As far as the fights go the card pretty much was predictable except for the KO of Mir which could have went another way. But having went to UFC 78 at the same place in 2007 I have some observations. First of course the ticket prices have gone up obviously. But the floor seating at this venue was limited this time around, so that tickets that had allowed floor access were now bleacher seats.

Secondly, the crowd seemed to know nothing about the UFC, let alone MMA. The major example I can give is that while my girlfriend and I were standing in line to get in former WEC champ Mike Brown walked through the crowd virtually unnoticed. He then stood next to us in line with his girl friend as he waited to get in. While we and few others got pics and chatted it up with Mr. Brown, the vast majority of those around us had no clue who he was as only three pics were taken with him.

Finally the crowd seemed on the most part to have no clue about the fighters or the fighting. I mean they were booing Almeida and yelling “stand them up” during the fight, although the cheers for Almeida were intense. Obviously the idea of him being a BJJ fighter did not cross their minds. There were more instances but this really stood out because he is from Jersey.

Unlike some New Yorkers I do not “hate” New Jersey for the most part. But this was the most uninformed MMA crowd and I blame it on a few things because like I said it did not appear that way at UFC 78. The ticket prices and economic situation have obviously priced out some serious fans. The crowd reminded me of boxing crowds who sat and talked through fights, because that is what people did. And given the BJJ and wrestling schools that exist in N.J. you would think a more informed audience would have been in attendance. Put it this way I was expecting the cast of “Jersey Shore” to pop up.