In the wake of what may have been the UFC's most
important show in UFC on FOX, may have arguably come its best. UFC 139 wrapped up this weekend at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA leaving stunned eyes and jaws dropped for those who witnessed the amazing night of fights. In a long overdue battle of PRIDE legends, Dan Henderson took a unanimous decision over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a fight where even calling it an "EPIC WAR" could not do it justice.Random Thoughts and Analysis from the evening's fights:
-Fight of the year? Fight of the century? Dana White was quoted as calling this main event the "Ali-Frazier 3" of the MMA world. Only time will tell in that regard, but so soon after this fight has ended no amount of hyperbole can seem to accurately describe the action that took place. Looks like some new editions of the UFC's greatest fight dvd's will need to be pressed.
-There is some minor controversy around the unanimous decision that was awarded to Hendo. I personally scored the fight a draw, giving Dan the first three rounds and Shogun the latter two, earning a 10-8 in the fifth frame. It is not inconceivable by any means that someone would award the fight to Hendo, but that all three judges would unanimously agree on the scoring of the fight did come as a surprise. Seems like the most logical solution would be to run it back, Shogun vs Hendo 2 anyone?
-Hindsight being 20/20 of course, one can't help but wonder what would have happened if Hendo/Shogun had been the featured fight on the UFC's Fox debut. Like the Griffin/Bonnar 1 fight before it, this was a match that simply had you on your feet and eyes glued to the action the entire duration of the fight.
-In what was the most anticipated match of the night for the in-house crowd, Wanderlei Silva flashed back to his glory days with power punches and vicious Muay Thai knees from the clinch to take an amazing KO victory against local favorite Cung Le.
-Though able to add another highlight to his storied career, I somewhat hope Silva can find it in himself to walk away from the sport. Sure Silva managed to fight far more tactically than ever in recent memory, but the likelihood of any return to glory is remote, and years of accumulated damage has left him with a highly suspect chin. I want to see the PRIDE legend go out in a vicious blaze of glory, rather than him being forced out after being on the receiving end of a series of knockouts.
-Urijah Faber received arguably the loudest pop of the night in the crowd, and truly has never looked better. Faber's striking looked very crisp as he managed to follow up and capitalize on a stunned Bowles after a dragon punch uppercut, something that Faber looked hesitant to do in his previous fight against champ Dominic Cruz.
-On a disappointing note, as someone who thought Kyle Kingsbury was a nice prospect in the light-heavyweight division, I found myself very surprised how he lost. For a guy who trains at AKA with wrestling luminaries like Josh Koscheck, Cain Velasquez, and Daniel Cormier, I was stunned that he was so easily taken down by reputed brawler, Stephan Bonnar. Just what was Fitch doing exactly while in Kingsbu's corner?
- Dan Henderson def. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
- Wanderlei Silva def. Cung Le via knockout (strikes) - Round 2, 4:49
- Urijah Faber def. Brian Bowles via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 1:27
- Martin Kampmann def. Rick Story via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
- Stephan Bonnar def. Kyle Kingsbury via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-25, 30-27)
- Ryan Bader def. Jason Brilz via knockout (punch) - Round 1, 1:17
- Michael McDonald def. Alex Soto via knockout (punches) - Round 1, 0:56
- Chris Weidman def. Tom Lawlor via technical submission (D'arce choke) - Round 1, 2:07
- Gleison Tibau def. Rafael dos Anjos via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Miguel Torres def. Nick Pace via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Seth Baczynski def. Matt Brown via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 0:42
- Danny Castillo def. Shamar Bailey via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 4:52
$70K Fight Bonuses
KO of the night: Michael McDonald
Submission of the night: Urijah Faber
Fight of the night: Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le and Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Rua
Sharp! I say Shogun vs Hendo 2 in a month!
ReplyDeleteAn mmazing event and a great write up.
ReplyDeleteSalman and I both agreed on the unanimous decision for Hendo, but Shogun did put up a good fight near the end. Still, it was too little, too late.
As for the Cung Le/Wanderlei fight...I love both fighters, so all I have to say is "I hate it...but I love it."