The Sprawl 7.20.09: Volume 29 - The UFC 100 Special Edition (Part 2)

Posted by Alex Mattis on 07.20.2009

UFC 100 is in the books and it did truly make history. This week on The Sprawl a full breakdown of the main card! Also, people stop comparing MMA and Pro Wrestling! And to top it all off reason #326482 I can't stand Floyd Mayweather! Come on in!

Welcome back one and all to "The Sunday Sprawl!" I hope all is well with everyone. Well, UFC 100 is in the books and history was indeed made. At the end of the night the titles stayed with who brung 'em, but an uber amount of respect was lost for one champion. In this edition of The Sprawl, an in-depth breakdown of UFC 100's main card fights, my take on the backlash of Brock Lesnar's actions, and to close out a few word on Floyd Mayweather's quest to continuously bash MMA. No time like the present... LET'S GET DOWN TO IT!!!



UFC 100

Alan Belcher Vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama:
30-27? 30-27!?!? This is still making me pull my hair out! How any judge could have given that fight to Akiyama 30-27 is ridiculous! But that was the overall tone of the decision. That fight was extremely close and did deserve a split decision, but from where I was sitting Alan Belcher won that fight. You could have given Belcher the 1st round, Akiyama the 2nd, and the 3rd really could have gone either way but Belcher seemed to have wanted it more. Akiyama does have a good career ahead of him in the UFC but he didn't really rise to the occasion in his debut. This loss should not be looked at as a detriment to Belcher's career, as many believe he was robbed

Jon Fitch Vs. Paulo Thiago:
This fight played out as many thought it would; a merciless smothering by Jon Fitch. When the fight hit the ground the fight turned into quite the chess match, but Fitch was just in control for this entire fight. Paulo Thiago really showed that he isn't someone to be taken lightly, but still has some work to do. With the welterweight division in the state it's in I have no idea what Jon Fitch could do next, I doubt he wants to be raped again by GSP for five rounds.

Dan Henderson Vs. Michael Bisping:
Fedor may have some competition come the "Year-End Awards: KO of the Year." Dan Henderson's KO of Michael Bisping was one of the most ruthless, vicious KO's in recent memory. The fight was going how I feared it may with Bisping's speed being a factor and Hendo getting out-pointed. But Bisping kept doing what he corner told him not to, exiting left, and paid dearly for it. He circled directly into the devastating right hand of Danny and was out before he hit the ground. Hendo followed it up with a heroic/brutal/possibly unnecessary flying right hand, it was at this point that Michael Bisping slipped into a slight coma and remembered back to his first day of being a hooligan when his father told him "Son, one day you will have the opportunity to represent all of the UK and its people... and on that day Michael remember to not exit left." Hendo satisfied a whole heap of fans that wanted Bisping to be "shut up," and with his knock out victory provided one of the greatest group-spontaneously-breaking-into-a-massive-USA-chant moments in my life.

Dan Henderson Vs. Anderson Silva II please...

Georges St. Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves:
Much like the Fitch-Thiago fight, this one played out as planned. Thiago Alves was the undisputed #1 contender for the welterweight title, but shockingly enough he still isn't in the same league as GSP. St. Pierre completely broke Alves with his pace and domination. Watch the fight again and look at Alves at the beginning of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds then compare it to his look before the 5th round started, they weren't the same person, he was a broken man. A few people I have talked to said that "GSP was afraid to stand with Alves" which is quite ridiculous to say as GSP dropped Alves when they were trading blows. To make GSP's outstanding performance even more impressive was the fact that he fought the last two rounds of the five rounder with a torn groin. Goddammit the man is a superhero!

"I torn my groin..." - Georges St. Pierre
"I DON'T CARE! HIT HIM WITH IT!" - Greg Jackson

...incredible.

Anywho, I heard the two partied it up together after the fight. Great show of class by both fighters. I also heard that they totally bought BFF friendship bracelets as The Palms gift shop vowing that they would "always have Vegas."

Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir:
This went exactly as I expect, but in my heart of hearts prayed it wouldn't. Frank Mir was in the best shape he has ever been in in his professional career but it just wasn't enough as he was overpowered by the man-beast Brock Lesnar. Mir showed a flash of his greatly improved striking early in the 2nd round when he stunned Lesnar with a left hook and a knee, he also through in the Urijah Faber special jumping knee, but was quickly taken down and pounded out... brutally. After re-watching I realized that fight should have been stopped earlier, Frank took some serious shots from them short-buses Lesnar calls fists. As for the post-fight shenanigans of Brock Lesnar, I wasn't really surprised. That wasn't the "WWE" in him coming out the dude is just a dickhed, plain and simple, who posses no respect. And why should he really? He hasn't necessarily worked uber-hard for what he has. Yes he has put away the top talent that has been put in front him, but he hasn't had to work his way through the ranks, and he gets paid more than 98% of the UFC's fighters. Lesnar is just a dickhead; he should be ashamed of himself but he probably thinks it was totally awesome. Flipping off the crowd, trashing a HUGE sponsor of the UFC, and braggin' about how he was going to "get on top" of his wife is not the way a world champion should carry himself. Note to Brock: try to pay attention to the way GSP, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Fedor conduct themselves. It's the shit like what he pulled at 100 that is going to make it all the more satisfying when Shane "CagePotato's Biggest Fan" Carwin knocks his head into the next century.

This needs to stop...
Ok I just wanted to briefly touch on this as this needs to be said. People... STOP TRYING TO MAKE AN MMA VS. PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING ARGUMENT!!! It is so outrageous to even attempt to do such a thing. The only this to argue about between the two is about who does better when it comes to PPV buy rates... and there isn't even much of an argument in that.

Immediately after Lesnar defeated Mir, pro wrestling fans and wrestlers alike began stating things along the lines of "this proves WWE guys are superior to MMA guys." Matt Hardy, Shane Helmes, and Taz to name a few posted messages of that nature. It may have been the most idiotic thing any of them has ever stating, and that's saying a lot. For starters Brock Lesnar dismisses his time in the E constantly and quit pro wrestling because there was no competition and goals to reach. Number two, Brock Lesnar was an NCAA wrestling champion way before his time in "sports entertainment." And lastly, there may be a successful pro wrestler turned MMA fighter but there sure is hell is a MUCH longer list of failed pro wrestler turned MMA fighters. Bam Bam Bigelow, Jushin Liger, Yoshihiro Takayama, and Sean O' Haire just to name a few.

At the end of the day if these wrestlers truly believe what they are touting then I am worried for the psychological well-being. Matt Hardy, who walks around at probably 372lbs these days, would get eaten alive by Miguel Torres, the 135lb WEC champion. Just a ridiculous argument to be made as it holds no actual basis or bearing.

Closing Thoughts...
I don't know about anyone else, but to me Floyd Mayweather's constant bashing of MMA is really growing tiresome. Has the dude not watched it in 10 years? His arguments sound about that old. Is it true he has done more buys than Fedor and Machida (the main two men from MMA he cited as "no-talent..." blah, blah, blah)? Yes. But does that take away the fact they are incredible fighters? No. If Mayweather is so confident in himself and his skills what would he have to lose by putting on a few pounds and fighting Mike Brown or even BJ Penn? Highly unrealistic, but its fun to entertain the thought of Floyd putting his moniker where his mouth is. With him shuckin' and duckin' Pacquiao, however, I don't think he's ready to be thinking about a different sport.

And that was my old-man-style complaint of the week.

Well that's all for this week. I'll see you right back here next time.

Remember feedback, as always, is welcome at [e-mail] or directly below.

Take care,
-Alex