UFC 144 Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis

Image via mmamania.com

Hey there folks, Kid Presentable is back after a little bit of a hiatus from the sport of mma. Anyone, who has read a single thing on this site knows the staff are Diaz brothers fan boys, and recent events created the need to take a little bit of a break. But now we're back, and what a card it was to return to. Many questions and concerns preceded this card. How would the Japanese crowd react to a sport waning in popularity in their own country, hosted by a company with little to no name value and recognition in the country? The main event featured two fighters with no history in Japan, and have not proved to be great sells even in the US, but for anyone who is a fight fan, the card was action packed and one of the most top to bottom entertaining cards witnessed in some time.

• WEC never die! Bendo Henderson is the new lightweight champion, and to be honest it wasn't that close. Though some, including Dana White and Joe Silva, seem to think Frankie defended, at best I scored the fight 49-46 or at worst 48-47. People seem to forget that damage and significant strikes outweigh volume strikes, and that catching a kick means the kick landed.
• Watch the start of the 5th round, and you will see a man with the confidence, heart, and drive to be a true champion. Bendo, with his limitless gas tank, has an unbreakable will and managed to push the pace against a man known for his own heart and ability to dictate the pace and action of the fight in Edgar.
• Much respect once more for Frankie though. The man always seems to eat the heaviest shot in the fight but never stops, and when you think he's out does he make his best attack. For a guy who relies on speed and volume a la Dominic Cruz though, he gets hit way too much and will need to working on his striking defense. There is no need for him to drop weight unless he himself wants the Aldo super fight. But again, if you've been the champion of a weight class, and a defending one at that, you don't need to change weight classes.
• Rampage... I think it's over man. Yeah I could tell you were hurt, yeah you gave us that get up off your ass and scream slam, but the drive to be a complete fighter doesn't seem to be there. I don't think this is it though, and I will be as excited as ever for your next fight. Rampage forever.
• Darth Bader continues to be undefeated when coming out to March of the Empire. I think the Tito fight made a lot of people forget this guy was once supposed to be a future staple at the top of the division. It wasn't the best Rampage, but he did what he had to do.
• Mark Hunt. Man of few words. Simply awesome.
• Damn Sexyama, that makes four, some awesome throws, and even sexier trips, but you have to actually fight too.
• Jake Shields, I am sure you scored some awesome Asian ladies (story to come later this week...) but you have yet to look impressive in a UFC fight. For a man whose best trait is his ground game, Shields struggles mightily to get the fight there. Shields won on volume strikes, but needs to work on his takedowns if he is to stay in the upper echelon of the division.
• Big Timmy B, nice uppercuts. You made Joe Rogan lose his sh*t for moment, but respect for an amazing comeback.
• Hioki did was Hioki does. Not the most aesthetically please of fight styles, but dominant none the less. Hioki has a world class grappling game giving him at least one believable avenue to victory should he get Aldo next. Hioki reportedly thinks he needs at least one more fight before he is ready though.
• Showtime is back in the house. After debuting in defeat, and then wrestling his way to a decision, Pettis found his old highlight reel self by head kicking Lauzon into oblivion. With Bendo's victory at the top, it seems to be shaping up for a rematch of the final fight in WEC history. Like I said, WEC never die!
• A few quick hits about the undercard... Gomi's win was a nice throwback to see, and him taking the mic Pride style was even better, but he did not look good that first round, and will get lit up against better strikers if he fights like that...Kid Yamamoto, it isn't looking good. This match was tailored made for the fight legend, but it just wasn't to be... Mizugaki drew the short stick of a bad decision, nice to see Dana payout his win bonus anyways though...Issei Tamura? Nice to meet you, with that devastating right, maybe you can be the new Kid Yamamoto. Long live Krazy Bee.

UFC on FOX 2 Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis

Image via 411mania.com

This weekend wrapped up the UFC's second foray onto network television, and the card was led by two fights that would have major implications for their respective divisions. The first UFC on Fox card would be remembered for only televising one fight, and that fight going all of 64 seconds. The question on everyone's mind was, would the second time be the charm with a guaranteed three fights to be televised? The answer we found was a somewhat mixed bag as the main card fights left a lot to be desired in terms of action and exciting finishes, but with title shots on the line, was very important for moving the narrative forward in the middle weight and light-heavy weght divisions.

