UFC 108 has come and gone. Uneventful? The matchups were…the outcomes were a little better than expected I guess.
Rashad Evans, a former wrestler at Michigan State hasn’t really shown me much as far as his ground game goes. Okay, we know he’s got a Division I wrestling background but has he really shown us that? I don’t think so. So apparently he’s been working on his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for some time…well to the point he was awarded a black belt just hours before the fight with Thiago Silva at UFC 108. I ask again…Has Rashad Evans proven he has a superior ground game expected from a black belt in a martial arts style that typically takes 5-10 years to reach that level? Maybe he has, but we as fans have yet to see it.
I’m not taking anything away from Evans as a fighter, but are they handing out black belts in various martial arts styles like candy these days? I guess it’s up for debate and probably a moot point since Evans did defeat Thiago Silva by unanimous decision in what I thought was a lackluster fight. Brief summary of the fight is this: a lot of clinching and positioning on the ground. There was minimum striking involved until the 3rd round when Silva caught Evans with a straight right but couldn’t finish. Silva’s cocky, arrogant attitude probably had an effect on his poor performance. He was taunting Evans in the 3rd round…I couldn’t figure out why. You typically see that from someone who is dominating the fight and toying with his opponent…Silva was doing neither. It was just a stupid game plan.
Evans wins by unanimous decision
Junior Dos Santos continued on his roll in the heavyweight division by knocking out Gilbert Yvel quickly in the first round. Yvel is a journeyman brawler who is not even gatekeeper status anymore.
I do like this kid Dos Santos…he’s got the size, established kickboxing background, and has been working hard on improving his BJJ game that we’ve only seen through a couple submission wins throughout his career. I still thinking he’s gonna need to put on about 15-20lbs of muscle if he wants to hang in there with the big boys. At 6’3/6’4 frame carrying around only 235lbs, it’s going to be difficult to stop guys like Mir, Carwin, and Gonzaga considering their unique combination of strength and speed. (Well speed not so much a factor with Gonzaga) A fight I would like to see is between Junior Dos Santos and Brandon Vera. Even though Vera is a light-heavyweight fighter, I think they would match up very well.
Dos Santos wins by TKO in Round 1
Check out the rest of the card and how our picks went:
Preliminary Card:
Rafaello Oliveira def. John Gunderson via unanimous decision
Jake Ellenberger def. Mike Pyle via TKO in Round 2
Mark Munoz def. Ryan Jenson via submission in Round 1
Spike TV Card:
Cole Miller def. Dan Lauzon via submission in Round 1
Martin Kampmann def. Jacob Volkmann via Round 1
Main Card:
Jim Miller def. Duane Ludwig via submission in Round 1
Sam Stout def. Joe Lauzon via unanimous decision
Paul Daley def. Dustin Hazelett via KO in Round 1
Raja UFC 108 won/loss record: 6-4
2009 Record: 68-43 <61% of picks correct>
2010 YTD: 6-4
MC UFC 108 won/loss record: 6-4
2009 Record: 51-37 <58% of picks correct>
2010 YTD: 6-4
So the victor of the 2009 SpongeReport UFC Pay-Per-View pick'em goes to Raja
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
