(We promise, this photo is only misleading if you haven’t seen the fight yet. Or if you happen to be Anderson Silva. via Getty.)
It’s crazy to think that a showdown between two of the UFC’s longest-standing and most well known middleweights went almost completely uncovered in the wake of UFC 196’s main event switcheroo, but that’s exactly what happened with Fight Night 84. The power of Mystic Mac truly knows no bounds.
Fortunately for those of us who turned in, Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping turned out to be one of the more bizarre main eventers in promotional history — right up there with “Silva vs. Diaz” or “Silva vs. Leites” or… well, you get the point. It was a fight that showed both Bisping’s unexpected, late-career resurgence, a former champion’s steady decline, and depending on who you ask, the continued incompetence of MMA judges and the scoring system in general, so head below for all the details and highlights.
(We promise, this photo is only misleading if you haven’t seen the fight yet. Or if you happen to be Anderson Silva. via Getty.)
It’s crazy to think that a showdown between two of the UFC’s longest-standing and most well known middleweights went almost completely uncovered in the wake of UFC 196′s main event switcheroo, but that’s exactly what happened with Fight Night 84. The power of Mystic Mac truly knows no bounds.
Fortunately for those of us who turned in, Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping turned out to be one of the more bizarre main eventers in promotional history — right up there with “Silva vs. Diaz” or “Silva vs. Leites” or… well, you get the point. It was a fight that showed both Bisping’s unexpected, late-career resurgence, a former champion’s steady decline, and depending on who you ask, the continued incompetence of MMA judges and the scoring system in general, so head below for all the details and highlights.
Where to begin with this fight. I know, how about the fact that for the first two and a half rounds, Anderson Silva seemed more content to do the hand jive than throw any strikes of significance?
It would be an obvious observation to say that Silva’s bizarre performance showed shades of his fights with Leites and Demian Maia, but on a more fundamental level, his strategy was also eerily reminiscent of Strikeforce-era Fedor Emelianenko. Rather than relying on smooth, multi-punch combinations to set up the fight-ending shot like he had in his time as champion, Silva opted to headhunt, becoming so over-reliant on his power (not to mention, completely unconcerned with Bisping’s) that it became a crutch.
It’s entirely possible that this was Silva’s way of making up for the speed he has lost over the past couple of years, but the problem was, Bisping was markedly quicker to the punch than Silva and the results — early on, at least — were several exchanges like the one above.
Unfortunately for Silva, a declining reaction time coupled with a complete lack of respect for his opponent’s punching power nearly came back to bite him in the ass (again). Near the end of the second round, Silva was forced to stop clowning around and actually start treating his fight like, you know, a fight, compliments of a Bisping left hand that floored him.
They say that speed is the first thing to go in the life of a combat sports athlete and your chin second, an assertion which appears to be the case for “The Spider.” Never in my wildest dreams did I picture myself writing about how Pillowhands Bisping nearly KO’d the same guy who let Ryan Bader tee off on him in the TUF gym just a few years ago, but there you have it.
This takes us to the truly weirdest moment in the fight, wherein a mouthpiece-less Bisping attempted to call a time-out, only to have Silva knock him dead with a flying knee in the confusion. What followed was a momentary lapse in judgement that saw Silva go full Cyborg and celebrate prematurely while a battered Bisping stumble his way to his stool. I really can’t say whether or not the fight should have been called off and declared a victory for Silva right then and there, but the fact that Bisping was able to answer the fourth round bell seems to indicate that Herb Dean made the right no-call.
It was around the midway point of the fourth round that Silva decided to actually start taking things seriously, and believe it or not, it worked! Who woulda thunkit? Silva’s combination work in the fourth round was on point; he brutalized Bisping with knees to the body, mixed up his punches, and even rocked Bisping with a front kick reminiscent of the one he used to knock out Vitor Belfort. Has he utilized such a strategy in the first 15 minutes of the fight, I’m sure that he would have put Busping away with the highlight reel finish we were expecting of him, but lo, such is the mystery of Anderson Silva.
Ultimately, the flashes of his old self that Silva was able to display were simply too few and far between, which is why the judges ultimately awarded Bisping the much-deserved win across the board. What followed was a tremendous display of respect between the two middleweights.
As you might expect, however, Silva was none-to-happy with the verdict and made it known in his post-fight interview.
“Brazil, here’s the deal. If you can’t win one way, they try to take it away from you another,” said Silva in his native tongue. “That’s it. You saw how it went down, right? So I have nothing to say. I fought for you and that’s it. Thank you for the support. My family, I’m coming back home. I’m all right. That’s it. Mission accomplished, but sometimes things are just like in Brazil — Totally corrupted.”
