Author: By Michael DiSanto

Take a quick peek at the reigning UFC champions. Notice any recurring themes?

I’ll give you a hint: it is a nine-letter word. Come on. You know what it is.

Wrestling.

Of the seven UFC champs, five have deep amateur wrestling backgrounds. The two exceptions are both Brazil natives. I haven’t done the analysis, but my guess is that if we looked at the top 10 in each weight division that the breakdown of former wrestlers versus those with no wrestling pedigree would equal or exceed the championship ratio.

There is little doubt that a great amateur wrestling background is one of the most important tools in a fighter’s toolbox.  On Saturday night, two of the better amateur wrestlers to ever step inside the Octagon will square off in a bout that is long overdue.

Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes. One is at the absolute peak of his career. A guy who many believe has all the tools to one day become a champion. The other is in the second half of arguably the most successful welterweight career in the history of the promotion.

From a matchup perspective, this is a relatively easy fight to break down. Kos is the better all-around fighter—period. His wrestling is better. His standup is light years better. His conditioning is second to none. And he will be the bigger, stronger man when the cage door closes.

Hughes’ lone advantage may be in the transition jiu-jitsu area. That may sound surprising, since Kos trains with famed JJ guru Dave Camarillo. But Hughes has been polishing his black belt-level submission game well before Kos ever donned a pair of vale tudo gloves. I doubt there is anything that Kos can do in the jits world that Hughes hasn’t seen dozens, if not hundreds, of times during his rolling sessions with Jeremy Horn. Oh yeah, Horn just so happens to be one of the most successful ground fighters that the game has ever known and a long-time training partner of the former UFC champ.

On pure skill alone, Kos wins this fight all day every day. He can basically choose how he wants the bout to unfold because of his wrestling advantage. That means he will likely look to keep the fight standing, since that is where Hughes is at his weakest. Kos has more than enough juice in his overhand right to score a one-punch knockout. He can do the same thing with a right high kick and possibly a left hook. He can also methodically pick apart Hughes, like he did Diego Sanchez back in 2007, if he opts to take a conservative approach to the fight.

I don’t expect Kos to come out looking for a takedown, even though he should be able to score one almost at will. Again, the transition jiu-jitsu world is the one area of the fight where Hughes likely holds an advantage. Kos has only been submitted once in a fight – when he was caught late in his bout with Drew Fickett in 2005. It seems unlikely that he will be submitted on Saturday night, but that isn’t outside of the realm of possibilities.

If Kos leaves an arm exposed during overly aggressive ground and pound, Hughes is more than capable of rolling into an armbar or raising his hips into a triangle choke. If Kos shoots for a takedown with his eyes staring at the canvas, a guillotine is major risk. And if Hughes can somehow find a way to put his foe on his back, a cross-side Kimura, Hughes’ bread-and-butter submission hold, is definitely a likely outcome.

Actually, Hughes may have two advantages. Is there anyone in the division with a more effective ground-and-pound game when he is in the top position? Neither GSP nor Kos is a slouch in that area of the fight game, but can they really claim to be more effective than Hughes?

If Hughes is able to score a takedown, it will be extremely interesting to see if Kos can work back to his feet or otherwise utilize his offensive BJJ game from the bottom. Hughes will remain very patient from the top position, focusing more on position, until his base is fully secure. At that point, he will begin to do what he does best, which is drop punches and elbows in grinding fashion. None of them will be designed to bring the fight to an end. Instead, each will be designed to chip away at his opponent’s strength, endurance and will. If Hughes can keep the fight on the ground for at least half the fight, he wins. Period.

In my opinion, though, this fight is far less about Xs and Os and the matchup on paper than it is each man’s mental state at this point in their respective careers.

Both are coming off devastating losses. Koscheck suffered a broken orbital bone in his bout, courtesy of Georges St-Pierre, in a lopsided unanimous decision loss. Hughes was on the wrong end of a one-punch, 21-second knockout, thanks to BJ Penn.  One can never predict how a fighter will respond after a truly devastating, one-sided loss, and this is a been-there, done-that situation for Hughes. And that may be the single-most important factor in this bout.

The GSP loss was the first time in his career that Kos was really thoroughly dominated without any excuses to serve as a crutch to detract from the outcome. GSP put a gorilla-sized beating on him after the AKA star completed a full, successful training camp. Kos fought with a lot of heart and courage, especially when one considers that he suffered the broken orbital bone early in the fight, but he had absolutely nothing for GSP in any aspect of the fight.  It was a 25-minute beating.

That is far more damaging to one’s psyche, in my opinion, than a quick knockout or submission loss. It is also more damaging than the similar beating Kos suffered at the hands of Thiago Alves, since he took the Alves fight on extremely short notice. Thus, he can rationalize the result by pointing to the lack of proper preparation. There is no possible way to explain the outcome of his bout with GSP, other than to accept the fact that he got soundly beaten by a better fighter.

Losses like that can lead to doubt, particularly in the first fight back. Doubt leads to hesitation. And hesitation inside the Octagon leads to losses.

Will Kos be fighting amidst a cloud of self-doubt? Can Hughes use that doubt to get his opponent to the ground? Once on the ground, will Kos panic? Will he make a mistake? Will he open the door for Hughes to score a dramatic upset win?

There are two more factors that work against Kos in this fight. First, he is taking the bout on short notice. Diego Sanchez was originally scheduled to fight Hughes, but a broken hand suffered a couple weeks ago opened the door for Kos to return to action earlier than he anticipated. The last time Kos fought on short notice he suffered a one-sided loss to Alves, as mentioned. That cannot be overlooked.

Second, fight night will mark the 287-day anniversary of his last fight, setting a personal record for time between fights. His current layoff is almost three months longer than his previous career long, which just so happened to be his last fight.

Will cage rust be a factor? Was it a factor in the GSP fight? Will Kos wonder if cage rust is going to be a problem? Will that cause doubt?

Those are the biggest questions that hang over the fight, in my opinion.  Those are the questions that might just decide the outcome.

I think Kos will overcome his recent adversity with a career-best performance. But the wily former champion just might have another great effort under the hood.

Jake Ellenberger is one of the most promising prospects in the UFC welterweight division. Actually, calling him a prospect doesn’t pay him the proper respect. Despite the fact that he only has five fights in the UFC, the 26-year-old mixed martial artist is viewed by some as a legitimate top 10 talent. A win in his next fight will undoubtedly earn him a seat at that elite table, something that Ellenberger desperately wants.

Getting that win will be anything but easy.

