For the better part of the day I was thinking about who were possible MVPs going into last night’s UFC 130 pay-per-view. The card did not lack enough big name fighters, but it did lack any interesting bouts that carried all that much consequence. The m…
For the better part of the day I was thinking about who were possible MVPs going into last night’s UFC 130 pay-per-view. The card did not lack enough big name fighters, but it did lack any interesting bouts that carried all that much consequence.
The main event was a light heavyweight tilt pitting former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against Matt Hamill. An upset by Hamill could vault him towards the top of the list as far as MVP’s are concerned or Rampage could gain some momentum with a highlight reel knockout.
The co-main event had occasional training partners Frank Mir and Roy Nelson going toe-to-toe in a matchup of two heavyweight fighters with exceptional grappling skills. Could a slick submission by either man gain them the vaunted Most Valuable Player award for UFC 130?
When it was all said and done I had two fighters in mind. I looked at Rick Story and the fact that he gained the biggest victory of his career against Thiago Alves and backed up all of the pre-fight talk he had unleashed. He kept his promise and proved that calling out and requesting a fight with Alves was a great move on his part.
Then there was Brian Stann, the man who has been making a lot of noise since dropping down to the middleweight division. He was taking on the returning and versatile Jorge Santiago in a bout that could put the winner very close to a shot at the middleweight title.
Both men had impressive showings, but the deciding factor in choosing Stann was he finished his opponent while Story won by unanimous decision. I can’t lie and say that this being Memorial Day weekend and Stann being a decorated Marine and an American hero didn’t add some drama to this story.
The poise Stann showed inside the Octagon no doubt comes from the experiences he has gone through while serving in Iraq. His composure will only help him when the tough gets going and he finds himself in trouble during a fight. There is nothing that can happen to him inside the cage that he hasn’t already seen on the battlefield.
He took on a returning Santiago, a fighter who had gone 11-1 in his last 12 fights. During that time he won the Strikeforce Middleweight Grand Prix by defeating both Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley in the same night. He then traveled east and went to Japan where he won the Sengoku Middleweight Grand Prix and Middleweight Championship.
Santiago has defeated some very good fighters including Kazuo Misaki twice, the last fight between the two was named the 2010 Fight of the Year. This all goes to show you that Santiago is for real and a legitimate threat in the middleweight division.
That is why Stann deserves the credit he gets and why he deserves to be the UFC 130 Most Valuable Player. He not only defeated Santiago, he had him in danger throughout much of the fight and completely stifled any offense that Santiago tried to muster.
So enjoy your Memorial Day weekend Mr. Stann, enjoy your win over a very good fighter and thank you for putting on a performance worthy of being the UFC 130 MVP.
UFC 130 Results See Tim Boetsch Make A Big Statement At 185 PoundsTim Boetsch has saved his mixed martial arts career by moving down to 185 pounds. He dominated Kendall Grove at UFC 130 en route to his first victory at middleweight. He has the potentia…
UFC 130 Results See Tim Boetsch Make A Big Statement At 185 Pounds
Tim Boetsch has saved his mixed martial arts career by moving down to 185 pounds. He dominated Kendall Grove at UFC 130 en route to his first victory at middleweight. He has the potential to be a force for a long time to come as a result of the weight cut.
The former 5150 Combat League light heavyweight champion could have stayed at 205 pounds in UFC, but he would have found himself dragging on preliminary cards for a long time.
Instead, he will be a force to be reckoned with in a division that features a number of really great fighters, led by Anderson Silva. While Boetsch is not at that level, he has the potential to be a contender in the very near future.
Against Grove, Boetsch was dominant. He showed excellent stand up and striking. He got takedowns at will. He was too big and strong for Grove to do anything with on the ground.
That loss to Phil Davis at UFC 123 was the best possible thing that could have happened to Boetsch. He now knows where his future is in mixed martial arts. He made a strong impression in his first fight at middleweight and should get a much better opponent his next time out.
He wasn’t big enough or strong enough to compete with the guys at light heavyweight, as Davis clearly showed, but at middleweight he is right at home. This fight was the beginning of bigger and better things to come for Boetsch in UFC.
UFC 130 Was The Crowning Of Brian Stann As The Next Great Middleweight ContenderIf UFC 125 was the star-making performance of Brian Stann, then UFC 130 was the day he became a true championship contender. The former U.S. Marine looked damn good once ag…
UFC 130 Was The Crowning Of Brian Stann As The Next Great Middleweight Contender
If UFC 125 was the star-making performance of Brian Stann, then UFC 130 was the day he became a true championship contender. The former U.S. Marine looked damn good once again by knocking out Jorge Santiago in the first round of their fight at UFC 130 last night.
The UFC middleweight division currently has a championship fight booked between Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami at UFC Rio this summer. It’s a good fight, and Okami is certainly deserving of his opportunity, but Stann deserves the next shot at the title thanks to his strong performances in the octagon.
