What defines a “boring fight”?

The old problem for MMA, leading up to the Forrest Griffin-Stephan Bonnar fight at the first live MMA event on basic cable, was that fans didn’t understand or appreciate the ground game. Particularly, fans were subject to becoming very bored in a short amount of time when the action on the mat stalled a bit.

However, if you look at what fans seem to find boring these days, it is just as likely to be a stand-up fight as it is to be a stall-fest on the mat. Previously, fans were fine with fights that exhibited a lower pace, as long as the combatants were swinging for the fences from time to time. Back then, a fight like the one between Melvin Guillard and Jeremy Stephens would never have been called “boring”. Fans never would have sighed at the thought of a rematch to a fight like BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar.

What’s changed? And most importantly, what constitutes a boring fight these days?

The prevailing opinion, even among some “experienced” MMA fans seems to be that the lack of a finish makes for a dull fight. I never understood this logic, though. Was Mir vs. Cro Cop better than Guillard vs. Stephens because Mir knocked Cro Cop out in the fifteenth minute of their bout? How does a submission or knock out suddenly improve the quality of all of the action (or lack thereof) that took place beforehand?

In a way, you have to take it as a good sign, as fans have learned that two fighters who swing (sometimes wildly) and do not connect very often are not putting on a great show. Furthermore, fans have decided that a fight that takes place on the mat can often be far better than one that takes place standing up. Call me crazy, but I even think that fans are disappointed when many fights never hit the mat, as they have fallen in love with the sport largely because of the variety of things that can happen in an MMA fight, and they want to see good all-around fights, not just “ultimate boxing”.

In any case, I have to say that I think fans have been a little harsh on the subject of UFC 119′s quality. Two really good fights, two decent ones and one snoozefest with a pretty memorable finish does not equal a wasted night, by any means. Throw in some good action on the prelims that was shown on Spike TV, and you got 9 MMA fights, with only one real stinker. The fact that we can all complain about that really shows how far the sport has come.

Hey, back in the day when we were all disappointed by UFC 33 (which featured five decisions, including a couple of the least-exciting bouts in UFC history, and was cut off on pay-per-view during the main event for going over the allotted time), we had to stew on that for a couple of months until UFC 34. Nowadays, we have a free WEC show this week and a free UFC event in a few weeks to look forward to.

A step sideways for Frank Mir

In a sport where a win, any win, usually means a step forward within one’s division, Frank Mir gained absolutely no ground in his effort to secure another title shot in the near-ish future on Saturday night.

Let’s see…did Mir beat an opponent that he was supposed to beat anyway? Check. Do so in entirely unimpressive fashion? Check. Piss off the fans and the boss while doing so? Check.

That’s pretty much a loss in every area except on his actual fighting record. On top of that, there was nothing that Mir did that indicated to anyone that a rematch with the two fighters that are keeping him from regaining his former glory (Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin) would go any differently. (In all fairness to Mir, even taking down Cro Cop and pounding him or submitting him wouldn’t have indicated that he’s patched up the trouble areas he faces against powerful, oversized wrestlers)

In reality, Mir is probably going to be staring at a rematch with a healthy Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, which may be another opportunity for Mir to add a well-known name to his resumé, but still won’t allow him to show why he should be considered a worthy title challenger.

Dunham gets screwed

It was unquestionably the Fight of the Night, and would have been on most UFC cards, honestly. From the start, Sean Sherk and Evan Dunham set a high pace of action, with Sherk focusing on landing takedowns and having to escape submission attempt after submission attempt from the victorious Dunham. It was a great fight, though Dunham definitely won rounds two and three through close submission attempts and out-striking Sherk by a 2-1 margin in round two, as well as a 3-1 margin in round three.

Wait…what’s that? Dunham lost? Yeah, I know. I’m not very convincing at acting surprised, but how would I be when we all pretty much expect at least one crappy, ridiculous decision per MMA event? I actually had the urge to not even write about it, because it’s becoming such a cliché to do yet another “judging in MMA needs to be reformed” rant.

However, whether it was Dunham getting screwed by two out of three judges or judge Otto Torriero somehow giving all the third round of the Guillard-Stephens bout to Guillard, horrible judging once again came to the forefront.

Simply controlling an opponent should never be more important than out-striking him or making more dangerous attempts at ending the fight through deep submission attempts. Control is overrated as a scoring area, and needs to be de-emphasized and reserved as more of a tie-breaker for extremely close rounds or where not a whole lot else is going on.

