Well, UFC 112 has come and gone. While, exciting in some ways, it didn't live up to my expectations at all. The three main fights I was looking forward to were not so great. First, Renzo Gracie looked terrible in his fight with Matt Hughes. I have long been a big fan of Renzo, and was hoping he'd win (or at least do well). Matt hammered him with leg kicks, and it seemed as if Renzo had never seen one before. I don't think he checked/blocked even one of them.
Next, there was the Damian Maia V Anderson Silva fight for the middleweight title. I expected Silva to win but was hoping Maia would find a way to pull it off. The display put on by Silva was terrible. He show boated his way to the victory, toying with Maia most of the fight. He didn't really engage with Maia or try to finish him at all. Hey, Silva, if you're that much better, then use your skill and finish him (instead of dancing around).
Finally, there was the BJ Penn V Frankie Edgar fight. My friend Jeff H had a few thoughts on that one so I'll let him take it from here....
BJ PENN v. EDGAR
The tagline for this fight should have been "unbelievable" instead of
"invincible."
I will go on record as saying I'm a BJ Penn fan. I've always admired his
abilities as a true mixed martial artist and he's also a good entertainer on top
of that.
But all of that aside, I can't understand how the Machida v. Rua fight can come
out the way it did, but in the same organization, with the same rules, the Penn
Edgar fight could turn out in such a contrary fashion.
Rua clearly had the better of Machida the whole fight. He did more damage and
was the aggressor. However, he lost the fight on the theory that in order to
beat the champion, you have to convincingly beat the champion, not just eke out
a victory.
Edgar did not clearly have the better of Penn in this fight; at best he eked out
a victory. And by the logic of the Machida v. Rua judges, he should not have
won.
Yes, he was successful in delivering a couple of shots to BJ's face. But Penn
landed at least as many, and was throwing counter combos that were landing.
Edgar had to struggle to get in one shot at a time. Striking could have gone
either way, but it wasn't convincingly a victory for Edgar.
BJ controlled the Octagon. Period. He held the center of the mat and Edgar
danced around him hoping to get in a shot here or there. Octagon control goes
to Penn.
Edgar scored one solid take down on Penn late in the fight. He got what
appeared to be an almost accidental trip on Penn, but BJ popped right back up on
his feet. There's an argument that that should give Edgar the edge in
grappling, but for every one take down he scored, BJ stuffed 10. In my mind,
that gives the edge to Penn and it certainly doesn't give a convincing victory
to Edgar.
On the flip side, BJ did not beat Edgar. Edgar looked like his compatriot Clay
Guida hopping up and down the whole fight and was not harmed in any meaningful
way by BJ. Regardless, in order to win fights, you don't have to physically
punish the other guy. You have to win points based on striking, grappling, and
effective Octagon control. As noted above, Edgar did not have a convincing edge
over BJ in any of those realms. As the lightweight champion, BJ Penn is owed
the benefit of the doubt in this case and he should have been awarded a
decision.
As our buddy Bryan noted during the fight, a wise man once said, "To be the man,
you got to beat the man." Edgar did not beat the man Saturday night. He was
handed an unbelievable gift by inconsistent judging and I think the UFC is a
more confusing and unpredictable place as a result.
Dana White is famous for admonishing fighters not to let the judges decide
fights. I suppose when you have judges as incompetent as he's hiring, that's
great advice. The good news for BJ Penn fans is this is the type of thing that,
at least in the past, gets BJ to train even harder. He'll get a rematch
(hopefully first thing, barring any injury covered up by the mysterious knee
brace) and he'll be ready. And when that time comes, my money is on the
Prodigy.
Thanks for the fight assessment Jeff
