I was teaching another CrossFit seminar last week in San Jose, California, where they’re having unseasonably warm weather.
It was 75 F (24 C) during the day. I got home here in Red Deer at 1 a.m. on Sunday night and it was -40 C. It was definitely not a very nice welcome home.
That being said, I totally missed UFC 142. I couldn’t find anywhere to watch it, not to mention I was teaching until almost 7 p.m. local time and by the time I got back to the hotel, we were already into the third fight on the main card.
I read about them all and it sounds like my boy Sam Stout lost a close decision. Every time it’s close, you can’t say it was a bad call, because it could go either way.
Of course I was following the whole Anthony Johnson fiasco the whole week. I was reading about it in the days leading up to the event. Johnson was making it sound like there was some underlying issue.
But the big underlying issue is he just can’t make weight. At 170 pounds, he was too big to make 170. He decided to move up to 185 and completely let himself go.
He must have been thinking, "I’ll make it no problem."
The fact that he made within one or two pounds is neither here nor there. He couldn’t make the weight. There’s a big difference between being 186 and 188. That last two pounds is a lot of torture on your body. You still have a long ways to go when you’re dehydrated and been cutting weight hard. If you’ve got half a pound to go, you’re close. Two pounds is not close.
In my opinion, he deserves what happened to him. He was fighting in the co-main event, against a Brazilian superstar in Brazil, and he almost blew that. It would have been a huge loss to the card had he not been able to fight.
Bottom line, when you sign a contract to fight at a certain weight, you need to make that weight. That’s the end of the story right there.
And then in the end, Vitor Belfort choked him out. I’m sure the weight cut led to some fatigue and also a lack of focus, with that being a distraction in the days leading up to the fight. But as a pro athlete, that’s your job. It’s part of your job as a contracted fighter to make weight and deal with it.
In the main event, Chad Mendes said going into the fight he was going to put Jose Aldo on his back like Mark Hominick did in the final round and beat him up. He wasn’t able to do that at all and in the process he sustained a lot of damage, took a big knee and it ended the fight.
I believe Aldo is going to be the Anderson Silva of the featherweight class. As badly as the UFC wanted Urijah Faber to beat him, he wasn’t able to do it. They gave him a bad-ass striker in Hominick, and he wasn’t able to do it either. They gave him another wrestler in Mendes, and he was unable to do it. He could be the champ for a while.
I’m not sure moving Aldo to lightweight accomplishes anything. If he ends up fighting Frankie Edgar, you’d have two very popular guys where one has to lose, so you’re going to lose one of your popular champions. I don’t think the answer to a guy owning a division is to move him up or down to fight other people, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot.
The big announcement of the week was Michael Bisping stepping in to fight Chael Sonnen. This is a good opportunity for Bisping to step up and possibly get a title shot. It’s a good fight for him, and a great one for the UFC to build.
Bisping’s a big talker, but Sonnen takes it to a whole new level. Sonnen is just a better fighter and I believe he’s going to beat Bisping. Sonnen will take him down and maul him on the ground.
Bisping’s got great takedown defence, but I don’t think it will be enough to keep Sonnen from eventually taking him down and I don’t think Bisping will be able to submit him like Silva and Demian Maia did.
Another thing with Bisping is he can talk smack, but he doesn’t like when someone talks smack about him, like we saw against Jorge Rivera. He gets emotionally into it and it riles him up. He definitely has thick skin, and you know Sonnen is going to tear him up verbally leading into this fight over the next week.
Heading off to Mexico with family next week so I’ll miss the blog again, but here’s my second pick for the UFC on FOX show:
Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis
I’m going to go with Rashad. I think he’s just going to be faster and put Davis on his back. It’s the same old thing with Rashad; he transitions very well from punching to takedowns and once he gets you down he’s good at keeping you there.
Of course, before we get to next week’s show, here are a couple quick picks for Friday’s UFC on FX event:
Main event: Melvin Guillard vs. Jim Miller
I believe Miller will win. I think he’s underrated in that lightweight division. Many people overlook him, but I think he’ll get past Guillard by decision or submission.
Duane Ludwig vs. Josh Neer
I think this is going to be a fun fight to watch. I’m going to go with Neer to put this on the ground because he’s taken punches standing and he’ll submit Ludwig.