If you have watched enough UFCs, you know that not every one is going to be a barn burner.

The main fights this weekend were one of those nights.

Everyone fought hard, Chael Sonnen ran his mouth, and Sugar Rashad grinded out Mr. Wonderful.

All three fights went to the judges, nobody ever really looked in danger, and the fights were pretty predictable. (Accept for Damien Maeia looking attrocious)

That’s ok. Like I said, it happens, and as a fan I still enjoyed it. But I am a hardcore fan. What I did NOT ENJOY was the structure that FOX had. Yes, I know, FOX is an amazing accomplishment for mixed martial arts and I should treat FOX like the golden goose. I get it. But somebody’s gotta say it.

Three hours for three fights?

I realize they all went the distance, plus you need time for entrances and commercials but THREE HOURS? What is this…..boxing? It was absolutely painful watching Randy Couture, Jon Jones, and Curt Menafee do pre-fight commentary. I would rather have had the two old guys from the muppets. Menafee knew nothing about the sport, Randy’s tie was choking him out, and Jon Jones was spinning around in his chair like my four year old son. Wheeeeeeeeeee! The dude couldn’t remember even one of his notes. He had his eyes glued to the paper like he had never spoken on camera before. His best comment was “I agree.”

Jon….seriously?

Don’t even get me started on the cartoon robots they borrowed from the NFL. I think I even heard the NFL music playing in the background.

All in all……

Too long .

Too hypey.

Too much FOX.

Attention FOX execs. I know you are “gods” but let Dana and the boys have the reigns. They built the UFC to a billion dollar status a lot faster than anyone thought they could. UFC fans are particular. They know what they want. Dana knows what they want. You guys do not know what they want. Trust me.

Dana…..please don’t shoot me for needling the golden goose.

Leave a comment if you agree.

Aaron Parkinson

I hope they re-enforced the octagon for tonight’s heavyweight tilt. If not, we could have two goliaths and a few cage panels in the third row. 

Tonight should be one of the biggest pay-per-view battles we have seen in a long time. Whenever Brock is on the card you get all of the UFC faithful PLUS all of the WWE fans tuning in at the same time. That’s probably why Lesnar ends up taking home about 50% of all the money allocated for fighters. He’s the show. Period.

Alistair Overeem has a pretty big fan base himself. He brings with him all the Dutch marital arts fans, the Pride fans,  and the K1 fans. Not too shabby.

So who’s gonna win this battle of the beasts?

Well, it’s a coin toss if there ever was one.

It will all come down to one thing. The takedown.

Can Lesnar take down Overeem? Can he hold him down when he gets him to the mat? If he can, then he probably wins. He lays brutal ground and pound. Just ask Frank Mir. He’s taken down FAR better grapplers than Overeem. The list includes: Valasquez, Carwin, Herring, and even the legendary Couture. Theoretically, he should be able to take down Overeem.

But……and it’s a nasty but…..

If he doesn’t take down Overeem he will get SMASHED. It will be a quick, ugly, smashing. The kind of smashing that makes professionals look like amateurs. The kind of smashing that makes people who have aspirations of fighting quit the sport on the spot. The Reem has devastating strikes. Lesnar is not even in the same stratosphere as this guy. Heck, no one is. He won the K1. That means you are the best striker ON THE PLANET.

So…..again….who’s going to win? It’s so thin I have to look at a different variable.

The variable I am going to look at is UFC debuts.

This is Overeem first fight in the UFC and what we know is this: that never bodes well. I don’t know why that is. Maybe nerves, maybe adrenaline dumps, maybe the cage feels different. Who knows? What we do know is that fighters who come over from other orgganizations RARELY win their first fight.

Like I said…..it’s thin….but it’s all I got. Take Lesnar by ref stoppage in the first.

Aaron Parkinson

If you watched the complete demolition of Quentin Rampage Jackson this last weekend then you saw something very special. Nevermind the weird “all fours” style that Jon started the fight with, the rest of it was simply breathtaking.

As a guy who has sparred with Rampage and felt his power, I can tell you it’s not fun. Jon didn’t really have to find out, as he leg kicked, spinning elbowed, and embarrassed Rampage in their championship fight.

Even the end of the fight was an anomaly. Rampage looked like he gave up as Jones put him in a rear naked chokehold. He literally lifted his head and waited the proverbial “couple of seconds” and tapped out. No fighting, no scrambling, no passing out because he was too stubborn to tap. Nothing you would expect from Rampage. He honestly looked like he wanted nothing to do with Jones because he was that badly outmatched.

The crazy thing is that Jones hasn’t even been tested yet. He has never had to scramble. He has never had his chin rocked. He hasn’t even looked fatigued. It’s downright scary. He is a man among boys.

So where does he go from here?

To properly try and figure that out you have to look to other people to compare him to. The only close resemblance is Anderson Silva. Anderson finishes more fights than Jones but Jones is still learning. They are both eerily similar in how they dominate and, yes I will use the word, “intimidate” their opponents.

Anderson’s toughest match was when he ran into Chael Sonnen. Sonnen put Silva on his back and beat him up for four and a half rounds.  That’s probably the nest strategy to employ with Jones. Sadly, Jones is a much better wrestler than Silva, so I am not sure how that’s going to happen. As of now there is no one in the same league as Jones. Yes, Rashad Evans is lurking in the shadows but no one is buying the Rashad hype.

Unless a lucky punch is thrown from the heavens, you can guarantee that Jones is the champ for the next five years. He’s just that good. But there’s always a puncher’s chance.

Aaron Parkinson