On September 17, Ellenberger will face the toughest test of his professional career by leaps and bounds when he squares off against one of the very best fighters in the world, Jake Shields, in the main event of UFC Fight Night. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion has only lost once in his last 16 fights, dropping a hard-fought five-round decision to welterweight superstar Georges St-Pierre back in April. That bout followed a shaky effort that led to a split decision win over Martin Kampmann in his UFC debut.

Shields will be coming to New Orleans hungry to make an example out of Ellenberger on September 17. He wants to prove to the world that he is better than his two UFC efforts and that he remains one of the truly elite welterweights in the world. A decisive win over Ellenberger will accomplish that goal.

Like many other bouts before it, this one will likely be decided by which fighter can dictate where the action unfolds. Both men are former amateur wrestlers, but only one of them wants the action to hit the ground—Shields.

Jake Shields is one of the very best submission grapplers in the world. His Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is otherworldly. This guy is a black belt under Cesar Gracie, and that is no small feat. The Northern California-based Gracie is about as stingy with black belts as the IRS is with unearned refunds. That means Shields is a black belt’s black belt. That may sound silly, but everyone in the game knows that there are many different levels of black belts, and Shields is at the front of the line.

It’s not that he is a submission wizard. The guy doesn’t have a submission arsenal that rivals that of teammate and close friend Nick Diaz. If he does, he hasn’t shown it in competition. No matter. The handful of moves that Shields relies on in competition are executed at such a high level that, even when opponents know what to expect, they simply cannot stop it.

Ask Dan Henderson about that one. The former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler was repeatedly taken down by Shields (something that speaks to his elite wrestling ability, rather than his BJJ skills). Once on the ground, he could not mount any office whatsoever. He had nothing in terms of escapes or sweeps, and he did not dare risk posting up with his arms in an effort to stand up because a fight-ending choke hold absolutely would have followed.

Instead, he stayed on the bottom and took his medicine, eating ground-and-pound strike after ground-and-pound strike. Keep in mind that we are talking about the guy who just knocked out Fedor Emelianenko, a guy many thought was the best fighter in the history of the sport just a few short years ago. Hendo crushed Fedor, but he was dominated by Shields.

Ellenberger, by contrast, is a blue belt. That is one step removed from a novice, as far as world class fighters go. The guy has solid wrestling skills and a vicious ground-and-pound game, but he wants no part of Shields on the ground. Trust me on that one. If he says otherwise, it is merely to try and cover up his own justifiable insecurities about facing one of the best in the world where he is at his best.

Mark my words, if this fight spends more time on the ground than it does on the feet, Shields will win. On the feet, however, it is a completely different story.

Ellenberger is the alpha male when it comes to fight-stopping power on the feet. He throws his hands with bad intentions, always looking for the knockout. And he knows that Shields is there to be hit.

It’s not like Shields is a novice on the feet. Far from it. But he has a terrible habit of fighting with his chin up and his hands down. Henderson almost took advantage of that in their Strikeforce championship bout, knocking down Shields in the first round and almost finishing him.

But Shields has a tremendous chin and a big heart. He is one of those guys who fights on autopilot when hurt, rather than cowering from an attacker. If Henderson wasn’t able to stop him with a single shot, it is tough to imagine Ellenberger doing it.

It is not tough to imagine Ellenberger beating him up on the feet, though. GSP and Kampmann both did just that in Shields’ previous two UFC bouts. Ellenberger is not anywhere near GSP or Kampmann on the feet, but he is no joke, either.

Word out of California is that Shields has made significant improvements to his standup game since his last fight. That says something because his standup looked to have improved by leaps and bounds between the Kampmann and GSP fights.

It would not surprise me to see him come out and stand with Ellenberger, just to prove a point. I don’t think that is the best game plan, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Improvement or not, the standup realm is where Ellenberger has his best chance at winning. Shields knows that. He should not play to that strength.

In the clinch, Shields should be the bigger, stronger man. Ellenberger hasn’t shown the ability to really dominate in the clinch. Sure, he is excellent at taking the fight to the ground from that position, but he hasn’t shown any real Muay Thai ability.

Shields hasn’t really shown those skills, either. But he has been a regular for the past decade at the San Francisco-based Fairtex, which is one of the top Muay Thai gyms in the country. So, he certainly has some tricks up his sleeve in the form of sneaky elbows from the clinch. Like Ellenberger, he prefers to use that position to get an opponent down, something that Ellenberger must be very wary of, as mentioned.

Ellenberger should keep all of that in mind and look to outpoint Shields from the outside. He has quick, straight punches, which should serve him well, if his foe fights with his traditional heads-up, hands-down style. He should watch how GSP used his jab, good movement and excellent footwork to stay off of his back and win the fight on the feet. That is Ellenberger’s best chance at winning the fight.

Unfortunately, though, I just don’t see it. Not this time. Not yet. Ellenberger is a great prospect, but fighting Shields is a whole different level from his last three fights. In time, Ellenberger may get to that level. I just don’t think he is there yet.

Of course, I’ve been wrong before. Lots of times, actually. A win by Ellenberger would be a massive springboard for his career. It will quickly erase the thoughts of his loss to Carlos Condit and place him among the division’s top 10, for sure

QUICK FACTS

Jake Shields
•    32 years old
•    6’0, 170 lbs
•    72-inch reach
•    26-5-1 overall (5-1 UFC/Strikeforce)
•    Lost last fight  (15-fight winning streak before the loss)
•    4-1 in last 5
•    9-1 in last 10
•    11.5% of career wins by KO/TKO (3 out of 26)
•    38.5% of career wins by submission (10 out of 26)
•    50% of career wins by decision (13 out of 26)
•    4 consecutive fights have lasted the distance (3-1 in those fights)
•    Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion
•    Current layoff is 140 days
•    Longest layoff of professional career is 333 days

Jake Ellenberger
•    26 years old
•    5’11, 170 lbs
•    73-inch reach
•    25-5 overall (4-1 UFC)
•    4-fight winning streak
•    4-1 in last 5
•    8-2 in last 10
•    64% of career wins by KO/TKO (16 out of 25)
•    20% of career wins by submission (5 out of 25)
•    16% of career wins by decision (4 out of 25)
•    TKO/KO win in 3 of last 4 fights
•    Current layoff is 140 days
•    Longest layoff of professional career is 211 days

Talk about a homecoming party.