Quick Shots

–Ryan Bader took the step I expected him to when he beat a very tough opponent in Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. It’s too bad that people are disappointed that Bader didn’t knock out Nog. That’s a lot easier said than done, and Bader has already beat a far better opponent than Jon Jones has ever faced. Yet, people still overlook Bader in favor of Jones.

–Props to Chris Lytle for laying to rest some old demons by beating a game Matt Serra decisively. Actually, props to both fighters, who landed more significant strikes combined than in any other fight in UFC history, according to Fightmetric.com.

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Jeremy Stephens vs. Melvin Guillard

Any other event, and I would guarantee that this would be “fight of the night”. However, when you have four-time FOTN winner Chris Lytle on the same card, it’s hard to do so.

Still, this should be a real war, which I realize is a cliché and all, but still holds true. Guillard is always more than happy to face an opponent who wants to keep the bout standing, and Stephens has shown jaw-rocking power in his UFC career thus far.

Further helping to keep the fight standing will be Guillard’s ever-improving takedown defense, which should be enough to fend off anything but the best possible efforts Stephens can bring. Looking at this as a stand-up fight, but have outstanding power, though I love the variety of strikes and combinations better coming from Guillard. Also, when you have a close fight, as we certainly do here, it never hurts to favor experience, as well as whichever guy is coached by Greg Jackson.

Prediction: Guillard by KO/TKO

Sean Sherk vs. Evan Dunham

Wait a minute, who’s this “Sherk” guy? Oh, that’s right, he was last seen a year and three months ago losing to Frankie Edgar. Since then, he has been forced to pull out of every fight he’s signed on for due to injuries, and now he has to come back and face possibly the hottest fighter in the division outside of Edgar himself.

Dunham has been on an absolute tear, submitting Efrain Escudero and beating fellow Xtreme Couture fighter Tyson Griffin by decision this year already. So, in a case like this, it is hard not to err on the side of caution, as there is just too much that has to happen for Sherk to win.

First of all, he has to be fully healthy. Second, he has to be sharp and quick after a 15-month layoff and at 37 years old. Third, he has to be willing to “dance with who brought him” and go back to his wrestling, rather than boxing for round after round like he did against Edgar and BJ Penn. That’s a lot to expect to go right.

If he does stand with Dunham, I favor the younger fighter. He uses his range well with jabs and straight punches, and Sherk always has a reach disadvantage. Sherk’s boxing is good, but will he get close enough to use it effectively? And even if he does try to take down Dunham, Dunham is a capable wrestler who is hard to hold down. I’ll give a slight edge to Dunham here, though Sherk could certainly prove me wrong.

Prediction: Dunham by decision

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra

This is one of those rematches that promises to look nothing at all like the original fight. When these two first fought, it was an exercise in caution as neither fighter wanted to make a big mistake and Serra won a razor-thin decision. To hear Chris Lytle tell it, each man fought not to lose, rather than to actually put the other away.

That fight actually changed Lytle’s outlook on fighting, as he wisely has abandoned all hope of winning via decision. It’s a good choice, since he has lost 15 of his career 20 fights that have gone to the judges. It’s also a good decision because Lytle is one of the hardest fighters to knock out or submit in the entire sport. In 51 career fights, he’s never been knocked out, submitted or had a referee stop one of his fights. His two TKO losses were due to cuts/doctor stoppages.

Serra is similarly tough, as only two of his losses have come by being finished: once by Shonie Carter’s infamous spinning backfist way back at UFC 31, and another time in his rematch with Georges St. Pierre. Suffice to say that this fight has a good shot of going to the judges.

It makes a lot of sense to pick Serra here. If the fight hits the mat, he is more than able to stay out of trouble, and can attack Lytle from many positions, too. He has power, as does Lytle, but has a tighter, more practical approach to striking that may help him get the better of exchanges. Having said that, I’m going to do the sensible thing and go with Lytle. What the hell…why not take it all the way and predict a finish?

Prediction: Lytle by KO/TKO

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader

I’m actually really excited for this fight. I have thought for a while now that Bader is a better light heavyweight prospect than Jon Jones, and that he’s actually a better fighter right now as well. This fight, for me anyway, could put Bader in the top ten of the weight class.

Nogueira is a legitimate top ten light heavyweight who did not look good at all in his last fight against Jason Brilz. He simply looked a bit lethargic for some reason, although he looked great in his previous UFC appearance over Luis Cane. Sometimes he just appears to be unfocused, which could lead to him giving up a round or two against a hard-working fighter like Bader.

