Back to School – What We Learned From UFC 118

Everyone is talking about the homecoming of UFC President Dana White to his hometown of Boston.  But as everyone knows, homecoming isn’t until October/November.  Kids are returning to school in August, so let’s talk about the things that we learned from UFC 118.

Florian vs. Maynard

Kenny Florian is one of the most skilled fighters in not just the UFC but in all of mixed martial arts.  Unfortunately for Florian, in “big” fights he doesn’t seem to show up.  The Kenny Florian that dominated and controlled Clay Guida is not the same Kenny Florian that showed up against Gray Maynard.  This is the third “big” or defining fight for Florian, the others being 2 previous title shots against Sean Sherk and BJ Penn – Florian is 0 for 3 in “big” fights.  So where does this put Florian?  Well, a lot of people are saying that this puts Florian into the commentator’s chair (Florian has been a regular on ESPN’s MMA Live program).  I’m not sure that I totally agree with that assessment – I think Florian has a lot of exciting fights left – the question is whether he’ll ever get another title shot or will he be a “gate-keeper”, and without shot at the title – will he have the drive to stay relevant in a changing and highly competitive weight class.

Gray Maynard on the other hand, once again showed why he is undefeated with a dominating performance.  Maynard displayed all of the physical strengths in his win over Florian.  He dominated and controlled the tempo of the fight and didn’t allow Florian any opportunity to work. 

With Maynard’s win over Florian, the UFC is now faced with a serious marketing dilemma – how do we sell the fight between Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard.  Edgar is a blue collar type fighter who works hard at his craft and Maynard is a typical MMA fighter with a wrestling background, which means his fights are usually boring (Maynard has 1 win by knockout + 9 wins by decision = boring fights (see the math connection?)). 

Staying in the Lightweight division:

Frankie Edgar put on a dominating performance against BJ Penn.  Edgar methodically out worked and beat up BJ one round at a time.  It was a text book performance by Edgar; on his feet Edgar was mobile and active, changing levels and constantly moving and staying away from big shots; then Edgar would take BJ to the mat, the mere fact that he was able to consistently take BJ down showed Edgar’s dominance of the fight, and then getting up before he got into any trouble.  The act of being taken down and then having to get up not only took a toll on BJ physically, it took a toll on BJ’s psyche as well. 

While Edgar should bask in the glow of his victory, there are storm clouds brewing on the horizon.  Edgar does not match up well against Maynard – and that is his next fight.  Edgar and Maynard squared off in April 2008 at UFC Fight Night 13 where Maynard won a unanimous decision.  Edgar is going to need go back to class and draw up a new game plan (see the drafting connection here? Stay with me, I’m going somewhere with this…).

So, Edgar’s management team decides that Edgar is no longer “The Answer” but is better suited for the periodic table of elements (as a refresher for you geniuses out there, you would have learned about the periodic table of elements in a science class like chemistry) since his initials, FE (or Fe) is the symbol on the periodic table of elements for Iron.  They can’t go in the direction of “Ironman” because I’m sure that Marvel Comics, Marvel Entertainment and Paramount Pictures may not be as keen on the idea of Edgar being another Ironman (doesn’t seem to fit the profile of Tony Stark) – most of you guys didn’t even know what the heck Fe was all about anyway (honestly, I forgot too).  Really, Edgar is more of a draftsman/blueprint guy than an academic chemistry guy, don’t you think?  He should go back to being “The Answer” (he’s going to need more answers in his fight against Maynard).

Now moving on to Mr. James Toney – whoever the individual was in Toney’s camp agreed to this fight with Randy Couture deserves an “F” – in fact, they should be thrown out of school! What were they thinking! Oh yeah, they weren’t!  Rashad Evans made the point on ESPN’s MMA Live that there aren’t many experienced MMA fighters who could beat Randy Couture, why would you put an MMA amateur against Randy Couture?  With all of years that Toney and his management team spent in boxing, they couldn’t do a better job of picking an opponent?  When Mirko Cro Cop came into the UFC, his first fight was against Eddie Sanchez; when Quinton Jackson came into the UFC, his first fight was Marvin Eastman; heck, when Cheick Kongo came into the UFC, his first fight was Gilbert Aldana!  You mean to tell me that James Toney’s management couldn’t negotiate fight against an opponent that would set up Toney just a little better – at least one that would be competitive and give Toney a chance?  Toney had no chance in this fight and it was silly for his management to take this as Toney’s first fight in the Octagon.

James Toney was clearly out classed in this fight.  He didn’t get off one offensive move – not one! Toney came in overweight, out of shape and grossly unprepared – and that is bad on James Toney.  Toney didn’t respect the sport or the athletes; he showed that arrogance by weighing in at a bloated 237 lbs.  If he would have had respect for the sport he would have taken his training seriously and come to the fight in shape, but he not only disrespected MMA, he disrespected boxing as well because of his lack of commitment to training.  Dana White said that Toney was one and done – Toney may be hard pressed to get a boxing promoter to pick him up for an undercard fight on another Indian Reservation.

As for Randy, all that can be said is that this was a gift from Dana to show that any hard feelings between the two of them are in the past.  (This would be known as being the teacher’s pet – getting the easy assignments or easy questions to answer in class)

Finally, like him or hate him, watch out for Nate Diaz.  He is the one guy flying under the radar that could, and I said could, legitimately contend for titles in both the lightweight division and the welterweight division.  His size (long and lanky), his striking (not devastating but effective) and especially his jiu jitsu make him a difficult opponent.  I know you think I’ve gone off the deep end here – and believe me when I say that I’m not a Nate Diaz fan, I love to see him lose – but Marcus Davis is a tough welterweight and I know that Diaz has lost to Gray Maynard (split decision), Joe Stevenson (unanimous decision) and Clay Guida (split decision), but remember, Diaz is only 25 years old, and if he doesn’t self-destruct and he continues improving, well, just remember you read it here first.

Ok, we have covered a lot of ground here, so, class dismissed.