UFC 132: Five Things to Take Away
No caption needed, really.
Well people, hopefully you are enjoying a day off with some barbecued animal carcass and a nice cold beer (or some grilled zucchini and tofu scramble, whatever scratches your itch). Join us as we look back on the action from UFC 132 and what we can take away from a card as wild and unpredictable as this one. If a story comes out that some guy hit an eleven fight parley, we’re going to track him down and burn him as a sorcerer. Seriously, there’s playing a hunch, and then there’s invoking demons to influence the reality on our plane of existence.
First, some things must not be spoken of.
Like Wanderlei Silva losing, or Tito Ortiz winning. Sometimes, great reflection is required to glean the lessons of life from events that at first seem incomprehensible. Sometimes, understanding must elude us forever.
Come on in and let’s talk five things.
1. Best card EVAR?
Well, no — probably not. Wanderlei lost, so it can’t be best card ever. We might have to do some research to decide which ones were better, though. The card was ludicrously stacked on paper; even the undercard fights were charged up with guys like Anthony Njokuani, Melvin Guillard, and George Sotiropoulos ready for action, plus Bowles-Mizugaki was an opportunity for someone to claim dibs on the next bantamweight title shot. And holydamnshitwow it delivered. If you were one of those people that complains about lackluster shows before anyone gets their hands wrapped, slap yourself. Now do it again, but harder. Between UFC 132 and UFC Live: Kongo vs Barry, we hope you’ve learned not to try to play jaded psychic MMA fan anymore. Seriously, you look like a tool.
2. Hey, these WEC guys are pretty alright.
Both in terms of carrying the marquee, and in terms of how they stack up in the UFC. Anthony Njokuani got bumped up to the Spike broadcast for Tekkenizing Andre Winner, which we were happy to see. One-time WEC middleweight champ Chris Leben is working to carve out a top five spot for himself in the division, despite being written off pretty much always. Aaron Simpson is a WEC vet; he was exciting there. Plus this Condit fellow with the knee is pretty outstanding. If MMA followed BJ Penn’s rules, Carlos Condit would be 26-3 and in the GOAT conversation. Ok, Shane Roller had a rough fight, but he’ll be back.
3. MMA Judging is …. whatever, man these guys might as well flip coins.
We as much as anyone are willing to complain hysterically about bad decisions, but really, with fights as close as Cruz-Faber or Siver-Wiman, we’re willing to concede that it is possible that judges can turn in scores that are diametrically opposed to our own, without being under the influence of blindness, insanity, mental incompetence, or cash money. Tiny differences in how individuals see a fight account for total disagreement in who won the bout, and we’re just going to have to resign ourselves to that under the current judging criteria. (More liberal use of 10-8 and 10-10 rounds could be a relatively low impact experiment, though, right?)
4. What’s up with Brian Bowles?
People from West Virginia are crazy. All of ‘em, crazier than Khaos War Machine von Datsik on whatever it was that Rampage was drinking. Yet even fueled by what we assume to be reality-altering powers of psychoenergy, Bowles didn’t impress with his anything Saturday night. The former champ is going to need the eye of the tiger to get back to title contention. Plus, player, did you break your hand again? Someone never took their kung fu movies seriously. Calcium supplements aren’t on the banned list, are they?
5. Cue up Cruz-Faber 3.
The casual crowd is still catching on to these lighter weight classes, and chances are they enjoyed the bout. Why not go ahead and finish the best of three series? Cruz and Faber are so evenly-matched and so exhaustingly energetic that we’d sign on to watch those two fight three times a year. The dislike between the two doesn’t hurt either. Yes, Sean Shelby is talking about maybe Mighty Mouse, who we like, but the rubber match would generate way more interest. Strike when the iron is hot, people.
[RX]
