If there is one thing that UFC 69: Shootout reinforced, it’s the fact that, in the world of Mixed Martial Arts, anything can and will happen. In back-to-back UFC events, we have seen how Mixed Martials Arts is easily the best and most exciting combat sport in the world, and a lot of that excitement comes from the fact that MMA is so unpredictable. Any fighter can truly beat any other fighter at any time. With so many forms of martial arts involved, MMA just has a dynamic that boxing cannot provide and leaves a sense of “uncertainty” to each and every fight.
- Georges St. Pierre vs Matt Serra – I really am at a loss of words after this fight, and still am in disbelief somewhat, as I’m sure many of you are. Serra landed a punch that caught St. Pierre and was able to follow that up with several more shots that didn’t leave the champ anytime to regain his composure. The wrestler and jiu-jitsu expert won the fight with strikes where noone gave him a chance, ala Randy Couture vs Time Syliva.
- Josh Koscheck vs Diego Sanchez – As much as I know everyone is going to be screaming how this fight was so boring and such a let down, I found this fight to be a very enjoyable fight to watch. While there wasn’t any fireworks that the hype led people to believe would happen, what we saw was a gameplan executed to technical perfection. Josh Koscheck had one mission: to hand Sanchez his first loss and make him look silly while doing it. Koscheck did both as he just picked Sanchez apart round-by-round with pinpoint precision punches. Sanchez knew he didn’t want to mess with Kos on the ground and looked extremely tentative. Koscheck was happy to stand and show how he is the better striker by far. Excellent fight in my opinion.
- What happens now in the Welterweight division? With Matt Serra as the reigning champ, I really hope that the UFC doesn’t let Matt Hughes fight Matt Serra next for the title. If GSP had retained the title, I don’t think the UFC would have given Koscheck the title shot; sure they might have given it to Diego, but not to Kos. Well, now that Serra is the champ, I say let Koscheck take on Serra and have GSP and Matt Hughes have their rematch for the right to fight the winner of Serra vs Kos. To let Hughes have the opportunity to regain the Welterweight belt without having to go through GSP who so easily dominated him would be a mistake in my opinion.
- Roger Huerta vs Leonard Garcia – This was easily fight of the night in my opinion. What an excellent display of heart and desire from both Huerta and Garcia. Huerta showed why many people consider him near the top of the class of the next gereration of MMA fighters. Garcia showed heart and skills that I don’t think many people were prepared for, and the UFC would be foolish not to sign him to a three-fight contract after last nights performance.
- Alan Belcher vs Kendall Grove – Kendall Grove showed me that he has improved greatly since the TUF 3 finale and is on his way to being and excellent top-level fighter. With his size in the Welterweight division, Grove is going to be a tough matchup for most other easily-undersized opponents. What I was most impressed with was Grove’s Muay-Thai clinch game. Excellent clinch holds and knee strikes. Very impressive.
- Minotauro Nogueria was introduced as being the newest heavyweight signing for the UFC. Not a big surprise considering this announcement was expected to be made at Thursday nights UFC Fight Night Show. With the recent purchase of PrideFC many of these top Pride fighters will be making their UFC debuts, and I hope that we won’t have these lame “announcements” each and every time. Now that they own the company, “signing a fighter away” from themselves is not a big deal.
- ESPN Showing Highlights – For those that may not have seen it yet, ESPN showed highlights of the St. Pierre vs. Serra fight on SportsCenter. This is the first time ESPN has even acknowledged the existence of Mixed Martial Arts, and is just one more step in the march of MMA domination.
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Caesar Gracie
John
Yael Grauer
Dale
Tyler Johnson
felo
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RJ, do you really think of Serra as a better striker than GSP?
That first right hook that everyone is saying “rocked” Rush didn’t even connect! It clearly passed behind GSP’s head, and pulled him forward losing his balance.
I absolutely guarantee that it will NEVER happen again!
GSP has the best kicks in the business, and yet, barely threw any.
He rarely widened his stance for power.
He DID NOT defend the ground & pound.
Everyone should know that he has the skills and know-how, but for some unknown reason, chose not to utilize it.
@Anyone
I smell a one hit wonder here in the likes of Matt Serra… just my opinion but he has not show championship calibur in his career and I think personally Rush just underestimated him completely. I didn’t see the same focus on Pierre’s face as the last fight. He looked more concerned with tying his “Karate Kid” headband on than getting in the octagon and destroying Serra. Other thing, I think Matt landed some lucky punches, and with his strength, yeah, that’s all she wrote. My prediction, Serra loses to Matt in their next fight by decision.
