I walked into UFC 102 with limited expectations. The truth is that this card didn’t stack up to the absurdity of UFC 100 and 101. There was no championship fight and the main event was between two fighters who were reaching the end of their respective careers. After all, Randy Couture is 46, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is like 105 in fight years with all the wars that he has gone through.

How wrong I was. The card was good from top to bottom and the main event made us all remember why we loved Big Nog, and why we still love Randy Couture. The best apart about everything that happened is that every UFC fan won on Saturday. You may not realize it, but a bunch of stuff happened that should excite every fan about the upcoming months.

• It started on the undercard when Todd Duffee brutally knocked out Tim Hague in just seven seconds. Duffee is a former football player from Southern Illinois (Does he know Brandon Jacobs?) who is making the transition over well. In a promotion that needs heavyweights desperately, you can’t tell me that you aren’t at least a little excited to see a guy that big with that kind of power develop. After all, he’s only 23 years old.
• On the main card, We saw what was the likely end of Chris Leben. I know that it’s not nice to celebrate someones demise, but Leben has more important things than fighting to worry about. Cagewriter reported that there were rumors that Leben has been drinking again, and that he barely trained for Jake Rosholt. If that’s true, then it’s a good thing he lost. He needs to go and get his life striaght before worrying about the UFC. He’s a huge fan favorite, and a great comeback story, but him falling back into his problems is the last thing anyone wants. Chris, get clean again, come back, and Dana will probably give you a shot. Good luck with everything.
• In the next fight, Nate Marquardt did what he needed to by slapping down the rising star of Demian Maia. His ju-jitsu lead Sherdog to call him the human Rubiks cube, but I knew that he had no chance to stay on the feet with Nate and survive. In a sport where most prospects are rushed into the limelight, and then never heard from again, It’s nice to see that Maia will get to work on his standup and come back stronger. For those who suggest that it was a fluke knockout, there was a flying knee coming from Maia at exactly the wrong time. That’s sloppy. In the meantime, let’s get Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson in there to determine a number one contender for Anderson Silva.
• The Keith Jardine knockout just proved to show what I’ve known for a while: Jardine is terrible. I’m sorry, but he’s on the fringe of getting cut. He makes a lot of money, and I know that fans love him for some reason, but how long can he keep losing and getting away with it? As for Silva, I don’t consider beating Jardine a quality win. Beat the next guy, and we’ll talk.
• The main event was a war. Both of these guys brought their A-games, so I want to mention them both seperately and give them their due.

  Nog was the best I have seen him look in the UFC. He was lighter and leaner and it showed in the quickness that he displayed in his boxing. As we all knew, his jiu-jitsu game is unparalleled. The sweep in the second round left both Jason and I breathless. It was like seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time. How good Nog looked has made me rethink the way that the heavyweight division shapes up. After Cain Velasquez beats Ben Rothwell, let’s get Velasquez v. Nog for the number one contender spot. Moreover, how bad does Frank Mir look right now? We find out that Nog was in the hospital with a staph infection shortly before the fight, and had knee problems as well and that’s why he was so weak against Mir. Couture hit him harder than Mir did routinely during Saturday’s match, and Nog walked right through it.

  As for Couture, I was ecstatic when I heard about the contract extenstion for Randy. While he might not be the most skilled guy at 46, he still shows more heart and courage than just about anyone in the business today. I don’t care whether he stays at heavyweight, or goes down to 205, his best role is as a “gut-check” guy. His new job is to show young guys what it takes to win in this business by facing them in the ring. If you can hang with Captain America, then we can talk about you being legit.

Altogether, you can’t walk away from UFC 102 upset. It may not have had the star power of 100 or 101, but it did great things for the UFC over the next few months.