The UFC countered this event with their own Fight Night 14, which aired for free on Spike. I thought this card was much more exciting than the Affliction card. The fight between TUF 7 competitors C.B. Dollaway and Jesse Taylor ended with a submission that I'd never seen before, called the peruvian necktie. The main event between Silva and Irvin was exactly what I expected, a quick and impressive victory for Silva.
By far the most controversial and notable fight was the one between Anthony Johnson and Kevin Burns. I first saw Johnson fight on the previous UFC Fight Night, where he quickly defeated TUF 6 finalist Tommy Speer, who is certainly no slouch. I was very impressed with Johnson's speed and aggressiveness. In his fight against Burns, Johnson was dominating until the middle of the third round when Burns poked Johnson in the eye with his finger, sending Johnson to the mat screaming in pain. Before this, Burns had poked Johnson in the eye several times, and had received a warning from the ref. This time however, the ref missed the poke, and thinking Burns had sent Johnson to the mat with a punch, declared the fight over and gave Burns a TKO victory. Eye pokes are of course illegal in MMA, and the result of the fight should have been a disqualification for Burns. Johnson has appealed the decision, and while I don't know anything about the appeal process, I would expect a quick judgment in Johnson's favor when the appeal is considered. In his post fight interview Burns said he had injured his hand some time ago and since then has not been able to make a closed fist with his left hand, forcing him to leave it open whenever he throws it.
After the fight Johnson required surgery on his eye, and in this article Johnson reveals the extent of the damage done by Burns' finger:
My retina was damaged, possibly detached, and the laceration was pretty long. It was basically from one end of my eye to the other. They did laser surgery that took about two hours, put some stitches on it basically.
This fight and its aftermath raises a ton of questions. Among them:
1. How in the world did Burns get cleared to fight by the Nevada State Athletic Comission when he was unable to make a closed fist with his left hand?
2. How in the world did Burns get cleared to fight by the UFC when he was unable to make a closed fist with his left hand?
3. In training for the fight, did Burns poke his sparring partners in the eye(s)? If so, why did he not disclose this injury and drop out of his scheduled fight with Johnson?
4. After Burns poked Johnson in the eye the final time, and the ref mistakenly declared a TKO for Burns, why couldn't one of the judges, or someone else with the UFC tell the ref what had happened, had him watch the replay, and change his ruling from a TKO to a DQ? The fight was already stopped at this point, and it seems unfair and inefficient that the ref's first ruling sticks no matter what. I mean, it was obvious to everyone as soon as they saw the first replay what had actually happened.
Fortunately the damage to Johnson's eye does not appear to be permanent. I sincerely hope that the UFC, other MMA organizations, and the various state athletic commissions take this opportunity to reexamine all of their relevant policies and take every possible step to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen again. One last thing: Johnson handled this entire ordeal with nothing but class, and has earned himself a ton of respect and new fans. I look forward to his return to the UFC.
UFC 87: Seek and Destroy
This past weekend the UFC broadcast a PPV featuring some big match-ups. Cheick Kongo fought for the first time since his loss to Heath Herring, facing Dan Evensen. Kongo won pretty easily, although I don't understand at all why Kongo kept taking the fight to the ground. I assume Kongo is still focusing training on his ground game, shoring up the weak leak in his skill set. Ground skills, while necessary for any well-rounded MMA fighter, are not his strength and I think Kongo would be best served if he tried to keep his fights standing until that proved ineffective, and then he could use his ground game as a back-up plan.
The Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta fight was kind of a disappointment in that it seemed like Huerta didn't want to be there. It was Huerta's first fight in 8 months, so maybe that had something to do with it. If now Florian gets to face lightweight champ B.J. Penn, I think Penn would win pretty easily.
The fight between TUF 6 competitors Rob Emerson and Manny Gamburyan was another blink and you missed it fight, and it was awesome to see Emerson score the KO like that.
The co-main event fight between Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring got off to an interesting start as when the fighters approached the center of the octagon before the fight the referee accidentally poked Herring in the eye. Even though Herring is a jiu-jitsu specialist, he was no match against Lesnar's wrestling and size (according to the announcers, he requires specially made XXXL gloves). While Lesnar dominated the entire fight, it would have been more impressive if he could have finished it. I read one analyst who thought Lesnar kept the fight going just trying to get experience in the octagon. In any event, I think this fight showed that Lesnar has the potential to one day be a serious contender in the heavyweight division.
The main event between Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch was surprising. Not that St. Pierre won, which I thought was a given, but that Fitch lasted all 5 rounds. I've been very impressed with Fitch in every fight of his that I've seen, but I still didn't think he had much of a chance against St. Pierre. His lasting 5 rounds is all the more impressive considering he took some very damaging punches in the first round (probably a 10-8 round for St. Pierre), and then probably narrowly won the 2nd round. While St. Pierre easily won rounds 3, 4, and 5, his sticking in there for the full 25 minutes was quite an accomplishment. Still, I'm not sure exactly what exactly he could work on in order to be more competitive if he were to get a rematch, besides of course land a lucky punch like Matt Serra did.
After the fight there was talk of a rematch between St. Pierre and Penn, who now fights at 155. While I think Penn could easily dominate the 155 division for the next few years, I don't know how much of a chance he'd have against Penn. St. Pierre's ground game has improved dramatically since their first match up, so it would be hard to imagine Penn submitting him. Also, even after Penn's impressive TKO victory against Sean Sherk, GSP's striking seems superior, so I think he'd have the stand-up advantage as well. That said, Penn seems to have rededicated himself to fighting since moving to lightweight, so I'm sure Penn would make it a good fight.
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