Passing the Guard: UFC on Fox 6 Thoughts

 

Music to listen to:  Cassandra Gemini by The Mars Volta

Some thoughts on UFC on Fox:

-It was good to see Ryan Bader return to form.  Back at UFC 126 in February 2011, Bader was one victory over Jon Jones away from a light heavyweight title shot.  Jones dispatched the Arizona native, went on to win the UFC title himself and has established himself as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA today.  Bader has since been inconsistent since then, losing to Tito Ortiz by a surprise submission, looking less than impressive in a decision over Rampage Jackson and more recently getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida in August 2012.  Bader’s submission victory over Vladimir Matyushenko by guillotine choke didn’t last long (officially 50 seconds) but should give him momentum for the rest of 2013 where there will be plenty of challenges in the division to keep him busy.

-Mike Stumpf can take a punch.  Pascal Krauss dominated the majority of their fight on Saturday and dished out plenty of offense to seek a stoppage.  However, Stumpf hung in there and lost the fight but earned respect.

-Hatsu Hioki should have won his fight over Clay Guida.  I thought Hioki was better at the standup portions of the fight and even looked good on the ground, attempting solid submission attempts.  However, Guida had more takedowns that looked more impressive to the judges and received a stronger reaction from the partisan crowd cheering for their fellow Illinois native.  How one judge saw the fight 30-27 in favor of Guida should be fired as Joe Rogan said.

-Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas has a top-five nickname and is clearly a top-five featherweight fighter as well.  I see what you did with your nickname Ricardo and the staff here at The Sports Inquirer applauds it.  More importantly, Lamas’ impressive victory over Erik Koch increased his winning streak to four and should be a viable contender for the winner of the Jose Aldo/Frankie Edgar fight that takes place this Saturday.

-Bas Rutten must have been shouting for joy for Anthony Pettis.  For those of you unfamiliar with MMA, Rutten is a legendary heavyweight who used the liver shot as an effective offensive attack throughout his career.  Pettis channeled his inner Dutchman with his kick to the liver on Donald Cerrone to score the knockout victory in the first round last Saturday.  Pettis was up to his old “showtime” tricks early when he attempted a cartwheel kick that was unsuccessful against Cerrone.  However, a kick to the body about a minute into the fight staggered Cerrone and left The Cowboy open to received the eventual liver shot for the loss.  Pettis will now get his title shot against the winner of the potentially epic Benson Henderson/Gil Melendez fight.  The lightweight division was brought back to the UFC in 2006 and has become the most competitive, entertaining and intriguing set of fighters in the entire promotion.

-It’s been real Rampage.  More will be written about Rampage over the next few weeks but his defeat to Glover Teixeira last Saturday proved that the Memphis’ native time in the UFC should come to an end.  When Rampage was in shape and focused, he was one of the top fighters ever in the light heavyweight division.  However, the division and MMA in general has passed him by.  I’m looking forward to the movie career.  BTW, if you think you’re going to see Rampage subject himself to a tournament-format in a promotion like Bellator to continue his MMA career, you’re mistaken.  There’s always a fight in Japan Rampage can take but it won’t match the positioning that he would receive from being a UFC fighter.

-Teixeira is talented but not ready for a title shot.  I’ll never dismiss a decisive victory by any MMA fighter but if we’re looking at his fight in an elevated level of scrutiny, Teixeira needs another fight or two before he’s ready to enter into Jon Jones’ realm.  Apparantly, the Brazilian agrees with me: http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Glover-Teixeira-Dismisses-Title-Shot-Talk-After-UFC-on-Fox-6-Victory-Over-Rampage-Jackson-49433

-Demetrious Johnson showed the definition of winning in the “championship rounds.”  If the flyweight title match between Johnson and John Dodson was a three-round affair, we may have been looking at a new champion.  However, Johnson used his experience, reverted to some wrestling roots and grinded out a five-round victory over Dodson to keep his belt.  That’s not an insult of Johnson.  Dodson was gaining tremendous momentum in the standup game and used his left hook to knock down Johnson numerous times, especially in the second round.  However, Johnson changed up the gameplan and used takedowns to gain control of the octagon in an effective and smart way.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?