And indeed, there are legions of fans who took to Twitter following the decision to lament how badly Silva had been screwed over, citing Bisping’s busted up face and near-KO suffered in the final second of the third round as evidence. Those people are what we call “wrong.” While we can lament the ineffectiveness of the 10-point must system until the cows come home, the fact remains that, by current judging standards, Bisping still dominated the first two rounds entirely and 4:59 of the third, making him the winner of the fight according to anyone with even a cursory understanding of how MMA scoring works.
Basically, Silva can bitch and moan all he wants about the “corruption” of the judging system — an argument not without its merits, given the hometown victory that Brad Pickett received earlier in the night — but perhaps he should have considered that while clearly underestimating his opponent for the first three rounds of a five round fight. It’s simple math, really.
As it stands though, Michael Bisping has strung together the first three fight win streak of his career since 2011 and has probably earned the middleweight title shot that has long eluded him. For Silva fans, it’s just the latest in a string of disappointments that so often mark the decline of a former great. For Bisping fans, it was arguably the greatest moment in British MMA history. For those of us who will never be able to shake the image of Bisping being an unbearable asshole, it’s kind of a win-win, if you think about it…I mean, just look at what Luke Rockhold did to him the first time around.
The full results for Fight Night 84 are below.
Main card
Michael Bisping def. Anderson Silva via unanimous decision
Gegard Mousasi def. Thales Leites via unanimous decision
Tom Breese def. Keita Nakamura via unanimous decision
Brad Pickett def. Francisco Rivera via split decision
Undercard
Makwan Amirkhani def. Mike Wilkinson via unanimous decision
Davey Grant def. Marlon Vera via unanimous decision
Scott Askham def. Chris Dempsey via KO (head kick) at 4:45 of round 1
Arnold Allen def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision
Krzysztof Jotko def. Bradley Scott via unanimous decision
Rustam Khabilov def. Norman Parke via unanimous decision
Daniel Omielanczuk def. Jarjis Danho via majority decision
Teemu Packalen def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear naked choke) at :24 of round 1
David Teymur def. Martin Svensson via TKO (punches) at 1:26 of round 2
“He was involved in the first fight and the second fight,” White said. “I told the guys to go let him grab some beer and some popcorn and go sit down and start watching some fights, not judging them.”
To clarify, Hughes was only singled out because he worked both fights, not because his scorecards were significantly worse than anybody else’s. In the opening bout between Milana Dudieva and Elizabeth Phillips, Hughes was one of the two judges to score it for Dudieva — a result that White said he actually agreed with — and in the next bout between Royston Wee and Yao Zhikui, Hughes was one of the two judges to score it for Wee. White did not agree with that decision, and it sent the UFC prez into “a pretty bad meltdown.”
While it’s kind of refreshing to see a bad judge get pulled off the mound like a nervous pitcher, the incident prompted a storm of criticism from MMA journalists including Kevin Iole and Ben Fowlkes, who felt it was a tremendous conflict of interest for a UFC executive to remove a judge when he doesn’t agree with the results — especially in locales without athletic commissions, where the UFC arranges virtually all of the officiating itself.
The UFC brass must have come to the same conclusion, because the following statement was just published on UFC.com:
(Poor Dana. He has his good days and his bad days. / Photo via MMA in Asia)
“He was involved in the first fight and the second fight,” White said. “I told the guys to go let him grab some beer and some popcorn and go sit down and start watching some fights, not judging them.”
To clarify, Hughes was only singled out because he worked both fights, not because his scorecards were significantly worse than anybody else’s. In the opening bout between Milana Dudieva and Elizabeth Phillips, Hughes was one of the two judges to score it for Dudieva — a result that White said he actually agreed with — and in the next bout between Royston Wee and Yao Zhikui, Hughes was one of the two judges to score it for Wee. White did not agree with that decision, and it sent the UFC prez into “a pretty bad meltdown.”
While it’s kind of refreshing to see a bad judge get pulled off the mound like a nervous pitcher, the incident prompted a storm of criticism from MMA journalists including Kevin Iole and Ben Fowlkes, who felt it was a tremendous conflict of interest for a UFC executive to remove a judge when he doesn’t agree with the results — especially in locales without athletic commissions, where the UFC arranges virtually all of the officiating itself.
The UFC brass must have come to the same conclusion, because the following statement was just published on UFC.com:
After an internal review, the UFC organization announced today that a breach of its independent regulatory protocol occurred on Saturday night during UFC FIGHT NIGHT MACAO.
After the second fight of the night, UFC President Dana White requested that Howard Hughes, one of the event’s five assigned judges, be removed from working any further bouts. Pursuant to UFC’s protocol, neither White nor any other UFC executive possesses such authority. Nevertheless, protocol was breached and Hughes did not work further bouts on Saturday night.
The UFC organization has always been in support of government regulation and oversight. Additionally, the UFC has established a protocol when required to self-regulate events due to the lack of an official athletic commission, federation or other regulatory body. In those instances where UFC holds events in locations without a regulatory body, the UFC’s protocol dictates that the organization’s internal regulators will handle all commission functions independently and without interference by company executives or employees.