Stann’s game has really evolved lately, to the point where he is one of the most exciting fighters in all of mixed martial arts. Whenever he is on a card, you want to make a point to stop and watch him because you know you are going to see something special.
UFC loves a fighter like Stann. Not only he does he put on the kind of fights that they love to market, but he has a good story as a former military man and a good personality that makes it easy to sell a fight.
I don’t know what UFC has planned for the middleweight championship after Silva and Okami square off, they probably don’t even have a clue right now, but I know that Stann has earned the right to compete for the top prize in the division as soon as possible.
Dana White is a smart businessman. He knows that there is a strong desire to see Stann fight and fight against the best in the world. There is no reason not to give Stann his moment in the sun. He has done everything that he can to get this shot.
UFC 130 Results See Matt Hamill Dominated In The Biggest Fight Of His Professional CareerMatt Hamill did everything that he could to get a fight against Quinton Jackson. He practically got down on his knees and begged Dana White and Joe Silva to make t…
UFC 130 Results See Matt Hamill Dominated In The Biggest Fight Of His Professional Career
Matt Hamill did everything that he could to get a fight against Quinton Jackson. He practically got down on his knees and begged Dana White and Joe Silva to make this fight. They granted his wish last night at UFC 130 and it did not go the way that he was hoping. He is now left to wonder what will become of his career after last night’s decisive loss.
Hamill entered the fight having won his last five fights and seemed poised to become a real contender in the light heavyweight division if he could get by Jackson.
Sadly, things did not break his way at all. He looked very bland going for a number of weak takedowns that Jackson easily stuffed. His standup, which had been improving, really let him down last night. He got in a couple of decent shots to Jackson’s head, but nothing that came close to knocking him out.
This was the moment that Hamill wanted. He wanted a big name fighter to make his reputation and he blew it. He didn’t look good, and now he has to start all over again.
Hope is not lost for this young man, who does have the talent to be more than a mid-card fighter, but he will have to go back to basics for his next fight to figure out why he couldn’t keep up with Jackson. He will have to vary his style up a bit because his takedowns were awful. There was almost no life to anything that he was doing.
His first shot in the spotlight did not go as planned, but he will have plenty more opportunities to shine against the best light heavyweights in the world. As long as he tries to get more substance behind the style that he already has in tow.
(Photo courtesy of UFC.com. Rampage’s victory reaction gif is now after the jump.)
When the anticipated rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard was scrapped from this card, we were left with a few big names and a lot of hope. Despite a few stellar knockouts earlier in the evening, UFC 130 ended much like my date to see “No Strings Attached”: a lot of booing, a disappointing 15 minute fight, and I was out $50.
Every UFC card has to be about something, and with no gold up for grabs the storyline for this event became Quinton Jackson’s climb back up to the top of the Light Heavyweight division. Dana White declared and Rogan and Goldberg echoed that an impressive, entertaining victory over Matt Hamill would land Rampage a title fight with champ Jon Jones. Rampage secured the win, but his shot at the belt is still up in the air.
(Photo courtesy of UFC.com. Rampage’s victory reaction gif is now after the jump.)
When the anticipated rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard was scrapped from this card, we were left with a few big names and a lot of hope. Despite a few stellar knockouts earlier in the evening, UFC 130 ended much like my date to see “No Strings Attached”: a lot of booing, a disappointing 15 minute fight, and I was out $50.
Every UFC card has to be about something, and with no gold up for grabs the storyline for this event became Quinton Jackson’s climb back up to the top of the Light Heavyweight division. Dana White declared and Rogan and Goldberg echoed that an impressive, entertaining victory over Matt Hamill would land Rampage a title fight with champ Jon Jones. Rampage secured the win, but his shot at the belt is still up in the air.
(“Hold up…you mean ya’ll were watching that shit???”)
Coming off of a semi-contested and equally boring win over Lyoto Machida, Rampage’s performance last night was meant to be more than a notch in the win column. If all went according to plan, it would have provided the UFC with the type of highlight-reel footage Jackson hasn’t produced since his knock out victory over Wanderlei Silva in 2008 and had fans clamoring for a fight against Jon “Bones” Jones. But last night’s fight yielded few fireworks if any. Hamill’s mantra in the lead-up to the bout was that he would break Jackson’s will, but only a few minutes into the bout it was “The Hammer” who looked like he’d rather be anywhere than in that cage. Going 0-17 in his plodding, telegraphed takedown attempts, Hamill was unable to get the fight to the ground and understandably reluctant to stand and trade with Rampage. As for Jackson, he did deviate slightly from his hands-heavy style–incorporating knees, elbows, and even a few token kicks into his attack–but he didn’t initiate or go in for the kill against a clearly gun-shy Hamill. After the fight, Jackson put some of the blame on a fractured hand he injured back in December of last year. [Note to Quinton: we believe you and all, but you’re not supposed to talk about that kind of stuff, bruh.] . Despite the lackluster performance, Dana White has stated that pending the positive outcome of tests on Rampage’s hand, he will likely be the first challenger to Jones’s belt.