Bader will decide where the fight takes place, and though Nogueira has said he has the advantage standing up, I prefer Bader’s power over Nogueira’s advantage in technique and variety of strikes. I think Bader will be smart enough to make any necessary in-fight adjustments. I also see Bader taking the fight down if he gets in trouble or thinks he needs a little help to win a round, and though Nogueira is dangerous off of his back, I think that Bader can stay out of trouble.

Prediction: Bader by decision

Frank Mir vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

Yes, UFC fans…that thing above after “Cro Cop” is Mirko’s last name. I’m not sure when the UFC decided to forego last names in favor of nicknames when it comes to certain fighters, by the way.

Anyway, this fight may seem an easy one to predict, but are there two heavyweights in the UFC today that have a wider range of possible performance levels than these two? At times, Mir has looked like the best heavyweight in the world- nearly as large as Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, but faster, with cleaner stand-up technique and a superb ground game. Then, there were performances where Mir looked all too willing to accept punishment and simply didn’t look like himself…like, say, his fights against Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin. As far as Cro Cop goes, well, we all know how unpredictable he is.

I have no doubts that Mir believes he can stand and strike with Cro Cop. Mir has put a lot of efforts into his stand-up over the last few years, and he believes in his technique. He knows what Cro Cop’s weapons are, and he has devised plans to allow him to strike with Cro Cop without putting himself in jeopardy. He thinks he can outmaneuver Cro Cop to land his own strikes without eating a big left hand or a huge kick from the Croatian star, and it’s hard to disagree with him.

The variety of Cro Cop’s strikes is not so good anymore, as he tends to throw his strikes one or two at a time, and doesn’t set up his high kicks well enough to land them with regularity. However, Mir’s cockiness has gotten him into trouble before, such as when he didn’t seem worried about the shots Carwin was landing against the cage until it was too late to do anything about it. He says he wants to come right at Cro Cop, and we’ll see whether or not Cro Cop will react aggressively, or be chased out of the pocket.

The ground game is a different matter, and Cro Cop’s takedown defense should hold up pretty well against Mir. Of course, Mir won’t simply shoot without setting it up, and Cro Cop may even initiate the grappling if he needs to. Cro Cop’s submission defense is better than people think. It’s not as if Josh Barnett submitted him, right? Still, he doesn’t want to spend too much time on the mat, and he definitely doesn’t want to be underneath Mir.

Yet another x-factor would be Mir’s conditioning. If it gets to the third round, I have to favor Cro Cop, unless he’s already taken a lot of damage already. Then you have Cro Cop’s seeming lack of confidence that has shown in his pre-fight comments, and his possible eye injury that he has decided to fight through. With all this to consider, how do you people expect me to make an accurate prediction? Ah, screw it. I’ll take a Mir submission, but not until he’s already softened up Cro Cop.

Prediction: Mir by submission

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Here’s the promo trailer for the UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop event which will be held on September 25, 2010 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN.

Main card:

Frank Mir vs Mirko Cro Cop
Lil Nog vs Ryan Bader
Matt Serra vs Chris Lytle
Sean Shrek vs Evan Dunham
Melvin Guillard vs Jeremy Stephans

UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop Tickets

Scott Coker Says “Psssssssh” to Fedor-Werdum 2

Scott Coker is growing on me. Part of this is because he doesn’t engage in public flame wars with fans (or YouTube tirades directed at journalists), and part is because he’s finally sticking up for himself a little bit. In the past, Coker has turned the other cheek when UFC president Dana White has tried to bait him into a war of words, and has had to tiptoe around the “crazy Russians” themselves that make up Fedor Emelianenko’s management team.

Then, something happened. Fabricio Werdum tapped Fedor in sixty-nine seconds. Suddenly, Coker was a new man. He stopped paying for late pizza deliveries, went to White’s house just to knock on the door and then flip him off, and told Fedor’s management team that the immediate rematch with Werdum that they wanted wasn’t gonna happen.

Well, he did one of those things, anyway.

Taking the words right out of my mouth, Coker was reported by Sherdog.com as having said, “To me, it’s only been a month. We saw the Werdum fight already.” He went on to list Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva or Sergei Kharitonov as possible opponents for Fedor’s last fight on his current contract. When asked what he would do if Fedor’s notoriously-stubborn management team tried to play hardball, Coker was uncharacteristically assertive, saying, “I just don’t think they’ll have a choice.”

