Cardio Freak MMA News Report 6.12.08: UFC 85 Review

Posted by Jeremy Lambert on 06.12.2008

Cardio Freak returns with a look back at UFC 85: DOOMED~! Does Thiago Alves deserve a title shot? Should Matt Hughes retire? Is "feuding" allowed in UFC? Plus the latest on Dana's big announcement and some news from the rest of the MMA world. It's harder working than Matt Hughes on the farm, it's Cardio Freak on 411.



Welcome back to Cardio Freak everyone. I am your trainer Jeremy ‘Power Outage' Lambert.

The Big4 are in the books and I couldn't be happier. No more two or three top stories a week, which means no more walls o' text.

Thank God it ended this week too because work has been a bitch this week. 8-5 everyday where I do nothing but chase around bratty kids. The hours completely throw off my usual column process (type everything Wednesday afternoon before submitting it Wednesday night) because by the time I get home, I'm ready to go to bed. Please excuse the lack of text this week. Thanks.

10 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week

UFC 85: SAVED~!

The story of UFC 85 is well documented. It went from being headlined by Chuck Liddell with a decent undercard to just being a good top to bottom card. UFC hasn't had much PPV success when they've traveled overseas and they obviously wanted Liddell on the card to boost things a bit. When Liddell went down, UFC had to reshuffle things. Matt Hughes stepped up to headline the card and despite being a 2nd Tier Draw, many thought this card was better suited as a Fight Night instead of a PPV. I think it was more suited as a PPV on Spike.

UFC thought they jumped every hurdle the day before this event but Thiago Alves decided to throw another one at them. He weighed in at 174 for a fight at 170 pounds. You all know how I feel about people missing weight. I think it's one of the most unprofessional things you can do in MMA because you know when the fight is and you know how much you need to weigh. After the fight, Thiago said that he hurt his ankle 10 days before the fight so he couldn't do any running and he beefed up during that period. I assume that's a legit reason but it's still no excuse. Fighters missing weight can either be an advantage or a disadvantage. If you dehydrate yourself to death and for some reason just can't cut the pounds, it's a disadvantage. If you didn't weight train properly but everything else went fine, it's an advantage. For Thiago, he clearly had an advantage in this fight. When a fighter misses weight, you know your opponent is going to accept the fight anyway. The guy who made weight isn't going to turn down the fight when he's got sponsors to keep happy, when he put in all the hard work in the gym, and when he wants to look like a good company guy.

Matt Hughes made a career by beating guys at 170 that were smaller than him. After his loss to Georges St. Pierre in December, there was talk that Matt Hughes may move up to 185 to fight Anderson Silva. If Matt Hughes could make 185 when he's in the Octagon then Thiago Alves could have made 205 looking how he did this past Saturday.

I wrote last week that Matt Hughes is not over the hill and he would prove that against Thiago Alves. I was wrong. Sort of. I do not think Hughes is over the hill but I do concede that his game has not evolved over the years. Matt Hughes is a lot like Tito Ortiz in the sense that if he can't take you down, he's screwed. I thought Hughes would have very little problems taking down Alves but Alves' wrestling has clearly improved since his fight with Jon Fitch. The one time Hughes was able to get Alves down, he couldn't do a thing. When Hughes pulled guard and allowed Alves to be on top, he took some hard shots and outside of a submission attempt that was never really close, he had no answer. The flying knee that ended the fight was timed perfectly by Alves. It seems to me that when Hughes can't score with the takedown, he telegraphs his shot and people are timing it. St. Pierre was able to time it and catch Hughes with a big head kick. Alves was able to time it and he caught Hughes with a flying knee. Hughes' knee buckled under him when he went down from the knee by Alves. It looked bad on replay but Hughes was up and walking without much help a few minutes later so maybe it was just a Paul Pierce-like scare, just without all the theatrics of a comeback.

Thiago Alves was rumored to have a title shot after his victory over Karo Parisyan and now with the victory over Matt Hughes it's unquestionable that he has the wins and credentials to face the winner of St. Pierre vs. Fitch. Alves screwed himself over though by failing to make weight. At the post-event press conference, Dana White didn't seem very enthused when asked whether or not Alves is ready for a title shot. My guess is that Alves will have one more fight, prove he can make weight, and if he wins then he'll get a title shot. As for an opponent, I think Diego Sanchez or Josh Koscheck would be the ideal opponents pending they get past Luigi Fioravanti and Chris Lytle respectively. If Alves makes weight and wins the fight, then I'm all for him getting a title shot against Fitch or St. Pierre.