• Rashad simply classed Phil Davis. It was an obvious case of too much, too soon for Mr. Wonderful as you could see his nerves and tentativeness right from the get go. It is beginning to become cliche, but the adage of there being a difference between wrestling and mma wrestling rang very true on this night. Davis found himself unable to take a dominant ground position, and was caught in the crucifix position on multiple occasions.
• Rashad was not very pleased with his performance, and frankly, I do not think much of the viewing audience was either. Rashad is an excellent wrestler and one of the fastest in the division, but for any of us looking for an x-factor that would make us think he has a realistic shot against Jon Jones, well... we were kept waiting.
• Chael's victory now sets up one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history. Though the past is tainted now with a failed a drug test, Chael still stands as the lone man to really take it to Anderson Silva and being within mere moments of dethroning the king.
• Hats off to Michael Bisping. The Brit has been long underrated primarily due to the sheer amount of dislike he generates from crowds, but the fact remains that he is one of the most well rounded and technically sound fighters in the sport. Those expecting Sonnen to run through him discovered that Bisping has some of the best takedown defense in the game. Even when put on his back, Bisping always manages to get it back to standing without taking much damage. Bisping had several shining moments standing, and likely upped his reputation and respect, even in defeat.
• Chael's pro wrestling style promos... love them. I grew up on great talkers. Sure Dusty Rhodes was before my time, but the Rock and Steve Austin deserve their own place in promo history as well, and Chael, well that man is just simply entertainment.
• Chris Weidman validated his touted prospect status in taking the victory on 11 days notice. A 30 lb. weight cut in under two weeks? Cheers buddy.
• Demian Maia, its time for you to go back to the drawing board, the jiu jitsu mats... whatever it is that you need to realize you are not a boxer.
• Quick hits notes: Lavar "I look like im the Rock" Johnson, boxing looked good with some nasty uppercuts. Roop's inconsistent matches lead to an amazing KO by Cub Swanson. Watch for the flying mouth piece. Jon Jones, yeah work on that whole act natural thing. The sweating bullets and reading of scripts is quite obvious in HD. But rest easy, this division is not throwing any threats your way for the foreseeable future. Young Charles looked good at 145, putting a seldom seen calf-slicer submission on display. Nice to see the kid isn't broken after a couple tough losses at lightweight. 

UFC 141 Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis

Hope everyone had an awesome New Year's Eve celebration, and cheers to making this last year on earth a good one. Kid Presentable here with a NYE hangover delayed edition of Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis. UFC 141 wrapped up the UFC's final event of the year, and boy did it create some major waves for the future of several divisions. A new heavyweight contender was crowned, while the long time #2 welterweight fell in spectacular fashion, and a new brash, middle-finger waving contender stepped out of his brother's shadow and into his own lime light.

• Alistair Overeem's knees are straight deadly. Sagat would be proud. Reem was touted and billed to be the best striker in the heavyweight division, and it showed that he has fight ending power in every limb. From knees that took the life right out of Brock, to a  body kick that made it a short night, Reem is a very bad, bad, dude.
• This now sets up for a very intriguing stand up war of the best boxer in the division with the best kickboxer. When two men with the proven fight finishing power of Reem and Junior Dos Santos collide, another first round finish is likely to follow.
• Talking to Doctor Law post fight, I called it, this is the end of the era of Brock Lesnar. As someone incredibly polarizing to MMA fans, how his legacy will be viewed will be the subject of great argument and shall range from everything from career quitter to paradigm shifting game-changer. I see it as a man whose career while short, was always at the highest caliber of competition in the UFC, and became a champion with limited experience, and another in an endless list of athletes whose careers were cut tragically short or forever altered by ailments and injuries.
• Oh yeah, goodbye to your beard Dr. Law. Time to look like you are 10 years younger again.
• Say what you want about their personalities, Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz will always come to fight. An epic was expected, and an epic was delivered. While more one-sided than most would have expected, the action was constant as these are two men incapable of fighting stalling or fighting safe.
• Nate has taken one more step toward showing he might be every bit as talented as his older brother. While he doesn't yet possess the fight-ending ability from his striking that Nick has shown, his pace and accuracy was off the charts against Cerrone.
• Mr. Jon Fitch, where are you gonna go from here? The silver-medal kingpin has finally fallen after years of being at the top, but just not quite good enough to be champ (see also Kenny Florian). Not a fan favorite, or a boss favorite, does Fitch toil away in the undercard grinding his way to decisions? Or will he reinvent himself as a more aggressive grappler seeking submissions and the finish? Time will tell, but this one of the biggest game-changers in the division just behind the injury of GSP.
• Where does this leave Mr. Hendricks now? A man with one career loss to fellow grinder Rick Story now gets one of the biggest wins anyone has in the division and is likely to be vaulted up getting a top 10 opponent and making for a possible #1 contender in 2012.
• Alexander Gustafsson proved his hype finishing the Janitor with a first round TKO. The Mauler still has a way to go with his grappling as he was handled by Phil Davis, but with his size, range, and boxing, may offer an intriguing future contender to Jon Jones' iron throne.
• Apologies to Mr. Jimy Hettes, the It's MMAzing staff admittedly knew little to nothing about you, and you straight classed Nam Phan. Merc'ing, schooling, handling... all of the above. Someone better be promoting "The Kid" up from his purple belt.

