Contributor: Daniel Galvan
Right now, my stomach hurts from devouring fifty six Buffalo wings (Ed. Note: He did it!) and drinking about ten cups of Diet Pepsi, so the only way to string my thoughts about UFC 157 into a coherent thread is by listing them.
- Even though the headlines will be dominated by Ronda Rousey’s exciting arm-bar victory over Liz Carmouche and the underwhelming Henderson/Machida match-up, my favorite moment of the night was easily the third round of Dennis Bermudez vs Matt Grice. The way Grice was able to sustain Bermudez’s onslaught and still be able to fire back a decent offensive attack was unbelievable. Cutting Matt Grice would absolutely disgust me.
- Speaking of the ominous 100 cuts that are forthcoming, I absolutely detest how it has become the narrative of all the preliminary fights. It irritates the hell out of me when we speculate about whether a fighter will keep their job, especially since fighters sacrifice their time, body, and social relationships to attain that job. The only thing that I find more despicable is whenever people call for a fighter to be fired. Sometimes we forget that we are talking about real humans that have real families that they need to support.
- Strictly from a sporting perspective, Jon Fitch being cut still makes absolutely no sense to me. He is one of the top ten welterweights in the world. Regardless of age or career trajectory, any fighter that is still one of the top competitors in his division should have the opportunity to compete against the best. It’s also a bit ridiculous to write off Jon Fitch. You never know how a fighter will progress or regress later in their career. It’s an unpredictable sport.
- Lyoto Machida was announced as the new number one contender for the Light Heavyweight Championship which means that Michael Bisping will get the next shot at Jon Jones.
- If I could make one fight after this card it would have to be Urijah Faber/Michael McDonald. In order for Faber to not become even more of a running joke, he needs to win one more fight against an elite level opponent before getting another crack at the title.
- Robbie Lawler at welterweight really excites me. He has the ability to end any fight in a split second. Lawler was a nice addition to the UFC roster.
- It’s been hard to watch all of the Team Tompkins guys struggle after Shawn Tompkins’ untimely passing. That’s why I was elated to see Sam Stout get his hand raised last night.
Contributor: Tim Hickey
– Faber is in that weird spot where he is better than everyone outside of the very top of the division. It is hard to figure out what the UFC will do with him at this point. He is still so good that he can kill momentum for other contenders, but not good enough to beat Barao or Cruz.
– What a shittastic job done by the corner of Court McGee. How were they not telling him to continue going back to Josh Neer’s body? Seriously, he almost was finished in the 1st after a couple of big body shots, then Court decided he was just going to let Neer back into the fight while he himself started to gas. Wasn’t as awful a fight as I was expecting.
– Robbie Lawler looks pretty solid at 170. He didn’t look drawn out from the cut, and dribbled Koscheck’s head like a basketball. I wasn’t mad at the stoppage, as Kos’ eyes rolled back after the 2nd or 3rd punch on the ground. I think Kos is in danger of being cut now, as he is no longer a top 10 guy and is making a ton of money.
– Brendan Schaub couldn’t finish Lavar Johnson on the ground. Think about that for a second. Johnson may have the worst ground game in the UFC, and yet he fended off Schaub’s terrible submission attempts. Brendan Schaub is one loss away from finding himself fighting truckers and used car salesmen in the Bellator Heavyweight Tournament.
– Dennis Bermudez and Matt Grice put on a hell of a fight. In the third round I was literally screaming at my TV “FINISH HIM!!!” like a young Shang Tsung. If it had been a street fight, and there was no cage wall, not a chance that Grice didn’t hit the ground and end up with no sneakers or wallet. Early FOTY candidate.
– Michael Chiesa rebounded from a tough first round to capture a fairly nice submission. His striking looked a little jerky, but once he smooths it out, he could be a fairly decent fighter.
– I thought Kenny Robertson was going to rip Brock Jardine’s leg off and beat him with it. Looked super painful.
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