It was a big deal last April when Pride superstar Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic was set to face off against Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 70. It was then that Gonzaga, a big Brazilian known for his Jiu-Jitsu, knocked Cro Cop out with a head kick that dropped the Croatian lifeless onto the canvas. So it’s not to surprise to learn that, after UFC 75 and UFC 80, the next two international UFC events, were filled with controversy over bad judging and blood drinking, big upsets have returned to the UFC in the form of an international event.
It’s not just one fight, it’s about oh maybe five or six, if you erred on one particular fighter coming back to reclaim his title of an exciting fighter after his snore-fest with Tim Sylvia at UFC 77. All of these upsets except for two occurred during the main event.
So, what happened last night at the 02 Arena?
Let’s start at the top with Thiago Alves TKO of Matt Hughes at 1:02 of Round 2. It was another missed-weight scenario with Alves failing to make weight and coming in bigger and heavier, but just like the Gina Carano and Kaitlyn Young fight, it wasn’t just size that won the fight. Alves was able to show that Hughes is lacking the ability to manage the fight. Hughes is a big guy, but he’s not showing that he can handle all aspects of the game anymore. We’ll see what he can do against Matt Serra.
Mike Swick did what Josh Stein from MMA Opinion thought he would; he stopped Marcus Davis and his win streak. Everyone was looking for a knockout from one guy or the other, but the fight made it a full 15 minutes, something that Marcus Davis hasn’t seen often. And there was his mistake, he failed to stop the fight early and it cost him.
Nate Marquardt was the next up and coming contender for the middleweight belt after Rich Franklin, Chris Leben, and Travis Leben failed miserably at their attempts to beat Anderson Silva. It wasn’t a good night for Marquardt back at UFC 73 as he was dropped by Silva in the first round. It was another bad night for Marquardt as he was deducted two points for hitting to the back of Thales Leites and then lost the decision. One of those deductions, however, was the result of Herb Dean’s inability to get a good look at where the punches actually landed once a replay was shown. Questionable upset.
As for the Brandon Vera and Fabricio Werdum fight, controversy over the upset (for some) with referee Dan Miragliotti wages on. While many thought the fight could have gone either way, not many people are happy with the way the fight ended. Sam Caplan over at Five Ounces of Pain has a good article about UFC 85 and some of the controversy surrounding this fight. This is another questionable upset.
Roan Carneiro and Thiago Tavares were both heavily favored Brazilian fighters who were expected to easily beat their respective midwestern American opponents, Kevin Burns and Matt Wiman. But, big upsets can happen on the undercard as Burns, a blue belt, submitted Roan Carneiro with a triangle in the second round. Only slightly less of an upset occured when Wiman dropped Tavares in the second round with a shot to the chin.
Will we see these kind of upsets at UFC 86? I better finalize my BetUS account because a lot of money could have been made at UFC 85 with upsets like these.
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June 9th, 2008 at 3:31am
I think there’s a good chance to make some money on Marvin Eastman, Jeremy Stephens and Dean Lister if you can get odds like those on Pinnacle.
Eastman has solid striking and his chin isn’t as bad as it’s reputation. McFedries is beatable standing and Eastman might even be able to wrestle with him if he has to, I think this is potentially a good underdog bet.
Stephens has some decent to good wrestling and can get some good ground and pound going. Fisher is tough but his wrestling just isn’t that great. Stephens isn’t as good a wrestler as Edgar probably and is more likely to take a risk and go for it trying to put his man away, so he could definitely get caught with a sub or strike. Fisher is better standing but Stephens shouldn’t have to deal with it if he doesn’t want to. There is an experience disparity but I think Stephens has a very good chance to upset.
Lister hasn’t had many great performances but there are several things working for him against Horn. 1) Horn hasn’t been looking good for awhile. He looks wore out (understandably so). 2) He’s been tapped in two recent fights by Marquardt and Santiago, though Santiago hit him with a knee first. 3) Lister is a better grappler than Horn. 4) Lister has shown a good chin while Horn’s has been less than perfect lately. I think Lister has a very good chance of dominating this fight with superior grappling, there is no way he should be the underdog but I guess he is…
anyway the underdogs aren’t quite as ripe on this card as they were the last two but those three seem like they have good shots.
June 9th, 2008 at 2:27pm
and on 86 Almeida being an underdog against Cote is free money