Post-fight thoughts on UFC 107
I caught UFC 107 at a sports bar in Phoenix, Arizona. There was a good crowd on hand from the beginning of show. Some people even shared their pizza with me!
The first fight between Stefan Struve and Paul Buentello was almost funny. Struve is a 6’11″ guy from Europe and Paul Buetello is 6’2″ but with a giant pot belly and weighed more that Struve. I thought I was watching one of those freak show matches that PRIDE used to have. Anyway, Buentello was by far the better striker, but Struve’s long arms and height seemed to a major challenge to Buentello. I thought Buentello got the better of Struve with his hands, but Struve started pounding Buentello’s leg with long kicks in the 3rd round and edged out a decision victory. I agreed with the judges.
Kenny Florian looked great against Clay Guida in their fight. I thought at first Guida’s relentless attacking style would overwhelm the slower paced technician Florian. However, Guida looked out of control versus Florian. Florian never let Guida’s style get to him, and used a good combination of fists and kicks and nasty elbows to turn Guida into a bloody mess. I thought Guida looked like Gene Simmons of KISS with a red face instead of black & white make-up after the fight. Good call by the doc not to stop the fight early because Guida’s gash was certianly was not stopping him from fighting.
Jon Fitch got a decision win over Mike Pierce in a fight I kind of got bored with. Pierce showed he can take punishment, but didn’t show much flair for fighting until late in the final round. Fitch was showing a nice combination of striking and wrestling skills, but I think he got bored too of beating up on Pierce and let Pierce get some shots in on him in the final round. What is the UFC going to do with Fitch, he’s got a great record, but not good enough to beat GSP and doesn’t fight other AKA fighters, Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick.
Frank Mir looked sensational against Cheick Kongo. He said Kongo’s ground skills suck, and they do, but supposedly that pissed off Kongo. Well, Mir not only knocked Kongo off his feet with one punch but immediately put Kongo to sleep with a powerful choke. The only thing you can say about Kongo is he had enough courage not to tap. I must say, Mir’s new training program made his body look great. His chest and gut looked big and cut, compared with a bit of flab and droop he had before. Mir understands that the big boys, Lesnar and Carwin have an advantage in size and strength and Mir is looking to negate that and win with his superior technique. I think that is a very smart strategy.
Finally, BJ Penn rearranged Diego Sanchez’s face. I thought Sanchez had a chance but he looked insane rather than ready right from the staredown. Sanchez quickly found out he didn’t have the stand-up fighting skills to go toe-to-toe with Penn and kept going for takedowns. But sadly for Sanchez, Penn would not be taken down either. Sanchez kept going for it but was stuffed everytime. I think Sanchez was strong and quick enough to be in the same ring with Penn, but technically, Penn made Sanchez look like he didn’t belong. Sanchez had alot of heart to take the punishment and keep going, but his face looked like a total mess after the fight.