The UFC remains committed to maintaining the strictest regulatory environment for competition and vows that no similar breach of protocol will happen again.
Both White and the UFC apologize to Mr. Hughes for calling his professional judgment into question. Hughes has judged more than 25 UFC fight cards and the UFC looks forward to him working on its events again in the future.
Kudos to the UFC for acknowledging the incident and apologizing for it. The UFC has suspended Dana White for six months, and he must pass a drug test before promoting another event. Okay, not really, but wouldn’t that be great?
Before we get into the endless promotion for the year-ending and stacked UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, let’s take one last, clear-eyed look at what went down at WECUFC on Fox 9. The injury-cursed event seemed destined to be a disappointment to many fans who consider the lighter fighters boring, especially considering it was the lightest fight card in UFC history, with an average weight of just over 145 pounds. The fact that the fights were taking place at the Sleep Train Arena seemed like a bad omen, foretelling the coma-inducing boredom that might have resulted from a night of decisions. Nevertheless, despite the haters, the smaller guys provided a card of highly entertaining fights and they showcased why many MMA purists consider them the most exciting fighters in the sport.
The Good
• Too often, referees only get noticed when they screw up. However, the officials for this card should be praised for a solid night of work in which they did their jobs properly and kept the focus where it belongs: the fighters. Props to John McCarthy, Herb Dean, and Mike Beltran for getting through the 11-fight card with no critical errors. Even Dana White, who has been openly critical of MMA officiating in the past, praised both Big John and Herb Dean, saying, “These are the best guys” and complimented his one-time nemesis, McCarthy, saying, “When John is in that Octagon, he is in absolute and total control.”
• Much has been written lately about the success of Team Alpha Male under head trainer, Daune “Bang” Ludwig. Saturday night gave the camp an opportunity to showcase how deserving they were of that praise, with four fighters from the Sacramento-based crew competing. As a whole, the team didn’t perform flawlessly, but they did manage to win two of their four fights. It was a great night for Urijah Faber, as the hometown hero steamrolled Michael McDonald and established himself — again — as the top contender in the Bantamweight division. Chad Mendes also did what he needed to, beating Nik Lentz by unanimous decision. On the losing side, Danny Castillo dropped a close decision to Edson Barboza that many thought should have been a draw, and Joseph Benavidez got knocked out cold by Demetrious Johnson. Other than Benavidez, Team Alpha looked good, and judging from their backstage reaction to Urijah Faber’s win, they truly are a tightknit group that will continue their upward trajectory.
(Uh…guys? I’m pretty sure that’s Herb Dean. / Screencap via r/MMA)
Before we get into the endless promotion for the year-ending and stacked UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, let’s take one last, clear-eyed look at what went down at WECUFC on Fox 9. The injury-cursed event seemed destined to be a disappointment to many fans who consider the lighter fighters boring, especially considering it was the lightest fight card in UFC history, with an average weight of just over 145 pounds. The fact that the fights were taking place at the Sleep Train Arena seemed like a bad omen, foretelling the coma-inducing boredom that might have resulted from a night of decisions. Nevertheless, despite the haters, the smaller guys provided a card of highly entertaining fights and they showcased why many MMA purists consider them the most exciting fighters in the sport.
The Good
• Too often, referees only get noticed when they screw up. However, the officials for this card should be praised for a solid night of work in which they did their jobs properly and kept the focus where it belongs: the fighters. Props to John McCarthy, Herb Dean, and Mike Beltran for getting through the 11-fight card with no critical errors. Even Dana White, who has been openly critical of MMA officiating in the past, praised both Big John and Herb Dean, saying, “These are the best guys” and complimented his one-time nemesis, McCarthy, saying, “When John is in that Octagon, he is in absolute and total control.”
• Much has been written lately about the success of Team Alpha Male under head trainer, Daune “Bang” Ludwig. Saturday night gave the camp an opportunity to showcase how deserving they were of that praise, with four fighters from the Sacramento-based crew competing. As a whole, the team didn’t perform flawlessly, but they did manage to win two of their four fights. It was a great night for Urijah Faber, as the hometown hero steamrolled Michael McDonald and established himself — again — as the top contender in the Bantamweight division. Chad Mendes also did what he needed to, beating Nik Lentz by unanimous decision. On the losing side, Danny Castillo dropped a close decision to Edson Barboza that many thought should have been a draw, and Joseph Benavidez got knocked out cold by Demetrious Johnson. Other than Benavidez, Team Alpha looked good, and judging from their backstage reaction to Urijah Faber’s win, they truly are a tightknit group that will continue their upward trajectory.
