MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis

UFC Fight Night 13 was one of the best events the UFC has had on SpikeTV. A full three hours of MMA action with plenty of knockouts and submissions.

• Ever since his five-round war with Sean Sherk at UFC 64, Kenny Florian has had an edge to his game, almost a bit of savagery. Florian has combined skill, with a fire and hunger that you don’t see in most fighters and has reeled off four straight victories including last nights TKO victory against Joe Lauzon. Florian paced himself through the first round, and then jumped on his opportunity in the second with a nice high mount and continued to batter Lauzon until Herb Dean was forced to stop the fight. Tough night for Lauzon, but he fought well and losing to Florian is nothing to be ashamed of.
• Gray Maynard was probably the fighter that impressed me the most last night. He didn’t do anything special in his decision victory over Frank Edgar, but he did everything right. Maynard’s standup game has improved and his wrestling is still top-notch. Prior to last night I was on the fence with Maynard, but now I think he really has a huge upside and will be a very good fighter in another year or so.
• Once again, Karo Parisyan is left scratching his head while standing at the alter as yet another valuable fight slipped through his hands. Not to take anything away from Thiago Alves, who is an excellent welterweight in his own right and did what he needed to do to win the fight. You could see the frustration on Karo’s face as he once again is looking at a long road back to title contention - a place he reached and lost back in November of 2005.
• Nate Diaz proved once again why being good at jiu-jitsu is such a valuable thing in MMA. After being dominated by a much stronger Kurt Pellegrino for 7 minutes of the fight, Diaz sunk in a triangle choke that he knew no one could escape from. Diaz was lucky to escape the first round with the damage Pellegrino was inflicting, but he kept his calm and just waited for the right moment. If you know jiu-jitsu well, you are never out of an MMA fight no matter how badly you may be getting beaten.
• I think its about time the Houston Alexander train came to an end. Most of us jumped on board after he destroyed Keith Jardine and most stayed on board even after he was exposed against Thiago Silva. Well, I don’t think “Nebraska” has what it takes to compete with the big boys in the light heavyweight division. Let’s stop putting him on the televised portion of the shows, and see if he can still hang. If not, the WEC seems like it could use a guy like Alexander.
• I’m telling you all again, you need to keep your eyes on Anthony Johnson. This guy is the real deal, and if he can get a little better on the ground, he can be a force down the road. Not that Tommy Speer is a good MMA fighter at all, but Johnson is legit. Just because Speer is a good wrestling does not mean he can be a good MMA fighter, and I think teaming up with Matt Hughes and the HIT Squad fight camp was one of the worst decisions for his career. Hughes and fighters like him are a dying breed and their time to dominate is past. Speer needs to get into a better camp like Team Jackson or Juantio Ibarra and work on his striking game if he even wants a prayer at sticking around in the UFC.
• I was really surprised how much the altitude change really affected most of the fighters. I’ve been to Colorado several times myself, and I know that just walking down the street can leave you short of breath sometimes, but I would have thought the fighters would have been prepared for this. I’m surprised most of them didn’t start training in Colorado a month in advance to get acclimated.

Now all eyes look forward to UFC 83 in a few weeks and another good fight card, this time for our friends north of the border.