UFC 86 Post-Fight & More

So UFC 86 happened over the past 4th of July weekend on July 5th in Las Vegas, Nevada. The card on paper looked weak going in and proved to lack the star power of recent (obviously not the UK show) UFC events. The 1st fight of the evening (not televised) was Cory Hill vs. Justin Buchholz at 155 lbs. Hill, who became widely known from his stint on the UFC reality series The Ultimate Fighter; TUF, came in looking to improve to 3-0. After a good opening round by Hill, Buchholz caught Hill with a high kick that stunned him, than after a brief standing exchange, Hill took Buchholz down but soon lost position and Buchholz quickly took his back and choked him out towards the end of rd 2. In the 2nd fight of the night, Melvin Guillard took on Dennis Siver in the fastest fight of the night. After just 36 seconds of round 1, Herb Dean stopped the fight due to strikes as Guillard blasted away on Siver. Very entertaining and if Guillard could ever get his head on straight, he could probably be a top contender. For those that do not know, Guillard was first suspended most of 2007 after testing positive for cocaine and than lost to a heated rival Rich Clementi in his 1st fight back. In probably the best all around fight of the night, the 3rd fight saw Jorge Gurgel (Rich Franklin's BFF) vs. Cole Miller (former TUF cast member). A great back and forth fight (I had Gurgel winning at time of stoppage), saw it come to a close LATE in the 3rd and final round when Miller caught the Brazilian Ju-Jitsu specialist Gurgel in a deep triangle choke while in guard that forced Gurgel to tap. Another loss for Gurgel, if not for the Franklin connection and respect in the locker room because of his Ju-Jitsu background, this guy would be gone. However, he is looked at the same way Chris Leban is looked at, fans know him, media knows him, he is a decent fighter but will get freight trained by any legit contender, thus is good proving ground to go against up and comming fighters to gauge skill level. Miller now with the win, will probably take a big step up in competition in his next fight. (Maybe Joe Lauzon?) Next up was Justin McCully vs. Gabe Gonzaga in a heavyweight matchup. The fight didn't last much longer than the Guillard fight, and Gonzaga looked nearly as good, if not as good, as Guillard. In the brief moments of the stand up, McCully landed a few leg kicks and than Gonzaga retaliated with his own leg kick that dropped McCully to the mat. Gonzaga jumped on top, took full mount and sunk in a kimura (arm triangle) for the tap-out victory. The main televised card than kicked off with future 155 lb star Tyson Griffin took on Marcus Aurelio. Griffin was dominant as usual, however also as usual showed not much killer instinct to finish his opponent in order to methodically earn a decision win. If this kid really wants to become a legit contender, he will need to do more to become a star.. like finishing a fight with a KO or Submission. Next up for Griffin should be a step up in competition (maybe he will get Lauzon!) The 2nd fight on the televised portion saw Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle. It won bloodiest match of the night by far! After 3 rds of Koscheck taking Lytle down at will and pounding him with elbows to the head and face, Lytle finish with cuts over both eyes and blood POURING litterally from both wounds. Some say the fight should have been stopped, however Lytle never seemed to be close to being "ko'ed" nor did he want to stop. Also, keep in mind cuts on the forehead (above the eyes) pour blood quickly out making for a disgusting viewing, however not much danger to the fighter other than potentially getting into his eyes and causing sight issues.. neither seemed a factor. Either way, Koscheck gets the unanimous decision win over Lytle to get back on track after the GSP beat down. I really don't know what is up next for Koscheck, I guess Diego Sanchez would love another chance at him .. however does the UFC make that fight again after the pitiful show it was the first time? Doubtful. The 3rd fight of the TV card has another TUF vet Joe Stevenson taking on Gleison Tibau. The 1st round was a pretty decent round that saw the final seconds turn into a scare and than laugh for Stevenson. With about a minute or so left, Tibau locked on a americana attempt from the bottom and started to roll but Stevenson caught himself with his knee and the 2 were stuck in a comical stalemate for the remainder of the round with Stevenson making funny faces and glancing to the ref several times about a possible stand up. None came, but the round ended to save Stevenson from any further danger or boredom apperently. In the 2nd, Tibau came charging in and Stevenson caught an arm and his neck to choke out Tibau with a guillotine choke. Tibau was a great test for "Joe Daddy", after coming over the slaughter by BJ Penn, Stevenson really helped himself and his career with this victory. Now with this win, he looks for a possible top contender match in the near future. In the final fight prior to the main event, Patrick Cote battled an out of shape Ricardo Almeida for what was previewed as a #1 contender match for Anderson Silvas 185 lb belt. After Almeida won the 1st by taking Cote down, the 2nd was a disgracefully boring round that ended with Cote landing a shot and dropping Almeida with seconds left to win the rd. In rd 3, it was more low kicks and some punching by Cote that gave him the nod and the split decision victory over a totally out of shape and tiring Almeida. If Ricardo could have kept up his rd 1 intensity, I dont think Cote stood much more than a punchers chance. Instead, he tired and Cote decided to not attacked too much either to just squeek out the win. Neither fighter did anything to strengthen their fan support or hopes of getting the title shot that was pubilicized. Now I hear it will be Yushin Okami with first crack at Silva at UFC 88 in Atlanta, or so the rumors go. In the main event of the evening and final fight of the night, the UFC Light Heavyweight title was on the line as champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson took on challenger and TUF season 1 winner Forrest Griffin. Round 1 showed Jacksons punching power and Griffins recovery ability after Jackson landed a unreal uppercut that floored Griffin. Jackson jumped into Griffins guard but could manage nothing much offensively and eventually Griffin returned to his feet as the round ended. At the beginning of rd 2, Griffin landed a leg kick that had Jackson hurt badly. After another leg kick, Jackson was taken down and Griffin eventually mounted him but could do nothing much.. however most people felt it was a 10-8 round for Griffin due to the zero offensive output by Jackson who was in survival mode from the ground all round. Round 3 saw Jackson come out and look better on his leg, checking the repeated leg kick attempts by Griffin and occasionally jumping in to land some hard shots to Griffins body and head. Round 4 saw Jackson land a few hard shots and take Griffin down early on in the round. Soon Griffin was trying many submission attempts and locked on a triangle choke, however Jackson (with visions of Ricardo Arona in his head) started to lift Griffin up for a huge slam but while at the peak, Griffin released the triangle and fell back to the mat were Jackson again fell into guard. Again, Jackon could mount not much offense and the fighters would get back to their feet. Griffin at this point had a nasty gash above his right eye. Jackson would finish the round up with a few more big shots to end the round. The round that change it all, round 5. For anyone who judged, scored, or just watched the fight knew round 5 was a huge round for both fighters. With a 10-8 round 2 most likely for Griffin, it was clear both fighters needed a big 5th and final round. Instead, both fighters seemed to want to take little chance at being hurt further and mailed in a close and controversial 5th. The opening stages of round 5 seemed all Griffin, leg kicks, a few combos of punches and after about 2 1/2 minutes into the round, most would say Griffin was winning the round. Thats when Jackson decided to be more active and started throwing wild combos, occasionally landing a few shots to the head and body. Uppercuts were landing all night for Jackson and the trend continued in this round as well. The bell sounded as Jackson stalked Griffin down as he back peddled away from another flurry of punches. As the scores were announced, I knew something was fishy in Vegas that night. 48-46, 48-46, and 49-46 and winner by unanimous decision Forrest Griffin. 48-46, I can kinda understand, I had it 47-47 a draw, but the 49-46 scorecard is what really got myself and MMA fans around the globe pissed off. How could you say Jackson only won 1 round? And for the record, that round was round 4 on that judges scorecard, not round 1 in which Jackson dropped and nearly KO'ed Griffin. Conspiracy theorist will say "fix", that the UFC and Dana White want their poster boy Liddell to take on new poster boy Griffin in a title match should Liddell beat Evans at UFC 88. In reality, I don't believe the fix is in at all.. I believe poor scoring and judging is the real blame and has been for a while. Its not the first time in modern sport, nor UFC history, that scorecards are called into question after a fight. When you leave a fight to 3 human beings to decide based on their professional opinion who won a fight based on the 10 point must system, you will get this. In the traditional UFC days, the judges simply selected the fighter who they felt "won" after 3/5 rounds. Since the introduction of the 10 point-must system, more decisions are starting to be critized by media and fan alike. Get rid of the 10 point, and start allowing more realistic scoring (such as John McCarthy's 9.5 rule) and you will see fewer issues. All in all, Id rate UFC 86 4 out of 10 on the scale of how badly you need to see it. Outside of 2 fights, the main event and Gurgel-Miller, it really lacked the star power and fight caliber previous shows have put forth. But after a few month run that saw tons of PPVs, free fights , exc exc from UFC and that continuing with the July 19th "free stick it to affliction" show on Spike, you cant expect the UFC to put out shows stacked from top to bottom everytime out.

