among the best light heavies in the world, and has for more than a half-dozen years.  Most UFC fans probably don’t realize that because they haven’t had much exposure to the well-rounded mixed martial artist until he finally made his UFC debut 10 months ago.  But that doesn’t change the fact that Nogueira has been competing at the highest level overseas for the better part of a decade, scoring clear wins elite fighters like Dan Henderson, the only man to simultaneously hold world championships in two PRIDE weight divisions, and exciting heavyweight Alistair Overeem.  And he was by no means on the downside of his long, illustrious career heading into Saturday night, as evidenced by the seven-fight winning streak that bolstered his 19-3 professional record.

Make that 19-4 after he ran into the 205-lb freight train nicknamed “Darth” Bader.

Bader’s workmanlike victory over such a skilled opponent underscores the fact that this kid is a very real life contender in the UFC light heavyweight division.  No, he isn’t yet ready to step into the cage against the ultra elite like reigning champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua or former champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Rashad Evans or Lyoto Machida.  The operative word in the immediately preceding sentence is “yet.”  The use of that particular adverb suggests that Bader may well be ready to compete with the division’s alpha dogs with a little more seasoning.  

Maybe a test with that very next level of elite competition, which is only a micro-step behind the alpha dogs, would be the perfect way to go.  In my mind, that means a bout with former champions Forrest Griffin or Rich Franklin, or possibly a contest against perennial contenders Thiago Silva or Brandon Vera.

I’m not sure what I would push for if I were managing Bader’s career.  Whatever UFC President Dana White has in store next for Bader, I’m quite sure that the collegiate wrestling star, who epitomizes the “anyone, anytime, anywhere” mantra, will not shy away from the challenge.

LYTLE CONTINUES CASHING BIG CHECKS

Chris Lytle’s spirited three-round slugfest with former conqueror Matt Serra earned the Indiana native yet another win, this one in front of an ecstatic hometown crowd. Lytle has rapidly evolved into one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, across all divisions, thanks to a go-for-broke style that favors crowd-thrilling action over methodical, play-it-safe game plans.  That is a stark contrast from the conservative fighter who lost back-to-back fights to Matt Hughes and Serra following his stint on The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback.   

While his rebirth as a risk-taking, fan-friendly fighter isn’t necessarily the best way to guarantee success, Lytle has found a way to make it work.  The win over Serra was his fourth in a row, and his record since changing his style is an impressive 8-3.  Most notably, however, is the fact that Lytle is getting consistent work because he always puts on a great show.  Combine that with his ever-growing bank account thanks to an extra six figures in bonus money over the last few years, and other fighters who work less frequently and also bring home far less bacon might want to sit up and take notice of the welterweight contender’s recent run of success.

CONTROVERSY ASIDE, NEITHER MAN TAKES A STEP BACKWARDS
The fans didn't agree with the result, but that wasn't the fault of either fighter on Saturday night as former 155-lb ruler Sean Sherk edged out a disputed decision over top contender Evan Dunham.  The bout was almost certainly decided by a slicing left elbow that Sherk landed toward the end of the first round -- a round that Sherk easily won an all the cards.  The strike opened up a severe gash above Dunham's right eye that bled profusely for the remainder of the bout.  Despite the fact that Dunham found his groove in the second stanza and arguably opened a can of whuppin in the third, the continued bleeding must have played a factor in the lone judge who scored every round for Sherk. 
I agree that Dunham was more active in the second and third round.  I definitely agree that he controlled the pace of the fight with effective aggressiveness in the third.  But the fact remains that the second round was still closer than either man probably preferred.  Mix that with the constant flow of blood, and it isn't surprising that Sherk came away with the win.  For the record, I scored the fight 29-28 for Dunham, though I'm not among those who are in an uproar about the decision.  Dunham, who suffered his first professional loss in a dozen bouts, knew he had taken a beating in the first round.  He should have known that the blood would be a difficult hurdle to overcome throughout the fight.  Thus, he should have taken a few more chances, particularly in the third round, to try and end the fight.  After all, if we have learned anything in mixed martial arts, it is that the judges are unpredictable and often don't see the fight in the same way that the rest of us see it.
Despite the loss, Dunham's status as a stud prospect and legitimate title contender doesn't change one bit.  The kid survived big-time adversity against one of the best lightweights in the history of the game and arguably deserved the decision.  He proved to me that he can compete with anyone and is a possible future champion.  For his part, Sherk reestablished himself near the top of the 155-lb heap.  Beating a guy like Dunham, controversial or not, makes a dramatic statement.  Either one of these guys could rightfully claim the number one contender spot with a win against a fellow top contender in their next bout.

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