• Demetrious Johnson looked incredible. Once known only for his wrestling and cardio/pace, “Mighty Mouse” showed that he is a well-rounded mixed martial artist, dangerous in grappling and striking. I’m not sure who he should replace in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, but he definitely made the case that he should be near the top of that list. His post-fight celebration was almost as entertaining as the fight itself, with Johnson performing flips and other acrobatics before his trainer, Matt Hume, seemed to tell him to calm down and “go get some fans.” Mighty Mouse had the best night of anybody, putting a definitive end to his rivalry with Benavidez and earning a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.
• Having a card full of lighter weight fighters may not have been a ratings success, but it was a good format that I hope the UFC continues to employ. It reminded me of the all-heavyweight main card of UFC 146. The good thing about limiting a card to certain weight classes is that it really clears up the rankings for the featured divisions and gives the card tournament-like significance. The UFC is struggling ratings-wise. Part of that is due to the confusion amongst fans about who the top contenders are. Cards like this weekend’s help to sort out those issues in one sitting. This “light” card was a good step in the right direction towards putting an end to myth that the lighter weights can’t finish fights.
The Bad
• In between rounds 1 and 2 of the Castillo-Barboza fight, the Fox cameras had an extended focus on Barbosa’s corner, with no translation provided. It seemed unprepared and unprofessional. It would have been great to hear what advice his corner was giving Barboza, especially considering the onslaught he survived in the first round and the comeback he had in round 2. It’s a minor complaint, but for a station struggling to keep the attention of North American UFC fans, Fox should have planned ahead and provided a Portuguese-English translation.
• Another broadcasting mistake saw Fox wrongly identify referee Mike Beltran as John McCarthy in the lead-up to the Castillo-Barboza fight. It was an honest mistake but one that shouldn’t happen, especially considering Beltran is hard to misidentify with a beard that makes him look like a character straight out of Middle-earth.
• Joe Rogan gets a lot of flak for the bias he demonstrates in his commentary. He did a great job remaining neutral for most of the fights on Saturday night but it was a bit of a turnoff to hear him criticize the performance of Chad “Money” Mendes in his win over Nik Lentz. Sure, Mendes didn’t win in particularly exciting fashion but it was a solid performance over a quality opponent who was undefeated at Featherweight. After the fight, Mendes told matchmaker Joe Silva that he was sick and “felt like shit tonight” which might have explained why he seemed to gas a bit after the first round. Regardless, Rogan’s criticism seemed to undermine Mendes’s win, Lentz’s skill level, and an otherwise solid night of commentating from Rogan.
• It has become somewhat of a tradition to lambaste the decisions made by MMA judges lately, and usually for good reason. A couple of the decisions on Saturday night were bad, but not completely ugly. First, Bobby Green defeated Pat Healy by unanimous decision in a fight where Healy seemed to outwork and out-grind Green for the final two rounds. The crowd showed their displeasure, and although it wasn’t a horrible decision there is certainly no way it should have been scored 30-27 for Green, as one judge apparently saw it. 29-28 for Green is reasonable. Giving all of the rounds to Green is not. Second, Edson Baboza defeated Danny Castillo by majority decision. Only the one judge who scored the fight a draw at 28-28 got the decision right. How the other two judges didn’t score the first round 10-8 for Castillo is beyond me. A 10-8 round seemed obvious and even 10-7 would have been justifiable. If that wasn’t a 10-8 round, I don’t know what is. It was an unfortunate decision that overshadowed what was a barnburner of a fight that saw both fighters survive near finishes and earn “Fight of the Night” bonuses.
The Ugly
• Joseph Benavidez had never been stopped before in his MMA career. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t show much caution in the striking exchanges from the start against Johnson. Benavidez even had his eyes closed while he was swinging during the final exchange, so he probably didn’t even see the final right hand that ended his night early. Benavidez clearly didn’t respect the striking of Johnson. Granted, Johnson hadn’t shown KO power in the big leagues before, but this is MMA where anything can and often does happen. The result of the technical lapse was the fastest KO in flyweight history, forcing Benavidez back to the drawing board to try and climb back up the rankings.
• Cody McKenzie had a rough night. He looked gassed and unimpressive while getting soundly beaten by Sam Stout in a unanimous decision loss. However, the loss may not have even been the most embarrassing part of his night. McKenzie fought in what looked like basketball shorts with the tag still on them after he apparently showed up at the arena without a mouthpiece or shorts. Someone had to actually run out and buy some shorts for him at a nearby store. What exactly did he think he was doing in Sacramento? McKenzie probably lost any sponsorship money that he was supposed to get from the real estate on his shorts and afterwards he was reported to have drowned his sorrows with a couple of shots and beers, before allegedly getting into a brawl in a hotel lobby. Needless to say, it was an ugly night that McKenzie would likely soon forget and one that may earn him his walking papers in short order.
