It was a controversial split decision that gave Rampage Jackson the win over Lyoto Machida.
Having finally returned and settled in from an exceptional week covering UFC 123 in Detroit, I've had time to reflect on the week that was and what may come from the Ultimate Fighting Championship's second event in the state of Michigan.
Let's start off in the main event where a controversial split decision was handed to Quinton (Rampage) Jackson over a razor-thin battle with fellow former light heavyweight champion Lyoto (The Dragon) Machida.
While sitting Octagon side, I -- along with approximately half of the media who were there -- all scored the first round for Machida, the second for Rampage and the third obviously for Lyoto. The issue at hand is the first round, whereby Cage Control and Damage must be weighed accordingly.
Without being able to watch and analyze the fight for a second time, it’s tough to say, but it will be the first thing I do once I get back to the network. Perhaps we were incorrect, and the judges made the right call; I'll let you know soon enough.
Looks as if Rampage may be first in line to face the winner of Shogun Rua and Rashad Evans, perhaps even the loser of the title fight as the UFC can easily promote it considering Jackson's history with both fighters.
As for Machida, he can also square off against the loser of the upcoming title bout or perhaps face off against the winner of the upcoming light heavyweight bout between Ryan (Darth) Bader and Jon (Bones) Jones.
Moving forward to the co-main event, I had originally picked Matt Hughes to defeat BJ Penn leading up to the bout, but upon further analysis, I quickly changed my tune during fight week.
I had written about it and spoke about it in various interviews, but it wasn't until just before we sat down with Kenny Florian on Friday when the "MMA Math" truly hit me. Kenflo and I then discussed it at length, and I quickly changed my pick (but completely forgot to change it at www.mmatournament.sportsnet.ca).
Hughes had come into the bout on a three-fight winning streak, with many stating he was “back.” I concurred as the former welterweight champ recently looked great, but upon further dissection, his winning streak may have been overstated. First, he defeated Matt Serra via decision, who at the time was not a Top 10 welterweight. Then, he defeated the legendary Renzo Gracie, who was making his Octagon debut, a bout that Hughes was a heavy favourite in. And in his last bout, he submitted Riccardo Almeida in spectacular fashion, but again, looking up and down the welterweight rankings, "The Big Dog" was not highly ranked.
As for Penn, he lost two bouts via decision (won by a narrow margin) vs. Frankie Edgar, arguably the best 155lber in the world and a guy who is just as elusive as Lyoto Machida. For Penn, he simply couldn't catch Edgar with a solid punch. But in Hughes, he would have a much more stationary target.
As Penn stated before and again after the bout, the difference between the lightweights and welterweights is speed. For a guy with exceptional boxing skills like "The Prodigy" this was the perfect match-up for his stellar striking acumen. Mind you, I did not see the 21-second knockout coming. To defeat Hughes in that manner is very impressive, and now it remains to be seen what game plan Team Penn will come up with as he faces off against the overbearing Jon Fitch at UFC 127 in February.
So who should Hughes face off against next? Like I stated on MMA Connected, I think it should be Denis Hallman. I see that the UFC is not in favour of this bout, but last year, when I (and a handful of others) were asking Dana White about putting on Hughes vs. Penn III, we got the same answer: "We aren't interested in that fight." Never say never, and I firmly believe it is a bout that will happen.
Let's quickly look at the rest of the results:
Maiquel Falcao defeated Gerald Harris via unanimous decision -- Falcao should have won in the first, but the round was cut short by seven seconds. Not sure how and why, but should have finished Harris off. The fight continued, and wasn't appealing, with Joe Silva having words with the ref, likely asking why he never warned both fighters and forced them to fight. One can also imagine what Silva and Dana White said to both fighters behind closed doors.
Phil Davis defeated Tim Boetsch via "Mr. Wonderful" -- Without sounding like a broken record, I'll stay away from my thoughts about how incredible Davis is. Above all, he made up a submission on the fly, in the Octagon, on a pay-per view. The "Mr. Wonderful" submission is one that I look forward to drilling and perfecting.
George Sotiropoulos defeated Joe Lauzon via kimura -- Lauzon got rocked towards the end of the first round. He went from fifth gear to neutral and Sotiropoulos took over from there, finishing him off in the second. The Australian now gets Denis Siver, a strange selection but one, from a promoter's perspective, that makes sense.
Brian Foster defeated Matt Brown via guillotine -- We've likely seen the last of Brown inside the Octagon and if you watched or heard Foster's comments at the post-fight press conference, you would understand the bad blood heading into this fight. Foster had something to prove and he did just that.
Mark Munoz defeated Aaron Simpson via unanimous decision -- This was, and still is, my fight of the night. From our seat, you could hear and see how both these guys put it all on the line. Especially for Munoz, whose mindset had him forging forward and throwing anything and everything towards Simpson. He firmly believed there was no way he was going to lose that fight. Two thumbs up to both guys.
Dennis Hallman defeated Karo Parisyan via first-round TKO -- I had Hallman winning, but likely via a unanimous decision. A first-round TKO was surprising, and as I said above, I'd like to see him square off against Matt Hughes one last time.
Edson Barboza defeated Mike Lullo via third-round TKO -- Remember the name Edson Barboza! I said it when I first saw Jon Jones, Cain Velasquez, Charles Oliveira and Phil Davis and I'm saying it again -- pay close attention to Edson Barboza!
Paul Kelly defeated T.J. O'Brien via second-round TKO -- Kelly's performance was excellent. He was a thinking man's fighter throughout the bout and chose not to exchange with O'Brien on the ground until he had him rocked. He should get far more credit for his performance than what he is. It is rare for MMA fighters to actually use a sound MMA strategy. Kelly did so and should be commended.
Nik Lentz defeated Tyson Griffin via split decision -- This was a great fight to kick the night off, but I scored it for Griffin. Similar to the main event, I will re-watch, re-score and give you my thoughts soon.
