MMA's 3R’s 11.17.09: UFC 105 - Couture vs. Vera

Posted by Larry Csonka on 11.17.2009

From Randy Couture’s controversial main event victory and Dan Hardy becoming the next challenger to GSP to Michael Bisping getting back on track and the tale of two Ultimate Fighter winners, 411’s Larry Csonka breaks it all down in the latest edition of the 3R’s of MMA!



* The Column Concept *
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the column, here it is. The column will look at events and or happenings in the world of MMA. They will be broken down into the three categories, the Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right will be the good and great fights or positive news items of the week. Perhaps even big fight announcements. The wRong will be bad fights, bad booking decisions and the like. Finally, the Ridiculous are the things that were just the worst of the world of MMA. They get grouped in their categories, and for a show, they will get a score from 1-10, based on the 411 ratings scale.


* And now, the 3R's of…



COUTURE vs. VERA*


FIGHT RESULTS:
PRELIM CARD RESULTS:
* Dennis Siver def. Paul Kelly via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 2:53
* Nick Osipczak def. Matthew Riddle via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 3:53
* Terry Etim def. Shannon Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 1:24
* John Hathaway def. Paul Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)

MAIN CARD RESULTS:
* Ross Pearson def. Aaron Riley via TKO (doctor's stoppage) - Round 2, 4:38
* Matt Brown def. James Wilks via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 2:27
* Andre Winner def. Rolando Delgado via knockout (punch) - Round 1, 3:22 (Prelim Bout Added To US TV Broadcast)
* Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 4:24
* Alexander Gustafsson def. Jared Hamman via knockout (punches) - Round 1, 0:41 (Prelim Bout Added To US TV Broadcast)
* Dan Hardy def. Mike Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
* Randy Couture def. Brandon Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

THE RIGHT:

TITO~!: Tito Ortiz is a great man. He did a great interview during the show, just being Tito in all the right ways as he hyped the fight, put over Forrest, defended his losses and was just The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, and that shit sells PPVs. Bless you Tito, bless you.

WAR Gustafsson~!: Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jared Hamman made the main card, due to its length, and it was a nice addition. What Gustafsson lacks in charisma, he makes up for with a deadly KO punch. I LOVE when we get to see added fights on the show, especially a guy like Alexander Gustafsson, who I had not seen before. Plus let's be honest here, who doesn't love seeing a dude get rocked so hard his mouthpiece flies out? That's what I thought.

Ross Pearson Is Tough Enough: From my post TUF 9 Finale Thoughts: Ross Pearson is the lightweight winner of this season's Ultimate Fighter, and he had to go three rounds to do so. A lot of people are down on him already as he needed the three rounds to do so, but I don't look at it that way. He and Winner were equally impressive in the house and in the fights leading up to the finals. To me, this was just an evenly matched bout. It is just too early to judge him at this stage, we need to see his next fight to see how he looks after a "real deal" training camp. I said that right after the TUF 9 finals, and it is one of those times I feel I was right. Ross Pearson came out and did something that I did not expect, and that was the fact that he DOMINATED Aaron Riley. I felt that Ross had a great chance to win the fight, but Aaron Riley is a good fighter, and really, he got picked apart like he was a beginner. Ross looked in good shape, he had a good game plan and executed it perfectly. I enjoyed the fight and came away very impressed with Ross Pearson, so much that I am looking forward to his next fight.

Matt Brown Wins Three In A Row: From my post TUF 9 Finale Thoughts: James Wilks is the welterweight winner of this season's Ultimate Fighter, and he had a much easier road to victory in the finals as he HUMBLED young DaMarques Johnson. Due to the nature of the victory, people are already on his nuts, and to those people I say, wait and see. Don't forget, Kendal Grove looked great to start out, and then went on a losing skid. As you can see I like to look back on my past comments, sometimes I get it right, sometimes I am way off the mark. I never claimed to be an expert. But James Wilks got a lot of hype, and deservedly so with that performance, but he was not given an easy first opponent in Matt Brown. To Wilks credit, he came out in the first round and looked good. He dominated for the most part, minus the mouse under his left eye, and also escaped a guillotine on his way to taking the round. Brown turned around the action in round two, and I also felt that Wilks faded a bit cardio wise while Brown continued to work a steady and punishing pace. Wilks smartly got things to the ground in the third to try and stop the onslaught, but Brown was just too much for him and scored the win. While the loss is a definite setback for Wilks, he turned in a good performance overall. He dispatched quickly, and shows promise, but has a lot of work to do. Brown looked great and earned his third victory in a row with a strong performance here.

