UFC 100 Recap & Thoughts
By Bryan Levick on Jul 12, 2009
UFC 100 has come and gone but the events from last night will live on forever, including Bruce Buffer pulling off the Buffer 360 during the night’s main event. I am happy to say that I was 5 for 5 on my main card predictions. I may not have picked the exact outcomes but I did predict the right winners. The organization rewarded four fighters $100k bonuses to commemorate the evening.
Tom Lawlor who fought C.B. Dolloway on the undercard was awarded the submission of the night, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Alan Belcher were awarded the fight of the night bonus and Dan Henderson who made all Americans proud with a devastating knockout of Michael Bisping was fittingly awarded the knockout of the night. The main card was awesome and featured a little bit of everything. From great wrestling, brutal ground and pound and last but not least redemption.
I was intrigued by the Belcher-Akiyama fight going into it because there was a lot of hype surrounding the Korean Judoka’s signing and because Belcher always seems to find himself in exciting match-ups. I have to say that I am a bit disappointed in both men’s performances and shocked that they won the fight ojf the night bonus. Belcher showed a great chin and Akiyama showed his all around skills but both men seemed to gas pretty early and were content with staying on the outside rather than engaging more often. I guess I was just looking for more action.
What more can I say about Dan Henderson that hasn’t already been said? The man just brings it every time and instead of getting caught up in Bisping’s nonsense he kept quiet and as he said he made mental notes that he would use once the fight started. I don’t want to hear that he took an unnecessary shot at a fallen Bisping because fighters are taught to keep going until the referee stops the bout. Henderson was just waiting to land his shot and with Bisping circling towards his right hand it was just a matter of time.
It remains to be seen where both men go from here. Dana White implied during the week that the winner would go on to face middleweight champion Anderson Silva at some point and I am all for a rematch between Henderson and the Spider. As for Bisping, getting knocked out like that will live with him forever, will he be able to come back from a shot like that or will he bounce back and work even harder to improve? I for one have always felt he was a bit overrated.
Before I go on and talk about the greatness that is GSP, I have to talk about Thiago Alves first. Yes the man lost, but I believe he won on a different level. He is only 25 years old and he will come back from this and he will be welterweight champion one day. I thought he did a terrific job of avoiding any serious damage and when he was in a precarious position he was able to get himself out of it. I became a big fan of the Pitbull last night.
GSP is without a doubt the best fighter in the world right now. He possesses Olympic caliber wrestling, strong submissions, unheralded striking from any position and a heart that is unmatched in MMA today. The man fought for over two rounds with a groin injury and still took his opponent down at will and did what he had to do to win a very tought fight against a very game opponent. He battled a man who was bigger than he was and showed everyone why he is the prototype for this generations mixed martial artist.
I have to say I loved watching Frank Mir get his faced smashed in last night. When he got up after the first round was over his face looked like it was hit over and over with a sledge hammer. At not one point in this bout was he able to mount any serious offense or submission attempts. Mir looked to be in great shape but what do you do when you are fighting a gorilla?
Speaking of Lesnar, the man is strong, fast and besides what people say about him, he is extremely smart. The way he handled Mir on the ground and avoided making a mistake showed how hard he has worked. He never gave Mir an opportunity to make any noise and he didn’t put himself in any bad positions. As far as his post fight antics, I can certainly do without them. This isn’t wrestling and flipping the crowd off and disrespecting your opponent was unnecessary. Even in defeat Mir was humble and gave credit to Lesnar for making the adjustments necessary to win this fight. I don’t like Mir, but I do respect him.
I didn’t catch the Fitch-Thiago bout but from what I hear it was competitive. Fitch will eventually work his way towards another bout with GSP because in my opinion he along with Alves are the rest of the best in the 170lb division. Please don’t tell me that if Mike Swick wins against Kampmann he should get a shot at GSP. I love Swick I really do but until he defeats one of his AKA teammates in Fitch or Koscheck he hasn’t proven anything.
Some other notes from last night, according to a report from MMA Junkie the live gate was $5.1 million with over 11,000 people in attendance. Not too shabby. Now we just have to wait and see what the pay-per-view buys are. I believe it will be well over a million buy and will break the record set by UFC 92 which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million.
Now we move forward to UFC 101 next month in Phildelphia which yours truly will be attending live. Highlighted by a lightweight title bout between champion B.J. Penn and challenger Kenny Florian the UFC’s first trip east since November of 2007 promises to be exciting. If that wasn’t enough we will see Anderson Silva make a move back up to the light heavyweight division as he battles former division champion Forrest Griffin.
Speaking of Griffin, his bout with Stephan Bonnar was named the number one fight in UFC history and deservedly so. This fight was credited by many including Dana White himself for launching the UFC into the juggernaut it has become, congratulations to both men.
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As much as I do not like GSP you will never hear me say he is not a great fighter. As far as the “best” he needs to fight Silva to prove that, otherwise he is fighting guys who he already beat! And I do not like Mir, but you got Brock and the way he will be forever! He did the same thing with Randy Couture before and after the fight. He has openly said he does not respect his opponents. Overall, I was not really impressed with any of the fights except for Henderson, whose vicious KO of Bisping really was not the way people thought the fight would end. Lesnar won the only way he can, and I know winning is everything, but it was not very impressive.
