UFC 136 Post Fight Thoughts and Match Making

Well after waking up this morning, feeling a little groggy from last night’s festivities, I couldn’t help but have some mixed feelings towards what I watched last evening. The Facebook portion of the card delivered one-sided, yet rarely impressive decision wins as well as yet another sloppy, gassed-out heavyweight brawl. The prelims on Spike TV, despite consisting of two fights that easily could have been on the main card, fell short of expectations with Pettis/Stephens resulting in an unexpected clinch and takedown battle and Maia/Santiago being nothing more than Maia using his stifling ground control to prevent Santiago from doing anything remotely offensive. Luckily, once the pay-per-view portion of the evening started, the rest of the card kicked it into overdrive and really delivered.

• Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard III looked a lot like their 2^nd fight early on when Maynard stunned Edgar and had him on wobbly legs. Once again, though, Edgar recovered nicely and went on to confuse and frustrate Maynard with his superior footwork and boxing and took rounds two and three. In round 4, the unexpected happened and Edgar clobbered Maynard against the cage, followed up with some nasty shots on the mat, and earned a vicious stoppage that was given KO of the Night. Edgar, despite being undersized for the division, has made a strong case for being the best lightweight in the world. I’d like to see Edgar’s next defense be against the winner of Ben Henderson/Clay Guida, but with Gilbert Melendez making the move to the UFC, El Nino may get the next shot. I’d really like to see Maynard take on Melendez first , though, to not only expose Melendez to the UFC fan base, but also to see if Melendez really belongs in the elite of 155.

• Jose Aldo defeated Kenny Florian in a fight that will not likely stay in the minds of fans for a very long time. Florian looked good early in the 1^st round, but for the next four he had little to no effective offense and was picked apart by the champ. At 35 years of age, this is likely the last time we’ll be seeing Florian in any kind of title fight, but his accomplishments in the UFC will keep fans interested in him, and there are plenty of great match ups for him at 145 (Mike Brown would be my pick). Aldo defended his title, but did not look like the same fighter we saw in the WEC. Some believe it has to do with the cut to 145 becoming too difficult for Aldo, but I think it has much more to do with the level of competition he is facing. Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, and Urijah Faber all went the distance with Aldo because they are considerably better fighters then people Aldo finished (i.e. Cub Swanson and Chris Mickle). It looks like Chad Mendes is next for Aldo, but I’ll save my Stupid Prediction for when the time comes.

• Chael Sonnen defeated Brian Stann via 2^nd round arm-triangle choke in a fight that was absolutely dominated by Sonnen’s takedowns and wrestling. At no point did it ever really look like Stann was in the fight save for a few submission attempts, but in the end Sonnen easily wrapped up Stann’s arm, hopped into side control (beautiful transition I must say) and torqued the choke until Stann was forced to tap. The real story of the fight, though, was Sonnen’s post fight interview. In what will likely result in numerous and stupid Pro-wrestling/MMA comparison articles, Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva to a rematch and added a “loser leaves town” stipulation. I know some people are eating this up, but I can’t get into this kind of forced hype. This is a real sport, this is not a predetermined soap opera with a storyline put together by a team of writers. Leaving the sport or a division should be a personal decision based on factors like age, past performances, etc. not because some guy trying to sell PPV’s feels the need to act like he’s Stone Cold Steve Austin. I think the rematch sells itself and doesn’t need all of this unnecessary hype that will garner far too much unnecessary attention.

• Nam Phan defeated Leonard by judges decision ( I was nervous) in a wild battle that earned both men bonuses for fight of the night. Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were losing their minds during the fight, and while it was definitely entertaining, I don’t buy into all the love that Leonard Garcia seems to get from the UFC. Winging wild punches that do no damage (well ok they hurt if they land, but it’s rare) and getting beaten to a pulp should not receive as much praise as it is given. I don’t even want to talk about Leonard Garcia that much just because I don’t think he really deserves my attention. He’s not a UFC caliber fighter, but due to his style he’ll continue to get the Dan Hardy treatment. What we should be talking about is Phan’s great performance and how his diverse striking should be praised much moreso than Garcia’s sloppy form. As for potential fights for both guys I’d like to see Phan take on Diego Nunes and Garcia could face Tiequan Zhang with the loser getting bounced from the company.

• In what will likely be my best Stupid Prediction for a long long time, Joe Lauzon choked out Melvin Guillard in under a minute to derail the Young Assassin’s hype train and ruin any chance he had at earning a title shot. Leading up to the fight I couldn’t understand why so many people expected Guillard to walk away with the easy win. Yes, Guillard was on a nice win streak, but with the exception of maybe Evan Dunham (who is a notoriously slow starter) Guillard was mostly facing one dimensional fighters who had to rely heavily on one skill. Lauzon was the first fighter Guillard had faced since Nate Diaz that not only had the striking to hang with Guillard but also had the skills to finish the fight on the mat once it got there. Guillard is a tremendous athlete and will continue to have success in the UFC, but thinking he was amongst the elite at 155 was a bit premature in my opinion. I’d like to see Guillard take on Jim Miller next to see if maybe he can still hang with the big boys at 155. As for Lauzon I think a fight with Yves Edwards would be exciting.

Quick Thoughts:

• Pettis/Stephens really showed that it was probably a good thing Pettis didn’t get that title shot. He’s still very young needs the time to mature and develop his skill set. Pettis vs. Nate Diaz is something that comes to mind and Stephens vs. Takanori Gomi would be fun as well.

• Maia/Santiago simply became a display of Maia’s awkward striking and stifling ground control as Santiago was completely unable to do anything of consequence. Maia vs. Alan Belcher is a fight that was scheduled before Belcher’s eye injury, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that fight come to fruition. As for Santiago, if he doesn’t get cut I think a fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama in Japan would be a good way to go considering how both fighters have had much more success overseas than in the US.

• Miocic/Beltran had me excited as Miocic had been heavily hyped prior to the fight, but once the 2^nd round started I was quickly disappointed to see that I was going to have to watch a typical, mediocre, gassed-out heavyweight fight. Beltran, like I said on the radio show is a one trick pony, but his brawler style is (once again) something the UFC loves. I expect him to get another fight against a new comer or maybe Ben Rothwell. As for Miocic, he’s really going to have to work on his game if he’s going to live up to his hype, so a fight with Rob Broughton makes sense I suppose as the UFC needs to be careful handling him.

• Elkins/Zhang was just not a fun fight to watch for me. Elkins is a good wrestler, but man he really leaves his neck out there for the taking. As for Zhang, he’s just isn’t going to be China’s MMA superstar and I’d really surprised if he doesn’t get cut. I say give Elkins a fight with Eric Koch and Zhang can have Leonard Garcia or go back to fighting on the regional scene.

• Simpson/Schaefer was just a one-sided beating that I thought Schaefer would have a much better showing in. Red’s striking looked horrendous and Simpson made the win look easy. Schaefer may get another fight thanks to his taking this one on short notice, so Tim Credeur is a potential match up. As for Simpson, I think a fight with Tim Boetsch would be a fun brawl.

• Cantwell/Massenzio ended up being a closer fight than I expected and it’s really strange to see how far Cantwell has fallen. I’m interested to know why he missed so much time and why it almost ended his career. The loss to Massenzio was Cantwell’s 4^th in a row and as he’s not a fan favorite like Dan Hardy, he will most definitely be cut from the roster. As for Massenzio, I’m not sure he’s UFC material, but a win is a win so he’ll get another fight, so I say go with Riki Fukuda.

Well those are my thoughts on what went down, so be sure to share your thoughts with me in the comments section and be sure to listen in and follow all of us on Twitter.