Battle For Ohio

If UFC 1 was the January 1st of the existence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, then UFC 100 last Saturday was Christmas morning.  UFC President, Dana White, was shooting for the sky with this fight card and he did not miss.  There were stacked match-ups down the card.  Even the “throw-in” fight that came after the main event featured Jon Fitch, who had won 16 of his last 17 fights with the only loss to Georges St. Pierre. In fact, this card was so good that it was the first PPV I ever bought…or even considered buying for that matter.

While the card was solid top to bottom, I do have a few bones to pick with the Pay-per-view and some UFC decisions.

• Fitch vs. Thiago should have been before Lesnar and Mir.  This was essentially a wasted fight.  Nobody was left in the arena during this fight, which was not a throw away.  Sure Fitch was dominated in his title shot by GSP, but this was a fight that should have gotten some help from White and been put after Belcher/Akiyama or after Henderson/Bisping.
• They should have aired more of the undercard fights.  Except for the people who were at the Mandalay Bay, no one got to see some really good matchups.   Usually the undercard is not that good, but it was solid with this being the biggest UFC event in history.  Matchups like Mark Coleman/Stephan Bonner, Mac Danzig/Jim Miller, and CB Dolloway/Tom Lawlor would have been really exciting matchups with some fighters that belonged there.
• Related to above, this PPV started at 10pm and basically ended at 12:20 after the Lesnar/Mir fight.  Adding the Fitch fight took it to almost 1:00.  UFC 100 was slated for a 4-hour time slot, 25% of which was wasted.  Especially with a still young sport with growing popularity, you have to give your audience whatever you can squeeze in.  Any two of the fights mentioned above were worth fights and shoud have been aired to fill the 4 hours.
• Dana White should have seen the Lesnar post-fight debacle coming from a mile away.  He was in the WWE and is married to Sable for Christ’s sake!!  Of course he was going to stage it and revert to WWE form.  White set his straight in the locker room afterward, but that was too late.  What’s cool about the UFC is that there is the usual trash talking pre-fight and guys try to kill each other for 3 or 5 rounds, but after the final bell rings there is always that mutual respect for each other.  It’s NOT street fighting.  It’s not staged drama.  IT”S NOT THE WWE!!!  White should have anticipated this and made it clear to Lesnar at some point after his fight with Heath Herring, when he ended the 3rd round by acting like he was riding Herring like a cowboy.  The UFC does not need that crap.
• The Akiyama/Belcher fight ended with a decision for Akiyama.  That seemed fixed.  Belcher dominated the majority of the fight.  How did one judge have Akiyama at 30-27, winning all three rounds?  That was absolutely ridiculous.  My guess is anything remotely close had to go to Akiyama because he’s a god in Japan and he needed to win his first fight…nevertheless it was BS.  Sure Belcher is a douche bag for having that crazy Johnny Cash tatoo that actually looked more like Wayne Newton, but the judging can never be compromised.  Belcher got screwed, clearly.

All that being said, White got this event 98% right, which was huge.  There was a debate on ESPN radio this week about if UFC has surpassed Boxing.  I can’t believe it was even being discussed.  the UFC has lapped Boxing.  7 of the 10 highest grossing PPV fights were from the UFC in the last year.  Subjectively, the UFC is everything that we wish boxing was…action fighting, not two fat guys wearing mittens hugging each other for 10 rounds.  If you try to stall by hugging someone in UFC, either the ref stands you up or the other guy puts on a submission, ground and pounds, or body slams you.  There is no escape…you have to be prepared.

Plus, the UFC has evolved from something interesting to something complete.  When the UFC started, it matched the best kickboxer against the best ju-jitsu guy or the best wrestler against the best submission specialist.  What it’s evolved to is that now, every fighter has ALL of those skills to some degree.

Hopkins might out-box him, but he'd get his ass kicked.

They all box, grapple, shoot, clinch, kickbox, etc.  GSP is the best example of a complete fighter…the “ultimate fighter.”

That’s the #1 reason why the UFC rules.  These guys truly are the best in the world at hand-to-hand fighting.  They can’t stall, the rules are simple (stay away from the eyes, the back of the head, and the jewels), and they leave the octagon a winner or helped out by the trainers.  There’s no escape…no fear.  The clashing styles is what really makes it interesting.  You can’t just be good at one thing and come out on top.

Boxing has wilted and will continue to die because all the guys that normally would grow up boxing, now they will be watching and shooting for the UFC.