This is a great move for Strikeforce. If I was them, I wouldn’t put him in there with Overeem either…that is, unless it was a title match and Fedor was locked up in the event that he won the title. That way, if Fedor fights Silva or Kharitonov, then splits to fight somewhere else, Strikeforce still has an untarnished champion and Werdum, who already beat Fedor. There’s no reason for Strikeforce to let Fedor avenge his loss to Werdum or beat their champion in a non-title match if he’s just going to bolt when his contract’s up, anyway.

Rampage Likely to Face Machida Next

According to MMAWeekly.com, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s next fight will be no easy test, as he will face former light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Though there is no reported date for the bout, it would obviously take place in the fall, with most believing that November’s event in Germany would be the most likely choice. For his part, Rampage just about confirmed the rumor on his Twitter, saying that he was going to be fighting someone whose name he couldn’t spell. That doesn’t exactly limit the possible options, but let’s just go ahead and believe the Machida rumor for now.

I don’t think this is a particularly good matchup for Rampage, though Machida having been knocked out by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua adds a certain amount of intrigue, since Rampage has heavy hands and all. Still, it would be a great fight to see, and would help to shorten the line for a title shot in 2011.

Mir-Nogueira 2 Tops List of Upcoming UFC Fights

UFC 119 is looking to be awesome. UFC 120? Not so much. The UFC officially announced a rematch between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, which will headline UFC 119 on September 25th. Meanwhile, Nogueira’s brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, will take on Ryan Bader in what should be an outstanding fight, as well. Finally, Chris Lytle will get to avenge the controversial decision loss to Matt Serra that kept him from getting a title shot at Georges St. Pierre when those two hook it up again that night.

UFC 120, however, is looking Ultimate Fight Night-tastic. Michael Bisping will headline the London-based event on October 16th against Yoshihiro Akiyama, who has not been as impressive as fans would have hoped in his first two UFC bouts. Meanwhile, Dan Hardy will make his first appearance since getting dominated by St. Pierre as he takes on Carlos Condit in what should be a good fight, if also one that isn’t really worthy of being the co-main event on a UFC card. John Hathaway vs. Mike Pyle is the only other offically announced fight on the card, though Cheick Kongo and Spencer Fisher are among the high-profile fighters rumored to be taking part in other fights that night. Hey, it’s going to be on Spike TV though, so I shouldn’t complain! In fact, just go ahead and forget that I did.

Finally, UFC 121 will take place just one week after UFC 120, and the card finally has another officially announced fight to join the title bout between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. In the newly-announced bout, Paulo Thiago will fight Diego Sanchez in another fight to help sort out the middle of the ultra-competitive welterweight division.

Quick Shots

–Randy Couture is fighting James Toney in the surefire winner of 2010′s “WTF Award for Head-Scratching Matchmaking” in just over a month, but that hasn’t kept him from commenting on some other fights that interest him in the light heavyweight division. The UFC Hall of Famer told SBNation.com that he would love to fight both Anderson Silva (at 205 lbs., of course) and Lyoto Machida. Shortly after, I told no one in particular that I would be interested in watching either one of those hypothetical fights, as well.

–Josh Koscheck may have pulled a no-no, announcing on his Twitter that his fight with Georges St. Pierre will take place on December 11th. Actually, he said that he will become the welterweight champion on that particular day, but I reserve the right to edit comments for excessive craziness. Actually, forget that. I haven’t been editing any of Chael Sonnen’s pre-fight smack talk, after all.

–In WEC news, Jamie Varner confirmed on his official website that he will be facing Donald Cerrone for the second time at WEC 51, which will be going down on September 30th. This will be a rematch of their controversial 2009 bout, where Varner took an illegal knee to the head in the fifth round, which took the fight to the scorecards early and earned Varner a split decision win.

–If you’re not into any of the above fights, perhaps Houston Alexander vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou is more your speed? That barn-burner will take place at Shark Fights 13 (no, I haven’t heard of it, either), which takes place on September 11th. And…are you ready for this? It’s not even the main event! THAT designation rests with the highly-anticipated bout between recent UFC castoff Keith Jardine and Trevor Prangley. Prangley is apparently the Shark Fights champion, but won’t be putting his strap on the line against Jardine. Booooooooooooooo!!!

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Silva “Disrespected”, Responds By…Running?

After the fights ended, I told my fellow viewers that the post-fight press conference may even be better than the fights themselves were. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that everyone wanted to not only hear what kind of justification Anderson Silva would come up with for his performance (beyond the lame apology he gave post-fight), but also wanted to witness what promised to be a memorable statement from Dana White, who left his seat and went backstage mid-fight for the first time in UFC history during a title fight.

