Man on the Ground: UFC 166

(Welcome to another installment of Man on the Ground, reports from people who were there live to see the action firsthand.)

• That’s an actual photo from inside the cage in the center of the ring. Blood was EVERYWHERE and that’s after they wiped down and cleaned the cage after the prelims.
• The Toyota Center has THE nicest big screen I’ve ever seen. It’s not your standard drop-down square, cube-y JumboTron like other arenas, it was a MASSIVE widescreen, crystal-clear. It became a challenge to actually watch the action in the cage because the screen was so mesmerizing.
• The UFC needs something desperately to fill the time between fights. I’ve been to hundreds of sporting events and while, yes, some are corny, there are ALWAYS things going on during breaks in action. Not only that, but UFC owns video libraries of many organization. Roy Nelson was IFL Heavyweight Champion, why not show one of his fights while you’re waiting for his fight to start? Maybe Melendez in Pride? One of Diego’s early fights? How about a quick five-minute “Ten Questions With the Champ” where we get to know some of the fighters a little better? Or maybe UFC trivia, where you text (courtesy of Metro PCS) an answer to a trivia question and be entered to win a prize? Just saying, 25 minutes of Rock-Techno remixes is freaking awful and sapping.
• Houston is a fantastic city to visit. I had never been to Texas, as I’m a total Yank, but it’s not what you expect out of Texas. The best times I had in Houston were at a hockey bar that surprisingly featured A+ karaoke, (black guys singing Rob Zombie and Alice in Chains amazingly? Check. A redhead nailing every single Rhianna inflection? Nailed. Frat bros banging on tambourines unironically and in-time? You got it), an Indian-infused pizza joint, and a German beer hall with 200+ beers amongst other places. Seriously, Houston is a blast. Only two fights in the stands. One was your typical pushing and shoving, but the other was not only intense, featuring one guy knocking the other over two rows, but good lord, the ref in the Amagov fight was The Flash compared to security getting there. The entire Toyota Center was standing section-by-section to see what was happening, and only after EVERY SINGLE SECTION IN THE TOYOTA CENTER was standing and watching, did security meander their way down. Thank god nobody meant any real harm, otherwise, he might have had time to take out all 18,000 of us.
• I could make this an entire article, but the UFC disgusted me in their handling of TJ Waldburger. I was on the floor, mere feet away from the fight when Waldburger was KO’d by Adlan Amagov. From the time that the fight was ended until the time Waldburger, the Texas native who got a massive pop on his entrance, was carried out on a stretcher, it was easily 20+-minutes. In that time, and the entire time thereafter, not one announcement was made about Waldburger’s condition or how he was. Ok, I figured, there weren’t any announcements during the live show, but surely there would be somebody updating on the PPV broadcast, only to find out that NOBODY EVEN KNEW IT WAS SERIOUS! Holy shit, are you kidding me?? We watched from fifteen-feet away as Waldburger was motionless and a stretcher was brought out, and no mention of anything? That made me honestly and truly sick. The fact that I saw TJ’s family running by me to get backstage to him made it all the more troubling. TJ, Adlan, and every other fighter that night knew what could happen when they stepped in the cage, but jesus, UFC, we care about these guys, maybe let us know that what we saw of a motionless TJ Waldburger wasn’t the last we’d ever see of him? Ugh.
• Biggest pop of the night: Diego knocking down Melendez in the third.
• Biggest boo of the night: The replay of Dollaway’s second eye-poke on Boetsch.
• The UFC Tailgate is actually worthwhile. Beers are cheaper there than in the arena, Josh Thomson and Anthony Pettis were signing and taking pictures, the merch tent had t-shirts for every fighter you could imagine.
• Speaking of which, in case you think UFC t-shirts don’t sell, holy bocce balls, literally hundreds of Cain Affliction shirts, and that’s just what I saw, it might be in the thousands, and there were about a dozen Cain bandits (bandana over the mouth) that I saw.
• The “Cigano” chants took everyone by surprise. Josh and I looked at each other like we were watching Goldberg score the game-winning goal in D3: “Goldberg?? GOLDBERG!!” It was literally like that and it happened a few times. No idea where the pocket of JDS support came from, but it was awesome.
• That being said, I was a loud-and-proud JDS-supporter the entire evening and fully expected a shiv in my side the entire evening. Luckily, everyone was rather pleasent.
• I don’t know what’s sadder, the fact that the Toyota Center was charging ten dollars for a Bud Light or the fact that OUR SECTION RAN OUT OF IT. Ugh, we are such marks.
• I am not kidding in the least, this is what I heard from the two girls behind me IN THE FOURTH ROUND OF THE MAIN EVENT, “Who is Velasquez, and who is dos Santos??”
• As far as the crowd goes, when the first prelim happened, the crowd was probably 20-25% full and they were very loud. When it comes to undercard fights, Houston definitely brought it. By the time the Fox Sports 1 prelims ended, the Toyota Center was 85% full and was loud as hell.
• Pennsylvania would be a better crowd. GET THE UFC BACK TO PA!