WHICH MAKES ME WONDER IF HE SOLD OUT
Why would Pierre sell out? Why in the heck would Dana let that happen? Pierre has been chasing that title around for 2 years since losing the Hughes, and there is no freaking way he sold out for any amount of money. It really looks bad on Pierre to lose his first title defense to a washed up TUF competitor who barely won that competition in the first place, so why would Pierre HUMILIATE HIMSELF. It would make a faint bit of sense to do so against a great like Hughes, but against Serra, man Pierre would have to be a reprobate without any self respect.
Rush has too much integrity.
@dennis
no i dont think serra is a better striker then st.pierre but i do think serra is a better striker then hughes. and i do think GSP had a bad night and if there is a rematch it will go different.
Gsp slipped and thats what set him off balance and started the flurry of hooks and crosses by serra
lol i just read the post from dennis that said “i bet RJ is heart broken” lol yes i am. i wanted to call the ref and say time out, time out hold on let him get up he’ll be alright the fights not over just wait! lol oh well sh*t happens
dennis dennis, i just read how you said Serras right hook didnt land. Trust me bro, that shot landed HARD, not exactly the back of the head, but close enough, that punch was probably twice the effectiveness of a shot right in the nose. When he started backing into the cage and his legs gave way you could tell man. Notice that next 2 HUGE hooks landed clean right on the chin and didnt do as much damage as the first. He never fully recovered from the first shot because it takes longer to recover from that kind of blow, i mean, you get dizzy blurred or double vision, your done. Its like a body blow in the sense that it takes longer to recover, if you get KO, you could wake up 1 second later and recover, a strong body shot or back of the head could be minutes before you recover or get your breath back.
on point like always BV. as most of you know i’m a huge GSP fan and i will tell it like it is matt serra gave st.pierre a beating. this year so far has been nuts in mma it reminds me of a time when no one really knew who was going to win in any fight just because there was no “real” mma fighters it was wrestlers fighting kickboxers or a sumo vs. a ju jitsu black belt. now that everyone basically trains the same way the playing field has gotten much more even.
yea RJ i agree 100%, nobody can predict with any degree of accuracy whats gonna happen these days, plus there are so many variables other than pure fighting skill..
So….my prediction of Hughes ripping Serra a new ****** is just a gamble right? Any takers?
This was a perfect example for me, that just goes to prove the point that if you let your opponent fight HIS fight, you will probably lose.
GSP fought Serra’s fight
Hughes fought GSP’s fight
Ace fought Silva’s fight
Tim fought Randy’s fight
Tito fought Chuck’s fight
etc. etc. etc.
YO, check this out, when you click on my earlier Serra link:
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3
Serra’s victory recorded on ESPN…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lthC4nhskU
Left by Dennis 1 day, 5 hours ago
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You now get this error from youtube:
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by ZUFFA,, LLC
Dana’s starting to play hardball.
…..same with the Luke link, and Viacom is blocking the punk’d link.
This is sick!
was i the only one who orgasimed when rush went down i was going for rush but u gotta love an upset and for koscheck i want to see kos vs hughes then lets see whos wrestling is better
Here’s the joke of the weekly:
I knew those guys would do it.
WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION (170-pound limit)
#1 Welterweight Fighter in the World: Matt Serra
2. Georges St. Pierre
3. Matt Hughes
4. Josh Koscheck
5. BJ Penn
6. Diego Sanchez
7. Karo Parisyan
8. Jon Fitch
9. Jake Shields
10. Akira Kikuchi
WHAT THE H ELL IS WRONG WITH THESE GUYS MATT SERRA #1 IN THE WORLD THESE GUYS ARE *** KIN TARDS
I STILL CANT BELIEVE GSP GOT KNOCKED OUT LIKE A LITTLE BI TCH
MAN I FEEL BAD FOR GSP… HE GOES FROM BEING THE MOST DOMINATE FIGHTER TO I DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO SAY NOW…. AND HE GETS KO’D BY A SCREW REAL QUICK..
DO YOU THINK HE IS EMBARRASSED???????????????????????????????????????
YO DOC ,,, DENNIS
UR NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS I FORGOT TO TELL YOU THIS…LIKE A WEEK BEFORE UFC 69 REMEMBER THIS TO A T…. I HAD A DREAM THAT GSP WAS FIGHTING SOMEONE AND HE GOT KNOCKED OUT IN THE FIRST ROUND.. ISNT THAT WIERD????
LOL CAN U BELIEVE THIS… WHAT IF JOSH KOSCHECK IS GOING TO BE THE CHAMP… THAT WOULD BE WIERD CUZ HE SUCKS
THEY WONT GIVE GEORGE A TITLE SHOT RIGHT AWAY HES GONNA HAVE TO FIGHT SOMEONE…… BUT WHAT WOULD HE FIGHT?
Personally, I hope it’s Diego!
YOYOYO
Y IS EVERYONE SO QUIET TODAY?
LOL KOS CALLS DIEGO A DIRTY SANCHEZ ON THE SHERDOG INTERVIEW PRICELESS… I BET DIEGO IS SO PISSED