July 12, 2009, at 4:07 am
Yoshihiro Akiyami d. Alan Belcher via unanimous decision
- I know that everyone in the world has been killing this decision, so I won’t pile on. Even though I would absolutely love to. I want to say this: Who in god’s name scored it 30-27? There is no way that Akiyama won all three rounds.
- Speaking of the Japanese import, He was less than impressive in his debut. He was suprisingly quick on his feet in the first round, but gassed quickly. He didn’t check any leg kicks throughout the fight, instead trying to catch all of the low kicks. The only problem is that he failed miserably and was limping by the end of the fight.
- As for Belcher, he looked solid. Outside of the highlight reel-off the cage-superman punch, he showed strong striking. On the ground, I thought that his thick legs would work against him, but he was suprisingly flexible. I see some potential left in Belcher.
Dan Henderson d. Michael Bisping via Knockout
- Bisping had never fought anyone that was anywhere close to the level of Henderson and it certainly showed. I thought that the brit would have the kickboxing advantage, but he seem hesistant throughout the whole fight. Perhaps it was that he was scared of being taken down, but he was a step slow on his feet the entire night.
- Henderson has such huge power in his right hand, it would be crazy to circle to the right against him. However, that is exactly what Bisping did throughout the entire fight. It was a matter of time until he got caught.
- What does this tell us about both fighters? Well, Bisping needs to go back to the drawing board. I don’t think that this fight was about skills as much as it was about nerves. He didn’t execute his gameplan at all. As for Henderson, I think that he is the next logical contender for Silva. Hell, at least he pushed The Spider to the second round last time.
Jon Fitch d. Paulo Thiago via unanimous decision
- Jon Fitch is awesome. While he’s not quite a gatekeeper, it’s a shame that he is going to be stuck behind GSP for awhile. He showed his outstanding wrestling and great all around game, but I’m still a little concerned about his ability to finish.
Georges St. Pierre d. Thiago Alves via unanimous decision
- This went down almost exactly as I thought I would. St. Pierre attempted 12 takedowns and hit 10 of them. He kept grinding on Alves until the final bell rang, and even Alves knew he was outclassed. GSP also did a great job avoiding Alves strikes and keeping the standup game relatively even.
- As for Alves, he impressed me in the loss. While Fitch probably put up a better fight, Alves showed a remarkable ability to get back to his feet after being taken to the ground. Getting up from under the best fighter in the world is not an easy task. He never got to work much on his feet, and if he wants to be a champ, he needs to become more well rounded.
- There’s been a ton of talk about St. Pierre v. Anderson Silva, but I think that it is very important for the UFC to keep the number of weight changing superfights to a minimum. There’s a full article coming for this.
Brock Lesnar d. Frank Mir via TKO
- I remain shocked about this fight. I can’t beleive that Lesnar was so easily able to handle Mir. He took him down, trapped his arm, and just pounded on him for most of the fight. However, there was some questionable officiating going on in this fight. Lesnar was holding Mir by the neck, he didn’t advance his position and wasn’t forced to standup. He was hitting Mir in the back of the head…again.
- There’s going to a lot made of Lesnar’s rant after the fight. It was terrible. It was idiotic, and it was terrible for the sport. He later apologized on MMA Live, but I don’t buy it. There’s another full article coming here.
All together this was a great night of fights. I went 2-3 with my picks on the main card, and all together, I went 4-7. Not my best night, but UFC 101 isn’t too far away.
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[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptYoshihiro Akiyami d. Alan Belcher via unanimous decision – I know that everyone in the world has been killing this decision, so I won’t pile on. Even though I would absolutely love to. I want to say this: Who in god’s name scored it 30-27? There is no way that Akiyama won all three rounds. – Speaking of the Japanese import, He was less than impressive in his debut. He was suprisingly quick on his feet in the first round, but gassed quickly. He didn’t check any leg kicks throughout the fight [...]
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