UFC 77

None of the fights were particularly interesting this time around. I thought the Sylvia-Vera match-up would be much more technically interesting, but it boiled down to a much larger, longer opponent overwhelming a smaller guy. Perhaps it would have gone differently if Vera hadn't broken his hand and been reduced to swinging with his elbow on the left side.

Anderson Silva dispelled any doubt that he's simply a better fighter than Rich Franklin. I'm not sure who they bring in to challenge Silva. Dan Henderson might be the next choice given that he's already in the UFC. I'm not sure what the likelihood is of bringing in Paul Filho.

Maybe it's because it was in Cincinnati, but the whole vibe of this show was lower-key than most UFC pay-per-views. It seemed more like a Spike TV event. When the highlight of the night is the cut on Kaleb Starnes's forehead, you're not talking about a memorable event.

Randy Couture

It's probably too soon to assume that Randy Couture really is done fighting, given that he's retired before and would be hard-pressed to pass up a fight with Emilianenko if somebody could arrange it. But I probably wouldn't attempt a summary of his career anyway, since a thousand people are typing it up right now.

I admire Couture as a fighter, and he seems like a pretty nice guy even if he looks like a comic-book thug. But what i find most impressive about the man is that he's still fighting and training at the age of 44. Now, i know that many people have made a big deal about Couture's age, but in my case it's not an astract thing. I turn 44 this year, and as somebody who trains in both the martial arts and endurance sports, I find Couture's durability to be nothing short of awesome. I have some idea of just how much the dude must hurt on some days. There are days when i wake up in the morning after having had a grappling class the night before, and i can barely get out of bed. Couture has to grapple, wrestle, box, strength train, and do conditioning work. He must take ibuprofen like candy.

Occasionally somebody in the sports media will note that guys like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are still playing baseball into their 40s, but those guys are getting paid millions to swing a bat or throw a ball. It simply doesn't compare to the energy and physical stress that goes into fight training. Couture is an extremely special athlete. Maybe Bernard Hopkins could be placed in the same category, but considering the level at which Couture is competing, he has to be considered a historically great athlete.

UFC 76

Wow. I was not only wrong, but had Jardine followed up on his knockdown of Liddell in the second round, i'd have been wrong in reverse.

It's kind of hard to believe that not long ago Randy Couture was retired, Liddell was thought unbeatable, and Pride was considered by many to have the superior fighters. The idea that any fighter can win on any given night is what gives MMA much of its appeal, but i'm not sure if fans are going to want a situation where there is no dominant fighter at any weight class.

Personally, i thought that both Tavares/Griffin and Sanchez/Fitch were excellent fights even if they went to decision. But Griffing/Rua and Liddell/Jardine were only interesting in the "what the hell is going on here" way. That's the Rua that KO'd Quinton Jackson and outpointed Nogueira? Very unimpressive. And Liddell was pathetic. When he raised his arms at the end of the fight I was actually embarrassed for him.

TUF 6

I'm already bored with TUF 6. Even Matt Serra can't sell the idea that there's some sort of legitimate feud between him and Hughes. It cracks me up when Serra says about Hughes "He thinks I got lucky". Got news for you Mr. Serra. Everyone thinks you got lucky.

Here is the one really interesting thing that i learned from Episode 1 of TUF 6: Mac Danzig is the world's most bad-ass vegan. I hope he wins on that basis alone.

UFC 76 Predictions

One of the good things about the UFC is that the good fighters get matched up (sometimes, still waiting on Emelianenko/Couture). The bad thing about that is it's pretty easy to lose a couple of fights in a row, which can be tough on a fighter's career. That could be the theme for the night at UFC 76 though. Clearly, somebody will have consecutive losses in the Liddell/Jardine fight since both are coming off losses, and i think it's entirely possible that Sanchez loses to Fitch. Although Griffin won his last fight, he's in a similar boat. He might withstand a loss since he's incredibly popular and everybody seems to acknowledge that his opponent is simply better than he this time, but this would be three losses in five fights.

My predictions: Liddell by KO, Rua by submission, Sanchez by controversial decision. Of course, the only thing harder to predict than the future is a future MMA fight.

The only really interesting undercard fight is the Thiago Tavares/Tyson Griffin match up, since there's some speculation that the winner could fight BJ Penn for the lightweight title left open by Sean Sherk's suspension.

UFC 75

I thought the Jackson-Henderson fight was excellent, though before the fight i would have picked Henderson to win. I was surprised at how comfortable Jackson was on the ground. Against Henderson, Jackson looked close to un-submittable. I hope we get to see him fight Rua again some day.

An interesting trend is that the more well-rounded the fighters in the UFC become, the more fights go to decision. I wonder how that will affect the popularity of MMA.

Mirko went from intimidating top-contender to irrelevant in two fights. That's got to be close to a record.