UFC’s run of good shows was halted at UFC 118. After the epic 116 which many were proclaiming as the best UFC show in history and the enthralling Silva/Sonnen main event of 117; there was a buzz surrounding the UFC. Maybe the company hadn’t peaked. Maybe MMA can finally become the biggest sport in the world! Alas all that excitement and buzz was discard after the anti-climax that was UFC 118. While certain parts of the card shone, overall it left a lot to be desired.
The show kicked off unofficially with UFC Prelims Live. This pre-show is broadcast on Spike TV in the US to entice viewers to purchase the pay-per-view. I’m presuming that Prelims Live didn’t make much of a dent on the PPV buyrate as this month’s show was the lowest watched of all the preview shows. Maybe they all tuned off after the opening bout between Nik Lentz and Andre Winner. In what proved to be a forebear of things to come, Lentz outwrestled Winner for the full three rounds. The crowd didn’t know either man and was noticeably hush throughout. Not a good start to say the least. Lentz wins via decision. Judges scorecards 30-27, 29-28, 30-27.
Up next was the best fight on the show which pitted local favourite Joe Lauzon against an over-matched Gabe Ruediger. To be fair, Ruediger did accept the fight on short notice but it’s hard to see the fight going any different regardless. Lauzon fought with an unseen before intensity. ‘J-Lau’ was clearly determined to put on an impressive performance in the first UFC event in his home state and he did when he put away Ruediger with an armbar in only 2.01 in the first round. The crowd were on a fever pitch throughout this bout. Sadly this would be the last time the crowd would pop this huge for anything.
Lauzon gets the win plus a extra $60,000 for Submission of the Night
The interminable UFC opening signalled the start of the PPV. The first bout of the main card was a salivating contest between Nate Diaz and Marcus Davis. This fight had all the promise to be a stand-up war and it sure didn’t disappoint. Nate picked apart Davis with what has become a Diaz brother’s trademark; the pitter-patter punches. These shots will not knock you out but they sure do hurt and they come at you at a relentless pace. Rounds 1 & 2 were even with both men landing shots and achieving takedowns. What proved to be the deciding factor were Diaz’s pitter-patter punches which had swollen Davis right eye to grotesque proportions. By round 3 Davis eye was swollen shut and Marcus was most likely exhausted by the amount of blood he lost which allowed Diaz to get a takedown and slap on a modified guillotine choke. The referee went to check if Davis was conscious by doing the old pro-wrestling spot where the ref checks the guys arm. Unfortunately Davis didn’t Hulk Up and the fight was called off at 4.02 of round 3. Your winner: Nate Diaz.
Kenny ‘Ken-Flo’ Florian vs. Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard was considered by many in the audience as the main event as it featured that other local favourite Florian fighting for the #1 contendership to the Lightweight Title. Despite having a menacing nickname, ‘The Bully’ outside of the Octagon has always been a laidback, quite guy but during the pre-fight hype Maynard displayed a new more arrogant attitude. Gray had every reason to be peeved, before this fight Maynard’s record in the UFC was a remarkable 7-0 1 NC (That No-Contest was the result of a freak finish to a bout where Maynard managed to get his opponent to tapout while preceding to knock himself out at the same time). Despite his impressive record, Gray’s last 6 wins have come by way of decision and none of those fights were practically exciting. After Maynards last win in January it was thought that ‘The Bully’ would get the next shot at Lightweight Champ BJ Penn but instead Frankie Edgar got the title fight. It must’ve been incredibly frustrating for Maynard to see Edgar not only get the title shot but defeat Penn for the belt. What must’ve made it doubly frustrating for Maynard is the fact that ‘The Bully’ is in fact the only person to actually defeat Edgar.
On to the fight itself and it didn’t turn out to be the storybook homecoming for Florian. Maynard outwrestled Florian for three identical rounds. Ken-Flo, who was thought of a top 5 Lightweight (I had him as top 3 before this fight) had no answer to Maynard’s relentless takedowns. Florian was wary of the takedown so was unwilling to stand and trade with ‘The Bully’. Judges had it 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Gray Maynard who now – finally – gets the next title match.