• Speaking of ugly, Mac Danzig’s face was pretty busted up after going through the meat grinder with Joe Lauzon. Danzig, the TUF season 6 winner, is experienced and usually durable, but the truth is he is just not on the same level as “J-Lau”. In fact, the fight was likely booked with this in mind — to get company-man Lauzon back into the win column. Lauzon didn’t get any of the “Of the Night” bonuses he has grown accustomed to but he did look impressive and is back on track. Danzig, on the other hand, is at risk of being dropped from the UFC and is probably still licking his wounds from the nasty elbows thrown by Lauzon.
Before we get into the endless promotion for the year-ending and stacked UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, let’s take one last, clear-eyed look at what went down at WECUFC on Fox 9. The injury-cursed event seemed destined to be a disappointment to many fans who consider the lighter fighters boring, especially considering it was the lightest fight card in UFC history, with an average weight of just over 145 pounds. The fact that the fights were taking place at the Sleep Train Arena seemed like a bad omen, foretelling the coma-inducing boredom that might have resulted from a night of decisions. Nevertheless, despite the haters, the smaller guys provided a card of highly entertaining fights and they showcased why many MMA purists consider them the most exciting fighters in the sport.
The Good
• Too often, referees only get noticed when they screw up. However, the officials for this card should be praised for a solid night of work in which they did their jobs properly and kept the focus where it belongs: the fighters. Props to John McCarthy, Herb Dean, and Mike Beltran for getting through the 11-fight card with no critical errors. Even Dana White, who has been openly critical of MMA officiating in the past, praised both Big John and Herb Dean, saying, “These are the best guys” and complimented his one-time nemesis, McCarthy, saying, “When John is in that Octagon, he is in absolute and total control.”
• Much has been written lately about the success of Team Alpha Male under head trainer, Daune “Bang” Ludwig. Saturday night gave the camp an opportunity to showcase how deserving they were of that praise, with four fighters from the Sacramento-based crew competing. As a whole, the team didn’t perform flawlessly, but they did manage to win two of their four fights. It was a great night for Urijah Faber, as the hometown hero steamrolled Michael McDonald and established himself — again — as the top contender in the Bantamweight division. Chad Mendes also did what he needed to, beating Nik Lentz by unanimous decision. On the losing side, Danny Castillo dropped a close decision to Edson Barboza that many thought should have been a draw, and Joseph Benavidez got knocked out cold by Demetrious Johnson. Other than Benavidez, Team Alpha looked good, and judging from their backstage reaction to Urijah Faber’s win, they truly are a tightknit group that will continue their upward trajectory.
(Uh…guys? I’m pretty sure that’s Herb Dean. / Screencap via r/MMA)
Before we get into the endless promotion for the year-ending and stacked UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, let’s take one last, clear-eyed look at what went down at WECUFC on Fox 9. The injury-cursed event seemed destined to be a disappointment to many fans who consider the lighter fighters boring, especially considering it was the lightest fight card in UFC history, with an average weight of just over 145 pounds. The fact that the fights were taking place at the Sleep Train Arena seemed like a bad omen, foretelling the coma-inducing boredom that might have resulted from a night of decisions. Nevertheless, despite the haters, the smaller guys provided a card of highly entertaining fights and they showcased why many MMA purists consider them the most exciting fighters in the sport.
The Good
• Too often, referees only get noticed when they screw up. However, the officials for this card should be praised for a solid night of work in which they did their jobs properly and kept the focus where it belongs: the fighters. Props to John McCarthy, Herb Dean, and Mike Beltran for getting through the 11-fight card with no critical errors. Even Dana White, who has been openly critical of MMA officiating in the past, praised both Big John and Herb Dean, saying, “These are the best guys” and complimented his one-time nemesis, McCarthy, saying, “When John is in that Octagon, he is in absolute and total control.”
• Much has been written lately about the success of Team Alpha Male under head trainer, Daune “Bang” Ludwig. Saturday night gave the camp an opportunity to showcase how deserving they were of that praise, with four fighters from the Sacramento-based crew competing. As a whole, the team didn’t perform flawlessly, but they did manage to win two of their four fights. It was a great night for Urijah Faber, as the hometown hero steamrolled Michael McDonald and established himself — again — as the top contender in the Bantamweight division. Chad Mendes also did what he needed to, beating Nik Lentz by unanimous decision. On the losing side, Danny Castillo dropped a close decision to Edson Barboza that many thought should have been a draw, and Joseph Benavidez got knocked out cold by Demetrious Johnson. Other than Benavidez, Team Alpha looked good, and judging from their backstage reaction to Urijah Faber’s win, they truly are a tightknit group that will continue their upward trajectory.
• Demetrious Johnson looked incredible. Once known only for his wrestling and cardio/pace, “Mighty Mouse” showed that he is a well-rounded mixed martial artist, dangerous in grappling and striking. I’m not sure who he should replace in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, but he definitely made the case that he should be near the top of that list. His post-fight celebration was almost as entertaining as the fight itself, with Johnson performing flips and other acrobatics before his trainer, Matt Hume, seemed to tell him to calm down and “go get some fans.” Mighty Mouse had the best night of anybody, putting a definitive end to his rivalry with Benavidez and earning a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.
