Verbal Submission: UFC 129 Review

Video to watch:  Steven Seagal being Steven Seagal after UFC 129

Here are my quick thoughts on UFC 129:

-Jose Aldo is human but still a world-class fighter

Coming into UFC 129, there were some that believed that the best pound-for-pound fighter on the card may not necessarily be Georges St. Pierre or at least it was up for debate.

While Aldo may not be the top overall fighter in MMA, his victory over Mark Hominick showed that he is in the top-five.

-Another GSP title fight, another decision

I really thought that this was the fight that St. Pierre was going to have a decisive finish that would be exciting for everyone to see but it didn’t happen.  He knew that the best way for him to beat Jake Shields was to stay on the feet and use his superior stand-up skills and that’s what we saw.  While you have to respect that, I think many MMA fans would just like to see GSP dominate a fighter with a devastating knockout or a slick submission.

-I think there’s a better chance you see GSP fight Nick Diaz than Anderson Silva

Don’t be scared, homie!

Seriously, GSP has beaten every viable welterweight currently in the UFC so the possibility of fighting Anderson Silva at a catch weight is entirely possible.  However, while St. Pierre may fight at 177 to get up to fight Silva, I think you’re going to see some hesitation from Silva to get down to that weight to fight the Canadian.  If anything, I think you’re going to see Silva fight more at light heavyweight to have less toll on his body by weight cutting.

This leaves Nick Diaz, who for all of the outside the ring drama, media produced and self-inflicting, is a world-class fighter who would pose some major difficulties for GSP.

Now that Zuffa has bought Strikeforce, its only a matter of time when we see Strikeforce fighters cross over into the UFC and vice-versa.  I know that Dana White is insisting that both brands will be separate, but this would be an appropriate situation to not use this policy.

-Steven Seagal…really, no joke to insert

Yes, I wish he wouldn’t insist on wearing those shooting glasses with the yellow tint indoors.  Yes, he’s made a lot of goofy movies that are easy to mock.  Yes, the hair is what it is.  However…

Seagal is also a 7th degree black belt in Aikido and has trained in martial arts his entire life.  He knows what he’s talking about when it comes to that element of his life.

That’s why it doesn’t surprise me that he has become involved in training MMA fighters, particularly Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida.  Those two guys would probably still be world class fighters if they never met Seagal but you can’t deny that the fighters are using some of his techniques in an effective way.

We saw this with Machida’s front crane kick that knocked out Randy Couture on Saturday.  Anderson Silva used a front kick of his own to take out Vitor Belfort a few months ago.

Don’t hate the player or the game.

-Rory MacDonald is going to be a legit contender in the welterweight division

Nate Diaz is not a pushover but MacDonald dominated him for three rounds on Saturday.  He’s just one of the wave of fighters under 25 years old led by Jon Jones who are going to be a major part of MMA for the next few years.

-Randy Couture is still a badass

Those are my quick thoughts.  Weight class rankings coming up tomorrow