I thought UFC 106 was a really strong show based on the action and number of fights we were able to see. D was a bit so-so about it, but Cactus Jim and I thought it was strong. It simply might be a case of too much MMA and nothing really standing out, but to me, this show stood above some of the others we’ve seen lately.
Here’s what we had to say about the show:
Big D
Thumbs in the Middle
Best Fight: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Worst Fight: Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
To me, this is the fourth numerical UFC in a row that has been ehhh.. just okay. There was some good stuff on the card, such as the ultimate triumph of Little Noguiera, the first two rounds of Ortiz/Griffin, the post fight promo of that fight, but also some bad such as the replaying of the same undercard fights for both the special and for the PPV (I could’ve done without one), Baroni/Sadollah and that awful Thiago fight. Overall, not worth the hefty price tag.
Cactus Jim
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Luiz Cane vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Worst Fight: Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson
There were a lot of good fights on this card. I’m picking this (Cane vs. Nogueira) mostly because I’m happy to see Nog in UFC and glad that he looks like he’s still the same guy in the guy. The fight wasn’t very competitive, with Nogueira battering him around the ring and then KO’ing him, but the result made me extremely happy.
This one (Koscheck vs. Johnson) didn’t live up to the hype to me. Phantom eye pokes, real eye pokes, lags in action, and for the most part a pretty forgettable fight in my opinion.
Overall, this was a very entertaining fight card. I went in with minimal expectations and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Most fights ended before going to the judges and those (televised) fights that did go to the judges were clear victories.
Hang ‘em up Tito. You can sell a fight better than almost anyone, but selling isn’t winning. You and Baroni need to go.
GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
Worst Fight: Paulo Thiago vs. Jacob Volkmann
My overall thoughts were that this was one of most fun shows of the year. It didn’t have that important feeling which has been the case with UFC since the summer. I didn’t think that there was anything truly bad and even enjoyed Thiago and Volkmann for what it was. If there’s anything to be turned off about, it’s the same old Tito Ortiz song and dance. Let’s consider that he said he was in the best shape of his career before the fight and then went on to tell us about all the injuries he was suffering inside the cage. And let’s also consider that by the third round, he was not only convinced that he was winning on points, but he was very unconvinced that he could stop Forrest and decided to just do nothing. He’s been fighting way too long to worry about simply winning on points in the main event of a big show that promises his return. To say that ending was unsatisfying is stating the obvious. I don’t want to see a third fight, especially if there’s nothing on the line. That being said, the action on this show was great and we got a ton of fights, which is a positive when they are good.
Good show, nothing spectacular, but like GG said, we havent seen any of that from the UFC since the summer.
Best fight was Lil Nog vs Cain, for the same reason Cactus loved it, Lil Nog is here, and here to stay!! He completley dominated Cain, who is underrated to start with, and then put him to sleep with a great punch..
Worst fight was a draw in my eyes, between Tito/Griffin and Koscheck/Johnson, I was way more dissapointed in Kos/Johnson because I was expecting alot from that fight, we got a few good seconds of action splattered here and there, but for the most part, it was a MAJOR let-down, Ortiz/Griffin was just slow and sloppy, with Griffin just looking the better of the 2…
FUCK NO to a Ortiz/Griffin rubber match, Ive got an even better idea, winners and losers square off, of course thats without any medical suspensions (Griffins Foot and erm….Tito’s….Head??), but I’d go with…
– Griffin vs Lil Nog
– Tito vs Cain
Great reviews guys!!
Thanks for reading Shielsy!
I really do wonder who they’ll put the four light heavies with next. I wonder if Tito goes back to Coleman/Couture for his next fight, since the original comeback was supposed to be Coleman.
Yeah, I can see us getting 1 more ‘old timers’ match-up between Randy/Coleman vs Tito, would much rather see Randy smashing Tito’s face in 1 more time than a Coleman match-up…
Really interested in seeing Lil Nog’ vs Griffin, UFC should make that match happen, its abit of a dream match of mine so im more biased than anything else!!
I think we’ll see some interesting match making coming up, only because they’re losing so many big fights and need to make some new matches.
We might see some interesting battles like the one this weekend with Matt Hamill and Jon Jones.
Hamill vs Jones is gonna be interesting, really, really like thie look of Jones, deffinatley is someone to watch, loved his overhook suplex of death he gave to Bonnar!!!
Just read a great little article about the UFC copying ‘Blue Magic’ from American Gangster, if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I mean, especially with all of the injuries/pushbacks for most of their top fighters/champs… I think you guys will enjoy it
Link: http://newyork.fighthype.com/2009/11/30/blue-magicl-ufcs-misrepresentation/
if anything, I think the UFC are gonna be ‘forced’ to put on some sort of ‘superfights’ soon, Give me GSP/Silva sometime mid-2010 and i’ll be a happy chappy!!
Hey,
Good looking out on that article.
The article is fine in basis, but is very flawed.
To say that they aren’t following boxing is true, but to not state that the reason boxing is promoting their PPV like that this year because 2008 was lacking shows that the author isn’t really truly following boxing or that he just decided to leave that information out.
Also, had all the UFC main events come through, the numbers would’ve been a lot different. Lesnar getting hurt changes UFC 106 from 1 million plus buys to 500k buys or whatever they’ll do for that show.
Lastly, another reason that boxing scales back on the big PPVs is because there aren’t enough stars to sell the shows so that the promoter can make money from them. If they could increase their business by doing 12 big shows a month, they’d do it. But they can’t. That’s the reason they don’t.
The UFC is definitely oversaturating the landscape, but Strikeforce is going to kill us next year because their schedule will be close to similar.
We’ll see if the UFC can continue to show so much product. Following Vince McMahon’s business plan is probably better for them. Look at WWE. They have been able to sustain for a very long time.
agree 100% GG, Personally I don’t mind that their churning out event after event, month after month, im a huge mma fan so it’s nothing short of fantastic for me, the thing that does bug me though, is when we get like 2 or 3 big UFC shows in a row and none deliver…we’ve been short of some BIG match-ups since summertime, if your gonna throw it out there this much, at least have some decent headliners…Ortiz/Griffin II showed us what a lackluster main event can do to a show, hopefullt the injuries that have played a MAJOR factor in all of this will calm down, karma will swing our way and we’ll get some BIG contender matches and some BIG title matches, fingers crossed GG!!
I think they would’ve been fine if not for the injuries. But all it does is mean that the spring should be really good for the company.