As for Hughes, maybe he was looking past Alves. In his post-fight interview, Hughes said he had no intentions of retiring because he only wanted his fight with Matt Serra. I'm sure Hughes took this fight with Alves seriously but I can't help but think that maybe he fought the fight without a care, instead of fighting like he wanted another title shot. What's done is done though and now Hughes clearly seems focused on Matt Serra.

Hughes vs. Serra is a fight that I can't personally wait for just because both guys hate each other, UFC has the footage from The Ultimate Fighter to build the fight, and you've got to think that it will do a good number for UFC. I'm not sure if it's a headlining fight, especially when I'm under the belief that a title fight should headline every UFC PPV, but I can guarantee you that Hughes vs. Serra would have done a much better number than Hughes vs. Alves.

Kevin Iole wrote, "Though the bad blood between the two, and Serra's ability to chatter, would help sell the fight, it would be another of the WWE-type promotions that the sport is better off without. The UFC appeared to leave that behind when it was done with the Ken Shamrock-Tito Ortiz trilogy, and it has no need to go back to such events. The athletes are too good and the sport has evolved too much for it to rely on "feuds" to sell tickets." I couldn't disagree more.

Are the athletes great? Yes but Anderson Silva is the best fighter in the world and doing 400,000 PPV buys while Tito Ortiz is 0-2-1 in his last three fights yet still considered the second or third biggest draw in all of MMA. If Anderson Silva could speak English and sell his fights, he would likely be one of the biggest draws in the sport but because he can't, he's doing average PPV numbers despite finishing fights, being exciting, and being the best. Like it or not, people like to identify with a character and then cheer for him. In Hughes vs. Serra, people are going to take a liking to Hughes for being a good Christian and want to see Serra get his ass kicked for cursing all the time or people are going to like Serra for speaking his mind and want to see Hughes get his ass kicked for being, "a dick." Like it or not, "feuds" and characters sell tickets, not athletes. Tim Duncan is a great athlete and the best power forward in the NBA but no one watches the Spurs in the NBA finals because he's the superstar and he has no personality. This may be a strong statement but I don't believe MMA could survive without "feuds". I don't think MMA companies could survive if every fight had the same story of, "the fighters are good, they like each other and have no bad blood, and they're just fighting to see who is the best." The story of, "the fighters are good, they can't stand each other, they're going to fight to see who is best, and then they're going to find new respect for each other" is a much better storyline.

The fights that get people excited are the fights with a storyline. Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson appealed to the hardcore fans who wanted to see who the best Middleweight in the world was but we're the same hardcore fans who are buying every UFC PPV no matter what kind of card they put together. More than just more than just the hardcore fans purchased Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra because Serra and St. Pierre talked up the fight and you identified with one of the fighters. You either wanted to see Serra get his ass kicked for disrespecting GSP and his country or you wanted to see GSP get his ass kicked for not accepting his first loss like a man.

Finally, the UFC never left the idea of "feuds" behind after the Ortiz vs. Shamrock trilogy. If anything they embraced it even more. After The Ultimate Fighter 3 featuring the coaching match-up of Ortiz vs. Shamrock, they went on to pair up Jens Pulver and BJ Penn as coaches and Matt Hughes and Matt Serra as coaches, knowing tempers would flair and the feud would build. Hell, Dana White himself aired a piece on Tito Ortiz that did nothing but bury him for no-showing that ridiculous boxing match. What did that footage accomplish besides building the feud? UFC always mentions how great their fighters are as athletes but to say they left behind the aspect of building fights through a war of words is laughable.

In the co-main event of the event, Michael Bisping turned in his best performance inside the Octagon to date. I went back and forth as far as picking a winner in this fight but in the end I went with Michael Bisping. I thought Bisping was the better overall fighter but in almost every fight he gets caught in a submission and I thought Jason Day has the ability to possibly finish him. In the end, I stuck with Bisping and when I saw his walk in, I knew I made the correct choice. Michael Bisping had the look of, "this is my home, I've never lost here, and you sure as hell aren't going to beat me here." And Jason Day sure as hell didn't beat Bisping.

I actually thought that Day was getting the better of Bisping on the feet. Neither guy was landing shots with power but Day seemed to get his punches through more often than Bisping. He also seemed to be scoring well with leg kicks. His doom came when Bisping was able to get him to the ground. Day tried to implement the rubber guard but Bisping showed good posture and wouldn't allow Day to secure the rubber guard properly. Day had no answer for Bisping's ground and pound and he eventually turtled into a loss.

