Tyson Griffin vs Marcus Aurelio: Griffin delivered his signature performance, a solid showing without being able to finish the the durable Aurelio. He shouldn't worry about not getting a knockout or submission, he's exciting enough. Aurelio looked pretty rough, and might be in the twilight of his career at 34. That win over Gomi is fading out faster than ever.
Chris Lytle vs Josh Koscheck: Mr. Kos, the guy everyone loves to hate, went back to the wrestling well and prevented Lytle from doing anything in addition to opening a huge cut that had both fighters and the octagon covered in blood. Despite a recent KO of Dustin Hazelett, Koscheck probably stood little chance of stopping Lytle, so smart plan equals boring fight.
Joe Stevenson vs Gleison Tibau: Nice guillotine in the second is all I remember. Stevenson is the choke king of the UFC.
Patrick Cote vs Ricardo Almeida: This turned monotonous after the first round, which had Almeida looking dominant on the ground as expected. After that he couldn't get a takedown, and Cote kept him at bay with just enough aggression to get the split decision. Neither of these guys looked like anything more than cannon fodder for Anderson Silva, should he stay and defend at middleweight. Let's hope Yushin Okami gets in there first.
Forrest Griffin vs Quinton Jackson: Nothing like a good fight ending with some controversy.
Lambo's Armchair Scorecard
Round 1: Jackson 10-9. The uppercut that almost finished it give this one to Rampage.
Round 2: Griffin 10-8. Here's a good example of why the judging system needs clarification. The leg kick seriously hurt Jackson, enough to where he basically got laid on the entire round and did nothing but somewhat defend himself. Griffin certainly was in complete control the whole time but did very little damage. Since it was effectively domination for close to five minutes, I think 10-8 is appropriate. I'm sure many other people disagree, and I wish there was more of a consensus on these things, even though I'm no judge. I will say, out of the all the fights I've seen, this was the only one where I instantly thought it would be 10-8.
Round 3: Jackson 10-9. Now here's where a personal belief comes in. Maybe this comes from me previously being a boxing fan, but I think that if there is a real close round the champ gets it. The challenger has got to get in there and show he is definitively better. I don't think Griffin showed that, so I score it for Jackson. Griffin was landing more, but Jackson was landing harder. Tough to call.
Round 4: Jackson 10-9. Another close round. Griffin certainly scores for a good triangle attempt, but Jackson had him defending the rest of the time, even though he didn't do that much damage. While not as close as the third round, I return to my champ philosophy again and go with Jackson.
Round 5: Griffin 10-9. I think this was clearly Forrest's round. He finished strong and threw aggressively as he had been while Jackson didn't do enough to really make up for it.
My final score is 47-47, the good ol' draw.
Alas, that's not how it turned out. Griffin got the unanimous decision and the light heavyweight belt, along with a chorus of boos from the crowd, which took me by surprise. I figured he would be who the majority were rooting for? I also don't get the hate for Griffin, who I see as a fighter who uses his drive and tenacity to make up for the skills and experience he may lack. I was pulling for Rampage, but the fight was close and decisions can go every which way, so I don't think he was robbed. Interesting to see if there will be an immediate rematch. I kind of doubt it, as there are so many interesting matchups at 205 that possibly putting Rampage in an eliminator against someone else while having Griffin defend once might set up the rematch (if things worked out) more effectively. But that's just my opinion, and I'm as much of a match maker as I am a judge.
Other notes: If not for the great main event, Jorge Gurgel vs Cole Miller would've been fight of the night. While neither are looking like title contenders at this point, they matched up well, putting on a standup show, with Gurgel getting the better of the exchanges, until he got sloppy late and got caught in a triangle. He held on for quite some time, but tapped with only eighteen seconds left in the third round. Good fight and great finish by Miller. Also, Gabriel Gonzaga got back on track with a first round submission over the outclassed Justin McCully. Gonzaga is one of the few legitimate contenders in the UFC's heavyweight crop, but they're running out of guys to match him against. Possibly Cheick Kongo if he wins next month?
Other notes: If not for the great main event, Jorge Gurgel vs Cole Miller would've been fight of the night. While neither are looking like title contenders at this point, they matched up well, putting on a standup show, with Gurgel getting the better of the exchanges, until he got sloppy late and got caught in a triangle. He held on for quite some time, but tapped with only eighteen seconds left in the third round. Good fight and great finish by Miller. Also, Gabriel Gonzaga got back on track with a first round submission over the outclassed Justin McCully. Gonzaga is one of the few legitimate contenders in the UFC's heavyweight crop, but they're running out of guys to match him against. Possibly Cheick Kongo if he wins next month?
3 comments:
Hope you don't mind, but I posted your breakdown on mmaplayground. The message board on there dies out too quickly for my taste, so I wanted to get some more opinions of the fight on there. The fight was so close it's hard to argue strongly for one guy or the other, but I'm not a fan of the "If it's close, give it to the champ" mentality. If you can't pick a clear winner of a round, it's supposed to be 10-10, and I think that should be followed even when a strap is involved. If it's a draw after five rounds, then the champ get's the nod, by keeping his belt.
I don't mind, and I agree about the message board dying out too quick, as it seems everyone there is smart and respectful. I would rather talk to a brick wall than go on a major website forum. As to the scoring philosophy, the 10-10 round is a good point. It seems no one ever scores those though.
I read an article on judging in FIGHT! magazine recently, and it stated that 10-10 rounds are "frowned upon" by the athletic comission, which is probably why no one ever scores them that way, even when they are warrented. I think the whole 10-point must system needs to be done away with and a new system needs to be implemented that fits MMA better. It'll probably never happen, of course.
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