For only the second time in the promotion’s history, the UFC held an event in the homeland of mixed martial arts, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The televised portion of the event featured seven bouts with Brazilians against “others.” The hometown heroes went an impressive 6-1 in those fights, with Luiz Cane being the sole fighter to come up short. And the card’s three biggest names made deafening statements to the MMA world with their performances.

SILVA CONTINUES STAKING HIS CLAIM AS THE BEST IN THE SPORT

No disrespect to Georges St-Pierre, but there is absolutely no question as to who is the greatest fighter in the world, pound for pound. Anderson Silva stands head and shoulders above everyone else. The brutal knockout win over Yushin Okami is further affirmation of that fact.

Sure, Silva has had a few sleepy performances. See Patrick Cote. Demian Maia. Thales Leites. But his last three were among the most impressive of his career, further building his lore of invincibility.

Chael Sonnen, arguably the best wrestler in the middleweight division, controlled an injured Silva into the fifth round. He was less than two minutes from winning the fight, when Silva forced him to accept a loss thanks to a miracle triangle choke.

Vitor Belfort, certainly the best striker in the division, other than Silva, got brutally knocked out with a front kick, of all things. That is a strike that nobody uses with any real effectiveness, other than Silva and Lyoto Machida. Yet, it left Belfort lying in an unconscious heap.

Okami, possibly the biggest and strongest competitor in the division, had all the tools to follow in Sonnen’s footsteps and put Silva on his back for long periods of time. Silva learned from the Sonnen fight. He used more lateral movement and did not wait to counter, like he did against Sonnen. He forced the action, once he got comfortable with what Okami brought to the table and scored a knockout win as a result.

In other words, he continues to adapt and improve. That is a scary thought for future opponents. At this point, it is tough to imagine Silva losing a middleweight bout, unless he lost focus and motivation, both of which are very real possibilities when one considers that that no credible new challenges remain for him at 185 pounds.

Sure, a rematch with Sonnen would be both a dangerous and intriguing matchup, since he is the lone man to come even remotely close to defeating Silva in the UFC. A rematch with Belfort would create tremendous fireworks. A rematch with free agent Dan Henderson might be the most dangerous option of them all, based on Hendo’s last two performances.

But those are all rematches. I can easily imagine Silva struggling to find motivation to face guys he has already stopped in the past. That is why he now talks about wanting nothing but big fights. Big fights present tough challenges and also rich rewards, both financially and in terms of building his already sick legacy in the sport.

What constitutes a big fight? A bout with GSP clearly qualifies. I don’t know if that bout will be happening, though, considering the size disadvantage GSP will be facing. And though Silva has shown a susceptibility to takedowns in his bouts with Hendo, Sonnen and Travis Lutter, absent repeated takedowns, GSP would not likely leave the cage without a knockout loss on his record. Yet, if GSP is somehow able to score a victory, it would be crushing to Silva’s legacy—history does not often fondly remember those who lose to smaller men.  Boxing teaches us that truism.

A fight with the winner of Jon Jones and Rampage Jackson is certainly a monstrous challenge. Nobody in UFC history has ever simultaneously held championships in two weight classes. Silva seems to be the best positioned to accomplish that goal, if he wants to move north.

Gaining weight for a 205-pound challenge is not without risk. Would doing that make it too difficult for him to get his weight back down to 185 pounds for future middleweight fights, if the plan was to rule both divisions at once? Think about what happened to Roy Jones Jr. in boxing when he tried returning to light heavyweight after winning boxing’s version of the world heavyweight championship.  Silva must consider that fact.

There are other big matchups, too. The UFC’s 205-pound division is filled with marquee fighters. Silva’s last two forays into the division were non-title affairs against tough, durable opponents. At this point in his career, I doubt that Silva would take a non-title fight against a bigger foe. The risk just isn’t worth the reward because a win wouldn’t necessarily improve his legacy.

The only exception to that could be a post-retirement bout with Randy Couture, who is the most decorated champion in UFC history, in terms of number of reigns. I can see Silva readily agreeing to a bout with Couture.

Then again, there is always the option of continuing to dominate middleweight contenders. Brian Stann is a likely challenger, if he can get past Sonnen in their upcoming bout on October 6 in Houston. Then, there is Michael Bisping, if he can get past Jason Miller. Mark Munoz is another viable name, assuming he defeats Chris Leben on November 5 in Birmingham, England.

But it is tough to imagine any of those guys overthrowing Silva as the division kingpin.

It will be interesting to see what is next for “The Spider.”

THAT WAS THE BEST NOGUEIRA SINCE HIS PRIDE DAYS

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a legend in the sport. But after getting knocked out in two of his last three fights leading up to UFC RIO, many thought that “Minotauro” was on the downside of his legendary career. It was a fair assumption, too. At 35 years old, he certainly remains in his fighting prime in terms of age, but the dozens of back-and-forth wars he has engaged in over the last decade-plus have put a ton of excess mileage on his body.

The question, of course, was whether that excess mileage was prematurely eroding his skills.

Minotauro emphatically answered that question on Saturday night. His first-round knockout win over Brendan Schaub proved that he has plenty of gas left in the tank (and an extra $100,000 in his pocket thanks to a Knockout of the Night bonus).

I certainly thought Minotauro had a great shot at winning the fight. But I never thought that it would end the way that it did. First-round submission? Absolutely. First-round knockout? Not in a million years.

It is no secret that Minotauro is an excellent boxer. The world has known that for years going back to his PRIDE days. Schaub is also a skilled boxer in his own right, one who competes with far more quickness and athleticism than the former heavyweight champion. Many thought those advantages would be too great for Minotauro to overcome if the fight remained on the feet.

Minotauro reminded the world that game plan and execution are more important in this game than pure athleticism. The former champion was able to effectively use his jab and constant pressure to keep Schaub defending, rather than attacking, particularly toward the end of the fight. He also used great footwork to cut off the cage when Schaub tried to retreat, and once Schaub’s back hit the cage, Minotauro let his hands go with hard combinations that led to the fastest knockout of his storied career.

 Young fighters should take note at how Minotauro nullified Schaub’s hand and foot speed advantages with those techniques because it was a masterful performance by the former champion.

Saturday night proved that when Minotauro is completely injury-free he is a force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division.  It will be interesting to see how things shake out with him over the next year if he can remain healthy. I wouldn’t put another title run past him. Not after what I saw on Saturday night.

A TALE OF TWO SHOGUNS

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has been a bit of an enigma since joining the UFC. At times, he appears almost unbeatable. At times, he seems remarkably human.

