It’s not a good thing when the preliminary fights on Facebook and FX are better than the bouts that fans paid $45 to watch ($55 in HD).That was the case for UFC 149, as most of the potentially good feature matches were stinkers. It’s a toss-up between …
It’s not a good thing when the preliminary fights on Facebook and FX are better than the bouts that fans paid $45 to watch ($55 in HD).
That was the case for UFC 149, as most of the potentially good feature matches were stinkers. It’s a toss-up between Cheick Kongo vs, Shawn Jordan and Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch for the night’s most boring bout.
The main event was only slightly better, and it certainly wasn’t enough to save a bad night of fighting. Renan Barao defeated Urijah Faber to become the interim bantamweight champion, but the jewel of the night was a seven-second KO shown on FX.
Canadian light heavyweight Ryan Jimmo was making his UFC debut, and boy did he ever make an entrance.
He absolutely flattened Anthony Perosh with a clean and vicious right hand. Perosh was out like a light, and adding insult to injury was Jimmo doing the robot and a split after the KO.
Jimmo has style and power, and his performance was the most memorable of the night.
Francisco Rivera and Antonio Carvalho also scored impressive first-round KOs in their preliminary matchups.
Rivera stopped a game, but overmatched Roland Delorme with a nice step back and counter. Delorme had taken a few hard shots in the round, but the short counter ended the festivities.
Carvalho was very impressive with an annihilation of Daniel Pineda in the second fight of the night. He showed great stand-up fighting skills and a vicious right hand stopped Pineda.
The Calgary, Alberta crowd booed loudly in several fights. Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were left speechless in several bouts. Dana White’s post-event press conference will be interesting after a calamity like this.
To put it bluntly, this event was not worth more than $19.99.
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Fact: You had a 63% better chance of seeing a fight at a Calgary Flames game than you did at UFC 149, according to a study I made up for this caption. Props: The Calgary Sun
When I first sat down to write this aftermath, I wrote five paragraphs of a Jim Cornette rant about how dreadful the main card of UFC 149 was to sit through. Even the most jaded UFC fan boys – the types who comment “Its fights stop complaneing ur not real UFC fan if u dont liek this TapouT tribal tatz NEVER BACK DOWN!!!!!” on YouTube videos of Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee– would be hard-pressed to say that UFC 149 was worth watching, let alone paying for. Then I realized that that wouldn’t be fair. Not because a longwinded rant about boredom isn’t a fair assessment of the main card, but rather it isn’t fair to the fans to force them to relive the lowest of the low points from last night. We can all agree that the less that is written about the main card, the better.
So in that spirit, I give you the first ever Cage Potato Fill-In-The-Blank aftermath. Simply pick one of the applicable fighters listed below and plug his name into the blanks. The result will be a mostly accurate analysis of both his performance last night and the future ramifications brought on by it. Enjoy.
Applicable Fighters*: James Head, Brian Ebersole, Cheick Kongo, Shawn Jordan, Tim Boetsch**, Hector Lombard.
I know that the Polly Pessimists and Debby Downers who make up the MMA media are often too hard on fighters, but in this case it’s well deserved: The performance of __________ at last night’s UFC 149 absolutely sucked. He let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and seemed perfectly content with this while doing so. If last night was a first date with a perfect ten, then he showed up in sweatpants, took her to Whataburger and then asked for gas money on the ride home.
Fact: You had a 63% better chance of seeing a fight at a Calgary Flames game than you did at UFC 149, according to a study I made up for this caption. Props: The Calgary Sun
When I first sat down to write this aftermath, I wrote five paragraphs of a Jim Cornette rant about how dreadful the main card of UFC 149 was to sit through. Even the most jaded UFC fan boys – the types who comment “Its fights stop complaneing ur not real UFC fan if u dont liek this TapouT tribal tatz NEVER BACK DOWN!!!!!” on YouTube videos of Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee– would be hard-pressed to say that UFC 149 was worth watching, let alone paying for. Then I realized that that wouldn’t be fair. Not because a longwinded rant about boredom isn’t a fair assessment of the main card, but rather it isn’t fair to the fans to force them to relive the lowest of the low points from last night. We can all agree that the less that is written about the main card, the better.
So in that spirit, I give you the first ever Cage Potato Fill-In-The-Blank aftermath. Simply pick one of the applicable fighters listed below and plug his name into the blanks. The result will be a mostly accurate analysis of both his performance last night and the future ramifications brought on by it. Enjoy.
Applicable Fighters*: James Head, Brian Ebersole, Cheick Kongo, Shawn Jordan, Tim Boetsch**, Hector Lombard.
I know that the Polly Pessimists and Debby Downers who make up the MMA media are often too hard on fighters, but in this case it’s well deserved: The performance of __________ at last night’s UFC 149 absolutely sucked. He let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers, and seemed perfectly content with this while doing so. If last night was a first date with a perfect ten, then he showed up in sweatpants, took her to Whataburger and then asked for gas money on the ride home.
