UFC 116 recap

I just want to start off by saying that this was arguably the best UFC event of 2010. It had everything you could ask for in a PPV: impressive knockouts, sick submissions, drama, and improbable comebacks. Each of the main card fights were phenomenal to watch. So on with it.

Brock Lesnar (c) def Shane Carwin via Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) Rd 2
This match proved two things: that Brock is the real deal, and that Shane wasn't as prepared to go 5 rounds as he thought. I made no secret of the fact that I like Brock Lesnar and want to see him do well (I like heels, especially when I know that most of their behavior is simply playing everyone to sell a fight), but that first round had me on the edge of my seat. When Shane hot Brock with that first uppercut and started backing him into the cage, I knew it wasn't good. When he hit him with that knee and dropped him, I was already counting Brock out, saying "It's done. Shane is the new champ." But Brock survived. He took everything Shane had, which was much more than enough to KO just about anyone else. Upon first watching the fight I actually kind of wondered why the ref didn't stop the fight at some points, but after re-watching it I could see that Shane didn't connect cleanly with most of the shots, and that whenever he did Brock would make efforts to defend. Great call by Rosenthal. I'm also impressed with Brock's Rocky-esque tactic of letting Shane wear himself out. Once he noticed Shane's punches getting lighter, he decided it was better to play possum than stand back up and risk more pummeling. It paid dividends. He managed to actually stand up in the final minute, showing that he was clearly not as hurt as people thought. By the second round, Brock was battered but fresh; Shane was a zombie. Brock quickly took the fight to the ground, worked from half guard to full mount, and quickly locked in an arm-triangle. It was an impressive display, and very surprising to see Brock attack so quickly with a sub. It'll be interesting to see how Brock fares against Cain Velasquez next. Cain has both more technical striking and better cardio than Shane, but if Shane's cinderblock fists couldn't put Brock away, I have a hard time believing Cain can do it. Also, Cain won't exactly have the wrestling advantage this time around. An interesting match-up indeed. As for Shane, hes prime for the loser of Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson.

Chris Leben def. Yoshihiro Akiyama via Submission (Triangle Choke), Rd 3
So the triangle choke is the new upset weapon of choice now, eh? I am a fan of Leben, but an even bigger fan of Akiyama so I think you know who I was rooting for. Many people didn't give Leben much of a chance, but I knew that Leben is legit and dangerous in a firefight. This was fight of the night bar-none. The fight was going just as I often hope it does when two fighters I like square off: relatively close, but my favorite guy clearly winning the fight. For all the adroitness Leben showed on the ground, Akiyama was clearly dominating him there and seemed to be letting Leben attempt subs just because he knew he could shake them off. The fight changed pace in the 2nd stanza, as they brought the 4th of July fireworks early. We all know Leben loves a firefight, and can take a punch just as well as he can give one. But Akiyama really reinforced the fact that he's no slouch in a firefight either. He walked through some good shots, and generally outstruck Leben on the feet with superior technique. At one point he had Leben out on his feet, but as we've seen before, Leben's granite chin only switched him to zombie mode, which makes him arguably more dangerous. In the 3rd round, Akiyama was noticeably fatigued and Leben got his second wind. Up two rounds, Akiyama tried to play it safe and cruise to a decision, but his fatigue and complacency left him wide open to an improbable triangle choke from Leben, tapping with just 20 seconds left in the fight. Akiyama had been letting Leben walk his legs up for subs the whole fight, and this time he was too tired to fight it off well enough. Needless to say, I was happy for Leben but extremely disappointed overall because I wanted Akiyama to win, and he seemed to have the fight in the bag. I'd still like to see either of these guys face Wanderlei Silva (who you know I'll be rooting for either way), but I'm kind of leaning towards Leben, because the prospect of Akiyama fighting Michael Bisping has me intrigued. Although Leben's really staging a comeback, so I could see him fighting the winner of Mark Munoz vs Yushin Okami to get closer to a title shot.

Chris Lytle def. Matt Brown via Submission (Straight Armbar), Rd 2
How this didn't win submission of the night is beyond me. Sure, it was very unexpected to see Brock sub Carwin, but I could argue that it was even more surprising to see Leben sub Akiyama 20 seconds from losing a decision. But even that pales in comparison to the awesomeness that was Lytle's mounted inverted triangle choke-straight armbar combination. Sure, it wasn't surprising to see Lytle win by sub, but c'mon...that sub was too impressive to get overshadowed by a simple arm-triangle. Anyway, Brown brought the fight in the 1st as he usually does, and almost subbed lytle with a tight D'arce choke, but Lytle managed to hold on until Brown had to let go for fear of gassing his arms. Once in the second, Lytle used a guillotine attempt to scramble and beautifully transition into a mounted triangle position, and the rest was academic. Lytle is the exact definition of a gatekeeper; just keep giving him exciting fights. Brown always comes to fight, but his resolve seems to die when hes on the ground. He needs to work on that. A ground game would go a long way for him. Amir Sodallah should make for a good fight to test his overall game.

