UFC on Fox 2 Parting Shots

As I suspected beforehand, the second UFC on Fox card wasn’t exactly chock-full of barn-burners. Well, on the main card, anyway. While the prelims brought some excitement and some memorable moments, the main card was more notable for the results, which have title implications, than for the action during the fights themselves.

Marked Improvements or Market Corrections?

Of the three main card fights, one really surprised me. That was Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping. While I did not necessarily expect Sonnen to finish Bisping (as noted in my preview of the event), I didn’t think he’d have as tough a go at it as he did on Saturday night, either. I have to say it: Bisping really impressed me.

Many believed that Bisping won the first two rounds, and he definitely took one of the three rounds, despite what the crazy scorecard of judge Clay Goodman said. He did so with very good defensive wrestling and effective striking that showed that he has vastly improved his ability to land good shots while staying away from his opponent’s takedown attempts.

It should be noted, of course, that Sonnen is no usual opponent. You won’t find anyone in the middleweight division with a more explosive double-leg takedown than he has, and fending him off is no easy feat. Even when they were on the mat, Sonnen noted afterward that the fight always felt “awkward”- he said in the post-fight press conference that “I got him down on the ground, and he’d throw a hook in, blocking me. As soon as I [would] create a space, he pushed away [and] popped up.”

I knew that Bisping was good at standing up off of his back and that his defensive jiu-jitsu was good, but again, Sonnen is a very high-level opponent. I didn’t think his skills would translate to this fight nearly as well as they did. Kudos to Bisping for proving me wrong.

Meanwhile, despite the events of their first fight, this bout did not give me the idea that Chael Sonnen would put on a repeat performance in an upcoming rematch with Anderson Silva. As time goes on, I believe more and more that Silva’s rib injury during their first fight was a huge factor. I certainly didn’t see anything that would make me think that Sonnen’s striking in the first fight with Silva was something he can repeat in a rematch.

In the other fight that provided some interesting results, Rashad Evans defeated Phil Davis in a somewhat paint-by-the-numbers performance in the main event, taking a unanimous decision where all three judges gave him every round.

In baseball, when a player starts playing out of his mind and people don’t think he can sustain it, it is often referred to as a “market correction”. Furthermore, when a player is slumping but the sentiment is that he’s a good player and will bounce back, the same term applies. The question here is, did we see a market correction with both fighters the other night?

We knew Davis was a good prospect, but wondering how he would match up with champion Jon Jones was a bit hasty. I didn’t partake in such speculation, as I felt there was a very small chance of Davis beating Evans. I’m not sure what people saw that made them think that his one-dimensional approach would beat Evans’ multi-dimensional, more polished approach, but I didn’t see it.

Was Davis overrated? No, I think it’s more of a case of him reminding us exactly where he’s at- on the cusp of being a contender, but not there yet. A market correction, in other words. He fought a bona fide contender and lost every round. He competed, but he lost nonetheless. That’s right where I thought he would be at and now everyone else can see it as fact.

What about Evans? He won, but he was again unable to put an opponent away. When you win every round of a five-round bout but fail to finish your opponent or put him in serious danger, you can’t be completely happy with your effort.

At the same time, he won the fight handily. He was hard to hit, as Davis landed a poor percentage of his standing strikes, and he was more effective both with takedowns and with his ability to pass to dominant positions when the fight did hit the mat. If anything, people thought Davis’ wrestling might be better, but Evans proved at the least that he has better wrestling for MMA.

I think that like Davis, Evans is what we thought he was (if I can cite Dennis Green for a moment). Does he have the tools to test Jones? Of course, but if he gets into dominant positions on Jones and doesn’t take advantage, as he did against Davis, he won’t be around long enough to get a judges’ decision.

Say What?!?

When you’re the greatest fighter in the world today, they got a name for ya. They don’t call you a great fighter; they call you Chael Sonnen. Beat me…if you can.- Chael Sonnen, after his fight with Michael Bisping. A fight, by the way, which he won by a very narrow decision. Maybe not the best time to start calling yourself the greatest fighter in the world.

Movin’ On Up Award

Cub Swanson is back on track after a vicious performance against the talented George Roop on Saturday night. This follows his UFC debut in November, which took place on the first UFC on Fox show and featured Swanson losing in disappointing fashion to Ricardo Lamas. Swanson seems to have mentally recovered from the submission loss in his debut and should be a solid featherweight, with the potential to be pretty good if he can put it all together.

Beautiful Loser Award

This goes to Bisping, who looked very good at times against the number two middleweight in the world.

Holy $#!% Award

I have to hand this to Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira, for his extremely crafty calf slicer submission against UFC newcomer Eric Wisely. I’ve never seen that sub done in that position in an MMA fight before, and he capitalized beautifully on Wisely’s eagerness to get his leg out to safety and take the top position. Wisely is a very good fighter who will undoubtedly show in his next appearance that he can be a great addition to the UFC featherweight division, making the submission even more impressive.

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Tags: Chael Sonnen, Charles Oliveira, Cub Swanson, Eric Wisely, George Roop, Michael Bisping, Phil Davis, Rashad Evans, UFC, UFC on Fox 2