Give Michael Bisping a title shot. It's not going to happen but it should. Would Anderson Silva finish Bisping like he's finished all of his other opponents inside the Octagon? Probably. But for business, this is the best fight UFC can put on in the Middleweight division. Rich Franklin obviously can't fight Silva again and Henderson can't fight Silva without another win or two. Yushin Okami is should be the guy to fight Silva just because he was the last man to beat Silva (via DQ) and he's beaten everyone UFC has thrown in front of him but UFC doesn't seem very high on giving him the title shot because if they did, he would have it by now. Bisping is a marketable fighter with charisma who you could easily push as the opponent for Silva. It's also MMA and Bisping has looked very impressive in his two Middleweight fights. They might as well give him the title shot now instead of pairing him up against Franklin or Henderson, where he'll likely lose and then his Middleweight momentum comes to a halt. Bisping vs. Silva in Atlanta at UFC 88. Book it.

As for Day, he now becomes lost in the Middleweight shuffle. Lets be fair, the Middleweight division isn't that bad. The problem with it is that Anderson Silva has looked so dominant that the division gets written off. It's a solid division that has some interesting match ups but you just think, "who cares who wins, Silva is just going to destroy him" when you see every Middleweight fight. Day will continue to have some good fights at Middleweight but at the end of the day, no one will care.

While Michael Bisping stayed undefeated in England, Marcus Davis did not. Mike Swick didn't bore me to death this time with his performance but it certainly seems like training with Koscheck and Fitch has changed him from his usually quick style. He had a good gameplan for this fight though and I can't knock him for that. He tried to limit the times Davis got inside on him and when Davis did get inside, Swick clinched and went for the takedown. On the ground, Davis just took a beating and couldn't do a thing about it.

Swick is a good Welterweight but the problem is, he's the third best Welterweight in his camp. Given time and better opponents though, Swick could surprise some people. His stand up is good, he's obviously got power, and training with Fitch and Koscheck can only improve his wrestling. Swick could be paired up against Diego Sanchez next or possibly Thiago Alves. It's tough to really get a read on the Welterweight Swick because his fight with Josh Burkman proved very little and despite doing nothing but winning, Davis was beating guys that he should have beaten. I think Swick's next fight will prove where he's really at in the division.

Davis will bounce back from this loss. He's still a good fighter but this fight just showed that he's not as good as some people made him out to be. What Davis really needs to work on is his wrestling. Swick isn't even a world-class wrestler and he was able to get Davis down and pound him to the decision. The Welterweight division is laced with wrestlers who could do the same thing against Davis if the match-up presents itself.

Nate Marquardt turned in a very good performance but due to two points being taken away (one in the second round and one in the third round) he ended up dropping a decision to Thales Leites. Marquardt was docked a point in the second round for connecting with a knee to the head of Leites while Leites still had a knee on the ground. When Leites got up and wanted to continue, I think Marquardt was going to put him away because it didn't look like Leites had fully cleared his head when the fight was restarted. Big credit to him for surviving the knee, wanting to continue, and then surviving the round. Marquardt was docked another point in the third round for a phantom elbow to the back of the head. Two judges, like myself, scored the first round for Leites because he scored the knockdown. Marquardt rocked Leites in the first but Leites stayed on his feet. The best moment in the fight came when Marquardt scored with a piledriver at the end of the third round.

I think Marquardt actually gained more from losing this fight than Leites did from winning. Outside of the knockdown in the first, this fight was all Marquardt. It's a shame that his record states it's a loss because that may hurt him as far as the casual fans who just look at wins and losses and not performances. I still think Marquardt is a top contender in the Middleweight division and Leites is just kind of there.

In the opening bout of the night, UFC picked up where EXC left off with controversy featuring Dan Miragliotta You know Dan Miragliotta as That Kimbo Ref but from here on out we're going to call him That Stoppage Ref. Any other name is unacceptable. Fabricio Werdum defeated Brandon Vera when That Stoppage Ref ended the fight as Werdum was pounding on Vera from the mount. Upon further review, the stoppage could have been called either way. That Stoppage Ref called the fight with 15 seconds left in the round. As Vera put it, "Just let me take the ass whoopin." I'm a fan of the ref letting the fight go if it's near the end of the round unless the guy is completely knocked out. Based on the rule, Vera was intelligently defending himself as I believe that putting your arms up to block punches is an intelligent defense. It was certainly more of an intelligent defense than taking a bunch of unanswered and unprotected blows to the head. If only Vera gave a thumbs up.

With the win, Werdum is likely in line for a title shot. Unfortunately for him Mir and Nogueira aren't fighting until December, which means Werdum wouldn't get a title shot until April or so. My guess is that Werdum is going to have to win one more fight, likely against the winner of Heath Herring and Brock Lesnar, before he gets the title shot.

With two straight losses, it seems like Vera should drop down to 205 but based on his post-event press conference comments, he's not going to do that. It's not like Vera has been horribly defeated in his two losses. He dropped a boring decision against Tim Sylvia where he broke his hand on the first punch he threw and then he was arguably beating Werdum until the end. Vera stated that he didn't want to drop down to Light Heavyweight because he promised to win the Heavyweight title before dropping down to 205. My guess is that Dana White will have a heart to heart with Vera and get him to try his luck at 205.