Before last night, only the most hardcore UFC fans knew who __________ was. While the casual fans would have probably recognized the name “__________,” their knowledge of his career either ended there or they knew him for the wrong reasons (i.e. his physical appearance, his collegiate sporting achievements, some fights he lost; etc.) With the UFC 149 injury curse draining the card of every big name other than Urijah Faber, this was __________’s big chance to get over with these fans, to make a name for himself in his weight class and to prove that he deserves more time on the Pay-Per-View portion of cards and higher profile fights. A gutsy, entertaining performance arguably would have done this; a gutsy, entertaining victory certainly would have.
Instead, __________ let Matt Riddle steal the spotlight. Simply put, Riddle capitalized on the way that Siyar The Great’s injury granted him a spot on the main card in ways that no one else did. Despite a terrible “low blow” (that was completely clean) that prevented Riddle from finishing Chris Clements in the first round, Riddle kept his composure and outgrappled Clements for the rest of the fight. In the third round, Riddle managed to lock in a standing arm-triangle choke off of a failed spinning backfist attempt from Clements. Once he took the dynamic Canadian striker to the ground, he tightened the choke and earned the tap. The $65k Submission of the Night bonus he took home should compliment all of the new fans and increased exposure he earned from this performance nicely.
I emphasize that __________ let Riddle steal the spotlight. While “Deep Waters” put on an entertaining fight for the Calgary fans, __________ did his best to put them to sleep. We were reminded throughout the night of __________’s __________ (knockout power/creative offense are your choices here). Rather than actually using it, __________ opted to take part in three rounds too abysmal for even ProElite to acknowledge. I understand that you have to fight intelligently to pick up a victory at this level, and that getting careless while trying to give the fans a good fight is a great way to end up on the canvas. But that doesn’t justify three rounds of avoiding any type of meaningful engagement with your opponent. Although, to be fair to __________, his opponent wasn’t exactly chasing him around like Nate Quarry.
This was supposed to be a coming out party for __________, and did he ever waste it. His performance doesn’t warrant a step up in competition. It doesn’t warrant a spot in the main event in the near future. Rather, it just further exposed the flaws in his game that detractors have been quick to point out. If you’re still on The __________ Bandwagon, stretch out. You’ve got plenty of room to do so.
*No, I’m not including Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber. Yes, the fans were quick to boo, but at that point it was mostly out of instinct. Watch the fight again if you don’t believe me. Sure, it wasn’t exactly Torres vs. Mizugaki, but it was a solid showcase from both fighters. In the end, the bout proved exactly what we already knew: Urijah can’t check a leg kick, he’s been choking in title fights ever since losing the WEC Featherweight Championship to Mike Brown (seriously, he’s 0-5 in his last five title fights. Eat your heart out, KenFlo.), and a guy doesn’t go thirty fights without a loss unless he’s a special talent.
Chris Clements also gets a pass. Sure, he didn’t go out and win, but Matt Riddle was just the better man last night. Sometimes that happens in MMA.
**For what it’s worth, Boetsch injured himself in the second round of his fight last night. Not that he looked amazing up until that point in the fight, but it’s worth pointing out.
Two more things: Fight of the Night went to Bryan Caraway and Mitch Gagnon for their highly entertaining battle that kicked off the prelims on FX. It was pretty much all downhill from there. And knockout of the night? Former Cagepotato.com contributor Ryan Jimmo. Seven seconds. Bitches.
Full Results:
Main Card:
Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via unanimous decision
Tim Boetsch def. Hector Lombard via split decision
Cheick Kongo def. Shawn Jordan via unanimous decision
James Head def. Brian Ebersole via split decision
Matt Riddle def. Chris Clements via submission (arm- triangle choke), 2:02 of Round Three
Preliminary Card:
Nick Ring def. Court McGee via unanimous decision
Francisco Rivera def. Roland Delorme via KO (punch), 4:19 of Round One
Ryan Jimmo def. Anthony Perosh via KO (punch), 0:07 of Round One
Bryan Caraway def. Mitch Gagnon via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:39 of Round Three
Antonio Carvalho def. Daniel Pineda via KO (punches), 1:11 of Round One
Anton Kuivanen def. Mitch Clarke via split decision
Last night’s UFC 149 saw more card changes than probably any card in UFC history. With many guys getting injured, it seemed almost like the card was to put together in a little over a week.On top of that, the main card was pretty much just awful. …
Last night’s UFC 149 saw more card changes than probably any card in UFC history. With many guys getting injured, it seemed almost like the card was to put together in a little over a week.
On top of that, the main card was pretty much just awful.
Apart from Matt Riddle being himself and a nice, fun battle between Barao and Faber, nothing happen in the other three fights on the pay-per-view.
The prelims, on the other hand, were some of the most exciting in UFC history.
Nonetheless, we crowned a new UFC interim champion and saw one of the most hyped-up debuts in UFC history fail.
With that said, let’s take a look back and then look forward with the eleven men who found themselves on the losing end of UFC 149.
