The fans of Boston did a great job welcoming UFC to the city, with a successful Fan Expo and packing the house for the fights. Even Shaq, Tom Brady and Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis came out to support UFC. Even on a somewhat lackluster card, these are the things I learned from UFC 118:
1. Frankie Edgar is no fluke. Edgar came into UFC 112 a 7 to 1 underdog, yet dominated BJ Penn, arguably the best lightweight in the history of MMA to date. A lot of people didn’t give credit for what he did and said it was a fluke. So what did he do? He came out last night and did the same thing, dominating and outclassing BJ. Edgar is now the “true” champion at 155. Think about it: Frankie Edgar beat the best lightweight in the world. Twice. That says a lot.
2. Styles make fights. When fighters take on other guys with similar advantages and styles, oftentimes it doesn’t make for much of a fight. Wrestlers cancel each other out, BJJ guys cancel each other out, etc. However, when you get someone who has a contrasting fighting style, it makes for a good fight, and more importantly, makes for trouble for one fighter.
Take the rematches and future rematches. A) Machida-Shogun. Everyone thought Machida’s code couldn’t be cracked. Shogun did it. Although the first fight was highly controversial, Shogun left no questions the second time and knocked Machida out. B) Edgar-Penn. Frankie is very active on his feet, always bouncing around and keeps the same frantic pace from bell to bell. This caused trouble for BJ, seeing he has trouble with these type of fighters. C) Silva-Sonnen. Anderson doesn’t like to be pressed. Sonnen pressed him hard for five rounds. Although Sonnen did everything right short of a victory, the blueprint to beating Anderson Silva is now laid out. Styles, especially contrasting styles, make for good fights.
3. Where does BJ Penn go from here? BJ has now lost twice in row at lightweight. The last time he lost at lightweight was 2002. That’s hard to fathom. However, he’s not the belt holder anymore, so what’s next for him? He can A) move down and fight in the WEC, but that wouldn’t makes any sense. B) He can stay at 155 and try to work his way back to the top. At this point, he’ll need 3-5 fights before fighting for the title again, but does he want to do that? C) He can move back up to welterweight. Again, he would need 3-5 fights to fight for the title, but if Georges St. Pierre is still champion at that time, GSP may beat BJ for a third time.
I think BJ needs to find a new camp and/or better training partners. Living in Hawaii must be nice, but I feel it’s a hindrance on his career. Getting training partners to go to Hawaii, or for BJ to go to the mainland and train for several weeks isn’t convenient. Although much easier said than done, BJ needs to bring in guys better than him to make himself better.
And honestly, seeing BJ not fight for a title will be very weird (at least for me).
4. MMA v. Boxing: the jury is still out. Honestly, did anyone not see this coming? Couture with a takedown, then made quick work of Toney, choking him out and making him tapout (an air tap at that haha). This goes to show MMA is better than boxing…in an MMA setting. However, if an MMA fighter went into a boxing match, the boxer would probably win. So it’s not really fair to say which is better. Each has a unique situation. I do give all the credit in the world to James Toney for actually manning up and crossing over into MMA. A lot of boxers disrespect MMA, yet don’t do anything. Toney disrespected MMA, yet toed the line and saw first hand what it was all about.
My suggestion, if Toney wants to continue with MMA, is to train with…wait for it…Randy Couture. Yes, the same man who just beat him. Randy would give Toney a huge boost in his MMA career by spending time with him, training him on proper technique, and helping him become a true MMA fighter. After all, after Randy beat Vitor Belfort, he invited Vitor to train with him and help him improve. Would be nice to see the same with Toney.
5. Fighters (and corners) need to do a MUCH better job of knowing the direction of a fight. Cases in point from last night: Kenny Florian v. Gray Maynard. KenFlo was getting dominated the first two rounds, then did nothing the third round. Didn’t throw many kicks or punches, and didn’t go for takedowns. KenFlo had to know he was losing the fight, yet did nothing to go out and win. Fighters keep a mental scorecard, and need to know when to flip the switch. Same with Edgar-Penn. BJ had to know he was losing the first three rounds, and although came out somewhat aggressive in rounds 4 and 5, he didn’t let loose on Edgar. Again, he had to know he was losing, but did nothing to secure a win.
Perhaps the best recent case of this is from UFC 115, Carlos Condit v. Rory Macdonald. Condit was losing the first two rounds, then came out and let it fly in round three. He dominated Macdonald the entire round, then ended with a flurry of punches and the fight was called with less than 10 seconds left in the third round. Condit knew he was losing. Condit knew what he had to do to win. He did just that. They don’t call him the Natural Born Killer for nothing.
So that’s my take on UFC 118. Please provide thoughts/comments/rebuttals/anything you can think of.