MMA’s 3R’s 09.03.10: UFC 118

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 09.03.2010

From James Toney getting beaten quickly by Randy Couture and Frankie Edgar beating B.J. Penn to Nate Diaz's big win and Dan Miller keeping his job, 411's Jeffrey Harris breaks down the Right, wRong and Ridiculous in MMA!



*The Column Concept*

Welcome back everyone to a brand new edition of The 3R's of MMA. I won't say new and improved since I have pretty big shoes to fill in the great Larry Csonka who previously headed up this column. I've been a part of the 411mania team going on nearly four years now. I started in Movies/TV before shifting over into Games and Wrestling and then eventually MMA in 2008. Usually I do the fighter interviews and also Pride DVD reviews as well as some news updates. However this is my first foray into doing a weekly column for 411 unless you count my season 2 recaps of The Big Bang Theory, the best show on TV. The rules and format are still the same as I will be taking a look at the Right, the wRong, and the Ridiculous in the MMA world. The Right will be about the good to great fights or positive news items for the week or big fight announcements. The wRong bill the bad fights, showings or performances, and bad fight bookings. And the Ridiculous will be the worst of the world of MMA.

* And now…The 3R's of…MMA~!*

THE RIGHT:

Frankie Edgar #1 In The World At Lightweight: The fight at UFC 112 was close now there's no argument anymore. Frankie Edgar is the true champion of the UFC lightweight division and is #1 at 155. He beat BJ Penn twice in a row. Edgar dominated BJ Penn for five rounds and no one questioned a 50-45 decision this time around. Edgar deserves credit. People think Edgar is boring or doesn't fight to finish, what do you call it when Edgar was putting his fists and elbows into Penn's face? Edgar proved he is the champion and now has the challenge of facing the only guy that was ever able to decisively beat him beforehand in Gray Maynard. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Nate Diaz Ain't No B****!: Diaz had yet another successful outing at 170 submitting veteran UFC fighter Marcus Davis, who owns 9 wins at welterweight in the UFC. I don't know why Diaz is talking about going back to 155 where he was struggling against the bigger wrestlers of that division. I imagine that's an issue at 170 as well, where his bro, Jake Shields, will also be fighting in the UFC. However, Diaz just finished a much bigger guy than him, Rory Markham, and he submitted Davis. Diaz should stay at 170 for now because it is clear the weight cut at 155 was too much for him. This was an awesome fight where both men tested their boxing skills. Davis looked to almost edge out the first round, but Diaz's unique striking and longer reach ultimately gave him the advantage. Davis also sustained two very nasty cuts over his eye in the first round. They might've been caused by a headbutt but I'm not sure. Good or bad, the fight wasn't stopped because of the cut and I'm glad it wasn't because these two had one hell of a battle. Diaz has now made a strong foothold in the welterweight division and should try and take things further.

Dan Miller Stays Employed: UFC middleweight fighter, Dan Miller, ended a 3 fight losing skid with his win at UFC 118 over John Salter. Miller took the fight on short notice and the pressure was definitely high, with another loss Miller would've most likely been cut. I'm also happy this fight made the Spike TV Prelims broadcast. Miller showed why he is an incredibly underrated fighter and pulled off an awesome anaconda choke in the second round. I think since there was no Knockout of the Night bonus handed out for the event they should've given Miller a second Submission of the Night bonus since there is precedence in the UFC for giving out multiple Fight of the Night bonuses. Oh well, thems the breaks. Great to see Miller get another win in the UFC.

Ruediger Should've Given Lauzon Real Cake Instead Of Ice Cream Cake: Lauzon put an exclamation point by beating down Gabe Ruediger and shutting down the notorious TUF 5 contestant's return to the UFC. Lauzon even tried to be a good sport which Ruediger brushed off after the fight, aw sad boosh. Lauzon came in looking to be in probably the best shape I've ever seen him in his career. Lauzon was coming off a loss but didn't care and just went for it. He had confidence in his skills and Ruediger had nothing for Lauzon. People can say it was a complete miss/match, but honestly if you look throughout history there are fights like this all the time in MMA. Lauzon really needed a strong win like this to help pad his record and keep him going much like Jon Jones gets to destroy the likes of Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko before going into title contention.