Those differences appear to be tied to the health of his balky knees. He has had a series of knee surgeries since joining the UFC in late 2007, and the injured and immediately post-surgery versions of Rua are a far cry from the healthy, berserker version.  The former got hammered by Forrest Griffin over the course of three rounds. The latter stopped Griffin with strikes in less than two minutes.

Now, that is a stark difference, one that has to have fans wondering whether Shogun’s performance in his title-losing effort to Jon Jones can be chalked up to post-surgery cage rust or if the matchup is really that bad for him.

Shogun is very open about the fact that he wants, and likely believes that he deserves, a quick return in a title bout. Rashad Evans might have a thing or two to say about that.

But whoever Shogun fights, staying healthy is the key to this guy returning to the top and staying there. He certainly has the skills to be not only a champion, but a dominant champion. 

GRIFFIN NEEDS TO FIND MOTIVATION SOMEWHERE

Griffin is honest to a fault. Ask a question and you will receive an honest, unfiltered answer. That is one of the reasons why he is such a lovable figure in the sport. Well, that and his willingness to walk through fire during competition without ever considering quitting.

Griffin’s pre-event blog was filled with talk about his lack of motivation. The guy who used to sleep on a friend’s floor is now wealthy, thanks to a sport he helped build with his blood, sweat and guts. And as many fistic champions have said before him, it is tough to get up every day and put themselves through the tortures of a proper training camp when they go to bed at night with silk pajamas.

I’m sure Griffin properly prepared for Shogun. It would shock me if one of the sport’s hardest workers cut any corners in his preparation. Yet, he was very honest in the weeks leading up to the fight that, in his opinion, he was not improving anymore. He wasn’t growing as a mixed martial artist. There is no place for self doubt in MMA. If Griffin was questioning the adequacy of his preparations before facing Shogun, getting knocked out in less than two minutes will greatly exacerbate those concerns.

Griffin said that he wants to continue fighting so that he can provide for his extended family. If that is the case, then he needs to use that to rekindle the competitive fire in his belly. If that won’t get it done, then he needs to find motivation somewhere because many fights are won or lost long before the combatants actually step into the cage.

Griffin seemed tentative to me in the fight. Maybe self doubt led to that tentativeness. Facing a savage striker like Shogun also probably had something to do with it, though Griffin has never really showed tentativeness in the past, even against arguably an even more dangerous striker in Rampage.

Maybe changing up his camp is the answer. Training with new guys may bring a fresh, new feeling to the fight game, something that he openly admits has been absent for the last few years.

Georges St-Pierre is the face of mixed martial arts. We all know that, thanks to his Under Armour and Gatorade endorsements. He is also one of the most gifted fighters in the world. He would be the unquestioned king of the sport, pound for pound, but for one man.

Anderson Silva.

Nicknamed “The Spider,” Silva is the UFC Middleweight Champion. But his accomplishments go far beyond that.

Nobody in the history of the promotion has started his career with more consecutive wins (13) than Silva. He is the longest reigning champion in UFC history across all weight classes—1,778 days by the time he steps into the Octagon on Saturday night. During that time, he has amassed more successful consecutive title defenses (8) than any champion in UFC history.

In fact, when Silva steps into the cage on Saturday night to defend his title for the ninth time, it will mark the 2,045th day since he last tasted defeat.  The night will be a historic one because it marks the first time in the Zuffa era that the UFC will hold an event in the motherland of the sport, Silva’s native Brazil. The champion will be extra motivated because this will be his first opportunity to perform live in front of his countrymen in nearly eight years.

Of course, there is another motivating factor for Silva that far outweighs the location of the event.  The last man to defeat him….wait for it….is his UFC RIO opponent, Yushin Okami. Silva may not admit it, but that loss has to burn white hot in his core. Not only because Okami has a win on his record over the champion. Also because it was, in Silva’s mind at least, a very questionable loss.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane for a minute.

January 20, 2006. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. B.J. Penn’s older brother, J.D., arranged a 175-pound tournament outside of the UFC for some of the very best fighters in the world. Silva and Okami met in the opening round.  It was a fight that most expected Silva to win, though he certainly had not yet developed into the seemingly unbeatable monster that he is today.

Silva obviously did not win. At 2:33 of the opening round, Silva delivered an upkick from his guard to Okami’s face. It would have been a legal kick, except for the fact that Okami had both knees on the ground. That made it an illegal kick to the head of a downed opponent.

Okami was visibly shaken by the blow. He was given time to recover from the foul and continue with the fight. Yet, when he informed the referee that he was unable to continue due to the blow, the Japanese fighter was awarded the win via disqualification.

It was a bout decided by a technicality. In Silva’s mind, Okami quit. He took the easy way out. In Okami’s mind, Silva cheated, and his cheating ways impaired his ability to continue at peak levels.

Whatever really happened, all will be made well on Saturday night, because these two gifted fighters will do battle once again. This time, Silva’s 185-pound championship will be on the line, as will his standing as the king of the sport.

No, Okami won’t be viewed as the single best fighter in the world, if he wins. He will be the new ruler of the 185-pound division. GSP will instead take Silva’s place at the peak of MMA supremacy.

In other words, there is a lot riding on the outcome of UFC RIO.

What makes this fight even more interesting from the fans’ perspective, is the fact that Silva’s biggest weakness just so happens to be Okami’s biggest strength—wrestling. And that could be enough to decide the fight. It almost decided the outcome of Silva’s toughest UFC fight today.

Back on August 7, 2010, Silva defended his championship against decorated former amateur wrestler Chael Sonnen. The fight lasted 23 minutes and 10 seconds. The champion was getting his rear end handed to him for nearly 23 full minutes. He was hopelessly behind on all the judge’s cards with two minutes remaining in the fight, after being taken down and pounded on for basically every minute of the fight leading up to that point.

Sonnen then made a mistake. He got sloppy with his ground-and-pound attack, over extending his punches while allowing the champion to move his hips high on his chest. That opened the door for a triangle choke, and in the blink of an eye, Silva turned what seemed to be certain defeat into the most exciting win of his UFC career.

Silva was unable to defend any of Okami’s takedowns on that fateful night. Afterward, the world learned that Silva suffered injured ribs heading into the fight, which arguably contributed to his inability to keep the fight standing. Sonnen scoffs at that notion, pointing instead to the champion’s lack of elite takedown defense as the culprit.

Okami certainly hopes that Sonnen’s assessment of that night is accurate, especially since he has been training with the world-class contender in Oregon for this bout. If so, he stands a very good chance of scoring a massive upset victory.

