Its an age old adage : You get what you pay for.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, fans certainly got a fantastic main event as Urijah Faber tried to take the 135 lb. bantamweight world title from Dominick Cruz. Like their first meeting, a title was on the line. Also like their first meeting, it was Cruz's promotional debut (they had fought in the WEC in Cruz's debut in that promotion in 2006).
Also on Saturday night, the belt didn't change hands, as Cruz's footwork and precise striking were clearly the difference in a unanimous decision victory, scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47. While "The California Kid" was certainly in the fight, landing arguably the 3 best shots of the 25 minute affair, his inability to go in for the kill and finish was certainly shown, and Cruz showed incredible grappling abilities, scrambling from more than one position and landing a couple takedowns of his own.
Next for Cruz : Demitirous Johnson or Brian Bowles..
Next for Faber : Miguel Torres.
The co-main event likely saw the end of the career of PRIDE legend and fan favourite, Wanderlei Silva as he took on Chris Leben. Wanderlei certainly looked different, it being his first fight in nearly a year and a half as he rushed in right away, attempting to re-create many of his legendary KOs from the early part of this century. However, it is no longer 2004, its 2011, and once Leben's fist landed on the Brazilian's chin, it was over, as Wanderlei feigned and fell prone with the American finishing with mop up punches.
Next for Leben : Vitor Belfort.
Next for Silva : Kind of hard to see him walking away. If he does return, either Yoshihiro Akiyama or Jorge Rivera.
GSP teammate and KO artist Carlos Condit took on Korean Dung Hyung Kim in the first fight of the PPV card. Kim threw and landed a high kick to secure an early takedown, though it was reversed into a guillotine attempt by "The Natural Born Killer". From there, the 2 scrambled to get back up, with Kim clearly the aggressor, though not hitting Condit. After a stalemate on the feet that lasted almost a minute, Condit threw a flying knee that caught "Stun Gun" on the chin, finishing off with a wild flurry of punches late in round 1.
Next for Condit : Very difficult to argue he doesn't deserve a title shot, but...The winner of Jake Ellenberger and Jake Shields looks appealing as well.
Next for Kim : He may be Dung Hyung Kim and he may be Stun Gun, but he can't compete against GSP. Hell I don't think he could even compete against Nick Diaz. Perhaps Diego Sanchez or Martin Kampmann.
Melvin Guillard continued his exponential rise to the top of the lightweight division, disposing of Shane Roller early, after a few hesitant moments including an eye poke from "The Young Assassin".
Next for Guillard : Perhaps Anthony Pettis or Donald Cerrone.
Next for Roller : The loser of Ben Henderson-Jim Miller.
Honorable Mention : Its amazingly ironic that on the same night we saw the end of one legend, another clearly resurrected his career. Tito Ortiz, a 4-to-1 long shot and a regular victim of constant retirement talk on this blog, faced Ryan Bader in the night's second fight. After dropping Bader with a short right hand, Tito secured a choke that made the prospect tap early in round one. For Ortiz, who hadn't tasted victory in about 5 years (his last win was against Ken Shamrock. Not the UFC 1 or UFC 5 Ken Shamrock, but the faded, past his prime, in desperate need to retire, verbal submitting at Impact FC in Australia last year version), this was jubilation. I didn't even make a pick on this fight because I had figured "Darth" would blast Ortiz into next week. Didn't happen though. Tito clearly made a case that his career deserves to end....at least in one more fight.
2 for 4 on my picks for the night, which brings me to 32-20-2 for the year.
After this, there will be no action for about 3 weeks, with the next card happening to be Bellator 47 at Rama. and yes, I think i said enough times i'll be there.
Email me at mmarmageddon@gmail.com or follow me on twitter at twitter.com/mmarmaggedon.
Until next time, fight fans!
No comments:
Post a Comment