Blood On The Mat 07.16.09: The 100th UFC 100 Column

Posted by  on 07.16.2009

There are still some questions left after UFC 100, and 411’s Adam Tool intends to answer them. Can anyone take the belt away from Brock? Has GSP cleaned out his division? Is Henderson the new middleweight gatekeeper? All this, plus a look at the six fights you didn’t see and some of the best pictures from the event!

Welcome to the latest edition of Blood On The Mat. I'm Adam Tool and as always I want to thank you for reading, especially if you've been coming back each and every week. This week marks one month in my new life as a columnist here at 411mania, and since transitioning from my news report I've grown quite comfortable in this role. While I've enjoyed rating fighters, making lists, and handing out awards, this week I thought I'd go for some (*GASP*) actual mixed-martial arts commentary.



UFC 100 has come and gone, and while it may not have been ZOMG TEH BIGGEST SHOW EVAH!!11, it was an entertaining event with plenty of good action. Dan Henderson got to shut Michael Bisping up, Jon Fitch gained a measure of revenge for his teammate Josh Koscheck, and Yoshihiro Akiyama made a successful debut in the UFC. Most importantly, the two men who entered the arena as champions also managed to leave with their reigns intact.


We‘ve got belts, and we‘ve got arms. Cheer us!

While the event can certainly be considered a success, as with most fight cards we're now left with new questions that need to be answered. I'll be addressing some of these questions for you now, and then I'll be taking a closer look at the UFC 100 you didn't see.

Let's do this.

Can anyone take the heavyweight belt away from Brock Lesnar?


And tell Mazzagatti he‘s next!

To be honest, I'm not really sure. As a novice to the sport, Lesnar has already achieved so much in a short amount of time. One nice thing about having him rematch with Mir was that we were able to see how much he's progressed as a mixed-martial artist in the last 17 months. He's obviously got big power and dominant wrestling, but there's still a lot left for him to prove.

At this point we can assume that one of these three men will be next for Lesnar: Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Velasquez and Carwin will meet at UFC 104, with the winner of that fight presumably getting the next title shot. However we can't forget about "Minotauro," who could jump right back into contendership if he can beat Randy Couture next month.

Carwin potentially poses the biggest threat. As a former wrestler himself Carwin will be much tougher to take down, and unlike Couture, Lesnar won't have a huge size advantage in this match-up. On top of that you cannot underestimate the power Carwin has, as he's used it to end each and every one of his fights in the first round. Lesnar may have a fire hydrant for a head, but that doesn't mean he can't ever be knocked out.


Not pictured: Frank Mir‘s broken spirit

Velasquez also presents a challenge, as his wrestling credentials are just as impressive as the UFC Heavyweight Champion. His striking improves every time we see him, but I don't know if he's got the power or ability to put a dent in Lesnar. Not that I wouldn't like to see him try, especially if he's got an answer for Carwin's power come October.

Lastly there's the former interim champ, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He presents a unique set of problems for Lesnar because of his ability to absorb a lot of damage while still presenting a threat at every moment of the fight. Lesnar didn't have to defend many submissions this past Saturday, but he'd undoubtedly have his work cut out for him if he should ever have to face Nogueira.

In all honesty though, I think there's only one guy out there that can beat Lesnar right now. He may not be a member of the UFC yet, but I for am holding out hope that he'll make his octagon debut soon so he can provide Lesnar with a true test.

Yes, of course I'm talking about James Thompson.


You probably don‘t even remember who I am

As for that other thing stemming from Lesnar's victory, I don't really feel I have much more to add to the discussion that's raged all over the place since Saturday. To me, it seems that Lesnar got caught up in the heat of the moment, made a mistake, and did his best to make nice. So…



Has Georges St. Pierre cleaned out the welterweight division?


In retrospect, this was a poor choice for Thiago Alves' new Facebook profile pic

First off, I'll just say that I was a little surprised with the number of people picking Alves to win. Thiago did go on a tear last year beating Parisyan, Hughes, and Koscheck, but it's not like GSP doesn't have dominant wins over all three of those guys as well. I think some people might've put too much stock in Matt Serra's upset win two years ago, and I saw a few speculators claiming that the champion's chin was suspect. Nevermind the fact that he had never been finished with strikes before that, or since then. As far as some people were concerned Alves had the necessary power to KO St. Pierre and win the belt.

The fact is this: nobody knows how hard Thiago Alves hits except the guys that are getting hit by him. St. Pierre is one of the most intelligent fighters in the game, so he's able to quickly adapt to any situation and determine whether or not he should stand and trade with someone. On top of that, GSP has a vast arsenal of skills at his disposal that enable him to impose his will like no other. He knew the way to beat Alves was to take him down and punish him, and despite Alves' tremendous size he was put on the mat whenever St. Pierre wanted to do so.


