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UFC 130 Results: Miguel Torres and Demetrious Johnson Put on an Absolute Show

People often knock the ground aspect of mixed martial arts, but there have been some rather outstanding collisions in our sport that have led to phenomenal clinics on the ground.The fans may have preferred the fight to stay standing, but there have bee…

People often knock the ground aspect of mixed martial arts, but there have been some rather outstanding collisions in our sport that have led to phenomenal clinics on the ground.

The fans may have preferred the fight to stay standing, but there have been times when the crowd saw a Fight of the Night contender in a bout that spent more time on the ground that it did in the heat of a slugfest.

Miguel Angel Torres did not defeat Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at UFC 130, but the now 39-4 former WEC bantamweight king and the now 10-1 perennial favorite for an inaugural top five of a potential UFC flyweight division were both involved in one of of the best 15-minute ground clinics in the most recent historical archives of mainstream mixed martial arts.

Those who predicted this to be a “Fight of the Night” candidate were not disappointed.

They were the ones that knew from the onset that despite the obvious takedown advantage Johnson had, a ground-based fight did not translate 100 percent into a one-sided fight in Johnson’s favor, just as they knew that Torres would not be at a full advantage against the ever-improving Mighty Mouse if the fight remained vertical and saw an exchange of fisticuffs.

Fans wrapped themselves up in the fact of Torres’ two losses in the WEC—to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez—that they chose to conveniently forget about how sound the submission arsenal of the lanky Torres is, especially when Torres is on his back.

Torres did take some serious ground and pound from Johnson, but the story of the fight was only partially the improvements in Johnson’s striking and the always dominating wrestling game which, to Johnson’s credit, was effective inside Torres’ guard.

The other part of the story behind this bout was the Jiu-Jitsu exhibition that Torres put on this past Saturday, attempting submission attempt after submission attempt on Johnson and staying completely active from any and every position he was put in.

If you watch the fight again, Torres’ performance is the reason why many label this as a “controversial” unanimous decision win for Johnson, as the performance hardly justified the argument for Johnson’s win being “unanimous.”

If anything, the win should have been a split decision as the fight was one that argued as much a case for Torres as it did for Johnson.

Still, if you missed the Torres-Johnson bout in any way, shape or form, you may have missed what may be considered among the best pure examples of an electrifying ground clinic in mixed martial arts.

The bout just further proved what we all knew when the UFC and WEC merged:

When it comes to the lighter weights, there’s no such thing as a boring fight.

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UFC 130 Results: Dana White’s Disloyalty to His Own Fighters Bad for the Sport

UFC 130 has just passed us by, and not everyone is happy with how the night went, UFC president Dana White included.Many fans were unimpressed with both the co-main event and the main event of the evening, finding them to be boring.White agreed with th…

UFC 130 has just passed us by, and not everyone is happy with how the night went, UFC president Dana White included.

Many fans were unimpressed with both the co-main event and the main event of the evening, finding them to be boring.

White agreed with this sentiment, particularly in reference to the co-main event of the evening, Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson.

White remarked that he was unimpressed with both fighters, calling it “an ugly heavyweight fight” and “borderline embarrassing.”

Criticism of Roy Nelson’s performance is understandable. He looked gassed after the first round, and by the end of the fight he was completely exhausted. It was the worst he’s looked so far in the UFC, and maybe the worst he has looked in his whole career.

However, the criticism of Mir’s performance is unwarranted. He won the fight decisively. Mir’s wrestling looked as good as it has ever looked inside the Octagon. Frank might not have been able to finish Nelson, but he landed a bunch of big shots throughout the fight, and anyone who saw Roy’s fight with Junior Dos Santos knows he is a hard man to finish.

White has been a part of MMA for a long time now. Dana knows that Mir had a pretty good showing last night. The reason White is criticizing Mir is because the casual fans didn’t like the fight; Dana is siding with the fans.

This is not the first time this has happened.

White is often critical of fighters who fail to please the fans.

It has been evident for quite some time that White is not a big fan of Jon Fitch, Fitch being a fighter who regularly fails to finish fights.

Here are a couple quotes from White, following Fitch’s fight with B.J. Penn:

“Fitch is one of these guys that goes, ‘Oh, I want my respect,'” White said. “He just fought a 155-pound guy and went to a draw with him, and in my opinion, he lost the first two rounds—and he’s crying for a title shot?”

“You’ve got to get in there and decisively beat people. You have to have fans clamoring for you to fight for the title.”

First off, White calling B.J. Penn a 155-pound guy is disrespectful because B.J. was a champ at welterweight before he was a champ at lightweight. Dana was clearly trying to make B.J. seem like a less threatening fighter than he actually is in an effort to make Fitch’s performance seem less impressive.

Also, Fitch “crying” for a title shot was understandable because he was promised one if he beat Thiago Alves at UFC 117, which he did decisively.

Having fans clamoring for you to get a title shot is clearly a criteria that White is only applying to Fitch. How many fans were clamoring for people like Patrick Cote, Thales Leites, Brock Lesnar, Frankie Edgar or Dan Hardy to get title shots? I could drop more names, but I think the point is made.