While White certainly didn’t disappoint, Silva simply confused everyone a little bit more with his rationale for his actions, even distancing himself from his spur-of-the-moment post-fight apology in the process. There were no apologies whatsoever at the press conference, where Silva explained that he had felt disrespected by Maia in the lead-up to the fight, and as a result decided to fight the way that he did.

When a member of the press pointed out that if Silva wanted to punish him, it made no sense to repeatedly run from Maia in the later rounds of the fight, Silva’s reply did little to help anyone understand his thinking. His manager, Ed Soares, translated Silva’s response as, “My goal in the fight was to finish the fight if I had the opportunity to, but my main goal was to make my opponent feel vulnerable at anything that I did.” He continued to say that he didn’t feel that he had the right opportunities to finish. Yet, I remember quite clearly seeing Demian Maia come forward at Silva almost desperately in the final rounds, swinging rather wildly, even resorting to punching from his knees at one point. Does Anderson Silva really expect us to believe that he could not exploit such a situation, if he had really wanted to?

As I was watching the fights on Saturday, I likened Silva to an underachieving student who occasionally shows what he or she is truly capable of. If you’re the parent of this student, who regularly turns in “C” grades, and all of a sudden your child decides to study for one particular test in a very difficult class and aces it with no problems, you have a lot of questions for that child all of a sudden. “If you could ace calculus, what in the world happened in your history class? And what’s with the C you got in algebra last year?” you’d wonder. With Silva, we’ve seen him “turn it on” against fighters with far superior standup skills than Maia’s.

Silva’s telling us that he can utterly destroy Forrest Griffin as Griffin aggressively attacks him, but he couldn’t capitalize on a wildly-swinging Demian Maia, who already had his left eye swollen shut? Not only that, but he’s telling us that after he just dominated the guy and almost put him away a couple of rounds earlier, when Maia was fresh and fighting much more conservatively.

Quite frankly, it’s insulting to the fans, the media, the fighters he’s faced, and the UFC. Even more annoying than Silva’s elusiveness late in the fight was that he continues to be just as elusive after his fights, refusing to take any real responsibility for his performances. He wants us to believe that he simply couldn’t finish his opponent, as if our own eyes didn’t just witness that he wasn’t even trying to do so. There is a lot more that I could say on this, but I’ll leave it for another time.

Maia Impresses in Defeat

If there’s one good side effect to the Silva-Maia debacle, it’s that Demian Maia has earned the respect of just about everyone who watched UFC 112. He could have easily fought like Thales Leites did, continuing to fight conservatively and resorting to butt-scooting around in an attempt to get Silva to jump in his guard. Instead, he did what surprisingly few fighters do when they realize that they can’t win a decision- he went for broke. How many times do fighters obviously drop the first two rounds (or three rounds, in a championship fight) of a contest and refuse to adjust their strategy anyway, which essentially means that they’re accepting their loss?

Maia did just the opposite, pursuing Silva all over the cage over the last two rounds of the fight, and even swinging like a madman at the world’s most dangerous striker in the hopes of winning the fight. He did so knowing full well that Silva could devastate him with a counter strike in an instant. I wasn’t disappointed with Maia at all. Nobody was under the impression that he was going to be able to stand up with Silva with any success, so the first couple of rounds don’t hurt my perception of him. In the loss, he showed heart and determination, and the rest will come with time.

Edgar Deserves Credit, As Does Penn

Outweighed by the ridiculousness of the judge’s scorecards (Doug Crosby, anyone?) was the fact that Frankie Edgar fought a very good fight against BJ Penn, who stubbornly refused to change his gameplan, even in the late rounds of a very close fight. Edgar’s cardio is obviously unbelievable, as the guy looked every bit as fresh in the 25th minute as he did in the first seconds of the fight. Furthermore, Edgar is, by all accounts, a nice, hard-working guy who will represent the lightweight division in a way the UFC can be proud of.

For his part, Penn responded in a very sportsmanlike fashion to a result that he would be well within his rights to criticize. While I wouldn’t argue that the fight could have gone either way, Penn still has a legitimate bone to pick with the judges after scorecards of 50-45 and 49-46 were turned in, along with a more sensible verdict of 48-47. However, as of the writing of this column, Penn has not commented on the decision and has instead congratulated Edgar both in the cage after the fight and on his website. Props to Penn for being a good sport, and to Edgar for stepping in with the world’s best lightweight and fighting with skill and bravery. The lightweight division will be very interesting for the rest of 2010.

What’s Next for Hughes and Gracie?