Here we see GSP performing his impression of a sperm impregnating an egg

Back to my original question, is the welterweight division effectively cleaned out? It depends on your definition of that term. If we're talking about potential contenders for the belt, then yes, St. Pierre has wiped the UFC out and now things are certainly up in the air. According to Joe Rogan on commentary, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva said that the winner of Mike Swick/Martin Kampmann will be next (a fact that was later verified by Daddy Dana). No disrespect to both of those guys, but would you give either of them a chance against arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world?

Essentially the welterweight division now enters the problematic position that the middleweight division was in for awhile. Once the champion has beaten all the credible challengers, the UFC has to start quickly building up guys that aren't ready to compete at the top levels of the sport. Does St. Pierre vs. Swick sound like a more compelling main event than Silva vs. Cote? I don't think so.

Fortunately for the UFC, their welterweight division is thick with talented young guys that are eager to break through to the upper echelons of the weight class. Guys like Dan Hardy, Dustin Hazelett, Carlos Condit, Anthony Johnson, and Brock Larson could very well be title contenders within a few years. In the meantime the UFC needs to work on bringing in somebody like Jake Shields or Nick Diaz if they want to provide compelling match-ups for St. Pierre in the immediate future, otherwise we may see that St. Pierre/Silva super fight sooner than later.

Do I want to see two of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world collide?


Hell to the yeah

Can Dan Henderson be anything more than a middleweight gatekeeper?


If you‘re looking for the punchline, he‘s on the right

Quick side note, but isn't that Rampage in the lower left corner of that picture? When your own teammate yells out "DAMN!" then you know it's a bad night in the octagon.

It's weird. It's almost as if by beating Rich Franklin earlier this year, Henderson has now become him. That is to say he's now almost undoubtedly, and absolutely, the second best guy in his weight division. Not that I didn't expect him to beat Bisping, but the possibility now of a second fight with Anderson Silva has me wondering how far Hendo can go.

Is there any reason to think that he can win the rematch? That right hand has certainly ended several fighter's nights, but Silva can still be the most elusive guy (not named Machida) in the octagon whenever he fights. I wouldn't be surprised to see Henderson last a bit longer in a second bout with "The Spider," but I still wouldn't pick him to win.


Stick this in your tea and drink it!

That being said, I'd give him good odds against anyone else at 185. I'd like to see him face the winner of next month's Nate Marquardt/Demian Maia showdown, just so we can firmly establish one guy as the top contender (much as Kenny Florian and Thiago Alves did last year). A Henderson/Marquardt match-up would be highly entertaining, and it'd also be interesting to see if Hendo could handle Maia's world-class Brazilian jiu-jitsu (as Maia should pose a sterner test than Rousimar Palhares).

Oh yeah, and that was the Knockout of the Year.

Did Akiyama steal the decision?

No.

Are you sure you don't want to elaborate on that?

Fine.

While watching the end of the fight I felt Akiyama was the victor, but Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan seemed to be firmly latching on to the idea that Belcher would take the decision. I'd be willing to call it a close fight, but not so close as to where I'd be satisfied with Belcher getting the ‘W.'

You Alan Belcher fans (both of you) may be pointing to how both fighters looked afterwards, as Akiyama was pretty jacked up while Belcher appeared much fresher. To that I would point out that Akiyama suffered one nasty nut shot in the first round, and he had his orbital bone broken later on. As for who did the most damage, well…the numbers don't lie.


This one‘s for Akihito!

Akiyama won the first round, no question. He scored more significant strikes and he took Belcher down, maintaining control for a majority of the round. The second round could be debated, as Akiyama had control for the first three minutes before Belcher started to open up and land some nice shots on the feet. I'd give it to Akiyama, but I could see it being scored either way.

The third round is what seems to be getting the most focus, and there's at least one good reason why. Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg's commentary switched to full-on Belchermania during the final frame. They kept talking about Belcher's leg kicks while ignoring the solid combinations being delivered by Akiyama. Belcher tagged him with a Superman punch and Rogan nearly peed his pants. Meanwhile Belcher was the one that got dropped, and overall I thought Akiyama did enough to warrant the score going in his favor.

As the Fight Metric numbers show, Akiyama landed a greater percentage of strikes and he scored on all three takedown attempts. It wasn't the best performance from "Sexyama," as going to the decision for the first time in his career opened up the flaw in his cardio. Hopefully he'll look even better next time, especially now that he's got those octagon-jitters out of the way.

Doesn't anybody care about Jon Fitch?


Thiago picked a bad time to demonstrate his levitating man trick

If I'm being perfectly honest, by the time the main event ended I was pretty wiped out. I wasn't all that excited about this fight during the lead-up to UFC 100, so my interest level was pretty low when this one got underway.

It wasn't necessarily a boring fight, as both fighters worked hard for the full fifteen minutes. Fitch did what he had to do. He knew about Thiago's KO power and therefore his strategy was and should've been to take Thiago down. Of course since Paulo is a black belt in BJJ, he worked tirelessly to secure anything he could to win the fight.

