UFC Live 4 Parting Shots

UFC Live 4 received rave reviews from everyone from fans to Dana White himself, and for good cause. The event had a little bit of everything, from upsets and a nasty submission to one of the best in-fight comebacks you’ll ever see. Hey, there was even some awful refereeing to round things out! With UFC 132 on its way this weekend, here are my final thoughts on the UFC’s fourth live show on Versus.

What do we take from Kongo/Barry?

Okay, so I already told you all where I think Kongo/Barry stands in terms of all-time MMA comebacks: at the top. Still though, what can we really take away from that fight in terms of Cheick Kongo or Pat Barry’s abilities? Does Kongo really deserve to move up after the fight, and should Barry be bumped down a notch?

First of all, let’s talk about Kongo. I was surprised to see that the first takedown attempt in the fight didn’t come from Kongo, but Barry. While it’s hard to fault Kongo too much for not employing a better strategy in a two and a half-minute fight, I still thought Kongo should have been more aggressive about using his larger frame and better grappling skills in the bout. However, I did like a lot about his striking, from his use of leg kicks to the power he showed with the KO itself. I’m not going to put too much stock into his having been wobbled multiple times with Barry’s punches. Barry hits hard, and who is to say whether Kongo’s chin was impressive because he lasted through the damage or weak because it was damaged in the first place? Two sides of the same coin, really.

For Barry, the night was pretty bittersweet and he’ll definitely have a steeper climb to get towards the top of the division again at this point. However, we saw the killer instinct that many alleged he didn’t even have when he rocked Kongo with a right hand early in the fight and proceeded to swarm him with punches. Would it have been better if he would have backed off or reassessed his approach after Kongo hit him with the straight right that set up the uppercut? Sure, but it’s hard to blame Barry for moving in aggressively to finish an opponent who could barely stand for more than a couple of seconds at a time.

For the most part, I think both fighters are about what we thought they were before this bout. Kongo gets points for showing us that his standup hasn’t really waned since he started focusing more on grappling, and Barry gets points for showing us that he is more than able to close on an opponent when he smells blood. Neither look to be able to crack the top four in the UFC’s division anytime soon, but they are definitely UFC-worthy and will have their moments against everybody else.

Who should Mitrione face next?

A discussion on the Versus post-fight show about who Matt Mitrione should face next led to a spirited little debate between Stephan Bonnar and Ariel Helwani. Bonnar looks at things the way that many fans would: if you’ve won five UFC fights in a row, it’s time for some serious competition. Helwani looked at it more like I do: if you’re fighting Christian Morecraft and Kimbo Slice along the way, you aren’t ready for Brock Lesnar just yet.

Though Mitrione’s clock is ticking a little bit faster because he’s turning 33 next month, he’s still a relative rookie in MMA. I would like to see him face someone like the winner of Jon Madsen vs. Mike Russow, or even Travis Browne vs. Stefan Struve. If he wins that, throw him in there with Kongo. If he wins that, give him Roy Nelson. If he wins all three, then you’re off to the races and you can put him in there with someone like Frank Mir, if you’re so inclined. But I think another year of training in the meanwhile will put us in the position to see about the best Mitrione we’re likely to get, as he’ll be at a good crossroads for experience and athleticism/youth.

Say What?!

“I piss excellence, I’m sorry everybody, it’s what I do!“– Matt Mitrione after his shellacking of Christian Morecraft. Kudos to him, by the way, for walking away from Morecraft after he dropped him with the fight-ending punches. Once again, it’s proven that you can easily do so, even in the heat of battle, rather than jumping on the opportunity to land unnecessary punches against an opponent who’s out of commission.

Why You Don’t Bet on MMA

Take your pick: Charlie Brenneman and Matt Brown pulled off upsets against Rick Story and John Howard, respectively. Howard in particular sabotaged his own efforts by working so hard for takedowns that he gave momentum to Brown throughout and gassed himself out, to boot. I don’t know why he didn’t just stand with Brown for the entirety of the fight.

Adventures in Refereeing

No “Adventures in Judging” this time, but have no fear! The refs picked up the slack, as we knew they would. Imagine a silent horror movie-style trailer for the refereeing in UFC Live 4, with the following phrases leaping onto the screen in all capital letters:

CRINGE as Chip Snider completely misses an illegal knee strike! WINCE as Snider tells a fighter, “Keep fighting like that” during a fight! GASP as Mark Matheny stands up fighters as if he needs his Ritalin prescription refilled!

Just awful. Matheny standing up Rick Story in the middle of a kimura attempt was particularly pathetic, because it’s not like he just missed something like Snider did with the illegal knee by Charles Oliveira: he simply didn’t understand that Story was trying to finish the fight and was working hard to do so. How do you not know that you don’t stand up a fighter in the midst of a submission attempt? He even threatened another standup as Story was working for a triangle choke! Horrible.

Movin’ On Up Award

This goes to Brenneman, who took a big leap in the welterweight division by defeating Rick Story, also known as “the guy who just beat Thiago Alves”. In a division that is desperate for fresh contenders, he’s now just a couple of steps away.

The Bob Seger “Beautiful Loser” Award

This has to go to poor Pat Barry, who was this close to a knockout and a juicy win bonus when his seemingly-incoherent opponent suddenly let loose an uppercut from Hell to put him to sleep. With a lot of refs, Barry may well have been given a win at a couple of points in the fight, though I’m happy with the job that Dan Miragliotta did.

Holy Crap! Award

This has Kongo written all over it, of course. What else can you say?

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Tags: Charlie Brenneman, Cheick Kongo, horrible refereeing, John Howard, Matt Brown, Matt Mitrione, Pat Barry, Rick Story, UFC, UFC Live 4