(“Boom! Another hit is landed…” The Pitbull mauls old-ass Matt Hughes. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)
Now that the adrenaline has subsided, we can have a normal conversation. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about since Saturday afternoon…
— Matt Hughes carved out a legendary career without ever being a particularly dangerous striker. And good for him, but the young fighters coming up these days will not stand for that shit. There’s no way you can compete at an elite level anymore without a complete game. Hughes never had one, and it’s now been fully exposed. After Alves stuffed Hughes’s takedown attempts during their fight, the former champ had no more weapons left, and it was only a countdown until the inevitable. I’m interested in seeing Hughes settle his grudge match with Matt Serra; I’m not really interested in seeing Hughes continue to be tooled by other athletic and well-rounded members of the UFC’s welterweight division.
— Michael Bisping looked deadly once again. Obviously he’d be wrecked by Silva, Franklin, or Henderson (or Marquardt on a good day), but he’d have to be the favorite against any other middleweight in the UFC. I’d guess he’s two wins away from a title shot, and luckily for him, Anderson Silva might not be around by the time he gets there. (The chatter is that Silva may move up to light-heavyweight for a marquee fight, but it’s totally unsubstantiated at this point, so don’t get your hopes up.)
— I don’t care what Jason Lambert needs to do to get down to 185 — stomach stapling, breast reduction surgery, whatever — he just needs to get there. He also needs to understand that his boxing sucks; just like in his fight with Wilson Gouveia, Lambert’s wild and sloppy haymakers led to his own damn self getting knocked out against Luis Cane. I think the biggest lesson I learned from “Bedlam” was that if there’s a noticeably out-of-shape guy fighting a guy in great physical condition, don’t bet on the fatty. (See also: Eddie Sanchez.)
— Man I hate Mike Swick. And it’s not just because his win contributed to me losing a bet — it’s because he’s officially turned into a boring fighter. “Quick” has become “Long and Drawn Out.” Marcus Davis was dominated on the ground, but was never in any real danger of being stopped (something that Swick hasn’t been able to accomplish in over two years). To me, Swick’s lay-n-pray victory was no more impressive than his tedious decision win over Josh Burkman. Before long, he’ll be paired up against a more aggressive fighter with better wrestling, and he’ll be steamrolled.
— I’m not saying that Dan Miragliotta should be banned from MMA reffing forever, but maybe a three-month time-out would be in order. The man who caused an uproar for his standing-TKO call during the Slice/Thompson fight at EliteXC: Primetime made another unfortunately early stoppage Saturday in the match between Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum. Vera wasn’t hurt, and he wasn’t turtling; he realized he wasn’t going to get out of Werdum’s mount, and he was simply riding out the round’s last 20 seconds. He was also (at least according to Vera) screaming “I’m okay I’m okay I’m okay!” I feel bad for Brandon Vera; two unlucky breaks in consecutive fights (the first being his broken hand in the Tim Sylvia match), and he’s out of title contention for a while. I’d say he should drop down to light-heavyweight, but he wouldn’t have a better shot in the chummed-up shark tank that is the UFC’s 205-pound class. So he’s basically screwed now. Thanks, Dan.
— The ipecac has been ordered and will presumably arrive this week. Stay tuned.
(BG)
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