Still, even though he won it's hard to figure out where Fitch goes from here. Is he the new welterweight gatekeeper while Karo serves out his suspension? Fitch had to win eight fights in a row to get his first title shot, but he should have significantly fewer to get before he's facing St. Pierre again. Much like the aforementioned Henderson/Silva rematch, I don't see the outcome being any different in this case.

Thiago comes out ahead, even in the loss. There's no shame to losing to the #2 guy in your division, especially since you already have a knockout win over another top ten ranked fighter. He now becomes a new shark in the dangerous waters at 170, as there are all sorts of interesting match-ups to be made within that division.

The Other UFC 100

As promised, I'd now like to concentrate on the big chunk of the show we didn't get to see Saturday night on the PPV. It would've been nice for a few more fights on the main card to have ended quickly so we could have at least seen Jon Jones, but now you just have a nice reason to eventually pick up the DVD.

Once the Mark Coleman/Stephan Bonnar fight started, It took Mike Goldberg less than ten seconds to bring up Griffin vs. Bonnar I. At this point though I'm wondering how much goodwill Stephan Bonnar has left from that historic encounter. Forrest Griffin is winning titles and fighting in main events, while Bonnar gets a fifteen minute pounding from a 44-year old man before the PPV even starts.


Bonnar: "Yes, I‘ve got him right where I want him"

To be fair Bonnar was a game opponent, throwing elbows from the bottom and working for submissions. The power of Coleman, though, would not be denied. It's somewhat fitting that Coleman was fighting on this card, since the two main events featured fighters following the mold originally set by "The Hammer" all those years ago. Brock Lesnar may have some pretty good ground and pound, but Coleman was the man that first introduced it to MMA.

I didn't like Mac Danzig's chances against Jim Miller, and the results were pretty much as a figured. Danzig was game, but Miller was stronger and able to take the former "TUF" champ down and keep him there for most of the fight. At the half-way point of the first round Miller opened up a big cut on Danzig's forehead, and the resulting bloodloss covered the mat for the rest of the evening. While Miller certainly won the fight, Danzig showed his heart and nearly pulled off the win with a tight guillotine in the final seconds of the second round.


Here we see Danzig gasping in horror at the big screen image of his own bloody visage. Brought to you by Bud Light.

So what now? Does Danzig become the first "Ultimate Fighter" to be cut from the UFC? With the talent levels running rampant throughout the lightweight division it's pretty hard to get an easy fight at 155 in the UFC. At this point I just don't know if Mac has the skills to hang in the octagon, although maybe there is another solution. Instead of cutting him completely, why not transfer him to the WEC? The lightweight division there could use some star power, and a high profile guy like Danzig could help out immensely.

Is there any young fighter on the UFC roster with more potential than Jon "Bones" Jones? Wait, sorry. I forgot that the question portion of the column was over. In any case, the answer is no.


You just got boned

We didn't get to see any of those insane throws and takedowns Jones used to great effect against Stephan Bonnar, and instead Jones chose to display a nice arsenal of kicks both high and low. "Bones" did pull out another spinning back elbow, one that clipped Jake O'Brien's head and led to the finish of the fight. Jones showed off another new facet of his game, getting his first submission win in the UFC with a modified guillotine choke. Get this guy some TV time, and pronto. A star is waiting to be born.


Fine, I‘ll lead

Dong Hyun Kim has yet to live up to a lot of the hype surrounding his UFC debut, despite the fact that he's still undefeated (thanks for failing that drug test, Karo). This was one of his better performances, and he didn't get any favors from UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. TJ Grant kept busy looking for openings, but credit Kim with maintaining control on the ground and avoiding the aggressive submissions game of Grant.


Matt Grice spots his family leaving the arena just before losing consciousness

He has the most unfortunate name of any fighter I can think of, but I'll tell you right now that Shannon Gugerty is one to watch for. On the feet he uses lots of movement to create angles and pick his shots, but he's really dangerous when he gets you on the ground. Gugerty went for an arm-in guillotine against Matt Grice, and while he couldn't get it locked up he held on even as they went back to their feet. Gugerty took a split second to transition to a full guillotine and it wasn't long before Grice was out cold. Gugerty also comes off as a very nice guy, as he was handing out hugs after the fight to the in-ring physician as well as Joe Silva.


A $100,000 submission

Tom Lawlor is a quadruple threat. He got "Submission of the Night" for rendering CB Dollaway unconscious via guillotine choke. He had the best entrance, coming out to "Who Let The Dogs Out?" with Seth Petruzelli on a chain. He gave the best post-fight interview, stating that he would next be going up to heavyweight to challenge Lesnar or Mir, then down to 170 to challenge St. Pierre or Alves. And, he had the best presence at the weigh-ins:


Words fail me in the face of so much awesomeness

That's all for UFC 100. Now we rest up and prepare ourselves for the MMA assault coming our way next month. Perhaps we'll discuss that next week. Or perhaps not. Come back either way though.

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