Matt Hughes is kind of a difficult guy to figure out. He avoided the challenges of the trio of American Kickboxing Academy welterweights (Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick), stating that he wanted to fight bigger names at this point in his career. However, he also stated that he wouldn’t mind rematching Thiago Alves and Georges St. Pierre, as he felt that he could win this match-ups, if given the chance. Of course, he apparently does not want to fight more than once a year, and taking a fight with Renzo Gracie is not a move that will put him in title contention.

I’m going to have to assume that Hughes has no real interest in working his way back to the top of the division, leaving him to just pick and choose occasional fights for the balance of his career. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a rematch with Matt Serra in the future, especially since Serra wants that fight and is coming off a nice knockout against Frank Trigg.

With Gracie, the future is even less clear. He says he isn’t done fighting, but will the UFC have him back? If they do, I think it will be the next time that they come to Abu Dhabi, and it will be against someone who will readily engage him on the mat. Perhaps the UFC would even sign someone from outside of the organization to take on such a fight? In any case, don’t expect to see Gracie back in a fight against a top ten welterweight or a young fighter who hasn’t built up a name for himself…either fight just wouldn’t make sense for any of the parties involved.

Quick Shots

–Many have compared Phil Davis to Jon Jones, if for no other reason than that they are the two best light heavyweight prospects in the UFC. Count me among those that feel Davis has more long-term upside than Jones, even if Jones is more well-rounded at this moment. I’ve seen a lot of interviews with Davis, and I’m really impressed with his attitude, as well. That would hold true with Jones, too. The UFC’s money division is in good hands for many years to come.

–I also clearly underestimated Mark Munoz, who has plenty of heart and has definitely worked hard to improve his game in the last year or two. He showed flaws against Grove, of course, but he also showed the rare quality of being able to turn a losing effort into a win by keeping his composure and continuing to fight to his strengths, even when things aren’t going well.

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Is there anyone who has not considered the possibility, though?  Doubtful.  That is because of these fights, and many others, which taught us hard lessons about playing favorites too aggressively.  Presented in no particular order, here are ten MMA upsets to remember.  This is a list Hardy would fit very well into, should he manage to do the (almost) unthinkable.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic

This one is like many upsets in that it doesn’t seem so surprising at all now.  However, it is always important to remember fights in their original context, and this is a shining example of that.  Nowadays, Gonzaga is a borderline top ten heavyweight who hasn’t been able to get back to the upper level of the division, but is a feared striker and grappler.  Meanwhile, Cro Cop is definitely not his old self, and often looks tentative or apprehensive when he competes.

Think about where things stood when this fight happened, though.  Cro Cop had just one fight in the UFC (a dominating win over a very scared Eddie Sanchez), and was still considered by most to be the second-best heavyweight in the world.  Meanwhile, Gonzaga had shown promise, but had only beaten fighters like Kevin Jordan and Fabiano Scherner.  The method of the upset is always a big key to how memorable it is, as well.  For Gonzaga to knock out the most feared striker in the world with his own signature attack- a kick to the head- was unthinkable.

Ray Mercer vs. Tim Sylvia

It pains me to even include this, but I feel like it is pertinent to Saturday’s fight.  While a fighter in his first professional MMA bout beating a former world champion is unquestionably a huge upset, it is less so when considering that the newcomer is a former boxing world champion, and his victim foolishly decided to stand right in front of him.

Sylvia was knocked out in seconds, which he undoubtedly regrets to this day.  In Saturday’s fight, GSP faces a similar (yet much different) situation.  If he chooses to stand up with Hardy and make it a kickboxing match, the odds will level out quite a bit, though I believe that GSP is a better striker than Hardy overall.  The point here is that upsets often happen in MMA when a fighter foolishly neglects to fight toward his or her strengths, and towards an opponent’s weaknesses.

Marcus Aurelio vs. Takanori Gomi

Aurelio wasn’t a complete unknown, having competed twice in Pride’s Bushido series in order to get the opportunity to fight Gomi.  However, even with a 13-2 record at the time, he had never fought anyone near on the level of the man who many considered to be the best lightweight in the world at the time.

Aurelio not only beat Gomi, but he submitted him in the first round of their bout, shocking all of Japan in the process.  To underscore the craziness of that result, Gomi is still considered a high-level lightweight, while Aurelio lost both of his other fights in Pride (one by split decision against Gomi in a rematch), and only went 2-4 in the UFC.