White will turn on fighters at the drop of a hat, if the fans don’t like them.

Mir has been with the UFC for a decade. He has fought for the company 18 times and has been in a bunch of exciting fights.

After all that Mir has done for the UFC, you’d think he could count on White to have his back, but this is not the case.

Mir’s past two fights have been poorly received by the fans and, despite the fact that in both those fights the lack of excitement was more due to Mir’s opponents, White is already talking down about him.

MMA is still a young sport and so casual fans have trouble appreciating it’s subtleties.

Rather than obviously pandering to the fans by echoing their thoughts, White should be supporting his fighters and focusing on the positive aspects of their performances.

The casual fans are never going to be able to open their minds to all aspects of MMA if they keep seeing the President of the UFC parroting their close-mindedness.

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Don’t Cut “The Ultimate Fighter” Kendall Grove, UFC, Send Him to Strikeforce

At UFC 130, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove took on middleweight newcomer Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch in a preliminary fight aired on Spike TV. After being out-grappled and controlled by Boetsch almost the entire fight, Grove—the winner of season three of The Ultimate Fighter—lost the fight by lopsided unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30-27 for his opponent.

The disappointing performance by Grove came on the heels of his uninspiring, unanimous decision loss to Demian Maia at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale, and in the UFC, two losses in a row is sometimes enough to give you your walking papers. By that accord, no one should be surprised if Grove is cut from the UFC this week.

But should he be cut? If one looks at his mediocre 7-6 record inside the Octagon, then one might lean towards yes. After all, the UFC is all about housing the very best mixed martial artists in the world, and for a guy who has lost four of his last six fights, there probably isn’t room, even in a relatively shallow middleweight division and even if that fighter once won The Ultimate Fighter.

The UFC, by all their rights, should purge Grove from their active middleweight roster. But Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, should not let him get away so quickly. Instead, they should make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce.

When the UFC purchased Strikeforce, Dana White was adamant that there would be no super-fights featuring the best Strikeforce fighters coming over to the UFC while they still had contracts with Showtime.

This shut off all possibilities of superstar Strikeforce champions like Alistair Overeem, Dan Henderson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Nick Diaz and Gilbert Melendez coming over to the big show, at least for the time being. Of course, once the Strikeforce fighter’s contracts were up with Showtime they were free to cross over, and Jason “Mayhem” Miller became the first one to do so, signing with the UFC just over a month ago.

But at the same time he said this, White also made it known that he wasn’t adverse to doing things the other way, with UFC fighters going to Strikeforce instead. An opportunity has presented itself for Grove to be the torchbearer of this.

Strikeforce, at present, has a relatively shallow middleweight division, especially with losing the personable and marketable Miller. Aside from middleweight kingpin Souza, the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler, American hero Tim Kennedy and the fighter-turned-actor Cung Le, there really isn’t much at 185 pounds in Strikeforce.

If Strikeforce is truly here to stay for at least a few more years, the promotion needs a new influx of middleweights because the fans are getting tired of stale rematches and want new challengers at 185 pounds, especially fighters they know. A UFC veteran like Grove, who is still only 28 years old, would be a good addition and a solid solution to this dilemma.

At 6’6” and only 185 pounds, Grove is a matchup nightmare for most middleweights, even if he has had mixed success in the cage up until this point. As seen in his submission victories over Jake Rosholt and Alan Belcher, and even in his recent loss over Boetsch, Grove’s long limbs have the capability to make fighters tap out at anytime.

And while he has been far from consistent inside the cage—he holds an overall record as a professional mixed martial artist of just 12-9—he has fought and defeated some talented fighters during his career, including the aforementioned Belcher and the late Evan Tanner.

It might not make sense to match him up with some of the top Strikeforce middleweights just yet, but at the very least, Grove would present a good challenge to the young guns trying to make a name for themselves on the Strikeforce Challengers cards.

After spending so many years developing and promoting him, Zuffa should not give up on Grove just now. He is just 28 and still has the opportunity to improve as a mixed martial artist. But it’s become obvious he is not talented enough for the UFC, at least not at this point in his career.

And after seeing Keith Jardine lose four fights in the UFC, win a few in smaller shows, and then take a short-notice (albeit controversial) draw over consensus top-15 light heavyweight Gegard Mousasi, exposing Mousasi’s porous takedown defence in the process, anything can happen in this sport.

So make Grove the first UFC fighter to directly crossover to Strikeforce, and let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, it would be an interesting experiment in seeing just what Zuffa is able to do now that they own the two biggest mixed martial arts promotions in the world.

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UFC 130: 10 Thoughts Following Jackson vs. Hamill

When a much-anticipated main event like Edgar vs. Maynard 3 falls by the wayside, it’s tough for an event to ever really live up to the expectations.Still, UFC 130 featured big knockouts, rising contenders, and generally some very interesting perform…

When a much-anticipated main event like Edgar vs. Maynard 3 falls by the wayside, it’s tough for an event to ever really live up to the expectations.

Still, UFC 130 featured big knockouts, rising contenders, and generally some very interesting performances.