Stephan Bonnar def Krzysztof Soszynski via TKO (punches), Rd 2
Much needed win for Bonnar. Although his previous fight with Sos (I will call him this from here one because the Polish are ridiculous) wasn't a real loss since it was stopped off of an accidental headbutt, it's still a loss on his record, and a loss in the rematch would put him at 4-straight losses. The fight was textbook Bonnar, with sloppy brawling and his face getting busted up, but entertaining to watch as he keeps up a frantic pace and is damn near impossible to finish. This has been called a return to form and a renaissance for Bonnar, but I honestly don't see where all this talk comes from. As impressive as this win was, you can't deny the fact that in both matches with Sos, Bonnar was losing up until the finish. I take nothing away from Bonnar's win, but he didn't prove that he can hang with better competition in this fight anymore than he has in the past. He's a solid gatekeeper, and that is all. I'd like to see him take on a more technical striker who won't be so easily drawn into a firefight, like Brandon Vera or Cyrille Diabate next. Sos is still a solid 205er, and I think he'd make a great do-or-die opponent for Luis Cane to show how well his standup is evolving while he continues to work on his ground game. It's hard to gauge your striking against a masochist like Bonnar.

George Sotiropoulos def Kurt Pellegrino via Unanimous Decision, Rd 3
Saw this one coming from a mile away. Kurt thought he had the edge in the standup and on the ground; he got tooled in both. He was pretty much beaten to the punch in both areas by a technically superior fighter. By the time the 3rd round rolled along it was clear Kurt knew he wasn't going to win the fight. Up until then the only offense he could muster were a few takedowns, of which he could do nothing to capitalize on while in George's slick guard. A end of the fight knockdown saw Kurt almost pull off a potential come from behind TKO, but it was too little too late, and George looked to have recovered very quickly from it. George has earned his way into the lightweight title picture with 5 straight wins in the UFC, and deserves some top-shelf lighweight next. Evan Dunham and Jim Miller are great wrestlers who are around the title mix, and as great wrestlers I think they would offer suitable tests for George's game. Kurt's still a solid guy, but George really exposed some flaws in his standup. I kind want him to test that out, along with his wrestling, against the rejuvenated Melvin Guillard.

Prelim Thoughts and Notes
Brendan Schaub looked great once again with a quick 1st round TKO of Chris Tuscherer. He's showing ever-improving boxing and speed. I think it's time for him to take a slight step up in competition, or Matt Mitrione. Maybe Gilbert Yvel could serve as a good test for him as well. I've never been high on Chris and in my opinion he's lost all 3 of his UFC fights. If not for his gutsy performance against Gonzaga and ties to HW champ Lesnar, I'd give him the boot.

Seth Petruzelli beat the crap out of hot prospect Ricardo Romero in the first round, and not being able to secure the finish pretty much sealed his fate. He came out noticeably slower in the second, and after some uninspiring grappling was caught in a straight armbar that may or may not have broken that arm. For such a big prospect, Romero looked like an amateur on the feet (though he can take a shot), and didn't show enough to indicate that he wouldn't be torn apart by better competition. If Seth paced himself better he might have taken him out. I don't even know where to go with these two next.

Gerald Harris brought the excitement to an otherwise dull affair with a thunderous KO slam in the 3rd round to Dave Branch. Branch showed a nice chin and good footwork, but what the hell was he thinking trying to jump into guard against a wrestler like Harris? I think playing it safe en route to a competitive decision loss looks much better than ending up on the wrong end of a highlight reel knockout. Harris got KO of the Night, by the way.

Kendall Grove vs Goran Reljic was boring. Reljic was supposed to be a solid prospect before his back injury, and since returning he's just been disappointing. Grove showed me that he can actually take a punch without dying for once, and the only highlight of this fight was a sick up-kick he landed that took Reljic's feet right out from under him. I still think Grove is nothing more than a gatekeeper for the division, but he had a decent performance this time around, although I gave the fight to Reljic by a small margin.

I didn't see the last two fights. May check out Petz vs Roberts if it's available because of the close nature of the fight (Roberts by split decision), but I have very little interest in watching Jon Madsen fight (vs Karlos Vemola). He's boring as hell to me and I knew he'd take home the lackluster decision.