Winners and Losers: UFC 110 Edition

Photo courtesy of Sherdog

Sure, we may be a little late in the game to start something like this, but that’s not going to stop us. Welcome to the first MMA Opinion Winners and Losers column – featuring the fights from UFC 110 from Sydney, Australia.

Winners:
George Sotiropoulus – Joe Rogan wouldn’t stop talking about his Jiu-Jitsu, and there’s no question that Sotiropoulus has a future ahead of him in the UFC lightweight division if he can leverage this ground game. Joe Stevenson isn’t a top contender, but he’s no slouch on the ground. Throughout the three rounds, Sotiropoulus leverage his reach and ground game to stuff Stevenson and come away with an easy decision win. He won’t make it far if he can’t finish fights, but that shouldn’t be a problem if continues to improve his striking.

Stephan Bonnar – Regardless of who he is fighting, Stephan Bonnar is a guy who will never give up. He showed a ton of heart during his fight with Soszynski and displayed some improvement since his fights against Mark Coleman and Jon Jones (where an unintentional illegal spinning elbow from Jones really didn’t help him out). Bonnar is one of those guys who will fight until he collapses from exhaustion and the UFC is smart to admit that they would never cut him from the roster. Bonnar needs to start winning fights or else he’ll be fighting less and less even though he can be a non-stop machine.

Krzysztof Soszynski – Soszynski had a great showing against UFC veteran Stephan Bonnar, resulting in a stoppage win that neither fighter wanted, but a win that Soszynski definitely earned. He’s another TUF alum that has been slowly and steadily moving up the ranks in the UFC and we should expect more great fights from the Polish Experiment.

Cain Velasquez – Wow, what a crazy knockout from Velasquez to cap a night of action during the first UFC down under. There is a lot to say about this young fighter now that he has taken out the Pride legend with one hard punch and some heavy shots on the ground. His striking was crisp and Antonio Nogeura had no chance once he was dropped from that first hard right. Valesquez/Carwin and Valesquez/Lesnar would be two great upcoming fights that we can hope to see later in 2010 if Velasquez continues to train hard and land those heavy hands.

Wanderlei Silva – Has the Axe Murderer returned to his days of old at a light and fast 185? Saturday night’s fight against Michael Bisping was a back and forth exciting fight that was nearly ended in the final seconds when Silva dropped Bisping and started raining down punches on the ground. Bisping was unable to capitalize on much against Silva with a few takedown attempts that led to many knees and punches that never connected when the fighters scrambled to their feet. If Silva can continue to improve at 185, he’ll work his way back up to be a contender. He does need to stop with those crazy haymaker punches though.

Losers:
Keith Jardine – The Dean of Mean just can’t seem to hang with the top guys in the UFC light heavyweight division anymore. Ryan Bader capitalized on Jardine’s suspect chin in the third round to come away as the winner and Jardine walked away with his third straight loss. Who knows how much longer the UFC can keep Jardine on the payroll if he is unable to win these fights.

Mirko Cro Cop – Up against Ben Rothwell, Cro Cop had a challenge in front of him and a win would have propelled him back up to an emerging contender to move up in the heavyweight division once again. But against Anthony Perosh, a guy who stepped in with only two days notice, Cro Cop couldn’t seem to finish his fight. He came out aggressive, but rarely utilized his signature high kick and acted disgusted when Perosh started bleeding. Throughout the fight,Cro Cop was unable to finish Perosh after stuffing some of his weak takedown attempts, and came away with an uneventful stoppage win after cutting the Australian fighter with a sharp elbow. Cro Cop needs to go back to the drawing board and continue to use those kicks to finish opponents.

Michael Bisping – The Count talks a tough game, but he’s unable to capitalize against other top fighters in the middleweight division and makes excuses when he’s unable to finish fights. He was smashed by Dan Henderson at UFC 100, then went on to beat a struggling Denis Kang at UFC 105, so he was coming off a win and had the confidence while Wanderlei Silva knew that he needed a win to stay competitive in the race to fight Anderson Silva before Silva retires. He was able to land some shots, but Silva wasn’t fazed. His game plan to utilize takedowns and then attack during the scramble didn’t seem to work out for him and he got cornered and dropped at the end of the fight. On paper, this was a fight that Bisping should have won.

Thoughts on the Winners and Losers of UFC 110 is always welcome in the comments.