Jiu-Jutsu ace Demian Maia clashed with fellow Brazilian ‘Super’ Mario Miranda in the next bout. After the deflating Florian loss, fans were hoping for Maia to show off his vaunted BJJ skills and submit Miranda in timely fashion. Alas it was not to be. While Maia did constantly try to lock on submissions, Miranda was skilful enough to evade each attempt. Since the Marquardt loss, Demian has focused more on stand-up and we haven’t seen that old Maia who wowed the audience with an five fight winning streak in which Maia won all his bouts by submission. Maia got the decision with the judges’ scorecard 30-27 across the board.
It was time for the ultimate showdown. Boxing vs. MMA! James ‘Lights out’ Toney vs. Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture. After all the hype, after all the trash talking from Toney (which was mostly unintelligible), the fight was a letdown. It was obvious that Couture would just takedown Toney and have his way with him. While Toney may be an accomplished boxer, he had only been training Mixed Martial Arts for five or so months. Despite the reports that Toney wasn’t training “at all”, it would still be near impossible for ‘Lights Out’ to counter Couture’s twenty-plus year Greco-Roman wrestling experience. After both entered the ring and announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan stopped their collective hyperbole. The match was on. Couture went in for a basic single leg takedown, Toney fell right on his ass and the bout was already practically finished less than 10 seconds in. Couture was determined to finish Toney with an arm-triangle submission which is a move that only a novice like Toney couldn’t get out of. After a minute or so of adjusting and trying to find the right angle (yes, I know how this all sounds >_>), Couture locked on the arm-triangle for the tapout at 3.19 of Round 1. Don’t feel too bad for Toney, he earned $500,000 for this fight. Not bad for a little over three minutes of erm…work.
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Randy Couture never showed this much emotion in The Expendables
IT’S TIME! FIVE ROUNDS OF ACTION! IN THE UFC LIGHTWEIGHT BLAH BLAH….Much like the UFC opening. I’m also tiring of ring announcer Bruce Buffer and his overwrought introductions. This man is overexposed to the nth level. If it wasn’t bad enough that Buffer is on every UFC show, he’s also now the ring announcer of WEC! More Buffer for everyone!
Ahem…moving on. The UFC Lightweight tilt between BJ Penn and Frankie Edgar was set to be an enthralling bout. Edgar edged Penn by decision in a bout where underdog Edgar outworked a nondescript BJ. Make no mistake about it, the real BJ Penn who ran through Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez in 2010 was nowhere to be seen in that first bout in Abu Dhabi but it looks like that the real BJ Penn missed the flight to Boston as well. We got the zombie BJ Penn again for what proved to be another disappointing bout against Frankie Edgar. Penn had no answer for Edgars fast moving offence. ‘The Prodigy’ showed no inattentive or aggression in this bout. Fair play to Edgar, his constantly moving-style offset Penn but we expected – and have seen so much for from BJ. At the end of this listless bout, the judges had it 50-45 across the board for Edgar.
Thus ended an extremely disappointing show but in truth; that’s what you get when you order an UFC show. It’s a crapshoot. Sometimes it’s amazing, other times…not so much. Looking ahead, the next 155 title bout will be between Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard. Don’t jump out of your seat at once there. Yep, this bout isn’t exactly a ticket seller. Neither man are renowned trash talkers and both are wrestlers with the majority (the vast majority) of their wins coming by decision. The problem both men lack is that there both so ordinary. They could be your neighbours. Would you pay to see your neighbours fight? Actually seeing your neighbours fight would be more entertaining. Bob isn’t leaving it in the hands of the judges! Both Edgar and Maynard lack the aura of an Anderson Silva or Georges St.Pierre. Unfortunately that’s not much either man can do to add that ‘aura’ but not to fear, the UFC already have a plan in mind. The rumoured setting of the Edgar/Maynard fight is New Years Day 2011. On a fight card also rumoured to have the rematch between the positively aura-iffic Anderson Silva against the pound-for-pound best trash talker in MMA, Chael Sonnen. That’s how you add pizzazz to a Maynard/Edgar fight.
While this review was very melancholy, there’s a lot ahead on the MMA calendar to be optimistic about. The next UFC Fight Night card has a intriguing headline bout with former #1 contender Nate Marquardt facing off against controversial Jiu-Jitsu practitioner Rousimar Palhares (more on that later). DREAM.16 in Japan will have the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba against the always entertaining Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller. Also before year’s end we got Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields UFC debut, Rampage Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida, Koscheck vs. GSP! 118 may turn out to be just an aberration in what looks set to be a fantastic year for MMA.