• Having a card full of lighter weight fighters may not have been a ratings success, but it was a good format that I hope the UFC continues to employ. It reminded me of the all-heavyweight main card of UFC 146. The good thing about limiting a card to certain weight classes is that it really clears up the rankings for the featured divisions and gives the card tournament-like significance. The UFC is struggling ratings-wise. Part of that is due to the confusion amongst fans about who the top contenders are. Cards like this weekend’s help to sort out those issues in one sitting. This “light” card was a good step in the right direction towards putting an end to myth that the lighter weights can’t finish fights.
The Bad
• In between rounds 1 and 2 of the Castillo-Barboza fight, the Fox cameras had an extended focus on Barbosa’s corner, with no translation provided. It seemed unprepared and unprofessional. It would have been great to hear what advice his corner was giving Barboza, especially considering the onslaught he survived in the first round and the comeback he had in round 2. It’s a minor complaint, but for a station struggling to keep the attention of North American UFC fans, Fox should have planned ahead and provided a Portuguese-English translation.
• Another broadcasting mistake saw Fox wrongly identify referee Mike Beltran as John McCarthy in the lead-up to the Castillo-Barboza fight. It was an honest mistake but one that shouldn’t happen, especially considering Beltran is hard to misidentify with a beard that makes him look like a character straight out of Middle-earth.
• Joe Rogan gets a lot of flak for the bias he demonstrates in his commentary. He did a great job remaining neutral for most of the fights on Saturday night but it was a bit of a turnoff to hear him criticize the performance of Chad “Money” Mendes in his win over Nik Lentz. Sure, Mendes didn’t win in particularly exciting fashion but it was a solid performance over a quality opponent who was undefeated at Featherweight. After the fight, Mendes told matchmaker Joe Silva that he was sick and “felt like shit tonight” which might have explained why he seemed to gas a bit after the first round. Regardless, Rogan’s criticism seemed to undermine Mendes’s win, Lentz’s skill level, and an otherwise solid night of commentating from Rogan.
• It has become somewhat of a tradition to lambaste the decisions made by MMA judges lately, and usually for good reason. A couple of the decisions on Saturday night were bad, but not completely ugly. First, Bobby Green defeated Pat Healy by unanimous decision in a fight where Healy seemed to outwork and out-grind Green for the final two rounds. The crowd showed their displeasure, and although it wasn’t a horrible decision there is certainly no way it should have been scored 30-27 for Green, as one judge apparently saw it. 29-28 for Green is reasonable. Giving all of the rounds to Green is not. Second, Edson Baboza defeated Danny Castillo by majority decision. Only the one judge who scored the fight a draw at 28-28 got the decision right. How the other two judges didn’t score the first round 10-8 for Castillo is beyond me. A 10-8 round seemed obvious and even 10-7 would have been justifiable. If that wasn’t a 10-8 round, I don’t know what is. It was an unfortunate decision that overshadowed what was a barnburner of a fight that saw both fighters survive near finishes and earn “Fight of the Night” bonuses.
The Ugly
• Joseph Benavidez had never been stopped before in his MMA career. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t show much caution in the striking exchanges from the start against Johnson. Benavidez even had his eyes closed while he was swinging during the final exchange, so he probably didn’t even see the final right hand that ended his night early. Benavidez clearly didn’t respect the striking of Johnson. Granted, Johnson hadn’t shown KO power in the big leagues before, but this is MMA where anything can and often does happen. The result of the technical lapse was the fastest KO in flyweight history, forcing Benavidez back to the drawing board to try and climb back up the rankings.
• Cody McKenzie had a rough night. He looked gassed and unimpressive while getting soundly beaten by Sam Stout in a unanimous decision loss. However, the loss may not have even been the most embarrassing part of his night. McKenzie fought in what looked like basketball shorts with the tag still on them after he apparently showed up at the arena without a mouthpiece or shorts. Someone had to actually run out and buy some shorts for him at a nearby store. What exactly did he think he was doing in Sacramento? McKenzie probably lost any sponsorship money that he was supposed to get from the real estate on his shorts and afterwards he was reported to have drowned his sorrows with a couple of shots and beers, before allegedly getting into a brawl in a hotel lobby. Needless to say, it was an ugly night that McKenzie would likely soon forget and one that may earn him his walking papers in short order.
• Speaking of ugly, Mac Danzig’s face was pretty busted up after going through the meat grinder with Joe Lauzon. Danzig, the TUF season 6 winner, is experienced and usually durable, but the truth is he is just not on the same level as “J-Lau”. In fact, the fight was likely booked with this in mind — to get company-man Lauzon back into the win column. Lauzon didn’t get any of the “Of the Night” bonuses he has grown accustomed to but he did look impressive and is back on track. Danzig, on the other hand, is at risk of being dropped from the UFC and is probably still licking his wounds from the nasty elbows thrown by Lauzon.
