Yeah, I thought this event was going to be a guaranteed 720p download required and something to really remember, and it turned out not to be. Incredibly bad for my picks - must be my worst event ever, by far!
Etim had a poor performance for his first main card fight. Shame, as he's a great fighter. Good sub for Dos Anjos, who will have gained a lot of kudos with the win.
Munoz vs Grove was very decent. Munoz looked excellent in the second round and showed a lot of heart in the first. Nowhere near title contention, but heading up the ladder.
Hughes vs Gracie wasn't bad, but as people in the press conference kept trying to get Matt to acknowlege, he really looked like he could have finished that fight with punches several times but chose not to. Gracie looked okay early on, but gassed hard way too early also. A comment by Dana in the presser suggeted (to my thinking anyway) Gracie won't be back, but then I'm not suprised anyway cos I was under the impression it was a one-fight deal as a request by one of the new backers for getting this event sorted.
Frankie clearly beat BJ throughout that fight. I only gave BJ one round. This "beating the champ definitively to take the belt" crap is just that... BJ looked very reluctant to move and I wonder how bad that knee was. Having said that, Edgar fought really, really well and was on great form. Think he might struggle to defend the belt unless he can gain some more power in those punches though. And my vote would go for Florian to get the next shot, not Maynard.
The main event started off as an awesome spectacle (note: "spectacle", not neccessarily "fight") and then descended into farce. Silva is my favourite fighter, but he's so hard to defend when he pulls shit like those final two rounds. Good on Miragliotta for warning him. Anderson came across really badly in the press conference also and had done a U-turn on the comments made in the octagon after the fight, so, same as someone suggested in an earlier comment, I wonder whether those comments were filtered by Soares at the time, or what caused the change of heart.
Dana is PISSED in the conference - well worth a watch. Really makes you fear for Silva's UFC contract.
As a side note, I'm not at all interested in Silva vs GSP, particularly at 170 (which I don't think will ever happen anyway). I think there's too much potential for a fight much like this one crossed with GSP's last one, where all GSP wants to do is get the fight to the floor and Anderson is too big and too good at stand-up, so will try to avoid shots until he either drops GSP or he gets bored that GSP won't trade and so he starts messing around. Granted, GSP has a better chance than Maia of getting him down, but I'd say even less chance of finishing him and a far higher chance of getting subbed or pounded out himself when on the ground. If the opposite happens and Silva comes out guns blazing like we'd all want and knocks out GSP in the first round, then that's what the majority of people reckoned he'd do anyway... Now, if Rua does beat Machida in their rematch, I will lay money that Silva will be up for that fight at LHW. I'd also like to see Anderson against Kongo or CroCop if he really wants to try HW next. Assuming he still has a job with the UFC 
|