UFC 140 Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis

UFC 140 wrapped up this past Saturday and if you like fights being finished, this was a good night for you. 9 of 12 fights on the night ended via knockout or submission making for an awesome action-filled card. Jon Jones defended his title for the second time now, making this a first since Chuck Liddell's reign at the top of the division several years ago.

- Jon Jones is a motherf*cking MONSTER. Since his ascent to the top I had always believed that Machida offered the most interesting matchup for Jones and for a round at least this proved to be very true. Machida's range and striking ability managed to make Jones look tentative, vulnerable, and for once, kinda human. In the second, however, Jones' went Goro on Lyoto, using his strength and grappling prowess  to put the Karate Kid to sleep.

- Hate him or love him, Jones is the best fighter on the planet. Sure he showed some vulnerability on the feet, but Lyoto is a great striker and few others will be able to replicate his blueprint. On top of ever-improving striking and an unmatchable reach, Jones' shows amazing takedowns and grappling ability. By way of his size and strength he can always simply put his opponent in a headlock when there is any sign of danger. Jones is truly the most complete fighter in the sport right now, having the ability to be dangerous wherever the fight takes place, and with the killer instinct to finish.

- Frank Mir, add another one to the collection. Mir's execution of the kimura was picture-perfect as took home the arm of Big Nog. It was a brutal end that resulted in submission of the night for Mir.

- It's actually a bit of a shame that Big Nog's night would end in such a vicious manner. His hands and head movement have actually looked the most impressive that I have seen in a long time. The way he snapped his jab and hand speed was a thing of a beauty and he quite frankly was classing Mir for a bit. The fight most likely should have been his as Mir was maybe only a couple shots on the ground from being flat lined, but Big Nog's hubris got the best of him as he went for the sub and allowed Mir to recover.

- Where his brother failed, Lil Nog shined. It seems the way your chin can be broken after a devastating strike, it appears Machida broke Tito's ability to take a knee to the body. Lil  Nog went to town with body shots on Tito gave his most impressive showing to date. Lil Nog can put on some very entertaining fights, just don't give him a wrestler. Here's to hoping for Shogun/Lil Nog 2 in the future.

- Brian Ebersole, you had been so entertaining in your first two fights. This fight, not so much.

- "...but you cant stop... the ZOMBIE." Look up this clip of Eddie Bravo, good times. But on a real note, Chan Sung Jung, I apologize for not having the faith to pick you even as I wore your shirt while watching the fights. It was a short night for Jung as he tied the official UFC record for fastest knockout. It is always impressive to say the lighter fighters who pack finishing power in their hands. I am not totally sure what comes next for Jung as the featherweight division is quite shallow. I would like to him take on Hatsu Hioki though for a potential #1 contender fight.

UFC: TUF 14 Finale Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis

Hello MMAzing nation, Kid Moe...err I mean Presentable bringing you a better late than never edition of Post Fight Thoughts and Analysis. Last Saturday saw UFC and Spike TV's relationship come full circle as the final program being aired between their partnership was the season 14 finale of the platform that helped resuscitate and save a dead to rights company. What more fitting end for a groundbreaking program that involved many firsts for the sport of MMA to end with TUF's inaugural season of featherweights and bantamweights. Supporters shouting "WEC NEVER DIE!" were vindicated from this season and evening of fights as the little guys showed off  their amazing skills and incredible pace they can keep up to put on some very entertaining action. The event was main evented by the season's coaches, Michael Bisping and Jason "Mayhem" Miller, in a match that was unable however, to equal the level of the little guys they overshadowed.

Thoughts from the evening:

-Bisping looked dominant in against an over matched, and easily gassed Mayhem Miller, but where does he go from here? Despite essentially being done after the first round, Bisping looked as pillow-fisted as ever as he struggled to put away an exhausted Miller, and when the stop finally came it once again looked to be more of a result of Mayhem simply having enough than any damage Bisping was doing to him. Bisping, will seem to always be just on the cusp of having the honor of being dispatched by Anderson Silva, but likely needs one more big victory to get that chance. It's MMAzing's best guess for who is next? Demian Maia.

- What happened Mayhem? First off, we understand the Palms is quite tiny, but you promised us an electric entrance. Though Calvin Harris produces some awesome beats, just clapping your hands made us feel kind of dumb for standing up in anticipation of what you were going to do. Dana White was no fan either apparently calling this fight one of the most one-sided fights he has ever seen. That is a bit of an exaggeration as that honor in reality belongs to the champ everyone in this division is trying to chase.