THE wRong:

Nik Lentz vs. Andre Winner: I think MMA Junkie called this one of the most uneventful fights ever and I have to agree. I can imagine why the Spike TV rating for the prelims special was kind of low, this was not a good fight to start things off. I'm not one to trash wrestling or whatever, but this was an incredibly boring and dull as hell fight. Not every fight can be a great fight, but putting a wrestler up against a British striker-type of fighter was not a good decision as well as putting it on TV. Pierce/Alves probably would've worked a lot better especially since Pierce at least had some main show experience.

Kenny Florian Cites Wrestling Is The Problem: I'm pretty disappointed with Kenny Florian right now. And I'm a Kenny Florian fan. Florian fought Gray Maynard in his hometown last Saturday at UFC 118. Watch Kenny's walkout for the fight. And then watch his walkout for the BJ Penn fight at UFC 101. Florian looked exactly the same before both fights. He looked sad and like fighting in the Octagon was the last thing he wanted to be doing at the time. You are fighting for a chance at the title in your hometown, shouldn't you be pumped and excited? The 155 champ, Frankie Edgar, had the unenviable task of fighting BJ Penn in a rematch and he looked pumped as hell and not scared or intimidated at all. I can't disagree with Dana White at this point when he says that Florian is a choke artist. Gray Maynard stood right in front of Florian, and Florian looked scared to death of getting taken down. Even near the end of the fight, Florian was able to get to his feet and did nothing. He let the clock run out. The clock is running out and he didn't even try and go for anything, something since at that point he needed a finish. Maybe Kenny felt blind after his brother Keith lost his voice. According to an article on MMA fanhouse, Florian said, "I was capable of winning the fight but I would have to have fought a very boring fight. I felt great mentally & physically. I have more work to do on my wrestling & have already made the arrangements to become much better in that area of my game." Well Kenny, what you did in the fight wasn't exactly what I consider the opposite of boring. You were the one that claimed Maynard's wrestling would not be a problem after training on wrestling with Georges St. Pierre. Florian is in denial. He does choke in big fights. He desperately needs a sports psychologist at this point. I think the difference in demeanor in how a Frankie Edgar and Kenny Florian before a big fight just shows the separation of the champs and the challengers. Sadly, Kenny Florian is not and never will be a champion at this point.

Georges St. Pierre Not Impressed With BJ Penn's Performance: While it was a good night for Edgar, it was a bad night for Penn. And no, I don't really know that GSP was impressed or not, that was a joke. However, if Penn looked somewhat off his game in the first Edgar fight, it looked even moreso here. It could just be that Edgar is a really bad matchup for Penn, but Penn just did not look like the beast in the cage he was before when he was assassinating the UFC lightweight division. I'm a big fan of BJ Penn so I don't want to make accussations of a bad training camp or not training hard enough, but maybe it is time to get a change of pace with his camps or bring in some different guys to corner him. His cornermen didn't really seem to encourage BJ to step his game up and start letting things go. I'm also not sure why Penn didn't try to start using his top game earlier since his top attacks are really strong. Penn didn't start trying to take Edgar down until way too late in the fight. I hope Penn overcomes this valley as he has before and comes back better than ever, but while watching the fight I was in complete disbelief. It felt like the old, "bad" BJ Penn was rearing his ugly head yet again.

THE RIDICULOUS:

James Toney Came To Fight . . . Got Grappled: The Randy Couture and James Toney fight got the attention everyone thought it would. And I'll give Toney credit. Toney realized that he was an out of shape, irrelevant, hasbeen, professional boxer. Toney trolled the UFC and Dana White for attention and a big money payday. Dana White and the UFC ultimately answered because for quite some time they've wanted to do an MMA/Boxing attraction fight. Doing a fight with Toney also would give UFC all the publicity instead of Strikeforce. Toney did the fight, and Couture did what most people with common sense including myself (look at the 411 UFC 118 Roundtables) said would happen. Toney being a boxer had no lower body strength, no hips, and no takedown defense to stop Couture's shot. Toney looked like a beached whale on the ground and Couture easily submitted him. That's what happens when pro boxers try to fight the hardest, and toughest combat sport in the world. You can't get by with just boxing in MMA you need to have everything. Toney had no weapons to feasibly compete with in an MMA fight. I don't begrudge the UFC for doing this "fight" if it is a one time only freakshow attraction and it got a lot of hopefully positive attention toward MMA and hopefully some boxing fan converts from the other good fights on the card. Credit to Toney for successfully trolling the MMA world to get a big payday, but no credit if he actually believed any of the nonsense he spewed.



And that's it for this week. Check back next week for another exciting brand, new edition of the MMA 3R'S. War Joe Warren!

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Erin says goodbye…