Joe Lauzon vs. Jens Pulver

Yet again, we have another result that does not seem so unpredictable now, but was almost unfathomable at the time.  Pulver was returning to the UFC after a four and a half year absence, having gone 7-2 (only losing to “Mach” Sakurai and Takanori Gomi) in the three years prior to this fight.  Lauzon was a good prospect at 13-3, but was certainly not known for his striking prowess, while Pulver was considered one of the division’s most powerful strikers (and had even boxed professionally on ESPN at one point).

All the pieces were in place, and Lauzon made his name off of a tremendous knockout of Pulver just 48 seconds into the bout.  Lauzon has been successful since, though not able to replicate that level of performance regularly, while Pulver may be retiring after a string of losses at 145 pounds in the WEC.

BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes

If you are a relatively new fan to the sport, this may not make much sense.  In 2004, though, Penn was a huge underdog to Hughes prior to their first match-up.  Hughes was still the unbeatable welterweight champion, and Penn, while definitely being the top lightweight in the world, was making a big jump to face a guy that would probably weight in at about 185 pounds at fight time.  Back then, it was unheard of for a fighter to jump up in weight class like that, especially a lightweight.

Penn proved everyone wrong by submitting Hughes by rear naked choke just inside of one round, memorably leaving Hughes in disbelief afterward.  To show how difficult this accomplishment was, Penn has been 0-3 in the welterweight division since.

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Ricardo Arona

You can’t have one of these fights without having both of them.  First, in a fight that I’m still surprised was even sanctioned by the NSAC, the 2-1 Sokoudjou brought his imposing build and judo background into the ring to face perennial top 10 light heavyweight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.  While Nogueira was just two fights removed from a decision loss to Shogun Rua, he was still among the best in the world, and no one predicted a devastating 23-second knockout by the unknown Team Quest product.

Not even two months later, Pride officials seemed to give Sokoudjou an even tougher test in the form of Ricardo Arona, who had only lost to the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Wanderlei Silva and Shogun Rua in his career thus far.  Sokoudjou added his name to that prestigious list with another brilliant knockout, this time just inside of two minutes.  Nothing that has happened since in Sokoudjou’s career (he is currently 7-6) has helped us understand those two upsets.

Joe Warren vs. Kid Yamamoto

Yamamoto was the number one featherweight in the world, sporting a 17-1 record with his only loss having been because of a cut sustained against Stephen Palling.  Warren, a former Greco-Roman wrestling standout, had just one career fight, a win by TKO over Chase Beebe.  However, Kid was no slouch as a wrestler himself, having just returned from a year and a half break from the sport where he had hoped to represent Japan in freestyle wrestling at the 2008 Olympics (an injury kept him from doing so).

In a split-decision win, Warren not only out-wrestled Yamamoto, but also showed his striking ability, landing knees from the clinch that helped sway the judges in his favor.  Even with his wrestling background, for Warren to face one of the world’s best pound-for-pound fighters after just one pro fight and win was an amazing feat.

Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell

To really understand why this was such an upset, you have to consider not only the odds at the time, but also how Couture managed to beat Liddell.  First of all, Couture was indeed a former heavyweight champion, but at almost 40 years old, many had already given up on the UFC legend.  In fact, he was just a substitute for Tito Ortiz, who was reluctant to defend his light heavyweight title against Liddell, who had been absolutely demolishing the division en route to this fight.  Couture saw an opportunity to cut a bit of weight, fight in a more natural weight class, and extend his career.

What nobody saw coming is Couture outstriking Liddell for the balance of the fight, as he used crisp, straight punches and good boxing fundamentals to stay inside of Liddell’s powerful, looping shots.  After frustrating Liddell and wearing him out for two rounds with solid striking and occasional takedowns (which Liddell quickly stood up from each time), Couture put Liddell on his back and was able to overwhelm him with strikes for the win.  Nowadays, we’re used to Couture overcoming the odds, but at the time, fans of the sport were definitely taken aback by Couture’s performance.

Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Rua came to the UFC with a 16-2 record and a dominating win over the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, Rampage Jackson.  He was widely expected to take the belt within a few fights by those who followed the sport closely, who labeled him as the top fighter in the weight class.  Meanwhile, Griffin had shown a little promise, but had never beaten anyone who was even close being a top ten light heavyweight.

From the get-go, Rua did not look to be quite himself.  At the time, many assumed that he was simply not in great shape (and he probably wasn’t), but what fans didn’t recognize is that Griffin never realized that he was supposed to lose.  Griffin stayed competitive with Rua the whole way, making sure to avoid the mistakes that most had made against the explosive fighter.  Then, fifteen seconds from what was sure to be a unanimous decision victory, Griffin submitted an exhausted Rua to complete the upset.  Since then, Griffin has proven to be a top ten fighter, while Rua has redeemed himself with what many thought should have been a decision win against Lyoto Machida last October.

Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre

This is the granddaddy of them all, at least as far as Dan Hardy is concerned.  Hardy is quite openly trying to emulate this performance tomorrow, which I will discuss a bit more in my preview of the fights later today.  Serra, like Hardy, was a massive underdog to the seemingly unbeatable St. Pierre.  In fact, Serra had not even been a UFC fighter previous to “The Ultimate Fighter 4″, which not only gave Serra the chance to come back, but also to earn a title shot by winning the show.

What many don’t recall is that this fight very nearly never happened, as Serra only defeated Chris Lytle by split decision in the finals of the show, in a fight many believe Lytle should have won.  Fans criticized this bout beforehand, wondering aloud how someone who had barely beaten Lytle would be expected to take out the world’s best welterweight.  Of course, we all know now that St. Pierre had apparently been thinking the same thoughts, as a poor training camp and even poorer game plan led him to foolishly stand in front of the heavy-handed Serra, who rocked St. Pierre with a big right hand.  Even then, Serra had to chase St. Pierre around the cage, peppering him with shot after shot before finally sealing the biggest upset in a title fight in MMA history.

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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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Matt Serra talks about his victory over Frank Trigg and the impending opening of his new gym on Long Island.

Former UFC welterweight titleholder Matt Serra talks about his UFC 109 bout with Frank Trigg.

The main event, of course, features Mark Coleman, who at 45 years of age will continue his career resurgence inside the UFC’s octagon. He’ll face Randy Couture, the 46-year old fighter who has become the epitome of an athlete competing at a high level well past his supposed “expiration date”. The fight is unique in that, despite its billing as the first-ever bout between two UFC Hall of Famers, it is not simply a nostalgia fight or an attempt to put two big names together. These guys, particularly Couture, can still compete and are very much in the thick of perhaps the most competitive division in all of MMA.

Couture has proven himself time and time again, as now it’s safe to say that the majority of his biggest accomplishments have taken place after he turned 40 years old. Meanwhile, Coleman hasn’t set the world on fire in recent years, but did pull out a suffocating decision win against Stephan Bonnar, who is no slouch himself. He also took everything Mauricio “Shogun” Rua could dish out for almost a full 15 minutes, which looks considerably more impressive now that Rua, in the eyes of many, should be the UFC’s light heavyweight champion.

Meanwhile, the fight between 35-year old Matt Serra and 37-year old Frank Trigg carries a little more urgency for both competitors. Both seem to believe that this is the UFC’s equivalent to what is known in the professional wrestling world as a “loser leaves town” match. Though both have only lost recently to fighters that are either legends in the division, top competitors or both, the UFC is never shy about cutting fighters who are deemed to have their best days behind them.

Of course, the UFC also brought back Coleman and Trigg when neither seemed to have really done anything to warrant the sudden interest, too…so who knows?

Still, the presence of these four on the “Relentless” card Saturday night solidifies an important truth about mixed martial arts: savvy and experience really can level the playing field against youth and athleticism.

To me, the idea that someone like Randy Couture could compete at such a high level against competitors nearly half his age should really be a big selling point of the sport in general and the UFC in particular. First of all, Randy’s success (and his tactics) provide indisputable proof that the sport is not about brute strength, how stereotypically “tough” you are, or how mean you look. Since the majority of those who will watch the UFC at home or in a sports bar somewhere lack brute strength, extreme toughness or a Wanderlei Silva-staredown, this should attract people to find out what this sport’s all about, right? After all, Couture shows people the same thing that Royce Gracie showed them almost 20 years ago: that fighting is not what most people think it is.

Furthermore, what better of a message can a sport have than that you can succeed with hard work, effort and a smart strategy? Again, most of us who comprise the fanbase of mixed martial arts are not world-class athletes. Many are north of 40 years old, like Couture. We can identify with fighters like him (and, for the younger crowd, Forrest Griffin), who have obtained nearly all of their success through hard work.

Finally, Couture and company provide a ready-made counter to common criticisms of the sport- such as that it is merely two muscleheads duking it out, or that it is like a “sanctioned street fight”. When athletes such as these can remain competitive against younger, faster and stronger fighters, it proves that there is much more to the sport than meets the eye.

In closing, though I made an age joke to kick off this column, this event is as good a time as any to be in awe of the select few fighters who have the dedication and ability to compete at a world-class level in such a demanding sport. Who cares if there are any titles on the line? UFC 109 will be great viewing for other reasons.

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