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Some Quick Thoughts on UFC 102

UFC 102 is done.  It was one of the best events this year.  The fighters gave us almost everything a fan asks for in a perfect event.  Highlight reel KO’s, brutal submissions, and back and forth wars.  Our house was rioting with noise at numerous points during the fights.  Of course, having a cool pool sheet to add to our interest in the fights always helps (I also find it helps some people who are casual fans learn a little bit more about the fighters/sport).  So here are some of my thoughts in the usual, random ordered way I present them here at justbleed.com:

1.) Neither Couture or Nogueira are done.  If their war last night said anything, it was that these two still have the ability and skills to compete.  They still have that fire.  So much fire that it earned them Fight of the Night bonuses ($60,000 each).  It was an epic fight, with some huge moments that will surely go down as one of the best fights this year.  I don’t know if it’s ‘Fight of the Year’ worthy, but it’s close and should be in the running.  Also, the skill that was on display during this fight was insane.  But what else is there when you put two legends in the sport together in a fight, right?  It was a display of boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, muay thai, all of it executed throughout the fight, back and forth.  A great example to show new fans what Mixed Martial Arts is.  This could be one of those fights.  And how awesome is Nogueira?  The guy literally won over the upset fans in his post-fight interview with his understanding of their boo’s because of their love for ‘Handy’.  The guy is all class and any fan of Randy could also be a fan of Nogueira.

2.) How many of you made money on Big Nog and Thiago Silva last night? Awww yeah.

3.) Thiago Silva went into this fight as the underdog, and I loved it.  I think he did exactly what he needed to do last night to move forward and most importantly, stay in the minds of the fans.  His ability to stay calm when Jardine pressed forward with his wildly awkward punching style was impressive.  He just stood there and countered beautifully to drop Jardine, and took advantage of it from there by finishing it up with some heavy striking above a broken Jardine.  He wasn’t as comfortable and Anderson Silva is (few are), but he wasn’t nerved and it’s that calm demeanor that brings him through when it’s needed.

4.) Todd Duffee.  He has a lot of double letters in his name.  He also displayed the reason why there is a lot of hype coming in with his UFC debut.  A mean, record setting seven second KO was a big warning sign to his next opponent.  I’m looking forward to see who the UFC puts him up against next.  I thought he was going to get the KO of the night bonuse, but he didn’t.  However, I’m willing to bet Dana still ponied up some ‘locker room bonus’ cash for him.

5.) Nate Marquardt’s destruction of Demian Maia was short and sweet and earned him KO of the night bonus ($60,000).  I picked Nate to win and thought it would be his stand-up that got him the victory, but not that quickly and easily.  Brutal KO, it will be another highlight reel moment for the UFC to use over and over for the next couple of years.

6.) Leben was beat up by Jake Rosholt.  Jake eventually choked Leben out, leaving him convulsing on the floor and Joe Rogan saying, “Look at his legs shaking“.  Apparently it was another vicious moment for some squeamish new fans in the press. Another loss in the UFC has me wondering what’s next for Chris Leben?

7.) I’m not going to say much about the only fight that bored me (Vera/Soszynski).  I’m not wasting anymore time on it than I already have by typing out these two sentences.

8.)  Overall, this UFC was great.  We loved it here and a good time was had by all in attendance.  I think this event opens the doors to some interesting fights in the future for all the winners and even some of the losers.  Dana may not be happy with the overall event, but the fans here were,  so I imagine the majority of fans elsewhere loved it too, even if Captain America didn’t get the win.  I think the event earned a solid 8 or 9 out of 10.