MMA's 3R's 02.02.2012: UFC on Fox 2 Edition

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 02.02.2012

From Rashad Evans now being poised to yet again face Jon Jones following his win over Phil Davis to the underwhelming main broadcast card featuring Chris Weidman vs. Demian Maia and the controversy of Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping, 411's Jeffrey Harris checks in with the Right, the wRong, and the Ridiculous from UFC On FOX 2!

*The Column Concept*
Greetings loyal readers and welcome back to a brand new edition of The 3R's of MMA. 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 will be the bad fights, showings or performances, and bad fight bookings. And the Ridiculous will be the worst of the world of MMA.

The best and fastest, growing weekly MMA radio podcast in the entire internet is the 411 Ground and Pound Radio Show, hosted by Mark Radulich. In the last episode, we recapped UFC on Fox 2 and previewed UFC 143. You can listen to the latest episode here:

Listen to internet radio with Mark Radulich on Blog Talk Radio

And so the UFC returned to Fox for with their first primetime event on the Fox network for the year 2012. Of course things did not fire on all cylinders as the three fights that made the broadcast all were decisions. It is too bad none of the Fuel TV prelim fights were able to make the broadcast card as they were all fun exciting fights. I don't think the show was quite the disaster some have made it out to be. Could it have turned out a lot better? Yes. However, at the same time, the fight was re-shuffled less than two weeks out. And it still drew some high ratings for UFC and MMA overall. But let's just get to the card.

THE RIGHT:

Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping: This fight did turn out to be pretty good. But the biggest surprise was that Sonnen was not able to run over Bisping as many predicted. While going into this fight, Bisping was one of the most hated fighters in the UFC, hopefully his performance here earned him some fans. Do I think the decision was a robbery? No. I think the first round was close but I scored it and round 3 for Sonnen and round 2 for Bisping. Bisping has always been an underrated fighter with strong takedown defense. I think this was a close fight but Sonnen did enough to edge it out. Having also seen the stats, I believe they support a Sonnen victory. I think one problem is that Bisping stalled a lot by pushing Sonnen against the fence and he was frequently warned by McCarthy without ever actually being penalized. This was a tough win for Sonnen who evoked some Superstar Billy Graham in his post-fight promo which you can watch below courtesy of Fox Sports' YouTube channel. Now do I think Sonnen can beat Anderson Silva in Brazil? No, but it should be fun.


When asked about his personal safety about fighting in Brazil, Chael Sonnen said, "I'm not afraid of those blowhards and their blow darts. They can send whoever they want after me, but they better not send anyone they are going to miss."

Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz: Their performance earned both men the Fight of The Night award for another exciting battle that unfortunately the main Fox crowd did not get to see. Dunham started a little slow against another tough wrestler, but he managed to rally back and battered Lentz with some elbow strikes to take the second round. Lentz face was cut open and the fight did not make it to the third due to a doctor's stoppage. That was the right way to go. Dunham now is back on a winning streak first after the heinous split decision loss to Sean Sherk followed by getting knocked out by Melvin Guillard. He's not on the road to title contendership just yet, but I think now we can see Dunham back on the main card in some bigger marquee bouts with his 6-2 UFC record, when he should really be 7-1.


UFC lightweight, Evan Dunham, was victorious over Nik Lentz at UFC on Fox 2.

Charles Oliveira's Calf Slice: After a recent skid of two losses at lightweight which sandwiched an unfortunate No Contest switch against Nik Lentz, Oliveira got back on track with an impressive submission victory over Eric Wisely in his debut at featherweight. Oliveira looked good here and I think featherweight will be a nice home for him considering he probably cuts extremely little to get down at all and was likely a little undersized at lightweight. Wisely was a newbie, but Oliveira needed the win and the calf slice visual was incredibly impressive. It should be interesting to see what Oliveira can do in the 145 lb. division going forward.


Charles Oliveira submitted opponent Eric Wisely with a calf slice at UFC on Fox 2.

Lavar Johnson vs. Joey Beltran: This was an interesting fight since you had the first Strikeforce heavyweight to transfer over to the UFC against a tough UFC veteran like Beltran. Johnson had also lost his last two fights in Strikeforce so he definitely needed an emphatic victory to prove he belonged in the Octagon. It was a good fight and both men went for it and swung hard. Johnson was able to corner Beltran against the fence and dropped him with an uppercut and some heavy shots. Johnson's knockout also earned him the Knockout of The Night award.



Fox/Fuel TV Presentation: Now just to be specific I like what Fox brought to the table for the fight week. I think they improved the format for the weigh-ins special taking critiques into account. I enjoy analysis by Jay Glazer and Kenny Florian honestly and they are two guys that know what they are talking about when it comes to MMA. I think the graphics and overall presentation for the fights on Fuel TV and Fox is very good. I like the new music, bells, and whistles. I think having Randy Couture as an analyst for the main Fox broadcast is a great change of pace and I hope this is a role he continues performing. Now I understand Jones' presence there considering he likely faces the winner of the main event from the card, but I think he didn't need to be one of the main analysts for the card and that is a role that could've gone to someone such as Todd Harris, Jon Anik, Stephan Bonnar, or even Frank Mir. All in all, I think what the production brought to the table was great.

