The Aftermath – UFC 120
UFC 120 was one of the worst cards they’ve ever put together for the numbered UFC shows, but was a decent line-up for a free Spike TV card.
As you’ll see, there were two cards presented with this show being different in the US version and the international version. The international version saw James Wilks against Claude Patrick, while the US folks didn’t see that fight. The UFC made a quick switch on the US version of the show to put on Cyrille Diabaté vs. Alexander Gustafsson, which according to everyone, was the better fight.
Here’s what we thought about UFC 120:
Duan
Thumbs Leaning Down
Best Fight: Carlos Condit vs. Dan Hardy
Worst Fight: Travis Browne vs. Cheick Kongo
The first half of this card wasn’t exactly a barrel of fun. I don’t think there’s anyone on earth who possibly could of cared about Patrick vs. Wilks, and I have seen enough Cheick Kongo fights to last me several life times. Pyle/Hathaway wasn’t terrifically interesting either. I was disappointed in Hathaway. He’s a guy who I thought could cause a bit of a stir at welterweight, but he was well beaten by essentially a lower midcard guy. Now he’s just added to the huge pile of solid 170 fighters, who can’t take that next step up.
The good news is that the big fights delivered. Condit looked great in stopping Hardy. Then the fans got sent home happy with a good, if not spectacular, performance by Bisping. He showed that he still has more left in him than I thought, and I’m now genuinely interested in his climb back towards the top of the middleweight division.
Alan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Carlos Condit vs. Dan Hardy (had that edge of the seat “someone’s getting KO’d” feel right from the start)
Worst Fight: None (of what I saw)
Missed the first two fights, but what I saw was enjoyable. Great win for Condit, much needed win for Bisping. Akiyama needs to drop to 170. I’d have him fight someone like Matt Serra.
Cactus Jim
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Carlos Condit vs. Dan Hardy
Worst Fight: Travis Browne vs. Cheick Kongo
Adding to my enjoyment of this show, for the first time in a long time I was correct with all my winner picks, although the Condit finish proved my decision prediction incorrect. I’m glad it did. Carlos looked really good and has me excited to see his next match up. The Akiyama v Bisping fight left me feeling bad for The Sexy One. He’s a much better fighter than we’ve seen in his recent fights. I hope Akiyama can get things on track and rack up another win and not end up falling into the “overrated fighter from a Japanese org” category that American fans seem to look for opportunities to lump a lot of fighters into. My general feeling was that most of the fights were fairly entertaining and overall I found the card enjoyable. Granted, I didn’t have to fork over $55 to watch this show so my expectations of value for my money were significantly lower than they will be for the card coming up this weekend. But, that’s for another post.
GG
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Michael Bisping
Worst Fight: Travis Browne vs. Cheick Kongo
My expectations were way down. So far down in fact that I didn’t watch this show until the wee hours of the night. There were three solid fights and two pretty boring fights. I have no idea why Cheick Kongo is still fighting on main cards, but at least we didn’t have to pay for it. I was disappointed in John Hathaway, especially coming off his big win over Diego Sanchez. What do you do with him now? As for the good, Condit vs. Hardy was enjoyable, but now I’m starting to wonder how good Dan Hardy really is, or whether he was a Spike TV/UFC hyped creation. At least in this fight, he was engaging and you can argue that he simply got caught. I enjoyed Bisping vs. Sexyama for what it was, but I don’t think I’ll be sold on Bisping completely until he fights a contender at 185 again. Sexyama is great for the entertainment, but at some point he has to want to win one of these things right?
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