In other MMA news, Affliction (mentioned above) will be debuting on July 19th with a double-header so to speak. First, a 3 fight free show will be aired on the Comcast Sports Net/ Fox Sports Net affiliated channels throughout the USA. Following those 3 free fights will be the PPV portion that will feature the main event of Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia, also Andrei Arlovski vs. Ben Rothwell and Josh Barnett vs Pedro Rizzo. The event dubbed "Banned" will highlight what it calls the best collection of heavyweights on the planet on the July 19th card. For pure MMA fight fans this is a can't miss, however many inside the industry feel the name UFC carrys a ton of weight, and with the now planned "free" UFC show showcasing Anderson Silva at 205 lbs many viewers may be turned away to view the freebie. It was a clever move by Dana White and the UFC, but also a move that shows there fear of Affliction in my opinion. The most the UFC has ever done to compete against another organizations show was to run old PPV fights that had never been seen prior on Spike to combat the Elite XC CBS debacle..I mean debut. This live card, featuring the best p4p fighter on the planet shows the serioud threat the Affliction brand poses to the UFC. The pay the fighters recieve in the UFC is not nearly as large as the pay many other companies are paying fighters now, and with Donald Trump backing the Affliction brand, money is there to be spent. Not to mention, a Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko match could be the fight that sells more PPVs than any other MMA event in history, and it looks like if it happens it will be under the Affliction banner. I don't think that sounds too good to the UFC elites, do you?! With that said, the free show makes sense in trying to kill any steam that the Affliction brand could garner while leading up to that possible fight. If the buy rate blows, the free portion draws horribly as well, along with a few other issues that always pop up Affliction could be a 1 trick pony so to speak. However, the head of Affliction clothing and now MMA promotion said they plan on another event happening in the fall.. that event would most likely be with Fedor and Randy on the card, if not against each other (some have rumored Randy would take 1 tune-up fight in Affliction to build the name and work off the ring/cage rust from the long lay-off).

I will be updating soon, so be sure to check soon for more information about upcoming MMA events and results! Also, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to send me an email and I will respond with answers or comments on my daily mailbag portion to be started soon!