UFC 98
Not really the best of cards in my opinion, while most of the fights were OK, there were a couple of snoozers to go with those that had explosive finishes so it was rather average overall. Thoughts:
Frankie Edgar 30 – 28 Sean Sherk – I have no idea what Sherk’s game plan was here. I guess like many other fighters he was overvaluing his striking, and then just got picked apart by someone who had cleaner, crisper striking and a noticable reach advantage. I think both of the first two rounds were close, and scored the third round a draw, which I’d have given to Sherk until the guillotine attempt at the death which levelled things in my eyes, but I don’t see how Sherk thought he could win the fight with how he went about it. I’m not a fan of his, so don’t mind him getting pushed down the hierarchy a bit, but I’m not sure Edgar can take it to the next level against a Penn, Florian or someone similar.
Chael Sonnen 30 – 27 Dan Miller – What a dull fight. After Miller tried and failed to get a very quick submission, he just got ground and pounded for fifteen minutes. Sonnen never tried to finish the fight and hence never looked like doing so. Sure, it’s professional and he fought the thing in a way where he was never going to lose, but jesus it was boring.
Drew McFedries KO 1 vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam – For some reason I should know Foupa-Pokam having been a veteran of Cage Rage, but I didn’t recognise him, and he got crushed by an early onslaught which might have been stopped prematurely depending on your viewpoint, but the guy looked outclassed, which seemed odd given how the line started with McFedries being a solid favourite and being quickly backed the other way. Just hoped people arbed some of their holding.
Krzysztof Soszynski KO 1 vs. Andre Gusmao – another entertaining early finish, Gusmao looked decent early until he got nailed by some good shots which were enough. I’d like to see Soszynski face someone like Steve Cantwell, Brandon Vera or Luis Cane, something that’s a bit of a step up in class.
Matt Serra 29-28 Matt Hughes – Judges disagreed with me. Bastards. Anyway, I thought Hughes clearly took the second but Serra took the others – in the last round Serra clearly did more after his takedown than Hughes did, and Serra looked closer to finishing the fight in the first part of the opening round than Hughes did in the latter. Oh well, I can understand the scoring, even if I don’t agree with it, Serra’s rounds were at least close.
Lyoto Machida KO 2 vs. Rashad Evans – wow. First round was basically a non-event until the last minute where Machida took control enough to take it. Second round was more interesting, and then Machida took control and got the KO. He was basically a terrible matchup style-wise for Evans, he does everything Evans does except that little bit better. The rumoured first defence against Rampage should, if Jackson is on the ball, be a different kettle of fish altogether.
Elsewhere on the bits of the undercard that got televised, Tim Hague got a nice submission in round 1 against Patrick Barry, who looked good on the feet but sloppy on the ground. Brock Larson’s submission over Mike Pyle was mors of a surprise, given than Pyle spent most of the round prior to the submission trying to score the same result except in the opposite direction.
Overall, worth a look. There’s nothing massively epic, some fights weren’t great, but there’s enough there on those that got stopped to make it worth a look.