If there were any questions about Frank Mir’s place in the heavyweight division following his first-round loss to Shane Carwin and coma-inducing win over faded star Mirko Cro Cop, they remain completely unanswered. His one-sided victory over the obese Roy Nelson says less about his dedication to training than it does “Big Country’s” lack of it. The time has come to call the “Big Country” experiment a flop. The myth of his terrific cardio has been dispelled in consecutive losses to Dos Santos and Mir, where he served as a very exhausted, very durable durable punching bag for the full three rounds. The dude has a terrific chin—did he even blink when he ate those crushing elbows late in round three?–but the notion that he can walk into the Octagon with Cheeto fingers and compete with the top of the division is absurd. Fatigue reduced his vaunted ground game to rolling to his ample belly and working his way to his feet; it’s an impressive trick even without Frank Mir on top of him, but it’s not enough to compete at this level. Mir looked good taking Nelson down at will and landing some heavy shots, but it’s fair to say that “Big Country” was looking for the path of least resistance throughout the fight, even if it meant getting smashed in the face or tossed to the mat. Despite his lethargic performance, Nelson does possess power in his hands- Mir left the Octagon with a broken jaw and rib to accompany his win bonus.
As for the rest of the card, they did their part to entertain and it’s a shame that their work was soured by the last thirty minutes of cage-time. Brian Stann opened the night with big knockout over the returning Jorge Santiago in the “Fight of the Night”. UFC heavyweightTravis Browne secured his spot on a future ‘Ultimate Knockouts’ dvd by felling mighty oak Stefan Struve in spectacular fashion. Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson won a tough-to-call decision over Miguel Torres in a hyper-active fight contested largely on the ground. Top Welterweight Thiago Alves was given no room to work against Rick Story. Story kept constant pressure on Thiago, pressing him to the cage and working for takedowns. His decision victory marks his sixth straight win in the UFC. Tim Boetsch looked dominant in his first fight at Middleweight, rag-dolling Kendall Grove in a one-sided decision. This was Da Spyder’s second consecutive loss and his third in four outings. Late replacement Rafaello Oliveira was overpowered by Lightweight juggernaut Gleison Tibau. Tibau’s second round ground and pound forced Oliveira to surrender his back and tap out to a rear naked choke in the evening’s only submission.
UFC 131 Will See Junior dos Santos Challenge Shane Carwin, Will The Change Be To Cigano’s Advantage?Junior dos Santos spent weeks getting ready for a fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 131. His preparation had to be altered two weeks ago when it was announ…
UFC 131 Will See Junior dos Santos Challenge Shane Carwin, Will The Change Be To Cigano’s Advantage?
Junior dos Santos spent weeks getting ready for a fight with Brock Lesnar at UFC 131. His preparation had to be altered two weeks ago when it was announced that Lesnar had to pull out of the fight because the diverticulitis that kept him out of action for a year between 2009-10 had returned. Dos Santos got a replacement opponent in the form of Shane Carwin.
Both dos Santos and Carwin will have to prepare diligently since they only had four weeks to prepare for each other. But will the opponent change be an advantage or disadvantage for dos Santos?
Here’s what dos Santos had to say about the late switch and how it affects his preparation (via Tatame.com):
I’m much focused. I’ve been training hard for two months now, there’s almost a month left before the bout, and I’m doing just fine. I’m on a great patch in my life, thanks’ God, I’m feeling fine and I want to fight. I don’t fight for a long time. Last time I fought it was August of 2010, and I’m fine. I’m just not fighting because of the problems my opponents are facing. Of course it brings us some problems, but I believe that God makes things happens on their own time, and now I’ll be ready to go for this one and, God help me, I’ll win.
In all honesty, Carwin is a much better opponent for dos Santos than Lesnar. What I mean by that is Lesnar’s strong wrestling base would have caused dos Santos some problems, and with Carwin, who is not a strong wrestler, he can stand and trade punches and kicks for three rounds.
I don’t know if Lesnar would have been able to beat dos Santos because he got exposed against better strikers like Carwin and Cain Velasquez, and dos Santos is better than both of them at striking, but Carwin isn’t as dynamic as Lesnar.
Dos Santos earned a championship fight after beating Roy Nelson at UFC 117, but he didn’t want to wait until until Velasquez healed following surgery. After UFC 131, dos Santos will not have to delay his championship fight any longer as he will be victorious against Carwin at UFC 131.
For the better part of the day I was thinking about who were possible MVPs going into last night’s UFC 130 pay-per-view. The card did not lack enough big name fighters, but it did lack any interesting bouts that carried all that much consequence.
