UFC 99 Thoughts

The dust has officially settled on UFC 99, and we’ve all had time to take in the fights and their implications.  With a lot of decisions and a couple of very close ones, along with an unbelievable turn of events involving Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, there’s a lot to discuss.  Here are some of my thoughts on UFC 99 and what will happen with the fighters involved as we move forward:

Judges Get Judged

Both the Marcus Davis-Dan Hardy and Wanderlei Silva-Rich Franklin fights ended with close decisions, which were disputed publicly by the losers themselves.  Davis feels strongly that his wrestling overshadowed Hardy’s late damage, while Silva has already asked Dana White and company for a rematch with Franklin, as he feels that he won the fight.  Hardy won by a split decision over Davis, while Franklin’s victory was unanimous and the scores were not announced.  Were these two fights another example of shaky judging in MMA?

No, they weren’t.  Surprisingly enough, there is more public outcry regarding Silva having been “robbed” than Davis, even though Davis lost a split decision.  Regarding the Silva-Franklin fight, it’s really inaccurate to say that Silva got “robbed”, or that Franklin would have been if the fight had gone in the other direction.  You can make a case for either fighter winning the final two rounds, really.  Do you value Wanderlei’s damage inflicted when he had Franklin on the ropes a couple of times, or do you value Franklin’s consistent, clean striking and control?  It’s not so much an example of a lack of MMA knowledge on the part of the judges as it is a difference of opinion.

Is Wanderlei Silva Done?

Of course, as with many of the legends of the sport, such as Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, and others, there was a lot of the expected “Wanderlei Silva is done” talk after Silva’s loss to Franklin.  Sure, it looks bad on paper: five losses in his last six fights.  And yes, three of those losses were by brutal KOs, which is the most troubling aspect of the whole thing.  But hey, it’s not as if this guy is losing to nobodies.  His losses are to Cro Cop (when he was near the top of the heavyweight division), Dan Henderson, Chuck Liddell, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and now Rich Franklin. 

That’s pretty much a who’s who list of top MMA fighters over the last several years, and there’s no shame in losing to any of them.  Now, if Silva starts getting vacated from his senses in fights against nobodies, it will be different.  The knockout losses are troubling, but I take them as more of a side effect of Silva’s brawling style than anything.  Silva has never had an extraordinary chin, after all.

The Rare Dull Spencer Fisher Fight?

When you see Spencer Fisher come to the octagon, you usually want to tell the other people watching with you not to leave the room.  Fisher has made his career on exciting fights, and rarely fights someone who can neutralize him completely.  So, the relatively dull Fisher-Caol Uno fight was a disappointment to many.

To them, I say: don’t read too much into it.  This was not an Anderson Silva-Thales Leites situation where one fighter clearly could have done more and chose not to.  This was simply a stalemate.  Most people think of close fights in MMA as fights like Stephan Bonnar-Forrest Griffin I, where fighters are gaining and reversion positions, swinging and connecting, and the action is very even.  However, there are those close fights where neither fighter can get anything going because the other is nullifying what they are trying to do, and vice versa.  This was just one of those fights.

One Last Word on Cro Cop

If it’s true that Cro Cop merely took the one UFC fight to leverage Dream into giving him more money, why fight Mustapha Al-Turk?  The controversial win over Al-Turk, in which Cro Cop didn’t look spectacular and never even threw a real kick, couldn’t have possibly increased Cro Cop’s value.  In fact, even if Cro Cop had kicked Al-Turk’s head off his shoulders, what would that really mean?  Furthermore, would Japanese fans who compose the majority of Dream’s fan base really care?

Also, in that case, why would Cro Cop have signed the contract before his UFC fight?  If he waits, he can perform impressively (in theory), and get the UFC and Dream into a bidding war.  Instead, Dream knows before Cro Cop even fights in the UFC that he’s coming back, and his performance will have no effect on what he gets paid.  Most likely, Cro Cop chose to do it this way because when Dream saw that he had apparently returned to the UFC, they decided to offer him more money before the fight even happened, and Cro Cop took it, knowing all along that he wouldn’t be a UFC fighter for more than one night.

To those who think I was too harsh on Cro Cop (there are a few, believe it or not) and that he’s still a top-level fighter: if he believes in himself so much, why did he refuse a fight against Cain Velasquez?  He once fought Fedor Emelianenko, but balked at fighting a then 5-0 prospect?  A win over Velasquez would have given Cro Cop the leverage to get UFC and Dream in a bidding war over his services.  Obviously, Cro Cop didn’t believe in himself enough to take that route.

by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Anderson Silva, Cain Velasquez, Chuck Liddell, Dan Hardy, Dan Henderson, Dana White, DREAM, Fedor Emelianenko, Forrest Griffin, Matt Hughes, Rich Franklin, Stephan Bonnar, UFC, Wanderlei Silva