119 is in the books and will be considered a mediocre event held Sept 25Th from the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. This event, while having no title fight, was supposed to be considered high octane for the potential explosiveness of the fighters on the card. However, as President Dana White admitted early that a few of the bouts did not live up to their hype. The prime example of this was Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens which I did not see because I was in Auburn, AL watching the AU Tigers beat the SC Gamecocks. From what I can tell I didn’t miss anything as this bout was considered to be the most boring of the night. The following fights besides the main event were much more promising.
Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk:This bout was probably the most entertaining of the whole night. Evan Dunham is a young kid who I consider a phenom in the sport. He came into this bout undefeated, 11-0 MMA and 5-0 UFC. He has got striking and a very strong ground game. Sean Sherk proved to be a formidable opponent being a former lightweight champion and a seasoned veteran of the UFC. Sherk won the split decision in this fight because of his wrestling and power. In the first two rounds we saw Sherk control Evan and pin him on the ground and use some vicious Ground n Pound to open him up. The truth is it I still believe Evan won the fight. He showed his youth and a warrior heart. He had clearly not faced anyone as strong and powerful as Sherk at 155 but he almost submitted him several times. He showed superior footwork and head movement standing up, and destroyed Sherk during the 3rd round when he wasn’t able to take him down. During the third round he dropped the “Shark” more tha once with striaght jabs and uppercuts. This bout proved once again that the judging in the sport still has a long way to come. I would have given the 3rd round to Evan by three points and by one point in the second. Sean had the first round by one point. Sean the Shark is a long time veteran of the sport and seems to be a great guy as well, but he should not have one this fight. I look forward to seeing the effect the loss will have on Dunham and I expect him to come back even stronger next time. I definitely see him racking up more wins in the UFC and could potentially be a title contender as early as next year. I would like to see him in some catch weight bouts at welterweight with John Hathaway or perhaps Carlos Condit. I can see him facing Roray Macdonald for a good bout. More realistically at lightweight I would like to see him fight Sam Stout
Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra:
This bout of two long-time UFC veterans seemed more reminiscent of two old friends having a sparring session in front of a bunch of people. While a lot of fans are saying this fight lived up to its hype, it’s really just because it was refreshing to see a stand-up battle like this. Lytle just seemed to be getting the better of the exchanges. Hence, fifteen minutes later a decision win.
Frank Mir vs. Mirko Crocop:
I really don’t know what to say other than this fight was really boring. I was waiting for some friends to join me at Buffalo Wild Wings while I was watching this fight and I basically just stopped watching it when they got there it was so boring. It was only after the fact when I saw the replay of Mir’s knee coming up to finish Crocop with a knockout. I really expected more from Frank Mir. I’ve always said if Brock Lesnar wasn’t just a bohemoth of a homosapian that Mir would undoubtably be the Heavyweight champion right now despite his loss to Shane Carwin, but after this fight though I still hae my doubts.
In conlusion, This is a sport that involves some sort of patienece and he can’t buy into the hype machine that is the UFC. Zuffa does a good job of promoting these fights and in a lot of ways they live up their hype a lot of times but we have to accept them for what they are and when you have guys fighting for a paycheck you can’t expect them to just run and do something stupid. That being said, the fighters need to remember why they are there. to be exciting is part of the job. We have seen what the need for ratings has done to professional wrestling. We don’t need that in MMA. Fortunately UFC 120 is right around the corner on OCT 6th. This isn’t a bad card but is being sold similarly as 119. We will see.