Okami is the definition of a grinder. He is a wrestling-based fighter with limited submissions, but excellent top control and effective ground and pound. He also happens to be a very big, strong middleweight, overpowering most opponents whenever the fight moves to the clinch.

What Okami does not do effectively is shoot for takedowns from the outside. He instead prefers to execute judo-style throws from the clinch. That could pose a problem—more on that in a bit—but Okami needs to do whatever he can to get this fight to the ground. He needs risk everything to put the champion on his back early in each round and then do whatever it takes to keep him there.  Why? Because that is the only way he can win the fight, outside of landing a proverbial lottery-winning strike.

Silva is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under the Nogueira brothers, so he is far from out of his comfort zone if the action hits the ground—not by a long shot.  Nonetheless, he does not want to find himself in that position. Sonnen’s Achilles’ heel throughout his career has been his submission defense, which is a direct result of his over aggressiveness on the ground.  That Achilles’ heel led to his defeat.

Okami, by contrast, has never been submitted. Not once in 32 professional fights. Thus, Silva should view winning from his back as a distant Plan C.

The keys to victory, therefore, are very straightforward for each man.  Silva must aggressively counter on the feet and use good lateral movement to try and keep Okami from cutting off the cage and tying him up.  If he finds himself nearing a clinch, go ahead and attack in traditional Muay Thai fashion by doing what he does better than any man in the UFC—grabbing the back of Okami’s neck and bombing knees to the body and chin.  Okami may not have a demonstrable weakness for submissions, but he has no answer for Silva’s Thai attack in the clinch. I’m certain of that one.

If the champion finds himself on the ground, he should utilize his tremendously long legs to lock up a body triangle. That position will largely stalemate Okami’s ground and pound attack, while allowing the champion to squeeze some of the conditioning out of his foe.

Note, however, that a body triangle is only a temporary answer. Silva cannot win the fight from that position because submissions are almost impossible from that position. Once he Okami under control, he needs to open his guard and stand up.

Despite Okami’s penchant for ground and pound, he has never shown the ability to submit a high-level opponent with his jiu-jitsu skills. It is highly unlikely that Silva will be the first to fall prey to an armbar, triangle choke, or God forbid, a gogoplata. So, there is no real risk for Silva opening his guard and working feverishly to get back to his feet in order to avoid losing round after round on the cards by fighting from his back.

As mentioned, Okami has but a single key to victory:  takedowns.  He knows that he cannot out strike Silva.  Sure, any man can score an improbable knockout. It is equally true that Silva knocks out Okami 99 out of 100 times, if the two engage in a standup-only fight. Actually, it might be 999 out of 1,000.  

In order to maximize the odds of scoring a takedown, Okami should slowly try to walk Silva to the cage. Remember that Silva greatly prefers to counter. If Okami cautiously approaches with his hands held high, Silva will bide his time while retreating or circling. Once Silva is anywhere near the cage, Okami should throw caution to the wind and close the distance with unabashed aggression.

Granted, he may get his lights turned out during that charge, but do you have a better idea for getting Silva to the ground?  Approaching behind strikes is a bad idea.  Silva will destroy him in that scenario.  The better approach is to feint while rushing in.  Silva’s traditional reaction to every aggressive lunge forward is to take a step backward and then fire.  If he steps backward into the cage, it will cause him to hesitate, even if only briefly, as his mind processes the change in the environment and recalculates how to counter.  Okami must take advantage of that hesitation by finishing executing a takedown or throw by any means necessary.

Just like in the Sonnen matchup, this is Silva’s fight to lose.  He is the rightful betting favorite.  Okami is a serviceable boxer, but he will be severely risking his personal safety each time he presses forward for a takedown.  That is a terrifying thought for a guy whose best chance of winning is by scoring multiple takedowns.

QUICK FACTS

Anderson Silva
•    36 years old
•    6’2, 185 lbs
•    77-inch reach
•    30-4 overall (13-0 UFC)
•    13 consecutive UFC wins is most in history
•    11 UFC wins inside the distance (8 by KO/TKO and 3 by submission)
•    6 of those 11 wins were in the first round
•    Hasn’t lost since January 20, 2006 (DQ loss to Yushin Okami outside of UFC)
•    9-0 in championship fights
•    9 championship wins ties for the most all-time
•    8 successful consecutive defenses is the most in UFC history
•    Current layoff is 203 days
•    Longest layoff of UFC career is 245 days
•    Submission of the Night twice  
•    Knockout of the Night three times
•    Fight of the Night three times

Yushin Okami
•    30 years old
•    6’2, 185 lbs
•    72-inch reach
•    27-5 professional record (10-2 UFC)
•    4-1 in his last 5 bouts
•    8-2 in his last 10 bouts
•    Riding a 3-fight winning streak
•    1-1 in official title eliminators
•    1-1 against current or former champions
•    First UFC title fight
•    Current layoff is 287 days
•    Longest career layoff is 301 days
•    No UFC post-fight award bonuses

A FITTING END TO AN ENTERTAINING CAREER

Chris Lytle couldn’t have scripted a better end to his UFC career.

Sure, he badly wanted to score a first round knockout. The former professional boxer came out throwing bombs over and over again. His punches looked almost amateurish at times because he wanted desperately to land a one-punch knockout.

Instead, he engaged in a three-round war with Dan Hardy that ended in spectacular fashion with a guillotine choke with less than a minute remaining.

The bout had everything that a Hollywood writer could want. Lytle savagely attacked from Jump Street, firing bomb after bomb. Each punch was laced with bad intentions. Each punch was designed to leave every bit of Lytle inside the Octagon. Lytle landed with more frequency. Yet, Hardy rocked him several times with counters, even putting him on temporarily wobbly legs.

But Lytle refused to be denied in his final UFC fight. It was evident that he wasn’t going to win by knockout, so with less than a minute left, he sunk a picture-perfect guillotine to bring the fight to a sensational end.

It was a perfect way to end one of the most entertaining careers in UFC history.

Sunday night was Lytle’s 20th trip to the Octagon. He never won a championship. He never even fought for the championship. But I guarantee you that he felt like a champion when his hand was raised inside the Octagon while two of his four children embraced him as Bruce Buffer announced him as the winner.

Twenty UFC fights. Ten wins. Ten losses. Sounds average, right? Check this out.

