The Aftermath – UFC 107
Your crew at FGB had some differing opinions on UFC 107. Out of the five of us, three really liked the show, while two just thought it was so-so.
Here’s what we had to say about the show:
Big D
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Diego Sanchez vs. B.J. Penn
Worst Fight: Mike Pierce vs. Jon Fitch
Penn vs. Sanchez is in the books and I have to say it was truly the first UFC that I absolutely loved since UFC 101, but I expected that. Other than Jon Fitch (who should never be on a main card again) every fight was exciting and gave me my money’s worth.
Every time Clay Guida loses, I feel bitter sweet. I know he’s going to lose, but it makes me sad when it happens. He deserves more, but just isn’t that great of an actual fighter. Still though, he entertains and deserves a job for life in the UFC. It was a fine fight to rehab Florian as a serious guy.
It was Venni, Vetti, Vecci for Frank Mir. He came in at 1/2 a pound under the weight limit and looked jacked to the gills. Kongo also looked good, but even more of his flaws were shown here. He got caught and choked completely out by the Mir the Master. Then the icing on the cake, Mir’s promo to Brock. It must happen. I don’t care what anybody says – this is money. Mir sells tickets. Do not ignore this man.
The main event was just… a massacre. I’ve been telling people for weeks and weeks that BJ was going to dismantle this man piece by piece (and you know how much I LOVE being right), and this was even more of a slaying than I thought. BJ outboxed out, stuffed all 603 takedown attempts, and dodged all of the stupid high kicks attempts, made his face a contender for “Biggest Combat Sports Possum-Face”, right up there with Miguel Cotto last month, and then LITERALLY peeled his cap back – LITERALLY. You could tell by round 3 that he had no idea what to do and he went into “let me keep trying the same thing over and over again”. It was literal. Tito, your skull wasn’t cracked – DIEGO’S WAS! Diego was utterly humbled.
Alan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Stefan Struve vs. Paul Buentello
Worst Fight: Mike Pierce vs. Jon Fitch
Struve/Buentello was a great back and forth war stacked with cool moments. As for Fitch/Pierce – YAAAAAAAAWN.
Definitive thumbs in the middle show for me. Fitch and the main event kinda bored me. Everything else was enjoyable though.
Duan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Stefan Struve vs. Paul Buentello
Worst Fight: Mike Pierce vs. Jon Fitch
I thought the show got off to a brilliant start: the Buentello fight in particular had some really fun exchanges, and Kenny Florian put on a great performance. Then Fitch vs. Pierce dragged by, and killed off that momentum completely. I found it really difficult to get back into the show after that.
The main event just demonstrated how far above every other lightweight Penn is. The fight was beaten out of Sanchez within the opening minute, and he was just trying to survive in there after that. It was almost like watching BJ Penn in a beat the clock challenge. The problem now is finding marketable opponents for this guy. Does anyone really want to see him fight Tyson Griffin or Frankie Edgar? Anybody??
Cactus Jim
Thumbs Up (A great show!)
Best Fight: Diego Sanchez vs. B.J. Penn
Worst Fight: Mike Pierce vs. Jon Fitch
Total domination by Penn. This was a clinic in takedown defense, punching, and ring generalship. While not really competitive on any level, it was great fun to watch. I found the fight entertaining (Pierce/Fitch), but given the caliber of fights on the card, this one was at the bottom.
Overall, this was one of my favorite shows this year. The outcomes will hopefully send Buentello and Kongo packing. Mir looked impressive, but I’d still rather see him fight the winner of a Carwin/Velasquez bout before a shot at a healthy Lesnar. Penn leaves the question of who can compete with him at 155. I for one don’t care to see a Florian rematch so soon. Hopefully Joe Silva has more ideas than I do. Well, worth the money and catching the replay if you missed the live event.
GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Clay Guida vs. Kenny Florian
Worst Fight: Mike Pierce vs. Jon Fitch
This show had a little bit of everything. You saw greatness (B.J. Penn), you saw sloppy but exciting exchanges (Struve/Buentello), you saw fast paced fighting (Guida/Florian), you saw a mean knockout (Mir/Kongo) and you even saw an up and comer go toe to toe with a veteran (Pierce/Fitch). It wasn’t the type of show that had exciting finish after exciting finish, but it was one of the more well-rounded shows of the year. I very much enjoyed it.
Im gonna adress the negatives first since there where less negatives than positives:
– NO MORE FITCH. Period. Ever.
– Get ALan Belcher on the main card, hell, even if it’s the first fight I really dont give a shit, his fight should of been instead of Fitch’s.
Positives:
– BJ Penn is an MMA God, I hated Sanchez coming into the fight, and the love for him grew more and more as he kept on battling through. Was it smart battling the way he did?? No, but he showed true warrior spirit and kept going 100%, I loved every minute of the main event, and agree with BIG D that this was the best UFC probs’ since, 100/101…
– Stefan Struve. I dont rate him as high as say, Jon ‘Bones’ Jones, as an up and comer, but he will be somebody to watch. He’s got that perfect frame for a heavyweight, tall and lanky, to use his ground game and great submissions, he uses his long arms and legs well, I think he’s gonna be a great all-round heavyweight and I’d love for them to give him Big Country next, get him in the spotlight UFC!!!
– Alan Belcher. Really deserved to be on the main card, and I think Dana and Joe relize that now.
– Kenny Florian. See Diego. Never really liked the guy, even from his TUF days, but in the BJ fight and the fight against Clay @ 107 really changed my opinion on him, also that fact that he left that tosser Delogratti(sp?), who as you can guess, I dont like at all….
– Clay Guida. Just a positive seeing this guy fight.
– Mike Peirce. For making Fitch look the way he did after the fight, and Fitch saying he’s gonna finish fights from now on, he’s lucky he’s still got a job with the UFC if you ask me. Boring fighter and a boring performance. Yeah, that bit should of went in the negatives…
Ha! Love your commentary.
I’m starting to agree on Belcher. He’s always going for fight of the night. Put him on main cards as long as you can find interesting opponents.
Thanks GG, always speak from the heart my friend!!
Belcher ALWAYS goes in 100% for a fight, I agree about the needing intresting opponents, he’s like Clay Guida, he’s an exciting fighter who needs an exciting opponent to make an exciting fight, you put him against a sleeper or a lazy wrestler and you’ve got a snoozefest, im intrested to see who they give Belcher next GG???
Fitch is interesting; he is very boring but he simply keeps winning. His record is quite impressive and includes wins over nearly every legit WW not named GSP. I still want to see him rematch Thiago Alves however.
I like watching Belcher fight, as long as I don’t have to see that god awful tattoo on his arm. Just brutal.
Hate B.J. Penn and it pains me to see him win.
I also like Struve but Nelson would probably dominate him at the moment. I would prefer him take on someone like McSweeney or Schaub.
KenFlo vs. Diego Sanchez would be a good fight at this point.