UFC 94: The Big Story, The Good Story and the Non-Story

Following UFC 94 was an act of patience, two parts ritual and one part banging my head against the wall. Eight decisions in ten fights is a mathematical anomaly, and the fact that it went eight straight starting from the bottom of the card is a freak accident.

It’s hard to write a piece about something that didn’t happen. Like the old allussion to Sherlock Holmes, who pointed out how strange it was that the dog didn’t bark. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone missed the lack of finishes. Five split decisions, three unanimous, no submissions and very, very little excitement before the main card. This is the ultimate non-story. The only way it could be worse is if it were the only story. We’re fortunate, then that it was not.

The best story of the night, of course, is not the victory for Georges St. Pierre, though that’s a great story for long time fans of St. Pierre, who wanted him to have a decisive victory over the lightweight champion. The best story is Lyoto Machida. I wasn’t rooting for him, and many others weren’t behind him either, but after he stopped Thiago Silva, he proved that he’s capable.

If someone had told me (or any fan) that Machida was going to not only have the fastest finish on the card, but that, as the second to last fight, he was going to be the first guy to keep the fight out of the hands of the judges, I would have been rolling on the floor. Machida’s performance, though, demonstrated how he is capable of finishing and that it is possible against an opponent with some cardio and ground skills (sorry, Sokoudjou).

The fight between Georges and B.J. was hard for me to watch, because Georges looked so good and he tore through Penn’s ground game, a game I know has far more capacity then that. I think it proved a number of things about Georges. It proved that his grappling skills have come a long way, that he’s capable of competing against top tier Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelts, but also that working with Greg Jackson has added a huge element to his glame planning.

The Jon Fitch fight was great, and people are going to argue that Fitch would beat Penn, not that Georges finished B.J. but couldn’t finish Fitch. The Georges St. Pierre that showed up last night was unlike any incarnation that I have seen thus far of Georges, not in that his dominance was different, but in that he was cerebral, composed and intent on enforcing his will, his gameplan and his pace.

In the fight with Fitch, there were moments when Fitch was able to slow the pace down, which was why he was able to survive in order for the judges to give Georges the decisive victory, instead of the referee. Georges seems to have decided he’s not going to let that happen anymore, and B.J. was the first recipient of Georges’ new form of delivering punishment.

Winning is about fighting smart and doing damage when the opportunity persents itself, and that’s what Georges did. If this is a consistent Georges St. Pierre, a fighter that has matured past the gittery title shot against Matt Hughes and the absurd sense of security he felt in his first title defense against Matt Serra, then Georges is not just the biggest story of the night, but the biggest story of a career that is going to be incredibly significant in he history of the sport, as it establishes a turning point between the young, energetic, likable warrior and a more mature, seasoned veteran status that marks a champion.