A fortnight on from what was undoubtedly a groundbreaking event for MMA as a sport, I thought it appropriate to revisit and analyse UFC 129 from a slightly different perspective to that which was presented during the euphoria of the immediate aftermath.
1. WOW is all that needs to be said regarding the landmark event itself; if Brock Lesnar was judging the event on his TUF 13 poultry-based scale of chicken salad-chicken sh*t, this was definitely a large bowl of Chicken Caesar salad, consisting of organic free-range chicken, extra croutons and a shed load of dressing.
Dana inadvertently said it best in his vlog when he stated that the Rogers Centre looked “like the Dallas Cowboys stadium on steroids.” Steroids indeed, in the sense that the fans seated at the back of the upper tiers were definitely going home with a nosebleed (though I doubt Dana picked up on the irony of his statement).
Incidentally, how long does everyone think it will be before the UFC surpasses the 70,000 plus attendance record set by PRIDE in Japan?
2. Dana White is a hard man to gratify. In the extensive build-up to Saturday night’s unprecedented festivities, he seemed his customary chirpy self, eagerly anticipating this landmark occasion and busting everyone’s chops in his vlogs.
“Business as usual,” you might say. However, he appeared decidedly uptight at the post-fight presser (perhaps Dana was exhausted and had suffered a post-event adrenaline-dump, or maybe he had not consumed one of his beloved “Pink Berry” yoghurts and his blood sugar levels had crashed. This is all of course, pure conjecture).
This was somewhat baffling, given that he had just witnessed a seminal moment for the enterprise/sport that he has so vigorously nurtured, and very much befitting of the occasion, the event proved a resounding success (aside from the main event ironically, though this didn’t serve to tarnish the overall occasion given the calibre of the preceding fights).
Whatever the source of Dana’s downturn in mood, he will soon rejoice over the event.
3. The bulk of initial reaction to GSP’s performance was inevitably negative (even certain sections of the Ontario faithful were apparently raining down boos during the fight, indicative of the disappointment felt by his adoring Canadian public. I wonder if Wayne Gretzky ever received boos for failing to woo a Canadian crowd, maybe that’s one for Dana White to address given his penchant for comparing the two).
However, fans tend to judge those heralded as P4P greats more critically, harbouring insanely high expectations of the chosen few that ever grace this list or enter into its vicinity. To those that incessantly lambast the Canadian superstar, Dana will undoubtedly respond “if you don’t want to watch him, don’t buy the fu*k1ng PPV.”
What does appear slightly unjust, however, is the lack of sympathy afforded to Georges for the eye injury he sustained during the fight, which effectively rendered him blind out of his left eye.
Unfortunately for Georges, people’s perceptions were formulated by directly contrasting his latent cornea injury with the very prominent protuberance boasted by Mark Hominick.
4. On the one hand, Jose Aldo endured a battle that reminded us that this previously-perceived demigod is actually a mortal homo sapiens after all (akin to the impact of the Sonnen and Bigfoot fights on Anderson and Fedor, respectively).
On the other, it manifestly illustrated that Aldo possesses not only the skills but the heart of a champion, a prerequisite for any martial artist that aspires to acquire and retain the UFC gold strap. His ability to carve out victory in the face of adversity does not bode well for his prospective competitors that face a fully-fit version of “Scarface.”
The sole reservation over Aldo’s tenacious performance would be his apparent tampering with the cut under Hominick’s eye whilst on top position, constituting dirty play reminiscent of the infamous Arona vs Sakuraba incident back in 2005 (was I the only that spotted this? Or was I just hallucinating due to the fact that in England the bout aired at 4 a.m. by which point I was feeling rather deprived of slumber?).
5. Scarface vs Bulgehead (aka Aldo vs Hominick): One analyst commented, “Aldo took home the belt, whilst Hominick took home another head,” whilst another suggested that Hominick wanted to give birth at the same time as his pregnant missus, alluding to the rather sizable swelling that developed on his forehead during the fourth round.
Either way, when his newborn looks back at the baby photos in a decade’s time, she will forever be reminded of her father’s gruesome bulge, and consequently will always remember the name Jose Aldo.
6. Could Steven Seagal be legit?…It’s very easy to be skeptical as to Steven Seagal’s substantive input into the training of top level MMA fighters. It’s fair to say that following Anderson’s front-kick clinic on Vitor Belfort, most questioned whether Seagal had actually contributed to this violent yet highly-technical masterpiece, despite Anderson’s assertion in favour of the pony-tailed assassin.
I decided to conduct a little reconnaissance on the “Under Siege” protagonist, and discovered that he was once classed the highest-ranked Western martial artist in Japan. Sufficient credentials to impress me into attaching credence to Seagal’s proclamations.
Once may be a coincidence, but twice is beginning to seem rather convincing, so Machida’s support of “Master Seagal’s” assertions is beginning to vindicate his influence.
Either Seagal is a lucky charm, or he is paying these UFC luminaries to claim that he is instructing them, maybe with a view to resurrecting his acting career (just a conspiracy theory).
7. Despite Dana’s concerted efforts to convince us otherwise throughout the week leading up to the fight, Randy Couture was not a top ten LHW before the Machida fight. The basis for Dana’s claim was most tenuous.
Granted, he was riding a three-fight winning streak, but the calibre of adversary has to be taken into consideration; a one-dimensional, uneducated martial artist (though I use the term loosely) in James Toney, an aging (over-the-hill) Mark Coleman, and the perennial underachiever in Brandon Vera (unintentional rhyme).
Couture himself labelled the former two as “novelty” fights, whilst the general consensus was that he lost unanimously to Vera. This is not to detract from the legend that is Couture, but just to regain some sense of perspective on Dana’s tendency to overhype certain fighters.
8. Canadian MMA appears to be in pretty decent shape, attested to by the fact that the Canadians prevailed in six out of the 10 bouts in which they were involved, a significant improvement from the last time Canadians were pitted against their US counterparts at UFC 58 (only won three out of eight on that specific evening).
All the Tristar Canadians boasted aesthetically-pleasing stand-up skills, including a spinning back-fist KO and my personal favourite of MacDonald tossing around Diaz like the proverbial pancake.
9. Whilst nobody was blatantly robbed of a decision on Saturday evening, the inaugural provision of cage-side screens for the judges didn’t necessarily seem to enhance their capacity for scoring fights. The two scores of 48-47 in the main event were questionable.
The issue with judging was never that the arbiters had restricted vision, but rather that they are not adequately educated in the sport of MMA in order to be accurately scoring fights. And besides, judging will forever be subjective, screens or no screens.
10. As an aside, kudos to Britain’s principal MMA journalistic representative, Gareth A Davies, who was sat cage-side to witness the action unfold.
Gareth is becoming a prominent fixture and increasingly recognisable face at UFC events, which can only serve to be beneficial for British MMA (yes I’m British, which I’m sure most of you discerned from my spelling and slight patriotic bias).
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