UFC 114 Fight Ratings
I’m at this dude’s house that kept pausing the fights. I hope my memory holds.
Welterweight bout: Diego Sanchez vs. John Hathaway
Diego is legit crazy. I know that because I know a guy who used to train with him at Greg Jackson before Greg Jackson was famously awesome. Unfortunately, he’s about as smart as his coaches are. So when he left Jackson, he left the smartest coaching staff in MMA. I’ve never heard of John Hathaway, but 13-0 means something, especially if 3 of those wins are from the UFC. Diego tries the same takedown strategy as his last fight with BJ. Hathaway stuffs the shit out of him every time and proceeds to punch the shit out of Diego. Everyone at the party thought he was a goner, but I told them if BJ Penn can’t knock him out, no one can. Diego has some of the best knockout recovery ever, but that’s not good if that’s a skill that is utilized every fight like Diego. Hathaway neutralizes everything Diego does, which includes takedowns and stale stand up and gets the easy decision. One judge gave a 10-8, which I’m like HUHZ but MMA judges are retarded. This is important in the next fight. *
Light Heavyweight bout: Antônio Rogério Nogueira vs. Jason Brilz
Nogueria keeps crying that instead of fighting a stand up guy, he’s fighting a wrestler. Lil Nog gets beat up and taken down at least twice per round and wins a split decision. Lil Nog had a darce attempt, but besides that, Brilz just stands up whenever he’s in turtle, side control, or guard. Well, there WAS a crucifix that any blue belt could have held, but Brillz somehow just stands up from that too. One thing that kept working was the deep half guard sweep that’s probably new to MMA but has been an “in” thing in BJJ for quite some time. I hate it, prefering the lockdown, but it worked here. Brilz doesn’t even complain because the crowd knows what’s up. Joe Rogan’s hilarious. He interviews Lil Nog, “The crowd is saying bullshit. Were you worried about losing this fight in the decision?” Rogan’s so great for the sport. *
Heavyweight bout: Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow
Todd Duffee is buff and Russow has a tire around his waist. Rogan reminds everyone that buff guys gas. Duffee punches the shit out of Russow, but Russow trained at Homer Simpson Top Team and takes every punch like a man until Duffee’s arms gas. Duffee is still winning this entire fight up until the mid 3rd round with Russow supplying no offense. Then, out of no where, Russow grazes Duffee’s ear and he falls like a sack of shit. Rogan orgasms that this was the greatest come-from-behind KO ever. This would actually matter if these guys were exciting fighters. LAME
Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller
The UFC has a boner for Bisping, but I really think he sucks. Dan Miller is a wrestler and a BJJ black belt, so of course he stands the whole fucking fight until the last minute of the last round. I just don’t understand the Demian Maia mentality. You’re awesome at grappling and submission, so you stand up and box. In the beginning of the fight during the stand off, Bisping puts his forehead in Miller’s face, which was pretty gay. Bisping gains confidence as dumbass Miller trades punches and gets tags from Bisping’s weightless punches and wins every round. Around the middle of the 3rd round Bisping’s weak chin almost costs him again, but Miller sucks. Miller does one take down, but he’s so tired that Bisping just gets up. Stupid, disappointing fight. I want to see grapplers take down and grapple. LAME
Light Heavyweight bout: Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans
I actually got goosebumps and butterflies for this fight. Rashad does a bit of capoeria in his stand up. Rashad’s pretty fast. His basic strategy is to come in and jab and get out, and when Jackson gets confused enough, Rashad fake attempts a takedown and just holds Rampage on the fence. The crowd boos every minute of this fight until Rampage punches Rashad and Rashad goes lights out for two seconds. Rampage is so gassed from losing 50 lbs to fight this fight that he doesn’t finish. Rashad punches Rampage in turtle and the fight ends. Rashad won, but his style is the modern version of ground and pound when it was boring. Back in the day, Old school ground and pound had wrestlers take down BJJ guys and just do baby punches to win. Boring as fuck to watch, but you can’t deny that the wrestler won. This was REALLY bad for the sport of MMA. As the sport evolved, punches and elbows were thrown more dangerously, and people in the guard discovered the wall walk and the wall ride where you just use the wall to stand up from guard. Now we have Rashad where he pins you on the fence and just baby punches you until Herb Dean separates you. You can’t deny that Rashad won, but this type of fighting is bad for the sport. Much worse than Geijitsu master Lyoto Machida who was just dodging, not running, so that was more entertaining for me. Rampage didn’t look hurt the whole fight. Fuck Rashad. I hope Shogun beats the fucking shit out of him, but it’s a style conflict where Shogun wants to mash and Rashad just wants to hold you on the fence, so Rashad will probably regain the title. LAME
Shitty as FUCK night with boring action leading to boring decisions. Next card with Chuck “Asshole” Liddell and Rich “I Created Geijitsu” Franklin will be a better card.