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Top 6: Things we learned from UFC 134: Rio by Joe Maurits August 29, 2011 1. It's a good recipe for success to be Brazilian fighting in Brazil: 12 fights made up the total fight card of UFC 134. Each of those cards featured at least 1 Brazilian fighter. All but one of those fights was won by a Brazilian. The lone exception: Luiz Cane's 1st Round TKO at the hands of Stanislov Nedkov. That's gotta be a tough pill to swallow; having the distinction of being responsible for the one point of the night the home crowd went silent. But, it was a big night for MMA, Brazil and the UFC. Dana White was quoted as saying that in 10 years, this was the loudest crowd he ever experienced. And so what if they said "You're going to die" to every non-Brazilian fighter there; it was their home turf and their night to shine. At the ended of the day it's still the ol' Red, White and Blue flying over the moon instead of the blue... green and... um... yellow? 2. It ain't over till Uncle Herb says so: Seriously, what was Rousimar Palharas thinking? Granted, it was loud, but as he's on top of Dan Miller raining down punches, with an easy route to a TKO, he stops and hops the cage? I'll admit, it was entertaining but... there's still a fight going on. Later in an interview, Palharas says he saw Herb Dean touch him and say "stop, stop, stop," which is pretty easy to investigate. Going back to watch the fight, Dean definitely steps in, but he doesn't touch Palharas, nor do his lips move; but maybe he's a ventriloquist. I guess even a Ref needs a day job. But really, Palharas needs to pay attention; this is the same guy that lost to Nate Marquardt because he thought he could call "Time Out" during their main event fight in September last year. 3. When Anderson Silva offers up his face, maybe give it a punch or two: I've tried to conceptualize just what it is about Anderson Silva that makes him such a great fighter; and, there are lots of theories with that. But I think at this point in his career, one of the biggest advantages he has is not that he's invincible, but that he seems invincible. He seems... scary. Looking at Okami right before the fight, it was tough to figure out if he was intense or just didn't want to be in the octagon. By the 2nd round, it definitely seemed to be the latter. In a stunning display of arrogance and confidence (or maybe strategy and brilliance), Anderson drops his fists to his waist and offers his face up for Okami's fists like a "whack-a-mole" stuck in the up position. Okami didn't take the bait. Now, I could postulate that Silva would just have dodged and delivered some punches of his own, but hey, at least Okami would have landed a punch rather than the stare down followed by a knockdown. He ain't going to punch himself, folks. 4. Minotauro stil has some surprises left: I admit, I was one of the first ones to say that Schaub just posed too much of a threat to Nogueira and it would be a quick fight. Well, I got one part of that right. It was quick; but it ended up being the young, aggressive and hungry Schaub getting helped back to his corner. And good for Big Nog; this was a time I was perfectly happy to be wrong. After his crushing defeat at the hands of Cain Velasquez last year, even Dana White admitted that had Nogueira been dismantled by Schaub, he would have had "the talk" with him. But, Minotauro deserves some credit for the quick and decisive win. 5. Run Forrest, Run!! : Okay, bad joke; but I really don't think Forrest Griffin was there for the fight to begin with. I watched interviews with him this past week, and in every one he just seemed like he hated Brazil, hated fighting and really didn't want to be doing what he was doing. There was really no fire in him for this one; it showed before the fight, and it definitely showed during. Griffin is an entertaining guy, and an awesome fighter to watch, but I don't think consciousness was the only thing he lost at that fight in Rio, I think he lost his last shot at contendership for the LHW strap. I could be wrong, but with a division as stacked as the LHW one is, time will tell. 6. Is the Middleweight Division weak, or does it just look weak compared to the Champ?: That's a very good question and I'm sort of on the fence about it. Look, I'm not trying to take anything away from The Spider because truly, he is to other fighters what Bruce Banner is to purple pants. I just really want to know. He's fought some bona fide contenders (Franklin, Henderson, Sonnen) and then, he's also fought some guys that seemed to get their title shot by being the last guy in the locker room to raise their hand when Dana asked "Who doesn’t want to fight Anderson Silva?" (Maia, Leites, Cote) Really, I think the only way this question will get answered is if Silva goes to another division, or at least we get a superfight. Do to GSP or Jon Jones what he did to Okami in Rio; and I think I'll have my answer. |