Lytle is only the sixth man in UFC history to compete at least 20 times inside the Octagon. Tito Ortiz has the record at 25. Maybe even more impressive is the fact that Lytle owns the record for the most “of the night” bonuses in UFC history. His efforts on Sunday night earned him two bonus checks in one night—an extra $130,000 thanks to his thrilling back-and-forth brawl that resulted in the Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night awards. Not a bad way to end a career.

Actually, it was a fitting end.  Lytle has given fans more bang for the buck than anyone in UFC history, and his 10 post-fight awards prove it. His 10 awards puts him two ahead of Anderson Silva for most in UFC history. His six Fight of the Night bonuses also ranks as the most ever (one ahead of Tyson Griffin).

It suffices to say that Lytle stands alone as one of the most entertaining fighters to ever step into the Octagon. Yet, he is choosing to walk away, though it is for all the right reasons.

I am blessed to have a 27-month old son, Rocco, and my wife is six months pregnant with our second child—also a son. Like Lytle, I certainly spend far more hours at the office than I do at home. Thus, I can empathize with Lytle’s desire to adjust his professional life so that he can put his family first.

In fact, I can say this without hesitation or equivocation:  watching him embrace his eldest daughter and son at the end of his final fight, knowing what he was giving up so that he could focus more on them and his other two kids, was one of the most moving moments that I’ve seen inside the Octagon. And Lytle’s decision to spend more time with his family, when he still appears to be at the top of his game and the peak of his earning power, is something that demands respect.

Thanks for the great fights, Chris. You will be greatly missed, but fondly remembered.  Enjoy your life after fighting and the extra time with your family. You have certainly earned it.

HARDY FACES TOUGH DECISION

As I sit here, I cannot think of any fighter in the modern Zuffa era that suffered four straight losses and retained his job with the UFC. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened. I’m saying that I cannot recall it happening. Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta put all speculation to rest last night when he tweeted that Hardy would not be cut from his contract as a result of his fourth-consecutive loss. The boss said the Brit will receive at least one more fight.

Hardy now has a very difficult choice to make. Four straight losses is enough to cause even the most confident of fighters to begin questioning himself. Those without seemingly unbreakable self-confidence would probably fall far into the world of self-doubt. I have no idea where Hardy’s head is at the moment. Does he still believe that he is the same monster who destroyed Mike Swick? Does he really view himself as a legitimate UFC 170-pound mainstay? I’m not suggesting he shouldn’t hold firm on those beliefs, but it would be understandable if “The Outlaw” was experiencing some doubts right about now.

That brings us to the question at hand: Should Hardy take Fertitta up on his offer to continue fighting in the UFC? A fifth straight loss would almost certainly send him back to the smaller promotions to try and right the ship. That is no big deal. Lots of guys take temporary breaks from the UFC in order to work on certain aspects of their game, only to return better than ever. Nevertheless, a fifth straight loss could cause significant damage to Hardy’s psyche, and a fighter with a damaged psyche is a fighter who rarely performs up to his ability.

There is no doubt that racking up a handful of wins in the smaller shows would do Hardy wonders, particularly mentally. The guy is still only 29 years old, so he has several years of his fighting prime ahead of him. Assuming he is facing some doubting demons at the moment, then getting those issues squared away may be more valuable to his long-term career than taking his next fight in the UFC. Of course, a loss outside the UFC would be disastrous, so there is that risk to consider as well.

I have no idea what Hardy will do next or when he will return. All I know is he is facing a very tough decision.

HENDERSON PROVES THE WEC GUYS ARE FOR REAL

Jim Miller wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion that he didn’t believe the WEC guys belonged among the UFC 155-pound elite. I’m sure he feels differently after former WEC champion Ben Henderson put his stamp on the man many felt was standing at the front of the line for the winner of Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard.

To put Henderson’s win into context, Miller was on a seven-fight UFC winning streak. Only two men in the UFC boast longer current winning streaks. You’ve probably heard of them before. Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre.

Yet, Henderson thoroughly destroyed Miller in each of the three rounds. The one judge who gave a round to Miller needs to consider a new career because none of the rounds were even remotely close.

The big question now is whether Henderson catapults into the number one contender spot previously occupied by Miller. He may be relatively new to the UFC, but the guy isn’t new to the sport. The win over Miller improved his career mark to an impressive 14-2, and he is now 2-0 in the UFC. Sure, there are lots of lightweights who can make a claim for priority over Henderson. But none of those guys owns a win over Miller, whose only other defeats came to Edgar and Maynard.

Whether he is next in line or somewhere down the line, there is no doubt that Henderson is a legitimate contender at 155 pounds. There is also no doubt that the top former WEC guys deserve the same respect as their UFC colleagues. No doubt whatsoever.

CERRONE MAKES A STATEMENT; CROSS OFF TWO BUCKET LIST ITEMS

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone claimed that he did not like the attitude Charles Oliveira demonstrated as fight night approached. He felt his opponent was a little too confident, so he wanted to use his fists to teach him a lesson about humility.

I’m not sure if Oliveira was overconfident, and I’m definitely sure that he neither said nor did anything out of the ordinary in pre-fight interviews. Yet, Cerrone accomplished his mission in emphatic fashion thanks to a vicious left bolo punch to the body that dropped him just over halfway through the first round. Knowing Oliveira was hurt, Cerrone attacked like a shark smelling blood in the water, and the fight was over just a few seconds later.

 “Cowboy” is now on a five-fight winning streak, including three in a row since the UFC swallowed the WEC. More importantly, though, he scored the first knockout win of his career. I know it is shocking to think that Cerrone had never before won by knockout. He is, after all, a very skilled striker. Nevertheless, through 20 professional fights, he had never before finished an opponent with strikes.

Oh yeah, the first knockout win of his professional career was also selected as the Knockout of the Night – his second UFC post-fight bonus.

He can now cross both of those items off of his bucket list.

It’s time for Cerrone to face one of the division’s top 10 contenders. I firmly believe he has earned it. A bout with an elite 155-pound striker, like Melvin Guillard or Dennis Siver, would be divine. A test against a monster ground guy, like Clay Guida or Jim Miller, would be just as fun. Whoever is next, Cerrone is rapidly moving toward contender status.

LUDWIG SHOWS SADOLLAH THAT WORLD-CLASS KICKBOXING ISN’T TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY

There is a reason that Duane “Bang” Ludwig is a two-time world kickboxing champion. This guy has been kickboxing since before he could drive a car. Someone obviously forgot to tell Amir Sadollah about Ludwig’s past because the affable, though still relatively inexperienced, competitor chose to stand and bang with a guy of Ludwig’s caliber.