Bisping Gets His Groove Back: While Michael Bisping had lost before, he was never knockout out like he was at UFC 100 against Dan Henderson. They always say that the mark of a great athlete is how he comes back from adversity, and that is what UFC 105 was. Bisping was home, got to train at home and had the support, but you still have to get over that mental hurdle. Kang was a tough opponent for him, and I admit, after the first round I felt as if Bisping was not over that KO loss. Kang was in control, and while Bisping defended well, but Kang was all over him and it wasn't how The Count wanted to start off. Round two saw Bisping come and decided to get into it. He worked the high kick, got takedowns and placed some HARD ground and pound on Kang, cutting him up pretty bad and when the fight was called off, the place exploded. The second round was a great performance, and Bisping got the all important rebound victory. Bisping will begin the climb once again up the ranks, and I wonder if he really learned from the loss and if he will be able to become a viable contender for the title. Time will tell.

Dan Hardy Ruins Things For Quick Swick: My on my how things have chance din recent months huh? Kampmann vs. Swick were thought of as the to contenders to GSP and were to face off. Well, an injury to Swick, a win by Daley and now Hardy defeating Swick has completely blown up the division. To me, I feel that Swick not only took Hardy lightly, but also, Swick to me choked. Look at his history, he wins five straight and them CHOKES in his home state against Okami. He then wins four straight, is looking to get his title shot, and then loses again. Now don't get we wrong, I think that Dan Hardy is a good fighter, and he clearly came ready to beat Mike Swick and he did that. As for Hardy vs. GSP, man, everything tells me that GSP wins that fight, but Hardy may have more than we know. While the fight to me is a classic NO BUYS fight, sorry, Hardy is not a US draw, I am interested to see the fight, because I love a good underdog story.

puRgatoRy:

Andre is a Winner: Not a lot to say here, Winner looked great in his fight and knocked the piss out of his opponent. While I loved the great KO, I do have to say that the ref needed to get in there quicker after the KO, because Winner walked in there and dropped about three unnecessary shots. I call that referee out of position, protect the damn fighters man. But Winner looked great, and I want to see him against some tougher competition to see how he really can perform.

The Countdown To UFC 105: Yes, I am back to discuss the countdown special. I have to say that for what it was, it was "fine". To me they geared the show as a preview for a TV show and not a PPV. And while they were promoting a taped TV show, I feel that they could have done better. As I have mentioned, I like these special, and as I have said before, the UFC Countdown shows, 99% of the time deliver big time. They make me want to order the show, they make me feel that the underdog has a real chance to win the fight, and I usually learn something about the fighters that I did not know. This one was more of a reminder that there was a show, and not exactly a major one. And yes, I know that it wasn't a major one, but that doesn't mean you hype it any less.

COUTURE vs. VERA: When I heard about the fight when posting the results, some made this out to be the WORST DECISION EVER! Which made me want to watch the fight more. But the fact is, that this was a close fight, it could have gone either way, and really, decisions like this happen all the time. To me it was simple, round one went to Randy, round two went to Vera, and round three was close. To me I was fine with either guy winning, because no one did enough of a good job to prove that they won, shit happens. And for those that complain about Randy "pinning guys against the cage", well, that's all part of the game. I hear people all the time about wrestlers being geniuses when they take a guy down and lay on them, because that's part of the game. I don't know what some people watch when they see these fights, but Couture does a lot of work against the cage. It isn't pretty, it isn't fun, but he does work. Anyway, the decision was fine, but the real reason I have this in purgatory is for the simple fact that Brandon Vera GAVE this fight away. I have said time and time again, he doesn't have the drive, the killer instinct to be a true contender, and to me this just proves that. In the second round he hit that hard kick and sick knee, CRUMBLED Couture he turned and looked like he wanted to run and then proceeded to do NOTHING. Don't bitch about the judging Brandon, between that fail and the fact that you took mount in round three and did both jack and shit, it is your fault for not finishing.

THE wRong:

Dana White: "Take that bitch, nothing wrong!"

THE Ridiculous:

Dana White: "Go look some where else for your fucking ridiculous!"

* The 411 *

UFC 105 has come and gone and in the end it was a really good event. Nothing absolutely blow away, but some really good matches, and for a free event, you really can't ask for much more. I always appreciate a good, and free fight card, and now I am ready for the rest of the week, with WEC 44 and UFC 106.

OVERALL RATING: 8.0

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KYRA says goodbye…