Like a lot of other MMA fans, I was looking forward to Hector “Lightning” Lombard’s octagon debut as much as any other fight on the card at UFC 149. And like many of those fans, I walked away from the co-main event between Lombard and Tim Boetsch…
Like a lot of other MMA fans, I was looking forward to Hector “Lightning” Lombard’s octagon debut as much as any other fight on the card at UFC 149. And like many of those fans, I walked away from the co-main event between Lombard and Tim Boetsch with a bitter taste in my mouth.
After watching Boetsch control the fight with nothing but movement and a couple dozen leg kicks, fans were left wondering exactly what happened to the Hector Lombard we had grown accustomed to seeing.
The usually aggressive and entertaining Lombard looked like a deer in headlights for the entirety of the fight. He stood flat-footed and sat back and waited to counter with one big punch, confusing a ton of fans who thought he was one of the few real tests left for Anderson Silva.
By the end of the fight, it was apparent that Lombard had suffered one of the worst cases of UFC jitters in recent memory. But it still didn’t leave anyone feeling any better about an extremely lackluster bout.
Due to the massive amount of hype Lombard had behind him, fans were expecting a war and an impressive performance out of Lightning. And anyone who’s seen him fight over the last few years had to have been shocked at the utter lack of action on Lombard’s part last night.
Expectations weren’t raised for Lombard’s UFC debut, fans just anticipated that the former Bellator champion would come out and fight the way he always does. When he fought as timid as he did, it let a lot of people down.
It may seem like too much of the blame is falling on Lombard here, but to be fair, he deserves the majority of the backlash.
Boetsch fought a perfect fight, staying out of Lombard’s range and giving him minimal opportunities to counter with his explosive power. In short, Boetsch did exactly what he needed to do to win, and Lombard obviously was unable to do the same.
Is it possible we expected too much out of Lombard? Maybe. But we should have gotten a better fight than we did.
The era of Renan Barao is upon us, at least until Dominick Cruz returns to action.At UFC 149, Barao claimed the interim UFC bantamweight title and extended his incredible unbeaten streak to 30 after a five-round dissection of Urijah Faber.Coming into t…
The era of Renan Barao is upon us, at least until Dominick Cruz returns to action.
At UFC 149, Barao claimed the interim UFC bantamweight title and extended his incredible unbeaten streak to 30 after a five-round dissection of Urijah Faber.
Coming into the fight, there was a myriad of hype surrounding Barao, a training partner of UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo. He was coming off big wins over Brad Pickett and Scott Jorgensen, but until Saturday night, Barao was untested against upper-echelon opposition.
Faber was game as always, but Barao’s superior striking, takedown defense and utilization of range was the story of the night.
“I came well-prepared,” Barao told UFC commentator Joe Rogan after the fight. “Faber is a great fighter, but this is the result [of my hard work]. My coach told me to keep [kicking the leg], and this was the result.”
What’s next for Barao?
There is a lingering question of whether or not he should start defending his interim title or wait around to face Cruz for the undisputed title.
Cruz was originally slated to face Faber in the main event on Saturday night, but he had to withdraw from the fight after suffering a torn ACL in training. Ariel Helwani reported on a timetable for Cruz’s return in an episode of UFC Tonight.
For now, Barao is the UFC champion and he should defend his title against the next person in line.
At only 25 years of age, Barao has reached the apex of his career. He should defend his title, enjoy his championship salary and continue to rake in as much experience as possible.
A bout with Cruz will come somewhere down the line.
Remember when you were growing up and your parents could say everything to you and nothing would get through.But then, suddenly, one word or one line just crushes your heart: “We are really disappointed with you.”For the first time, just like that, it …
Remember when you were growing up and your parents could say everything to you and nothing would get through.
But then, suddenly, one word or one line just crushes your heart: “We are really disappointed with you.”
For the first time, just like that, it hurts.
Hector Lombard’s UFC debut against Tim Boetsch was of that mold. Lombard’s debut was unbelievably disappointing from an average fan’s perspective, considering the hype that surrounded him prior to the fight.
Where does he go now?
Regroup
Lombard must now regroup, wait for another opportunity and then deliver on that opportunity to rectify his loss on Saturday night.
I’m sure everyone has gone into something overconfident, whether that be a sporting event, a test in school or a relationship. Losing or failing like this happens to everyone, and it only challenges the character and drive of the individual.
Lombard’s character is being tested right now. It’s time for him to regroup his thoughts and look forward to the next fight.
Refocus
Focus. One of the most used terms in sports, but one of the terms athletes fail to grasp at certain moments in their life.
Lombard went into his fight and he wasn’t as focused as he needed to be. Maybe he even fell in love with the hype rather than focusing on the task at hand.
Now it’s time to refocus.
Build off positives
Lombard was dreadful in the early goings of the fight. There aren’t too many people who would argue that he wasn’t.
However, as the fight moved to the later rounds, Lombard started to show some of his ability. He began to land cleaner shots, look more confident and look settled.
Lombard is going to receive another opportunity in the UFC given his overall ability. He must do these three things to get that elusive first victory in his next fight.
It’s not a good thing when the preliminary fights on Facebook and FX are better than the bouts that fans paid $45 to watch ($55 in HD).