Submissions and fouls at UFC 106

While the Main Event ended in a decision, as has been usual lately, many of the UFC 106 fights were finished with submissions.

First of all, let’s take a look at George Sotiropoulos vs. Jason Dent. Before the fight even started, many people thought that the Australian Sotiropoulos would win this via submission, and the only surprise was that it took longer than expected. While this fight wasn’t scheduled to be televised, I never had any doubt it would end up on TV – I just didn’t think it would make it to both the Spike broadcast as well as the PPV! George Sotiropoulos is an incredible BJJ fighter. It will be interesting to see him go up against a world class wrestler, though, as that tends to be the real test for BJJ focused grapplers. Nevertheless, the way Sotiropoulos controlled Dent on the ground before going for the armbar was incredible, especially the use of the biceps crusher to weaken the arm before pulling on the armbar.

In a massive upset, Jake Rosholt got tapped out by Kendall Grove in a triangle choke within the first round. Given that Rosholt recently knocked out Chris Leben with a triangle of his own at UFC 102, this had to be embarrassing. A submission looked to be the only way Kendall Grove could have won, and Jake Rosholt was happy to oblige, keeping Kendall in the UFC for another day. I think this is part of an emerging problem with wrestlers forgetting that BJJ guys can actually fight from the bottom. I know it hasn’t been a common occurrence in recent years, but submissions from the bottom will happen if you make a mistake.

Finally, the Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson fight ended in a submission win for Koscheck via rear naked choke. In an utterly bizarre fight, fouls were traded as Anthony Johnson threw a knee to the head of Koscheck while he was grounded, though replays showed that it only seemed to glance off Koscheck’s arm. Soon after, Koscheck caught a poke in the eye, and this must have gotten him mad, as he took Johnson down in the last part of the round and the fight got even weirder in round 2. Two eyepokes from Koscheck to Johnson, and eventually Koscheck gets Johnson down again. From half-guard, Koscheck rained down elbows and broke Johnson’s spirit. Mercifully, he eventually moved to take Johnson’s back and sank in a rear naked choke to end the fight.

This was kind of a weird night of fights, and it’s interesting to see how submissions were used. Kendall Grove threw on a triangle from a generally defensive position, while Sotiropoulos and Koscheck both seem to have gone for submissions as a surer way of ending the fight than ground and pound. I think too many ground fighters are concerned with trying to get TKOs through beating up their opponent and then end up going to decision. If you are clearly dominating the other fighter on the ground, and the only thing keeping the fight going is their seeming inability to get cut badly or be knocked senseless, just accept they have a good chin and go for an arm!

There’s a bit of a wait until the next big events, but The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale will be on soon enough. Matt Hamill will take on the undefeated Jon Jones in the main event, and we’ll also get to see Kimbo Slice get demolished on the ground again for our amusement. I’ve also been reading that Wanderlei Silva will be facing Michael Bisping at UFC 110 in Sydney, so obviously I’ll keep an eye on whether that ends up happening.