Before we get into the endless promotion for the year-ending and stacked UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, let’s take one last, clear-eyed look at what went down at WECUFC on Fox 9. The injury-cursed event seemed destined to be a disappointment to many fans who consider the lighter fighters boring, especially considering it was the lightest fight card in UFC history, with an average weight of just over 145 pounds. The fact that the fights were taking place at the Sleep Train Arena seemed like a bad omen, foretelling the coma-inducing boredom that might have resulted from a night of decisions. Nevertheless, despite the haters, the smaller guys provided a card of highly entertaining fights and they showcased why many MMA purists consider them the most exciting fighters in the sport.
The Good
• Too often, referees only get noticed when they screw up. However, the officials for this card should be praised for a solid night of work in which they did their jobs properly and kept the focus where it belongs: the fighters. Props to John McCarthy, Herb Dean, and Mike Beltran for getting through the 11-fight card with no critical errors. Even Dana White, who has been openly critical of MMA officiating in the past, praised both Big John and Herb Dean, saying, “These are the best guys” and complimented his one-time nemesis, McCarthy, saying, “When John is in that Octagon, he is in absolute and total control.”
• Much has been written lately about the success of Team Alpha Male under head trainer, Daune “Bang” Ludwig. Saturday night gave the camp an opportunity to showcase how deserving they were of that praise, with four fighters from the Sacramento-based crew competing. As a whole, the team didn’t perform flawlessly, but they did manage to win two of their four fights. It was a great night for Urijah Faber, as the hometown hero steamrolled Michael McDonald and established himself — again — as the top contender in the Bantamweight division. Chad Mendes also did what he needed to, beating Nik Lentz by unanimous decision. On the losing side, Danny Castillo dropped a close decision to Edson Barboza that many thought should have been a draw, and Joseph Benavidez got knocked out cold by Demetrious Johnson. Other than Benavidez, Team Alpha looked good, and judging from their backstage reaction to Urijah Faber’s win, they truly are a tightknit group that will continue their upward trajectory.
(Uh…guys? I’m pretty sure that’s Herb Dean. / Screencap via r/MMA)
Before we get into the endless promotion for the year-ending and stacked UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2, let’s take one last, clear-eyed look at what went down at WECUFC on Fox 9. The injury-cursed event seemed destined to be a disappointment to many fans who consider the lighter fighters boring, especially considering it was the lightest fight card in UFC history, with an average weight of just over 145 pounds. The fact that the fights were taking place at the Sleep Train Arena seemed like a bad omen, foretelling the coma-inducing boredom that might have resulted from a night of decisions. Nevertheless, despite the haters, the smaller guys provided a card of highly entertaining fights and they showcased why many MMA purists consider them the most exciting fighters in the sport.
The Good
• Too often, referees only get noticed when they screw up. However, the officials for this card should be praised for a solid night of work in which they did their jobs properly and kept the focus where it belongs: the fighters. Props to John McCarthy, Herb Dean, and Mike Beltran for getting through the 11-fight card with no critical errors. Even Dana White, who has been openly critical of MMA officiating in the past, praised both Big John and Herb Dean, saying, “These are the best guys” and complimented his one-time nemesis, McCarthy, saying, “When John is in that Octagon, he is in absolute and total control.”
• Much has been written lately about the success of Team Alpha Male under head trainer, Daune “Bang” Ludwig. Saturday night gave the camp an opportunity to showcase how deserving they were of that praise, with four fighters from the Sacramento-based crew competing. As a whole, the team didn’t perform flawlessly, but they did manage to win two of their four fights. It was a great night for Urijah Faber, as the hometown hero steamrolled Michael McDonald and established himself — again — as the top contender in the Bantamweight division. Chad Mendes also did what he needed to, beating Nik Lentz by unanimous decision. On the losing side, Danny Castillo dropped a close decision to Edson Barboza that many thought should have been a draw, and Joseph Benavidez got knocked out cold by Demetrious Johnson. Other than Benavidez, Team Alpha looked good, and judging from their backstage reaction to Urijah Faber’s win, they truly are a tightknit group that will continue their upward trajectory.
• Demetrious Johnson looked incredible. Once known only for his wrestling and cardio/pace, “Mighty Mouse” showed that he is a well-rounded mixed martial artist, dangerous in grappling and striking. I’m not sure who he should replace in the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, but he definitely made the case that he should be near the top of that list. His post-fight celebration was almost as entertaining as the fight itself, with Johnson performing flips and other acrobatics before his trainer, Matt Hume, seemed to tell him to calm down and “go get some fans.” Mighty Mouse had the best night of anybody, putting a definitive end to his rivalry with Benavidez and earning a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus.
