UFC 168: Aftermath…Weidman and Rousey Win, Win Big

(Image from Wpmedia.o.canada.com)

When God tells you to retire, you better quit. Or He’ll break you! This is a lesson Anderson Silva and horrified MMA fans learned on Sunday. Nobody deserves to have a leg broken especially on pay-per-view. Silva did better when he clowned around against Chris Weidman, only getting knocked out with a left hook to the jaw. This time he had a limb fractured, his tibia and fibula shattered by a well-placed leg kick checked by a better-placed counter that snapped his lower left extremity.

Two rounds and Weidman defended the middleweight title he took from Silva, uncannily at a near-similar time. In UFC 162, Weidman won in 1:18 of the second round. This time, it took him two seconds less to win in the same round. Again, Silva lovers are saying that Weidman doesn’t deserve the division’s championship belt because of the freak-accident circumstances surrounding the end of the fight. What else do you need Silva-lovers? Another rematch where Weidman will rip Silva’s arm and hit him with it?

Give it up and sleep off the hangover of the “greatest MMA fighter of all time” hype that Joe Rogan and Dana White will throw at you. Fedor Emelianenko is widely accepted as the best ever of the heavyweight division even though he never fought in the UFC. When Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Dan Henderson fucked Fedor up there were demands for a rematch. Just about everyone realized that Fedor was old and his time at the top was over and that’s it.

It would be better for all concerned to look forward to Weidman’s next fight, maybe against Anderson’s friend, the rejuvenated TRT-powered Vitor Belfort. That should be a smash…sorry…breaking PPV records…sorry again…as North-American Weidman fans and Brazilian fans purchase the right to see either Weidman destroy another Brazilian challenger or the latter getting back the belt for South America.

(Image from Wpmedia.o.canada.com)

Speaking of another American star, this one of the female persuasion, didn’t Ronda Rousey look good beating Miesha Tate for the second time? Rousey had a harder time this time around, unable to put away an opponent in the first round like she did her first seven adversaries. Tate, with the advantage of having fought Rousey once, knew what she had to do to do better. And do better she did. Taking Rousey to the championship rounds with good striking and ground defense, the champ had to dig deep into her expansive bag of submission techniques but still ended up using her favorite – the armbar. Rousey’s transitions on the ground simply sapped Tate’s strength and will as she tapped in 58 seconds of the middle round of the five-canto affair. She earned a combined $150,000 for two bonuses: Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night. Tate can take consolation in her share of the bonus and that she is the first to last more than a round against Rousey.

Another main-card battle also had its moments when the phenomenal but previously-underrated Travis Browne disposed of veteran and former UFC heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett, with scary elbows to the side of the head with exactly one minute left in the first round. Barnett is a top-10 contender but Browne simply was too smart and fierce for Barnett’s slow-burn methodology. While Barnett once again went to his bread-and-butter wrestling prelude to ground-and-pound or submission, Browne went for the kill with all the strength his 6-feet-7 frame allowed him. Barnett was already out before the referee stepped in to call off Browne.

Browne has been making a habit of exposing formidable veterans. He also knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga with the same right elbow to the head, although against Barnett, he hit cleaner whereas against Gonzaga he hit the Brazilian with a few strikes to the back of the head. Browne is now the recipient of three straight Knockout of the Night bonuses, the previous one against Alistair Overeem, and perhaps will line himself up for a title fight with another win or two.

UFC 168 is one of the best year-enders for the MMA-promotion firm, and certainly boasts of the most gruesome injury in a title fight. It does look like the end of the Anderson-Silva era. The Spider has had a great run as champion. Stories have it that he asked his doctor how soon he could start training. OK. Mister Silva, sir, there is a saying for what you plan in Cebuano: Gadaku lang ang hunahuna. Meaning, it’s all in your mind. What do you want, get your left leg broken again or get a matching break on your right leg? Retire gadammit! You don’t need the money. Your legacy won’t change. After all, you beat Chael Sonnen twice. Heheheh. A Prosperous New Year to you, Anderson, and take care of that leg. It’s the only left leg you’ve got!

UFC 165: Jon Jones Scandal – ‘Bones’ Exposed

YOU SHOULD SEE THE OTHER GUY. Jon 'Bones' Jones got busted up worse in one fight, courtesy of Sweden's Alexander 'The Mauler' Gustafsson, than in all of his previous 13 UFC fights put together. Jones won by controversial unanimous decision on the judges' scorecards. (Image from: www.gannett-cdn.com)

FIGHTING someone his size, light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones retained (he shouldn’t have) his title while losing a lot of blood and prestige in the MMA community. In the post-fight interview inside the Octagon with color-commentator Joe Rogan, Jones tried to show a brave face despite the numerous cuts on it, referring repeatedly to his “warrior spirit” and referencing Bruce Lee’s “be water” philosophy. There was plenty of water, all right, after a hard-fought bout with all the sweat and blood that both combatants expelled.