Bill,
I gotta disagree about GSP “having” to fight SIlva to claim the “greatest ever” title. GSP will be a small 185, and SIlva is a big one. Should GSP have to fight Fedor, too? Now, I’m not saying he IS the greatest ever…he is up there, but if he fights Silva and loses, does that make him not the best ever?
I think it is funny how everyone assumes that for a person the be the GOAT, they have to change weight classes and dominate outside of their comfort zone.
Why would GSP have to fight Silva to be considered the best? Especially when the current greatest 170 pounder didn’t have to jump around…He simply dominated in typical Matt Hughes fashion…I am a Hughes guy, but GSP is one bad loss to Serra from owning that honor…
Hughes did jump up to fight Royce Gracie remember. If GSP really believes as he stated that “skill and technique beats size and strength every time” then it will not matter if he’s a small 185 right? I mean so far Silva, Hughes, Franklin, Gracie,BJ Penn, etc… have proven their status by beating bigger stronger fighters, so why not GSP? Who does he have in his division to fight?
And no he doesn’t have to beat Fedor or even fight him. No one is saying that he has to fight that far up. But if other fighters who wanted to “cement their legacy” as GSP as stated he wants to do have done it, why not him?
Bill at first I didn’t agree with you there, but your last point made sense to me. With that said, let’s not forget that Royce Gracie was beating guys that SIGNIFICANTLY outweighed him.
All the hype stating Thiago Alves was bigger and stronger than GSP sounds just like hyperbole because all I know is on Friday July 10th both fighters weighed 170lbs. NOT like Mir at 245lbs. and Brock at 265lbs., that’s a CLEAR difference in who is bigger.
Oh yeah, BJ Penn moved up in weight several times but only became victorious once in beating Matt Hughes. That’s real. Most fighters in the UFC are moving down to gain an advantage Silva and Penn are the only guys moving up. EVERYBODY talks about moving up for a challenge, but they’re not doing it.
while UFC 100 was huge and really special . . . uhmm Tito still looks like a big deal. It’s 2009 on a card with Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre ($5.1 million) and they still did not outdo Liddell-Ortiz at the gate. That really sucks that Ortiz was not invited to the Fan Expo or UFC 100. Dana White needs to grow up and put his personal gripes behind him.
I agree Vee! Not only should Tito have been put into the Hall of Fame, he should have been a part of this weekend!
Tito was spoonfed small fighters,and ducked Chuck for two years. He ran from the UFC and is no longer a top 10. He will be in the HOF one day though.
I hope so, but not so sure…He wont until him and Dana kiss and make up.
My point VEv is that the difference between a “good” and “legendary” or “pound for pound” great fighter is that they go to the best fights. GSP has nothing waiting for him at WW so take a “super fight.” Even if you loose you went up stood your ground and proved yourself. Its not like he is going to kill you! If they let him Silva would probably fight Lesnar.
GSP has no more chance of defeating Anderson Silva than Silva does of defeating Lesnar. I say that as a big fan of both PvP kings and with grudging admiration of Lesnar’s athleticism.
One of the reasons GSP has been able to dominate the WW division so consistently is because he is long-limbed for a 170lber, along with his unparalleled skill at takedowns. Thiago Alves was (supposedly) close to 200lbs when he entered the Octagon, whereas GSP was at 186. BUT — GSP has longer arms and legs than Alves, and just as we saw Forrest Griffin defeat more dangerous strikers (e.g. Rampage) with his advantage in reach, GSP was able to do the same against Alves — stay just out of reach, and keep him cautious with the threat of an explosive double-leg takedown.
Notice how good GSP’s jab has become — he uses it brilliantly to disorient and frustrate his opponents. The tactic would be much less effective if he had the T-Rex arms of Sean Sherk.
Against Silva, GSP would be smaller, have a (much?) shorter reach, and (takedowns aside) the weaker man. I’ve studied Silva’s fights in slo-mo and despite his skinny physique at 185 (BTW he’s back up ~200 lbs in the Octagon) he is a STRONG dude — he manhandled Rich Franklin in both fights. And what’s more he is, bar none, the most talented striker in MMA today. He is a phenom, ahead of his time, the Bob Beamon of MMA. My unofficial nickname for him is “Supernatural”.
Silva vs. Lesnar would be an interesting fight, but unless Lesnar has a glass chin (unlikely), his massive advantage in weight, power, and reach would give Silva few options. He’s not as fast as Silva but he’s fast enough — I can’t imagine Brock getting laid out by a Ray Mercer-esque haymaker like Sylvia was. Lesnar would eventually trap Silva up against the cage, get into half-guard, and batter him until he taps.
I think GSP could be an effective fighter at MW, though to a lesser extent than Silva is at LHW. But I don’t see him defeating Marquardt, or Vitor Belfort, or (probably) Dan Henderson — much less taking on the much taller PvP king of MMA.
The ONLY reason people are calling for a GSP vs. Anderson Silva fight is because Silva is looking bored in the Octagon, and because GSP is so consistently dominant in WW. But GSP wouldn’t have any more chance against Anderson than BJ did against him in their second matchup.