The result wasn’t a surprise. Ludwig’s shots were faster, more technically sound and much more precise. He mixed up leading and countering. He demonstrated his superiority on the outside and in the clinch. The Colorado-based fighter also hurt The Ultimate Fighter winner on multiple occasions. So, the judges’ decision to award him the fight was to be expected.

Sadollah said in the weeks leading up to the bout that he wanted to test his standup against a guy of Ludwig’s level. Duly noted.

That isn’t the best way to win a fight, but it certainly was a great way to put on an entertaining scrap for the fans.

It is worth noting that Sadollah was not blown out by his opponent. Far from it. Ludwig was never in any danger of losing, but he certainly ate his share of solid punches, kicks and knees. The lumps, bruises and other marks face made that very evident after the fight. In fact, I’ll go so far as to state that Ludwig has much more respect for Sadollah’s standup and toughness now than he did a couple of days ago.

Nevertheless, Sadollah would be well served to take note of what happens when he decides to stand and bang with a guy nicknamed “Bang.” Next time he fights a world-class striker, he should probably spend the majority of the camp working on using strikes to disguise takedown attempts. That is what he was missing on Sunday night.

EVANS 4.0 IS THE BEST YET

Fourteen months is a lifetime to be away from live competition for any professional athlete. Most guys return from such lengthy layoffs looking sluggish, hesitant, sloppy and often with a few extra pizza-induced rolls around the midsection. Not Rashad Evans. He used the time away to reinvent himself as a fighter—literally.

I was shocked, literally shocked, when I saw the former 205-pound champion take off his shirt at the weigh-ins. Evans did not look like someone who had been away from the sport for more than a year. He looked like a fighter in peak physical condition who was sharp and ready to go. I think that is the first time I’ve ever seen him with a true six pack.

Granted, MMA is not bodybuilding. There is more to winning a fight than showing up with chiseled abdominal muscles.  And contrary to popular belief, low levels of body fat do not, in any way, indicate whether someone is in great cardiovascular shape. Instead, it merely means that Evans fully committed to preparing for Ortiz. Not only did he work hard in the gym to sharpen his skills; creating a physique like that demonstrates that he also paid as much attention to his diet as he did technique training. That sort of holistic approach to the fight game is something we have not previously seen from Evans until now.

The extremely well muscled, chiseled physique that he unveiled during the weigh-ins was a statement about his new level of commitment to the sport and a sign of what was in store for his opponent approximately 30 hours later. Evans did not disappoint once the action got underway. He more than lived up to the hype he created at the weigh-ins with what I think was a career-best performance in stopping Tito Ortiz with just 12 seconds remaining in the second round.

The reason I’m labeling the win a career-best performance is this is the first time that I’ve really seen Evans show his full skill set in a fight. It was the first time that he appeared to be a truly well rounded mixed martial artist.

Think about it for a moment. The first incarnation of Evans was back in his days on The Ultimate Fighter. He was an undersized, soft-around-the-middle heavyweight who used tremendous speed and good boxing skills to topple bigger, slower opponents. Yet, he rarely took any risks during fights. He instead used his great athleticism to safely outpoint his opponents. That version of Evans continued when he returned to his more natural 205-pound weight class following his win on TUF2.

Evans 2.0 appeared three years after his UFC debut. This time, however, he was strictly a standup homerun hitter. Evans likely knew going into his 2008 fight with Chuck Liddell that there was little chance of scoring a takedown. Thus, he sat down on his punches and fired nuclear bombs at “The Iceman,” scoring an amazing knockout win in the process. That version of Evans won and lost the world championship as he lived and died by the knockout sword.

After getting his lights turned out by Lyoto Machida, Evans 3.0 appeared for his next two bouts with Thiago Silva and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. This version wanted no part of standup exchanges with opponents. He was Mr. Takedown. Actually, Mr. Lay-and-Pray might be a better label. Evans fought with survival always at the forefront of his mind. He wasn’t out there looking to put his stamp on Silva or Rampage, not at all. He was merely looking to survive and win in as safe a manner as possible.

Evans 3.0 was effective. I’ll give him that much. But he was dreadfully boring to watch.

Evans 4.0, who made his professional debut against Ortiz, was the best Evans that we have witnessed to date. This version dripped with confidence. There was no false bravado used in an effort to hide self doubt because there was no self doubt. He was fully prepared for Ortiz, and he knew it.

Evans displayed the ability to seamlessly transition from striker to wrestler that we hadn’t before seen in his fights. He also showed greatly improved takedown defense, something he lacked in his first bout with Ortiz. And his standup game was as sharp as ever. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that it was a better version of the standup game that he used to win the world title. Evans 4.0 is much more than an overhand right, left hook fighter, which is all we really saw from Evans 2.0. He used a variety of strikes, including straight, crisp punches and shots to the body that we did not see in past fights. This was the guy that I’ve been hearing about for years from sparring partners. Evans 4.0 appears to have finally put it all together—finally.

If Evans continues fighting as an unpredictable, well rounded fighter who is confident in his ability to win the fight in every area, he may very well return to the top of the 205-pound mountain. Everyone gawks at Jon Jones’ athletic ability, including me. But make no mistake about it, Evans is his athletic equal.  

Jones-Evans will be one heck of a scrap, one that could result in a war for the ages. If Rampage is able to unseat the champion first, then something tells me that Rampage-Evans II will be a very different fight than their first tango, which was much more of a dance than a fight.

MAJOR RESPECT TO ORTIZ FOR STEPPING UP

Tito Ortiz has taken more criticism over the last 10 years than any fighter in the UFC. Some of it was well deserved. Ortiz hasn’t always made the best decisions with his career. Yet, a good portion of the criticism was completely unwarranted. Ortiz chose to be a polarizing figure during his career, so any time he came up just a little bit short of expectations, pundits and fans heaped harsh words on him in helpings never before seen in the sport.

At 36 years old, Ortiz is an older, wiser, more mature version of the guy who ruled the 205-pound division for more than three years—a record that still stands to this day. And his decision to save UFC 133 by stepping in on extremely short notice for an injured Phil Davis is a decision that he will never regret, despite suffering just the third TKO loss of his career.

Evans-Ortiz was a much bigger, more marketable fight than any other short-notice matchup available to White. In fact, Evans-Ortiz was a much bigger, more marketable fight than the one it replaced. No disrespect to Phil Davis. That guy is an absolute animal at 205 pounds, but he is far from having the name recognition of Ortiz.

