UFC 119 (Post-Fight Rant)

This card was stacked with potential. But only for the pre-main event cards, though. The main event looked weak on paper (for Cro Cop was just a late sub). And that was what it really was. A bore!

Now here are my two cents for each of the fights:

Melvin "The Young Assassin" Guillard VS Jeremy "Li'l Heathen" Stephens
This had "Fight Of The Night" written all over it. Sadly, it went to the undercard fight between Matt "Meathead" Mitrione and Joey Beltran.

In this fight, we were supposed to see a much more rounded Guillard. He could've used his wrestling to bring Li'l Heathen (who's more naturally a striker) down on the mat. Too bad he resorted back to his striking. It's good because he's explosive and has power in his hands. Bad because he could've finished Stephens with some of his ground-and-pound. Good thing that he won. I am wondering who's next for Guillard. They should give him a top 10er, that's fo' sho'!

Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk VS Evan DunhamThis was Highway Robbery 101. Split decision victory for Sherk? Oh come on! The value of his name gave him the win, not anything else. I don't know what the judges were thinkin'! Honestly, the judges sucked on this card too. And guess who one of the judges was on this event. Cecil fuckin' Peoples! Man, that judge's a rip!

Evan Dunham deserved the win more than the Muscle Shark. He's been tearin' it up in the lightweight division lately, and deserves to climb up the ladder more than Sherk.

Matt "The Terror" Serra VS Chris "Lights Out" Lytle
I thought that this fight will contain the KO Of The Night. Serra seemed to be more than happy to stand and bang with Lytle, which is a big no-no because he should be using his BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-jitsu) black belt on Lytle, who's more of a brawler. Though Lytle has a few submission wins himself, in the end, it's the bigger guy that wins.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira VS Ryan "Darth" Bader
The Li'l Nog hype train needs to stop here. Rogerio seems to be just riding Minotauro's coattails because so far, his most impressive win in the UFC was against Luiz Cane. After that, it was all nothing. I mean, who almost loses to a late replacement Jason Brilz?!? Only over-hyped fighters, that's who.

Darth Bader showed in this one that he could hang with the big boys. This former TUF winner came in with only wrestling in his arsenal. Now he's got submissions and some striking too! Good UD win for Bader!

Frank Mir VS Mirko Cro Cop
This was one of the worst main events that I've seen for a long time now. These two former champions fought as if they had a silent agreement in controlling octagon aggression. It looked like a glorified sparring match.

Well it seemed that way 'till before Cro Cop ate a Mir knee in the 3rd. Now that lulled him to sleep. Another W for Mir, albeit a lackluster one. IMO, Mir has already reached the zenith of his improvement curve (he's 31), while Cro Cop should just hang it up. He has nothing to prove anymore. He's got legions of fans all over the world (especially in Croatia and Japan) and maybe he should just think about his safety and future.


Overall, a very weak card. That's why I can't wait for UFC 120. I'm rooting for Akiyama just because he's Asian and Bisping's too cocky. John Hathaway has got some potential so I dunno how he's gonna match up against Mike Pyle. But the fight that has "detonation" and "fight of the night" (nigh "fight of the year"!) written all over it is the Dan Hardy-Carlos Condit fight. Joe Silva (the current UFC matchmaker) is a genius!



*image from www.ufc.com