MMA Review

Some music, Angry Johnny by Poe. It will make sense.



Sorry for the belated MMA Review. Life comes up sometimes and there’s nothing you can do about it, however, I’m back with a final review of UFC 94 and other mixed martial arts news:

-I missed UFC Fight Night last night because, actually I don’t remember what I was doing last night but I missed the event, so there will be no commentary on that.

-You’re probably wondering what my opinion of the whole “Vasoline-gate” event that took place against Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn.

As a preface, B.J. is probably my favorite fighter ever, however, my boy got his butt whipped by the superior fighter.

GSP won the fight and I know that the greasing of …OK, some of you are novices to MMA, which is fine, so let me tell you what happened.

In between rounds of the BJ vs. GSP fight, the trainers of GSP were applying Vasoline to his back in the corner, which is illegal to put it simply. The Nevada Athletic Commission, who pretty much serve as the referees/officials for a fight, noticed this and wiped the grease off of GSP’s back. However, BJ’s camp and even UFC officials, who you must know don’t legislate this type of stuff during a fight, noticed this during and after the fact and BJ has filed a complaint.

Some may be saying that BJ has sour grapes and is trying to make excuses for his loss, however, I don’t look at it this way. BJ should file a complaint/grievance against the NAC if for anything to make aware of this potential practice for the future. I don’t think that the Vasoline determined the winner of the contest, but it still shouldn’t be done.

On to the actual contest, I was shocked at how easy GSP passed BJ’s guard on numerous occasions. Plus, GSP’s strategy to tire out BJ in the early rounds by grappling with him to wear out his shoulders was advanced scouting and shows the excellence of Greg Jackson, GSP trainer, and his crew.

I’ve never had a major beef with GSP but I was going for BJ and that’s fine. Thiago Alves will be his next opponent and that’s going to be rough if Thiago can make weight. Oh how our memories are so shortsighted in MMA.

For BJ, he isn’t retiring, at least he better not. That would be the ultimate bitch move for him to lose and then just leave the sport without defending his lightweight title against Ken Florian or anyone else for that matter. I would be disappointed as a fan if he took this route.

Furthermore, I don’t want to see a third fight between these two, that would be counterproductive. Look at me using big words.

As a fan of the UFC, I was kinda glad that BJ lost because him holding two titles would be good for him but not so good for the organization because he holds up two titles from being defended at the same time or heaven forbid he injured himself after the fight. Then we get into the whole interim champion stuff which no one likes.

-Lyota Machida deserves a title shot. Even though I called him boring doesn’t mean that I didn’t think that he deserved a chance to get the light heavy strap.

His performance against Thiago Silva was impressive, including the knockout right at the end of the round, loved that. I like Rampage but Lyota needs to fight Rashad Evans first.

-I have a new MMA crush and his name is Jon Jones. His walkout music is featured above, which is one of the best tie-ins to an actual name and vibe for a song, loved it.

That dude is only 21 years old, scary potential. He dominated Stephan Bonner. His spinning back elbow was sweet and the shot of the night besides Lyoto’s knockout punch. Jones’ wrestling skills are an excellent base for him and when he improves striking with that 6’4’’ frame as a light heavy, it may be a wrap.

Jones’ emergence just shows how young MMA fighters are becoming. It used to take years for guys to reach an elite level but now you’re seeing guys in their mid-20’s contending for titles. GSP is the epidomy of this at 27 years’ old.

-I like the energy that this guy brings to the ring and the positivity that he has, but there is no way that Clay Guida should be able to beat Nate Diaz. I still don’t know how Diaz lost that fight, let alone let it get to a decision. That shouldn’t have happened. If Diaz just kept working his jab and using reach, then the match should have been no contest.

However, when you try to act like wannabe thugs like the Diaz brothers, this thing tends to happen.

-Final note, I love, love, love, love and love the fact that Strikeforce is purchasing Elite XC.

I love the UFC and what they’ve done for the sport, however, we as fans need more fights. A monopoly isn’t a good thing for the sport. I’ll hit on that more next week since I don’t have an event to review.

With that folks, have a good night.