Last Saturday’s UFC 158 went pretty much how I predicted it: Five rounds of laying on top of Diaz, not taking a single risk, not trying to finish. I don’t know how long it will be before people are going to get sick of seeing that.
It’s like a broken record. He’s a great fighter, but he doesn’t try to finish. Firas Zahabi talked about never seeing Georges angrier, but I didn’t see any of that. I didn’t see an angry guy going out there trying to rip Diaz apart. He shot for takedown within the first 45 seconds of first round. A couple times he could have taken Diaz’ back, but he didn’t even do it. It gets a bit boring to watch.
I figured after the fact the talk would start again about GSP vs. Anderson Silva, but happy that’s not all we read about.
As for Johny Hendricks vs. Carlos Condit, if we had seen another round, maybe Condit wins the fight. Hendricks was starting to run out of gas, but he won the first couple rounds, so I guess he was able to win the fight anyway.
I thought the Patrick Cote fight was okay. It was a close decision that could have went either way. People always complain about decisions, but this one surprised me. I don’t know if Pat’s fighting safe, to make sure he keeps his job or whatever, but he’s had a couple decisions lately, which is unlike him, because he’s usually an exciting guy, and often going for the finish.
Nick Ring was finally on losing end of a close decision. The funny thing is, this one was much closer than a couple decision (Riki Fukuda, Court McGee) that in my opinion he clearly should have lost yet he won. It’s just the way it goes and the nature of decisions.
Jake Ellenberger came back with an impressive win against Nate Marquardt, who was one of the top fighters in the world for so long. He won the King of Pancrase titles, but maybe he’s been around for too long, and his best days behind him. And I’m not even going to make a steroid joke.
Jordan looked impressive. He goes in and finishes Dan Miller without getting a scratch on him in a matter of minutes. It was impressive. A left hook to the body puts away his first victim in the UFC, and now he slides in there to fight Matt Brown because he came out unscathed. I think that’s exactly what he needs at this point in his career. He’s young, eager, and it’s another big name for him. It would be a big notch on his belt to go and finish Matt Brown.
Finally, what do you say about Nick Diaz? He’s been all over the place, it’s just how he is. He’s calling out guys, he’s saying he’s retired. He’s unpredictable. He talks about fighting too much, being suspended, not knowing where life’s going. I think he needs some therapy more than he needs some training.
He’s definitely a great fighter, but his own biggest enemy is himself. He’s talking about his camp and how he wishes he could get more help from them. If it’s not one thing, it’s another with Nick Diaz. It’s always been that way, and always will be.
He seriously reminds me of my 12-year-old son (or most 12-year-olds, for that matter). It’s always somebody else’s fault, he’s all over the place, one minute wants to play hockey, the next it’s badminton, then volleyball. But he doesn’t do anything because he’s too busy playing Xbox.
Now the UFC cut Lavar Johnson because he tested positive for PEDs. I really think that’s the way the UFC has to handle drugs in the sport across the board. It should be a zero tolerance policy. You test positive, you’re cut. But that’s not the way it works for everyone right now.
Take Alistair Overeem. He tested positive for testosterone. But rather than being released, he’s not going to fight for nine months and gets a small fine, but comes back right back into semi-main event fight. He’s probably thinking he’s getting millions of dollars (I don’t know exactly what he makes but it’s probably substantial) and only going to fight a couple times a year anyway, so big deal, the suspension fits right into my plan anyways.
The best way to truly stop people is to cut them right away if they test positive. Then it’s a huge risk and a fighter will really have to think twice about using PEDs, marijuana, testosterone if they’re going to lose their way to take care of their family.
But right now it’s a double standard. It seems if you’re a marquee guy, the UFC will turn a blind eye. As long as a fighter accepts guilt, they’ll give him a big fight. But a guy that’s not important to the organization gets released.
Also, why does a guy like Alex Caceres get drug rehab, but Matt Riddle doesn’t? If it’s because Riddle is a boring fighter, then just cut him for that. Don’t wait until he tests positive and then cut him and say it was because of that.
Now we have the second show for the World Series of Fighting on Saturday. I love that Anthony Johnson has made a 55-pound jump!
As for his opponent, I’m a firm believer that Andrei Arlovski is done as a fighter. We could have had this same conversation two years ago. He’s been knocked out so many times with glancing blows.
He’s almost like Nick Diaz, every time he’s had a loss, it’s always been his camp’s fault. Last time it was because he spent too much time boxing at Freddie Roach’s. This time he said he had his whole camp at Greg Jackson’s and everything’s better. But I really believe his best days are behind him.
Johnson at 225 pounds, I don’t even know what to think of that. Considering where he came from, when he was cutting to 170 pounds, he still looks like a Greek god. it’s not like he got fat, he’s got rippling muscle. I’d like to know how that happens. If he can help me out with how I can gain 10 pounds of muscle in six months. (Actually, Lavar could probably help me out with that, or maybe Alistair could give me some of his horse meat.)
Other noteworthy fights on the card are Paulo Filho vs. Dave Branch and Josh Burkman vs. Aaron Simpson.
I would say that Filho is in a different league than Branch, but do you ever really know until the bell rings if he’ll show up and fight? That guy’s crazier than crazy.
Burkman vs. Simpson sounds like an entertaining fight but what’s scary about that is I didn’t even know Aaron got released from the UFC. I always thought he had some good fights in the UFC. I think Simpson has the edge because he’s had more fights recently at the higher levels than Burkman.
I don’t really know the other guys on the card. Overall, the WSOF is signing some good talent (also Jon Fitch, Jacob Volkmann, John Gunderson, Dan Lauzon) they just have to match them up well.