Quick Thoughts on the Undercard:

*Eddie Sanchez got knocked out. I laughed.
*My Brother From Another Mother got knocked out. I cried.
*Jess Liaudin is pretty much gone from the UFC. Sucks to be him.
*'THE FIRE' BURNS~!
*I knew I was screwed with my Wiman vs. Tavares pick when I saw Chuck Liddell in the corner of Wiman.
*Good to see Kampmann back in action and even better to see him winning.

UFC managed to keep the Good PPV Streak alive with this event. It's an event no one cared about coming in but it turned out to be a good event. Nothing overly memorable but any time preliminary fights get shown and there's some good finishes then it's usually a good card.

Playing to Your Strengths

Dana White announced last week that he would have a major announcement on Thursday (today). Earlier this week, White pushed the announcement back to Tuesday. It was rumored that the press conference would be to announce the legalization of MMA in New York but the bill did not pass on Wednesday. They will vote again on the bill on June 17th

This would have been a big announcement by Dana White and the UFC and now it may not even happen. What a blow to the ego of White it would be if he talked about how big this announcement will be and then it doesn't even happen. I hope Dana has a back up plan if the bill once again doesn't pass. The other rumors floating around regarding the big announcement was Floyd Mayweather trying his hand at MMA, UFC going public, a major network deal, or the selling of the company.

Floyd Mayweather is never going to try MMA. Get that thought out of your head right now. UFC going public could be Dana's fall back announcement but I'm not sure if he's willing to take that step. If there was a major network deal in place, we would have heard about it by now. Same goes for the selling of the company, especially if Vince McMahon was the buyer.

The not so major announcement is that Chuck Liddell will face Anderson Silva in September. If that indeed happens, I'll have more mixed feelings than a sad drunk. On one hand, I'd love to see Liddell vs. Silva, two of my favorite fighters, battle it out live in person. On the other hand, that fight makes little sense. If this fight is announced, I'll type more about it then but I'm hurting far too much to waste more finger energy.

Dana White and Brock Lesnar announced that UFC signed a deal with figure company JAKKS Pacific

AWESOME~! Seriously. I was a huge WWE figure collector back when wrestling was popular so I'll probably collect all of the UFC figures just to have something to collect again. Now they need to take it a step further. I demand a talking Dana White figure, a Joe Rogan figure that says nothing but "crazy", and a Bruce Buffer figure complete with stupid motions.

Studying Tape



Here's Diaz vs. Gomi because it rules and Nick Diaz is fighting this weekend.

Sparring Session

Everyone loves everyone. Except That Stoppage Ref. Everyone hates him. Especially Brandon Vera.

Underwater Ice Bath

EliteXC: Return of the King is this Saturday on Showtime. Here is the main card:

-KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards
-Rafael Feijao vs. Wayne Cole
-Dave Herman vs. Ron Waterman
-Murilo Rua vs. Tony Bonello
-Nick Diaz vs. Muhsin Corbbrey

Not a bad card but it's not going to draw many viewers. They really missed the boat as far as plugging this card on CBS as I don't think there was a promo video for the card and it may have only been mentioned once or twice in passing by one of the announcers.

Quick Predictions:

*Edwards over Noons by TKO
*Feilao over Cole by TKO
*Herman over Waterman by TKO
*Rua over Bonello by TKO
*Diaz over Corbbrey by Submission

Taking Time Off

I finished 71st on UFC Fantasy for UFC 85, which is amazing considering a lot of my picks fell flat. I ended up moving up to 18th overall. I'm awesome.

I started watching The Mole on ABC just for Ali Sonoma. I actually watched Celebrity Mole a few years ago and enjoyed it so I'm enjoying this season as well. Ali flies under the radar, which is a good thing because it means less people will be out to get her and she'll be able to stick around longer. The more weekly Ali Sonoma, the better.

Overseas Training

Due to nagging injuries, Mirko Cro Cop has pulled out of his grappling match against Ralek Gracie at DREAM 4. Cro Cop is still scheduled to face Jerome Le Banner at DREAM 5

Smart move by Cro Cop. There was really no sense in the grappling match in the first place and there's certainly no sense in the grappling match when you have nagging injuries and you're scheduled to face a K-1 striker in your next fight.

AND IT'S ALL OVER~!

I once again apologize for the lack of content this week but right now this job is kicking my ass. Next week I'll be back with a review of the EliteXC event, some comments on Dana's announcement, and probably an article on something or another. Take care everyone.

Cardio Freak Sources: Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer, Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly, MMAWeekly, and MMAMania