UFC 109 Parting Shots

Another UFC is in the books, as Randy Couture has unsurprisingly proven that he’s the top 40+ year-old fighter in the sport and Chael Sonnen has quite surprisingly earned a title shot.  Should Sonnen be careful what he wishes for?  What’s next for Couture?  And, of course, what in the world is up with Tito Ortiz?  Read on for my thoughts on UFC 109.

Title Shots for Couture, Sonnen?

The talk lately has been that Randy Couture is right on the cusp of a title shot following his controversial decision victory over Brandon Vera and now his dominating submission win over fellow Hall of Famer Mark Coleman.  Is that realistic, though?  And what about Chael Sonnen, who defeated Nate Marquardt to derail Marquardt’s quest for a second shot at Anderson Silva?

In Couture’s case, it wouldn’t be outrageous if he got a shot at the title, but I’m not a huge fan of the idea.  I don’t think Couture has done enough in the division, and in two of his last three fights overall, he hasn’t exactly looked outstanding.  However, if Lyoto Machida is able to ward off Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in their rematch, I wouldn’t mind seeing a match-up between him and Couture just to see how the style differences play out.  Can a great game-planner like Couture come up with a way to stifle Machida for five rounds?

I’m less interested in a Couture title shot if Shogun wins, however.  Still, Couture may just get one because no one else in the division is really stepping up to claim the next spot.  “Minotoro” Nogueira may be right in the running with a win over Forrest Griffin, and the winner of Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson could get a shot in the late summer or early fall, too.  In the meantime, Couture would provide the UFC with a bankable opponent for the winner of Machida/Rua II.

In the case of Sonnen, it was made clear that the winner of his battle with Marquardt would be the next top contender, and that’s fine.  There is no clear cut top contender outside of those two at middleweight, anyway.  Plus, Sonnen’s hilarious- and quite frankly, insane- decision to trash talk Anderson Silva has me hoping for a fight between the two.  Sonnen’s latest exploits include saying that he hopes Silva beats Belfort because he believes Silva is the easier fight for him.

Yes.  He actually said that.

Tito Ortiz: Stupid, Brilliant, or Both?

It was just another post-fight interview until Mark Coleman inexplicably turned around and walked away from Joe Rogan.  As it turned out, Coleman had been rudely interrupted by his former would-be opponent, Tito Ortiz.  If you remember correctly, things got ugly between those two when Coleman had to pull out of the fight, prompting Ortiz to run his mouth about Coleman’s injuries.  Coleman’s manager responded with some not-so-nice remarks about Ortiz and his significant other (Jenna Jameson)- in specific, her background in pornographic movies.  Coleman squashed it all, Ortiz went on to fight Forrest Griffin, and we all moved on…until Saturday night.

Dana White took it all in stride, but what surprised me is that he wasn’t quite sure why Ortiz even bothered to mess with Coleman.  To me, it makes perfect sense and is a typically shrewd move from the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.  I’m sure we all remember when Ortiz manufactured a continuing feud (that should have been long dead) with Ken Shamrock, eventually banking wins number 2 and 3 against the aging fighter in one-sided affairs as a result of the hyped-up resentment between them.

Fast forward to February, 2010.  Ortiz just came back to the UFC after an uneventful time in free agency, and has already lost a close decision to Griffin.  Now, he’s looking at a third fight with Chuck Liddell, who has defeated him handily in their first two matchups.  Ortiz knows as well as any of us that if he loses that fight (which is likely), he’s 0-2 in his return and on shaky ground, as he has very few credible wins over the last several years of his career.  So what does he do?  Ignites a feud with Mark Coleman.  If it plays out right, the public will be interested in Ortiz-Coleman, Ortiz will get a much-needed win after a possible 0-2 start to his latest UFC stint, and he will be assured another fight after the Liddell bout.  It even works out nicely for Coleman, if it in fact goes down that way.

Alas, though: White stated that he was pretty sure Coleman had his last UFC fight Saturday night.  Still, you can’t fault Ortiz for trying, and his ability to consistently call out fighters that he believes he matches up well with is humorous, really.  He reminds me of the MMA version of Eminem.  Eminem, who gained his start by being a battle rapper who tore other rappers to shreds verbally, has spent his career feuding with such hip hop luminaries as Moby, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon and Chris Kirkpatrick of the gangsta rap group N-Sync.  Never has Eminem intentionally feuded with a rapper who could even compete with him, and Ortiz has very rarely feuded with a fighter that posed a real threat to him in the cage.

Where Does Serra Go From Here?

Whether Frank Trigg is done in the UFC now is unclear at this point, but it is also not immediately clear what the company will do with Matt Serra after his scintillating knockout of Trigg a couple of nights ago.  I wondered about Trigg’s gameplan from the start, as I thought his best chance was to take Serra down and be methodical about his ground and pound while wearing Serra out.

Serra is not exactly in title contention, but I could see him facing the loser of Jon Fitch-Thiago Alves (or the winner, if the winner doesn’t get a title shot).  Even someone like Diego Sanchez would be an interesting fight for the veteran.  As for Trigg, I really hope the UFC keeps the veteran fighter.  I understand their thinking if they don’t, but I like having some long-time UFC fighters actively competing.  Sure, he may not be a title contender, but who wouldn’t want to see Trigg fight on a UFC Fight Night card against some young, cocky fighter?

Quick Shots

–I know I already talked a bit about Sonnen, but I have to mention him again and give him tons of credit for his gutsy effort in the last round of his fight with Marquardt.  Marquardt had a deep guillotine attempt and Sonnen simply refused to tap.  I had no doubt while watching that Sonnen would pass out rather than tap, especially knowing he was up two rounds to none, and Sonnen confirmed as much after the fight.  I think he’s biting off way more than he can chew by calling out Anderson Silva the way that he has, but you have to respect his confidence in himself.

–Besides the fighters we already talked about, whose stock rose the most Saturday night?  Paulo Thiago comes to mind, with a very nice submission win over former title contender Mike Swick.  I think Dan Miller also gave a very good account of himself by surviving on the mat against Demian Maia, who has seen his stock fall over his last two fights for sure.  Meanwhile, Swick is now going to be fighting for his career over his next fight or two, when he was fighting for a title shot not too long ago, and Rolles Gracie couldn’t even get started on the road to UFC stardom, completely gassing out after just five minutes of action and giving a very poor account of himself while losing to Joey Beltran.

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Tags: Chael Sonnen, Dan Miller, Dana White, Demian Maia, Frank Trigg, Mark Coleman, Matt Serra, Nate Marquardt, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, UFC 109