Keep in mind that Ortiz was coming off his first win since October 10, 2006, when he beat a seriously over-the-hill Ken Shamrock. He is also a guy who is borderline obsessive about his preparation and pre-fight planning. He knew that there was no possible way that he could get his body to peak again for UFC 133. He knew that it was likely that he would come up short against an opponent who is better at just about every aspect of the game. Thus, he knew that whatever momentum he created by beating Bader would instantly evaporate, if he lost to Evans.

Yet, he took the fight anyway. Ortiz showed up on Saturday night and fought a great fight, despite coming up short. He was able to find moments of success against Evans, both on the feet and on the ground. That has to serve as encouragement for his future bouts. And he was competitive enough to justify a well earned $70,000 Fight of the Night bonus – a nice little chunk of change that will pay for the damage he recently caused to his Rolls Royce Phantom thanks to a text-messaging-induced fender bender in his hometown.

By stepping up and facing Evans, Ortiz proved that he is no longer the prima donna who lived underneath UFC President Dana White’s skin. Dare I say he is now a company man? Dare I say he is now a fan favorite? Dare I say he more committed to the fight game than a once-desired acting career?

For those who have never met Ortiz, he has always been a different guy in private than he is in front of the camera. Get him away from the ever present public eye for a moment, and he is really just one of the guys. It’s good to see him choosing to now live his life that way in front of the camera.

I’m still not ready to anoint Ortiz as a contender in the light heavyweight division.  But I will say this much: his effort against Evans went as far with me in establishing his place in the 205-pound pecking order as his dramatic submission victory over Ryan Bader. Critics can dismiss the Bader win as a lucky superman punch that happened to find its mark. We didn’t see enough in that fight to really know where Ortiz stands at this point in his career. Real fight cognoscenti undoubtedly saw on Saturday night that Ortiz really is a better version of the guy who suffered through a terrible losing streak, one that had him on the verge of the unemployment line.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ortiz isn’t done surprising the MMA world. Like I wrote in my UFC 132 musings just over a month ago, it’s great having Tito Ortiz back. MMA fans around the world owe him a serious tip of the cap in appreciation for his willingness to step up and fight Evans on Saturday night.

I have no idea what is next for Ortiz. He announced at the post-fight presser that he wants to fight again before the end of the year. I’d love to see him in a headlining or co-main event bout against the winner of Forrest Griffin versus Marcio “Shogun” Rua. I think that is the perfect next fight for him.  

BELFORT SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF THE RESULT

Is it just me or did anyone else notice that Vitor Belfort seemed to take it very personally when Yoshihiro Akiyama to sneak in the same front kick that Anderson Silva used to knock out the Brazilian back in February?

The missed kick (which, by the way, was thrown from well outside of any reasonably effective striking distance) certainly was the beginning of the end for Akiyama. That, in and of itself, is not surprising. It is the way Belfort attacked that surprised me.

The former 205-pound champion has always been an extreme counterstriker, rarely opting to aggressively dictate the action against any opponent. But he did not really counter Akiyama’s missed kick. Instead, he slipped the kick, appeared to get more than a little perturbed about it, and then attacked in an extremely aggressive fashion more than a full second later.

Belfort’s aggression created openings for his laser-like punches, rather than waiting for openings to present themselves in the form of counters. The result was one of the most spectacular knockouts of his career. That is no small feat, either. The only other person to score a knockout victory over the Japanese superstar is former legendary K-1 heavyweight champion Jerome Le Banner in a bout where Akiyama was grossly undersized.

The win proves that Belfort has the ability to stop any middleweight in the world, if he can only get to their chin. It also proves that he does not have to sit by passively and wait for an opponent to create an opening by missing with a strike. He can push the action and make his own openings through attacking aggressively.

Belfort should take note of how he won. One of the big knocks on this guy is that his extreme counterstriking posture makes him a sitting duck for dominant wrestlers, who never give him the opening he needs before taking him to the ground and holding him there. An attacking Belfort might be the most dangerous fighter in the middleweight division—champion included.

WHAT IS IT WITH GUYS NAMED RORY?

What is with sports phenoms named Rory these days? Unless you live under a rock (or just happen to abhor golf), you undoubtedly know that some youngster from Northern Ireland named Rory McIlroy won the US Open back in June—one of golf’s four yearly major championships. McIlroy has long been touted as the “next this” or “next that” due to his tremendous golfing success during his teenage years. But it wasn’t until 2011 that the affable 22-year-old finally put it all together and lived up to the hype that has followed him from the moment he debuted in a PGA Tour event. And he did it after a bitter defeat in The Masters, a tournament he dominated through three rounds, only to fall apart in the fourth and final round.

Rory MacDonald isn’t that different of a story. Like McIlroy, he debuted in his chosen professional sport as a teenager, something that is almost unheard of in golf or mixed martial arts. From the day he began fighting, people talked openly about the tremendous potential he carried with him into competition. In 2011, he finally appears to be coming into his own as a fighter, scoring major wins over Nate Diaz back in April and grizzled veteran Mike Pyle on Saturday night.

Yep, you guessed it. MacDonald’s two big wins this year came on the heels of a bitter loss to Carlos Condit, a fight that he was dominating through two rounds, only to suffer a TKO loss with seven seconds remaining in the fight.

Granted, he hasn’t yet won a championship, but there certainly appear to be some very real parallels between these two fine young athletes. I’m sure Team MacDonald hopes that their Rory reaches the same career pinnacle as the other Rory before his 23rd birthday. We’ll see if it happens.

WHAT WAS HALLMAN THINKING?

Let’s cut right to the chase. I’m not a fashionista by any stretch of the imagination, but the shorts Dennis Hallman wore on Saturday night were beyond terrible. I’m not sure a single adjective truly captures how bad they really were.

I will never understand why Hallman chose to basically wear a bikini. There was no functional or competitive reason to wear those things over, say, spandex-style fight shorts. Better yet, there was no reason whatsoever to wear bikini bottoms that were clearly several sizes too small. Hallman did it purely for entertainment value, or maybe one of his sponsors paid him to wear them. Either way, it was a silly decision that took precedence over the reputation and performance of a fighter who just recently began to be taken seriously in the UFC welterweight division by the fans. Now he is known as Mr. Bikini.

Not everyone agrees with my assessment of Hallman’s decision to wear a bikini. Brian Ebersole has to be thrilled with Hallman’s decision. He earned the first ever “Thanks for getting those horrifying shorts off TV as soon as possible” bonus. as Dana White handed him a well earned $70,000 check for quickly dispatching with his scantily clad opponent.