- Though it was a bad showing after another one-sided beat down in his initial UFC stint against GSP, Mayhem absolutely deserves another chance. Few non-UFC fighters were able to generate the buzz and fan interest that Mayhem could and still can. Though he is going to need to be handcuffed to a treadmill for the next couple of months, I hope for and look forward to many more fun fights and awesome entrances from Mayhem

- Diego Brandao is a beast. The mini axe murderer swings everything with bad intentions and aggression that would make even the Wanderlei of the PRIDE era blush. Though he has a suspect gas tank, and not the most technically sound striking, Brandao showed an amazing chin, not even flinching as Dennis Bermudez dropped bombs on his chin, and that killer instinct he used to end all of his fights up to the finale in coming back from the brink and breaking Bermudez's arm in a hail mary arm-bar from the guard.

- The season's villain, may just end up it's biggest star. John Dodson may have been touted all season as a blown up flyweight, but his combination of speed and knockout power for this weight class might make him a contender sooner than later. The tiny Maurice Drew look a like has all the tools to become a fixture in the upper end of this division, and I look to see him fighting established contenders in the very near future.

- Somebody mix Tony Ferguson a walk-out track that starts with the audio quote "Where's your son at!" before the music kicks a la the "If you smelllll, what the Rock... is cookin!" of WWF/WWE fame. Awesome standing slug fest aside... that's all I hear in my head when I see this guy. Great fight against Yves though, I could have seen it go either way. The decision for Ferguson was in no way a robbery, but two judges scoring it a 30-27? I can think of a couple judging licenses that should be revoked immediately.

- Just about every fighter from this season will get another shot in the UFC. Because this was the first season of the lighter weight classes, the talent pool has not been mined dry, and not since the very first season of TUF will you see as many fighters become UFC mainstays as you will see from here. The small guys all showed great technical ability and knew how to put on a hell of a show.

- Oh and if you didn't already know, Marcus Brimage is pretty awesome. Go checkout his interview with Ariel Helwani already if you haven't, and if you have? Well that's why there is a replay button.

UFC 139 Post Fight Thoughts and Results

In the wake of what may have been the UFC's most

important show in UFC on FOX, may have arguably come its best. UFC 139 wrapped up this weekend at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA leaving stunned eyes and jaws dropped for those who witnessed the amazing night of fights. In a long overdue battle of PRIDE legends, Dan Henderson took a unanimous decision over Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in a fight where even calling it an "EPIC WAR" could not do it justice.

Random Thoughts and Analysis from the evening's fights:

-Fight of the year? Fight of the century? Dana White was quoted as calling this main event the "Ali-Frazier 3" of the MMA world. Only time will tell in that regard, but so soon after this fight has ended no amount of hyperbole can seem to accurately describe the action that took place. Looks like some new editions of the UFC's greatest fight dvd's will need to be pressed.

-There is some minor controversy around the unanimous decision that was awarded to Hendo. I personally scored the fight a draw, giving Dan the first three rounds and Shogun the latter two, earning a 10-8 in the fifth frame. It is not inconceivable by any means that someone would award the fight to Hendo, but that all three judges would unanimously agree on the scoring of the fight did come as a surprise. Seems like the most logical solution would be to run it back, Shogun vs Hendo 2 anyone?

-Hindsight being 20/20 of course, one can't help but wonder what would have happened if Hendo/Shogun had been the featured fight on the UFC's Fox debut. Like the Griffin/Bonnar 1 fight before it, this was a match that simply had you on your feet and eyes glued to the action the entire duration of the fight.

-In what was the most anticipated match of the night for the in-house crowd, Wanderlei Silva flashed back to his glory days with power punches and vicious Muay Thai knees from the clinch to take an amazing KO victory against local favorite Cung Le.

-Though able to add another highlight to his storied career, I somewhat hope Silva can find it in himself to walk away from the sport. Sure Silva managed to fight far more tactically than ever in recent memory, but the likelihood of any return to glory is remote, and years of accumulated damage has left him with a highly suspect chin. I want to see the PRIDE legend go out in a vicious blaze of glory, rather than him being forced out after being on the receiving end of a series of knockouts.

-Urijah Faber received arguably the loudest pop of the night in the crowd, and truly has never looked better. Faber's striking looked very crisp as he managed to follow up and capitalize on a stunned Bowles after a dragon punch uppercut, something that Faber looked hesitant to do in his previous fight against champ Dominic Cruz.

-On a disappointing note, as someone who thought Kyle Kingsbury was a nice prospect in the light-heavyweight division, I found myself very surprised how he lost. For a guy who trains at AKA with wrestling luminaries like Josh Koscheck, Cain Velasquez, and Daniel Cormier, I was stunned that he was so easily taken down by reputed brawler, Stephan Bonnar. Just what was Fitch doing exactly while in Kingsbu's corner?