Quinton Jackon didn’t exactly set the cage on fire, but making up for his efforts were Brian Stann, Travis Browne, Gleison Tibau and others.

Aside from the performances themselves, UFC 130 will also provide a fairly large shakeup in the divisional rankings with top 10 ranked fighters like Jorge Santiago, Miguel Torres, and Thiago Alves all coming up short.

Here are the top thoughts and repercussions following UFC 130.

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UFC 130: Does Quinton "Rampage" Jackson Deserve a Title Shot?

UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill was a fairly lackluster card in terms of the importance of the fights.An event that was originally slated to contain a rematch of Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard in addition to an explosive matchup between Rampage Jackson and…

UFC 130: Rampage vs. Hamill was a fairly lackluster card in terms of the importance of the fights.

An event that was originally slated to contain a rematch of Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard in addition to an explosive matchup between Rampage Jackson and Thiago Silva instead became riddled with injuries and was relegated to UFC 127-like status.

Still, the card was filled with fights that, while not necessarily making clear No. 1 contenders, allowed for title run talks to begin. Amongst these fighters were Rick Story, Frank Mir, and Rampage Jackson.

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UFC Should Reconsider Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, Quinton Jackson a Bad Choice

Following UFC 130, Dana White reiterated that regardless of Quinton Jackson’s lackluster performance against Matt Hamill, Jackson is still deserving of a title shot.A win over Lyoto Machida alone would be enough to make most fighters deserving of a tit…

Following UFC 130, Dana White reiterated that regardless of Quinton Jackson‘s lackluster performance against Matt Hamill, Jackson is still deserving of a title shot.

A win over Lyoto Machida alone would be enough to make most fighters deserving of a title shot, but in this case, Rampage simply isn’t the best option for the UFC.

Although Rashad Evans is currently set to fight Phil Davis later this summer, the UFC has scrapped fights before to make a better fight, and they should do that in this case, because right now Evans is the best option for the UFC.

Why Rampage Shouldn’t Get A Title Shot

Quinton Jackson is without question one of the best light heavyweights in the world, but although he dominated Matt Hamill, he didn’t finish him where Jon Jones utterly destroyed him.

Jackson’s other recent victory over Lyoto Machida was also a bit lackluster, and in that case, many fans felt like Machida did more to earn the victory than Rampage.

Before that, Jackson lost to the aforementioned Evans, and didn’t look particularly good in defeat.

But more than just his in-Octagon performances, it’s what Jackson has done outside the Octagon that makes him a bad choice as a title contender.

Is Rampage Jackson Still A Big Draw?

It is generally assumed that Quinton Jackson is still a big draw, but I’m not entirely sure.

Jackson’s fight with Lyoto Machida didn’t do particularly well, and if trending numbers are accurate, UFC 130 will do only a mediocre number at best.

Part of the problem is that Rampage’s questionable motivation doesn’t exactly make people want to see him fight anymore.

Rampage doesn’t care about winning the belt as much as he cares about making money, and has said that he’ll retire once he makes as much money “acting” as he does fighting.

Rampage is a terrible actor, but as long as Jackson gets offered acting gigs, his focus isn’t going to be on fighting.

Aside from not focusing on fighting, Rampage’s efforts to actually promote his fights have been pretty half-hearted as well.

Before the Machida fight, Rampage was on Craig Ferguson’s show calling Machida boring. Calling your opponent boring is never a great way to promote a fight.

At last week’s post-fight press conference when Jackson was given a chance to hype a potential fight with Jon Jones, he had almost nothing about a man who has courted controversy with his clashing “I am the chosen one” and “son of a preacher man” personas.

If Jackson can’t come up with one witty thing to say about Jones, he doesn’t deserve his reputation as a comedian, or as somebody who is good at promoting fights.

Although Jackson did a big number when he fought against Evans, most of the credit for that goes to Evans who was really the source of the better quips, one-liners, and insults. Evans’ characterizing Rampage as an Uncle Tom alone probably added 100,000 buys, while all Rampage could muster up was that Evan’s breath stinks.

Rashad Evans Is The Better Option

Unlike Jackson, Evans has a legitimate grudge with Jones that seems to have fans jazzed, if nothing else, to see one of the two fighters get knocked out.

Given a little help from a UFC Primetime series, such a fight should easily do a big number on pay-per-view.

The UFC is risking that possibility by putting Evans against a very dangerous fighter in Phil Davis.

There is a very real possibility that Davis beats Evans by using his superior wrestling, and even if Evans wins, the outcome could very easily be a ho-hum decision that does nothing to make people believe in Evan’s chances against Jones.

If Evans wins by knockout, a fight with Jones would be even more appealing, but is the risk really worth the potential gain?

Although a change would be kinda lousy for Davis, there is plenty of time to find him a new opponent, and Lyoto Machida is currently waiting in the wings.

Conclusion

Rampage Jackson needs to get passionate about fighting and promoting a fight before he’s deserving of a title shot.

He also needs to put on a performance that convinces people that he’ll be anything more than easy pickings for Jones.

Until those things happen, Evan’s grudge with Jones should be more than enough to sell a big fight in October if the UFC is willing to scrap one single signed fight to make a much bigger one.

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