UFC Stacked Sucked, Reactions and Revulsions

Anderson Silva did it yet again, needing only 1 round to TKO #1 contender Nate Marquardt. "The Great" took Silva to the ground early and began to work, only to be stood up very prematurely. We had just watched Sean Sherk lay on Hermes Franca for 25 minutes, and Nate was barely given 15 seconds to work on the floor. Am I saying the UFC had motive here, hell yes! Not only was the PPV running behind schedule, and the Arco Arena crowd had boo'd non-stop through the Sherk/Franca fight, and ref John McCarthy refereed the final 3 fights on the card, which hasn't happened since he was the only ref for the UFC. So moving back to the action, Nate got clinch on "Spider" from behind but Silva did an absolutely beautiful transition around Nate's back and took him down in one motion. It was classic and from there, Silva did his thing and reigned down the blows turtling Nate up and causing the stoppage. Silva looked great again and Rich Franklin sat in the crowd awaiting his turn next.

The aforementioned Sherk/Franca fight did go the distance with Sean Sherk winning all the rounds on 2 cards and 4 on the final one. It was a dominating performance like we have rarely seen! Sherk came charging in and ate a brutal knee from Hermes Franca and still drove the challenger into the cage, though they landed with Sean in the guillotine. The hold was very tight, but that thick neck of Sean didn't give and the champ got out. From there, Sean moved in and out of the guard, passing to full mount, side control, and anywhere he wanted as if he was dancing. Now repeat for 4 rounds. Sean comes out, eats a knee (seriously he ate the same knee the same way 4 times) takes Franca down, does whatever he wants and wins rounds. The end. I know the crowd boo'd the ground game which is wrong. What Sean did transitioning where he pleased whenever he wanted was simply amazing. The only problem I had with Sherk, was when in position on Franca, he just refused to poise up and land any strikes that would actually have a chance at ending the fight. He dropped elbows here and there, and kept busy, but his punches were always in close range and never did any sort of damage. Its the difference between a fighter trying to win a round, or trying to end a fight. Sean's game was most impressive in how easily he dominated a ju jitsu blackbelt on the floor. I just wish he would not be so cautious, especially when he is just owning the fight.

Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans took their fight to a draw in a lackluster affair. Tito came out early taking Evans down, and doing absolutely nothing with it like he always does. In the 2nd, Evans still looked nervous and Tito would take him down, and he would get up. Toward the end of the round Rashad seemed to get comfortable and landed some good strikes and had Tito taken down, until Ortiz grabbed the fence for the 3rd time in the round. The ref warned him repeatedly and finally took a point. In the 3rd, Tito looked very gassed, but the still tentative Evans did just enough with timid striking and a last minute takedown to win the round and cause the draw. The fight was as lame as both of these guys tend to be, and the only interesting notes came when the two trash talked each other in the post fight press conference. Rashad/Tito 2 is coming soon.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeated Heath Herring for the 3rd time, though it was an entertaining fight. Heath was getting dominated as always in the 1st, when he landed an awkward kick to Big Nog's chin that sent him to the floor. Rocked like I have never seen, Nog took a few more shots from the attacking Herring, and literally seconds from stopping the fight with strikes, Heath stood up inviting Antonio back to the feet! Nog could barely stand up and the time ran out as everyone was wondering what the fuck Herring was thinking? He had the fight won. Even if he had stayed on the ground landing punches to Nogs arms it was about to be over! The 2nd starts and Rodrigo is still wobbly. Of course Heath rushed in to finish the job, oh wait, he sat there and let 90 seconds run off the clock allowing Nog to get his wits back. Not to completely bag on Herring, he did show a lot of heart got out of some tough spots on his way to a bloody loss. It has to be viewed as a horrible lapse of reason for Heath and a lackluster debut for Big Nog.

Kenny Florian did it again and looked impressive, and in his best shape ever en route to a sub win via strikes over Robinson.

Stephan Bonnar returned from his suspension to easily stop Mike Nickels (why is he employed with the UFC?) in the 1st round with the rear naked choke.

Jorge Gurgel survived a war with Diego Saraiva to get the close decision win.

Chris Lytle looked very impressive with his submission win and dominance of Jason Gillam.

Frankie Edgar got his 2nd win in the UFC with an early stoppage win over Mark Bocek. It wasn't Frank's fault and I think he was going to win anyway, but the ref did stop it a little soon as Mark rolled out of trouble only to see the ref waiving the fight off.

The Sherk lay-fest didn't make this card suck. The Tito/Evans yawnfest didn't make this card suck. What made this card suck, was that the last fight of the evening was Florian's bout, and when it ended there was 25 minutes left until 12:00am when the show was to end. Instead of showing us any (they didn't fucking show any) of the prelim fights, we got an extra long "inside look" for the new movie "Chuck & Larry", and then the PPV went off the air 12minutes early!! What the fuck? Not to mention that bullshit, the UFC had mismanaged their time so badly this evening, that Marquardt was stood up waaay too early (especially given how much Tito & Sean were allowed lay on the mat without action) which I believe led to his defeat, and Kenny Florian and Alvin Robinson were were rushed to the octagon with little fanfare after they had been "warming up" from 6:00pm and told 3 times by management they were on next, only to be put on hold again and again. Disrespectful to their fighters, and disrespectful to their fans.

Bonnar's win took 2:14 while Lytle's win took 2:15 and both could've been shown in their entirety on the PPV. The UFC really showed me that they are making so much money, they can do whatever the fuck they want and screw the fans. This so called "Stacked" card which Dana White said was the best MMA card of all time, turned out to be average at best, and to top it all off, some guy in the smoking area of the Arco Arena went to jump a guardrail not realizing it was a 30foot drop, and fell to his death. Wonderful evening, please enjoy the buffet.