Judges’ decisions have been a sore point in the Ultimate Fighting Championship for a long time. Alexander Gustafsson should have been given the win for the first three rounds at least, with his accurate sniping, fleet-footed defense in the standup battle, and his amazing takedown defense. For the record, the Swede is the first UFC fighter to have taken down Jones, scoring two, while stuffing 10-of-11 takedown attempts by the defending champion.

Round 4 was clearly won by Jones as his elbow finally landed squarely on a (sitting) ducking Gustaffson, who remarkably survived follow-up strikes by Jones. Round 5 could have gone either way as the candidate for Fight-of-the-Year honors went all five rounds.

The Air Canada Centre audience made their sentiments known after the winner was announced. All three judges scored it all for Jones (48-47,48-47, and 49-46!). Gustaffson, with good grace, refused to criticize the judges’ decision or said anything suggesting that he got a bum call, only saying that it was an honor for him to fight the champion.

The end of the first round saw Jones with a familiar look in his mug, the worry etched reminiscent of the way he walked back to his corner after Round 1 when he fought Lyoto Machida in UFC 140. Against Machida his main concern was how to tag the Brazilian; against Gustafsson he had to contend not just with the difficulty of landing a solid strike on the Swede, he also had to avoid The Mauler’s accurate striking.

The same pattern followed in Rounds 2 and 3. Jones kept missing with his patented spinning elbow, hitting Gustafsson once but merely grazing him. Gustafsson’s defense and chin were superb all throughout the fight. It wasn’t that it was just The Mauler who punished Bones; the defending champion gave as good as he got but the challenger had the edge in the initial three rounds. In Round 4, Gustafsson stayed down low too long, exposing his head on which Jones finally hit with a solid spinning elbow. Jones smelled blood and went for the kill but he couldn’t finish Gustafsson despite a knee, an elbow, punches, and the kitchen sink.

YOU KNOW I BEAT YOU, JON. Alexander Gustafsson talks with Jon Jones inside the Octagon after their UFC 165 lightheavyweight championship fight at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.(Image from: www.gannett-cdn.com)

THIS is one of those big fights that will almost always have the adjective “controversial” attached to it with people demanding a rematch which will most likely still be a close fight but with Jones more prepared for a beating. Snicker. The last time a rematch was conducted due to the controversy involved; the challenger did in the “undeserving” champion via first-round KO. We know that The Mauler has enough power to do what Mauricio “Shogun” Rua did to his fellow-Brazilian Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida. But will Dana White’s Las-Vegas mafia allow a Gustafsson-Jones II? Of course they will. It’s all about the money after all despite White’s mouthpiece Joe Rogan repeatedly extolling the ultimate virtues of the UFC’s current moneymaker “the greatest talent to ever enter the Octagon” Jones who now has to rethink his ego and his future plans. Yes, plans, as in moving up to the heavyweight division.

As a 206-and-above pounder, Jones can comfortably allow his weight to balloon on the condition that it doesn’t go beyond 265lbs, and take on the likes of Alistair Overeem who will probably break Jones’ spindly legs like matchstick. Even gatekeeper Frank Mir will give Jones fits should Mir get Jones to the ground or hit him with a punch courtesy of his improved boxing.

We knew all along that Jones was “dominating” his division because he was fighting below his proper weight, same as the recently dethroned hype-machine Anderson “The Spider” Silva. Jones and Silva are authentically extremely-talented athletes who have brought excitement and loads of income into the UFC, but one of the major reasons they have ruled the ranks is size disparity, their physical edge over majority of their opponents. Silva couldn’t have that against Chris Weidman and paid for it. Sure, Silva shot himself with his kooky taunting ways, too, but at 6-feet-2, the same height as Weidman, he couldn’t look over his opponent. Jones, at 6-4, is actually shorter than Gustafsson officially by an inch.

The Fertitta brothers are shrewd businessmen whose financial acumen has been honed in the gambling paradise of Vegas. With the ouster of Silva and the relative popularity of Georges St. Pierre, the UFC only has Jones to nurture and milk because of the championship title he holds…but barely. Despite being robbed of a victory, the loss is a moral victory for Gustafsson who confidently declared before the fight that he could beat Jones any day. He did, unfortunately, the judges didn’t see it that way. And for those waiting for the man to beat Jones, Gustafsson is it, disproving the words “NOT QUITE HUMAN” emblazoned on Jones’ Nike sponsored-walkout shirt.

Many are of the opinion that Jones should not be the UFC light-heavyweight king anymore. In the post-fight press conference, Dana White played it safe after being asked as to who he believed should have gotten the judges’ nod. White cried, “I stopped scoring the fight…” Sure you did, Dana, and if the judges were more enlightened, you would have cried for the right reason.

There’s only one way to settle this controversy – rematch. Glover Teixeira was promised a shot at whoever won Jones-Gustafsson I, but except for Teixeira and his supporters, everyone would rather have Jones-Gustafsson II as soon as possible.