Passing the Guard: UFC Live 4 Review

Music to listen to:  What Does Your Soul Look Like (pt. 4) by DJ Shadow

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done my last post, especially in relation to mixed martial arts.  I’m going to do a quick synopsis of UFC Live 4 and later a power ranking in another post.

-The Nate Marquardt situation will serve as a litmus test of how the regulating bodies of mixed martial arts will handle performance enhancing drugs.  I don’t want the word “drugs” to murk the analysis of this situation because according to Marquardt, he was practicing hormone replacement which is something that each of us could individually do if needed.  I don’t think this qualifies as the stereotypical case of getting steroids on the street corner or in the locker room of a workout gym.

However, the sport’s regulating bodies, particularly athletic commissions, are going to have to address this situation because if I was a fighter, hormone replacement was a viable option to improve my fitness and I could get away with it, I would be the first one in the doctor’s office to get my treatment.

Now, the Marquardt case sounds like he informed the proper authorities that he was doing the treatment but miscalculated his dosage which gave him a higher level of testosterone than allowed.  Chael Sonnen made the same case recently and hasn’t been cleared to fight in over a year.

Some fighters claim that low testosterone level is a legitimate ailment to relieve because fighting MMA without your body in a fully functional state within regulations can increase the chance of potential injury and not having the maximum effort to have a good fight.  Other fighters say that you should fight in your natural state without the enhancement of drugs, even if your optimal state may be less naturally than your opponent.

Judging from the reaction of PED issues in baseball and in various Olympic sports over the years, there’s going to be a divide between people who don’t want drugs to create “unfair” advantages for the competitors and devalue the spirit of the game while others honestly don’t care what the athletes are putting into their bodies as long as they get to see a good event.

How the athletic commissions handle this issue will mark the difference between MMA becoming a sport like track and field where one failed drug test can lead to a lifetime ban from competition or professional wrestling which has taken a liberal view towards PED usage for the its interpretation of the betterment of the sport.

-The middle portion of the heavyweight division in the UFC is looking better than ever.  I’ve written in the past about how the UFC heavyweight division used to consist of Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Frank Mir and a handful of others, making it arguably the weakest division in any promotion at that time.

However, since an influx of guys from around the world and different sports, the division has improved drastically.

The Cheick Kongo/Pat Berry showed that you can have an exciting contest between two guys who are barely in the top-10 of the weight class.  Both guys are honestly never going to be a heavyweight champion but add invaluable depth needed to have the many fight cards that the UFC has.

-I called for the Kongo/Berry fight to be called twice before the finish.  When Berry laid Kongo out the first time, I thought the fight should have been stopped.  In fact, the referee may claim otherwise today, but I believe that he was going in to stop the fight at that point but Berry kept being aggressive and he didn’t want to get hit in the process.  Somehow, Kongo was able to sprawl to regain some position but Berry hit him again and had the Frenchman down, a point of the fight that I would have stopped it once again.  However, Kongo got a desperate punch in, which landed and knocked out Berry.

-Pat Berry will be OK.  I know that a loss is a loss but he arguably had the fight won twice in the contest but left himself open in the end.  Berry showed good technique in the fight and had some positive moments that he can look back at later in review.

-I’m liking what I see of Matt Mitrione.  I’ve seen lukewarm reviews of Mitrione’s victory over Christian Morecraft at UFC Live 4, especially his lack of wrestling.  That’s a fair critique but I would rather look at Mitrione’s continuing improved stand up skills, which ultimately earned him the second-round KO victory.  I’m always skeptical of alums of the Ultimate Fighter for various reasons but Mitrione is 5-0 in the UFC and moving up the ladder properly.

-I actually felt bad for Rick Story.  He was supposed to fight Marquardt but had his opponent change in the last minute.  Furthermore, Story was outclassed throughout the fight by Charlie Brennemen, particularly in wresling, which is supposed to be Story’s strength.  It’s unfortunate that Story was actually being the good soldier in filling in for an injured Anthony Johnson in UFC Live 4 after earning a decision victory over Thiago Alves at UFC 130 four weeks ago.

I think that he won’t be looked at too negatively for the loss but in the business of MMA, you have to earn victories no matter what the circumstances are.

-Respect to Brenneman.  I don’t know who said it but luck is when opportunity meets preparation and Brenneman obviously took advantage of his chance to fight in the co-main event because of Marquardt’s situation.  He took the Story fight without hesitation and gained a major victory for his career.

-The referees at UFC Live 4 didn’t have a good night.  The referee in the Mitrione/Morecraft improperly made the two combatants stand up numerous times during the fight while both men were correctly trying to gain position on the ground.  Furthermore, referee Chip Snider missed the clearly visible illegal knee by Charles Oliveira on Nik Lentz, who has a knee down on the canvas.  The result was Oliveira getting a tainted victory on a dazed Lentz.

Some fear that this will prevent a major MMA promotion from fighting in the state of Pennsylvania again but that’s not the case.  When you have two major media markets in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, you’re going to get major sporting events.  The athletic commission would be best to place additional training for the referees and hope that this type of night doesn’t happen again.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?