THE wRong:

Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman: I did properly predict this one and Sonnen/Bisping in the staff roundtables, but what a stinker it turned out to be. Weidman definitely showed the effects of accepting this bout on about 11 days notice and had to cut about 30 pounds in 10 days. Both guys gassed quickly in the first round. While Weidman took the fight on short notice, Maia had been training for a fight for nearly two months and has less of an excuse even though he wasn't originally prepared for Weidman. There is speculation that Maia could've been sick and not feeling well going into this bout. However, Maia's gameplan in the fight looked extremely questionable. Maia was content to turn this into a sloppy kickboxing fight, which even Joe Rogan likened the fight to being like two drunk guys at a bar. Maia has gotten too far away from his bread and butter which is his grappling and BJJ. He is trying far too hard to prove that he can strike and it has cost him. What Maia really needs to do more is just mix things up and use his strikes to transition to the ground. It looked like Maia was scared to work off his back against a wrestler like Weidman who was able to still outpoint Maia to win the decision. Despite what Maia's problems might've been, it appears we now know the perfect strategy to beat him. Take him down and defend the subs which looks easy to do since his striking technique is weak. Weidman likely makes no new fans with this fight, but at least he gets a key win that strategically puts him up the ranks.



Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis: More than anything I saw this fight as a test for Phil Davis that the young and formerly undefeated athlete was unable to pass. While Evans might not have had the better collegiate wrestling background, he proved it was experience and technique inside the cage that mattered more in the fight. In the first round Evans was able to get the NCAA division I wrestling champion to the mat and pulled off a mounted crucifix. Davis looked uncomfortable on his feet the whole fight and his deficiencies he's previously shown in his striking game looked even more amplified against a veteran like Evans. The fight had some signs of life, but due to Davis being so over-matched it just never really got going and never really felt all that exciting. While fans for years begged for non-title main events to get five rounds, one thinks of that old cliche, "be careful what you wish for." This shows why sometimes forcing a non-title fight main event to be five rounds can be a detriment to your viewing enjoyment. While some critics of the young light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, believe Evans has his former teammate's number, I dunno, I think it's the other way around. After the fight and win, Evans looked downright depressed. He didn't look excited or eager at all that it looks like it appears he will finally be getting his title shot. Now maybe Evans' expectations are tempered by his previous disappointments with his title fights not happening. However, Evans did not look really excited or eager by the fact he could be fighting for the title against Jones in a few months. I think Jones will take this one again.

THE RIDICULOUS:

Gregg Doyel Writes About FTC Vs. The UFC: Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports.com decided to write one of the most questionable and ridiculous pieces of "MMA journalism" I have ever read with Calling out UFC is a losing fight, but it's time to step into the cage. Doyel talks about ESPN's Outside The Lines story "delving into the FTC's antitrust investigation of ZUFFA." Well uh, here's the thing. First of all, ESPN didn't delve into the story at all other than ZUFFA co-owner and UFC CEO, Lorenzo Fertita, admitting there was a non-public investigation of ZUFFA by the FTC. But second, as for that monopoly and the FTC's investigation which Doyel calls a "heavyweight fight" and "Dana White's worst nightmare," well that investigation was just closed per the FTC. And why Doyel is allowed to write such nonsense without recanting or taking any sort of medicine is highly irresponsible. Just like when journalists report fake stories or rumors that are reported as truth and when they are exposed as fake, they never are called on it. Previously, Doyel also wrote false commentary on UFC attempting to influence "UFC referees," not noting that the referees for the event were appointed by the state government. The FTC investigation was to determine if ZUFFA violated antitrust laws through the purchase of Strikeforce last year. So while this might not shut up the haters and monopoly conspiracy theorists 100%, it gives them next to no legitimate ammo:



What else is going on 411mania.com with yours truly, the 411mania Jack of All Trades?

In this week's brand new edition of 411 MMA Fact or Fiction, yours truly takes on takes on the UK's own Stewart Lange. It's a classic USA vs. England showdown, but I won't spoil you and tell you who wins. But let's just say, check your Wikipedia or better your history books and look up a little conflict called the Revolutionary War.

The 411 MMA Staff gives our picks for the best fights of 2011 for our final Best of 2011 award series. And I think you all know what the true and only best choice for Fight of The Year was.

Check out my first late breaking exclusive MMA interview of the year with Bellator Lightweight Champion, Michael Chandler.

And that's it for this week. Remember this Saturday I will be reporting to you *LIVE* from Las Vegas on press row for UFC 143. I will be giving you live play by play coverage of the event for all the fights on Facebook and FX and the main PPV card. Also don't miss our live ongoing coverage from the post-fight press conference after the fights as well.

Also, remember not to miss a new episode of the 411 Ground and Pound Radio Show this Super Bowl Sunday at 11AM EST. This weekend we'll be reviewing UFC 143, and I will be checking in live from Las Vegas as well. Go Jets!

Keep rocking it loyal readers. And like the great Buckaroo Banzai says, "Remember. No matter where you go . . . there you are."

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