UFC 110 Aftermath

UFC 110 has silenced any criticism of Cain Velasquez, and catapulted George Sotiropulos into the spotlight.

I was lucky enough to attend this UFC event, and I can tell you that the crowd was revved up the entire time for action standing or on the ground – just so long as the fighters were working! While some late cancellations and replacements led to a particularly one-sided affair (Cro Cop absolutely outclassed Anthony Perosh, as expected) the remaining unaltered fights were a sight to behold.

I’d like to focus attention on 3 fights in particular: Sotiropoulos vs Stevenson, Lytle vs Foster, and Velasquez vs Nogueira. First of all, it did my heart good to see George Sotiropoulos dominate Joe Stevenson standing and on the ground. It was even better to see that George could fight from the bottom, using 10th Planet JJ technique to control Stevenson. Now, I like Joe and I’m sad to see him have to start building up wins again, but Sotiropoulos is an exciting ground fighter who grapples to win. This was a decision only because Joe is so tough – Sotiropoulos made a number of close submission attempts that would have worked on many other less game fighters.

Lytle vs Foster proved that Chris Lytle should be on every card. Of every MMA event. Twice each night, if at all possible. But seriously, that guy always puts on a hell of a show, and while his wild swinging at the start of the fight looked like it might open him up for a spectacular knockout later, he put Brian Foster out of commission for a while with a gorgeous kneebar. That was a thing of beauty to see live, and I couldn’t help but wince as it came on and Foster started tapping furiously. Foster was able to limp on his leg a bit afterwards, so I’m hoping the damage isn’t too severe. Damn good show on the part of Lytle, though my girlfriend thought he was too cocky afterwards.

Finally, Cain Velasquez must have shed his reputation for pillow punches by now, as he knocked Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira down and out in the first round. Considering the number of punches Velasquez was landing with seemingly no effect, I doubt anyone expected a first round KO before it happened. Nogueira looked set to lose that fight from the beginning, though, as Velasquez just kept getting there first with his strikes. This should definitely have earned him a title shot, either against Brock Lesnar directly, or against the winner of Mir/Carwin for the interim title.

It’s hard to get excited for the next event after the huge build-up to 110, but I think I can manage. UFC 111 sees Dan Hardy challenge GSP for the welterweight belt, and I don’t think this will be as one-sided as people expect. While Hardy is primarily a striker, he is fairly obsessed with 10th Planet JJ and actually does quite a bit of work on his ground game. I’m guessing he expects to get taken down, and he probably has a few tricks up his sleeve for fighting from his back against a dominant wrestler like GSP. I doubt Hardy will win, but UFC 111 should prove to doubters that he is a legitimate welterweight contender.