Verbal Submission: UFC 130 Review

Time to review UFC 130

 

Music to listen to: Miss Those Days by Celph Titled & Buckwild

-“Rampage” still a major face in the UFC:  When the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard fight got postponed due to injuries, the UFC didn’t hesitate to elevate Rampage into the main event and with good reason.

Whether its because of his role in the A-Team movie remake, funny promotional interviews or aggressive fighting style, Rampage has arguably become the biggest name in the UFC, including Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar.

While more may have been expected more from Rampage, which is a fair assessment considering that he’s a class above Matt Hamill, the fact that he was able to outwrestle his opponent with a fractured hand before the fight is impressive.

-Rick Story is officially a contender:  After his impressive win over Thiago Alves, Story has made a case for himself to crack the top-five in the welterweight division.

-Travis Browne represents the improving depth of the UFC heavyweight division:  It was only a few years ago in the UFC when the heavyweight division consisted of Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia and that’s it.

Now, with Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir and a cast of others, the heavyweight division may be the strongest as it has been in years.  The main reason for that is you now have better big athletes such as Browne entering the sport and giving the division more capable bodies to compete at a high level.  Browne’s knockout of Struve will make the short list of knockouts of the year.

-The UFC desperately wants Brian Stann to be a factor in the middleweight division:  I’ve been saying that the best career move of the last 12 months was Jon Jones joining the training camp of Greg Jackson.  Stann moving down to middleweight may be a close second.

His solid victory over Jorge Santiago puts him in a potential spot to be a contender in a weak division.  While its easy to look at Stann as the American military veteran who is only getting a push because of his background (him fighting on Memorial Day weekend wasn’t a coincidence), the man has the skills to fight for a belt in due time if he keeps progressing like this.

-Thiago Alves has entered the realm of division gatekeeper:  There’s no shame in being a gatekeeper, meaning that you aren’t a contender for the championship but someone can determine if they themselves are ready for a title shot based on how they do against you.

However, for someone who had the hype of Alves only a few years ago, including a title shot against St. Pierre, losing to Story has to be a humbling step back for him.

-Frank Mir is a step above Alves:  The good news for Mir is that he’s a recognizable name who will always have a place in the UFC.  The bad news is that he’s at best the fourth-best fighter in his division.

-I still have faith in Stefan Struve.  He still has many fights left in him and will get better…remember, he’s only 22.

-Roy Nelson really needs to improve his physical conditioning.  Notice that I didn’t say that he needed to lose weight or get rid of his amble stomach area.

Nelson usually has the ability to carry his substantial weight and show better conditioning than he did against Mir.  I know that reports have come out that Nelson was ill during the fight and that surely can effect your fighting skills.  However, losing a few pounds may or may not be the answer.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?