• Having a card full of lighter weight fighters may not have been a ratings success, but it was a good format that I hope the UFC continues to employ. It reminded me of the all-heavyweight main card of UFC 146. The good thing about limiting a card to certain weight classes is that it really clears up the rankings for the featured divisions and gives the card tournament-like significance. The UFC is struggling ratings-wise. Part of that is due to the confusion amongst fans about who the top contenders are. Cards like this weekend’s help to sort out those issues in one sitting. This “light” card was a good step in the right direction towards putting an end to myth that the lighter weights can’t finish fights.
The Bad
• In between rounds 1 and 2 of the Castillo-Barboza fight, the Fox cameras had an extended focus on Barbosa’s corner, with no translation provided. It seemed unprepared and unprofessional. It would have been great to hear what advice his corner was giving Barboza, especially considering the onslaught he survived in the first round and the comeback he had in round 2. It’s a minor complaint, but for a station struggling to keep the attention of North American UFC fans, Fox should have planned ahead and provided a Portuguese-English translation.
• Another broadcasting mistake saw Fox wrongly identify referee Mike Beltran as John McCarthy in the lead-up to the Castillo-Barboza fight. It was an honest mistake but one that shouldn’t happen, especially considering Beltran is hard to misidentify with a beard that makes him look like a character straight out of Middle-earth.
• Joe Rogan gets a lot of flak for the bias he demonstrates in his commentary. He did a great job remaining neutral for most of the fights on Saturday night but it was a bit of a turnoff to hear him criticize the performance of Chad “Money” Mendes in his win over Nik Lentz. Sure, Mendes didn’t win in particularly exciting fashion but it was a solid performance over a quality opponent who was undefeated at Featherweight. After the fight, Mendes told matchmaker Joe Silva that he was sick and “felt like shit tonight” which might have explained why he seemed to gas a bit after the first round. Regardless, Rogan’s criticism seemed to undermine Mendes’s win, Lentz’s skill level, and an otherwise solid night of commentating from Rogan.
• It has become somewhat of a tradition to lambaste the decisions made by MMA judges lately, and usually for good reason. A couple of the decisions on Saturday night were bad, but not completely ugly. First, Bobby Green defeated Pat Healy by unanimous decision in a fight where Healy seemed to outwork and out-grind Green for the final two rounds. The crowd showed their displeasure, and although it wasn’t a horrible decision there is certainly no way it should have been scored 30-27 for Green, as one judge apparently saw it. 29-28 for Green is reasonable. Giving all of the rounds to Green is not. Second, Edson Baboza defeated Danny Castillo by majority decision. Only the one judge who scored the fight a draw at 28-28 got the decision right. How the other two judges didn’t score the first round 10-8 for Castillo is beyond me. A 10-8 round seemed obvious and even 10-7 would have been justifiable. If that wasn’t a 10-8 round, I don’t know what is. It was an unfortunate decision that overshadowed what was a barnburner of a fight that saw both fighters survive near finishes and earn “Fight of the Night” bonuses.
The Ugly
• Joseph Benavidez had never been stopped before in his MMA career. Perhaps that’s why he didn’t show much caution in the striking exchanges from the start against Johnson. Benavidez even had his eyes closed while he was swinging during the final exchange, so he probably didn’t even see the final right hand that ended his night early. Benavidez clearly didn’t respect the striking of Johnson. Granted, Johnson hadn’t shown KO power in the big leagues before, but this is MMA where anything can and often does happen. The result of the technical lapse was the fastest KO in flyweight history, forcing Benavidez back to the drawing board to try and climb back up the rankings.
• Cody McKenzie had a rough night. He looked gassed and unimpressive while getting soundly beaten by Sam Stout in a unanimous decision loss. However, the loss may not have even been the most embarrassing part of his night. McKenzie fought in what looked like basketball shorts with the tag still on them after he apparently showed up at the arena without a mouthpiece or shorts. Someone had to actually run out and buy some shorts for him at a nearby store. What exactly did he think he was doing in Sacramento? McKenzie probably lost any sponsorship money that he was supposed to get from the real estate on his shorts and afterwards he was reported to have drowned his sorrows with a couple of shots and beers, before allegedly getting into a brawl in a hotel lobby. Needless to say, it was an ugly night that McKenzie would likely soon forget and one that may earn him his walking papers in short order.
• Speaking of ugly, Mac Danzig’s face was pretty busted up after going through the meat grinder with Joe Lauzon. Danzig, the TUF season 6 winner, is experienced and usually durable, but the truth is he is just not on the same level as “J-Lau”. In fact, the fight was likely booked with this in mind — to get company-man Lauzon back into the win column. Lauzon didn’t get any of the “Of the Night” bonuses he has grown accustomed to but he did look impressive and is back on track. Danzig, on the other hand, is at risk of being dropped from the UFC and is probably still licking his wounds from the nasty elbows thrown by Lauzon.
