The Aftermath – UFC 105
Can we say that UFC 105 was another ho-hum show? It sounds a little spoiled to criticize a UFC show that was on cable television and one that I didn’t have to spend $45 bucks on. But I have to say that after watching Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto, this show was a complete afterthought.
Here’s what we had to say about the show:
Big D
Thumbs in the Middle
Best Fight: Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
Worst Fight: Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
Interesting show that really saw Bisping re-establish himself as a contender and put over the TUF 9 guys. It worked once, but not the other time. We also saw how Brandon Vera might hit hard, but if you don’t have the brains behind it – you will get beaten by a crafty old man, even if the crafty old man is in his mid 40s.
Cactus Jim
Thumbs in the Middle
Best Fight: James Wilks vs. Matt Brown or Michael Bisping vs. Denis Kang
Worst Fight: Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera
Both (Wilks/Brown and Bisping/Kang) offered good action and even matchups. I might give the Bisping fight the nod due to the added drama of Bisping being knocked senseless in the first round and coming out to win it in the second. I’m still not sold on Bisping though as I don’t think Kang is the same fighter he was a couple years ago. I’d like to see Bisping fight Franklin in a battle of overhyped mediocre fighters.
Vera thought he won and I gave him the last 2 rounds so he won on my card too. The guy has no one to blame but himself. He played right into Couture’s game. I don’t know whether he thought he could beat Randy at this game, but the fact is that he didn’t. Randy should take the win and retire again. If he’s going back to holding a guy in the clinch against the fence to win by way of control I don’t care to see him fight again.
I like the fact that the fights are free, but the commercials really ruin the experience for me. I enjoy the “ceremony” in the walk to the ring and find the in-corner banter between rounds provides insight into what’s going on with the fighter and what their corner would like to see. I then like to see how the fighter implements the feedback. Being able to shift in midstream is a defining factor in good to great.
GG
Thumbs in the Middle
Best Fight: Ross Pearson vs. Aaron Riley
Worst Fight: Mike Swick vs. Dan Hardy
It was hard to choose a best fight because I didn’t really like any fight in particular. And in fact, I liked the Couture/Vera battle more than everyone at FGB. I think part of it was the Randy Couture factor, but also, I liked the way Couture just outsmarted Vera. I’m not sure if Vera was gun shy or if he really thought he won the fight, but Randy made him fight his fight. When Vera wanted to engage, he landed and landed clean. So why didn’t he engage more? I guess he thought Randy was going to take him down. I think Vera is kicking himself for fighting to the best of his capability. Hopefully he learns from this loss. As for everything else, it was just average. Even the two stoppages with the TUF winners were just ok to me and felt like Fight Night fights. I was tremendously disappointed in both Dan Hardy and Mike Swick. What a boring fight that was.
Have to disagree with GG on Hardy/Swick being BORING??? Must of been watching a different fight, hell, a different show even, because the main event I watched was a complete snoozefest!! Pearson/Riley, Wilks/Brown, Hardy/Swick & Bisping/Kang were all enjoyable fights IMO, not a great card, but far from the worst…
I thought this card was great up until the main events. The Swick-Hardy and Couture-Vera fight had very few standing moments.
The rest of the card was exciting imo.
I think a couple of other things hurt this card for me. For one, it was taped and I was getting pinged about the card left and right and it was hard to not know who was winning.
Also, I watched this after the fight, which was just a tremendous event. There’s no way the UFC 105 card could’ve matched it and the only card that did match it this year was UFC 100.
Disagreement is good!
Do notice though that none of us said it was the worst card. It was a ho-hum, so-so card for me. I hated the Swick/Hardy fight because neither guy looked good. They both looked like middle of the road fighters. The winner needed to look strong for GSP.
From a strategy standpoint, the Couture/Vera was more interesting and a more interesting story. Guy who can’t break into the top of the class has a great chance to beat a legend and holds back. I’m not only a fan of the “who kicks and punches each other the most” aspect of MMA. I love the stories told and the stars that tell them. I’d watch Randy Couture grapple over Dan Hardy throwing kicks any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.
But again, it’s just my taste, which differs from not only you, but lots of folks.
Thanks for the comment!