UFC 124 recap
Dec
15
Written by:
12/15/2010 12:56 AM
Many people have a difficult time distinguishing between confident and cocky. Saturday evening’s Main Event at UFC 124 was the perfect matchup between a confident George St-Pierre and a cocky Josh Koscheck for the 170 lb welterweight championship. As coaches during the Ultimate Fighter 12, St-Pierre got the first shot in by tricking Koscheck into not talking Michael Johnson with his first pick, and the final one by soundly defeating Koscheck in a five round decision. Trash-talking is perfectly fine and expected, especially when trying to hype up a fight, but you have to back up some of your smack talk. Koscheck was in St-Pierre’s ear all season about what he was going to do to him during this fight and how his fighters were better than George’s. St-Pierre was so CONFIDENT is his abilities and had a tremendous game plan in place for both his team and himself, that he did not engage in any of the trash talking or practical joking that Team Koscheck and their leader engaged in. Instead Team GSP won the Ultimate Fighter and then GSP broke both Koscheck’s orbital bone and spirit early on. Koscheck appeared very timid after taking the first few of many jabs from GSP, and never got it going. GSP has now only Jake Shields left in front of him before clearing out the welterweight division. Koscheck is going to be out of service for a while, as this is a major injury to a fighter. This is his second loss to GSP, so one would have to think another champion would be in place before Koscheck would or could earn another title shot.
In the co-main event of the evening, Stefan Struve defeated Sean McCorkle with a first round TKO. Struve was able to withstand McCorkle’s early burst, but as McCorkle’s tank went empty very quickly, the 22 year old, that fought Roy Nelson here in Charlotte in March, quickly disposed of McCorkle. Struve has now won five of his last six (Nelson) but still doesn’t seem ready for the big guns of the division. Could Cheick Kongo be in Struve’s near future? McCorkle, well thanks for playing, but I don’t see a future in the UFC for you.
Jim Miller defeated Charles Oliveira with another first round stoppage Saturday evening. Oliveira was looking to remain undefeated and take on the winner of the Edgar-Maynard fight at UFC 125, attempted at least three submission holds on Miller before Miller was able to catch Charles in a knee bar. After a couple shots to Miller’s midsection, Charles tapped out at the 1:59 mark of round one. The shot for the 155 lb title that Charles was seemingly one fight away from now has to go to Miller. Miller’s only losses have come to Maynard and Edgar and you have to think he is going to get a shot at redemption in 2011. Charles Oliveira now goes back to training and may have to wait until some things settle out at UFC 125 before knowing where to go next.
Mac Danzig, who has discovered how to get power behind his left hook, used that newfound knowledge to knockout Joe Stevenson cold with a counter punch in the first round. This fight could have been a loser leaves town match as neither guy entering the fight was on a hot streak, but Danzig may have saved his UFC career for at least the time being. Stevenson has now lost two straight and in a very deep lightweight division, may be in some trouble.
Thiago Alves and John Howard opened the PPV card with a first round that saw these two do nothing but stand and bang. Alves used a combination of viscous leg kicks and punches to wear down Howard and gain a unanimous decision.
Looking at a recap of the entire fight card, one thing seems to be beginning to occur a lot more frequently than I remember: fights going to decisions. UFC President Dana White always seems to be warning his fighters that leaving the decision in the hands of the judges can come back and bite you. Many consider GSP one of the best fighters in the game today, but four of his last five fights (BJ Penn) have all gone to a decision. GSP seemed to have both Hardy and Koscheck soundly defeated in his last two bouts, but was unable to end things early. Hardy may have been just unwilling to submit, no matter what GSP did to him, but Saturday evening, it felt like GSP was playing it safe after round three and not going for the knockout. Koscheck could not see out of one eye and GSP could still not force the issue enough. I am not a huge boxing fan, but while watching the Paul Williams- Sergio Martinez fight in November, Emanuel Stewart made a great point after Martinez knocked Williams out cold: that is what boxing needs more of: knockouts. Stewart was saying, and I completely agree, that while Pacquaio and Mayweather are the faces of the sport now, they both seem to have their fights end with them winning majority decisions. The excitement of the sport was built on knockouts and guys do not always feel as if they are going for it like they seemingly used to. The knockout and the excitement it brings is also what helped the UFC explode in popularity. Dana and the UFC give a bonus for the knockout of the night, not the decision of the night. Maybe it just feels because the last few main events I have watched have ended in decisions, but it certainly feels like more fights are going to decisions. Seven of the eleven fights this past weekend at UFC 124 went to a decision, Eight of Eleven on the Ultimate Finale, but only three of eleven went to decision at UFC 123. I along with many others, look forward to seeing the knockouts like Danzig provided Saturday night and BJ Penn provided at UFC 123. While I know not all fights are going to end in knockouts, I would like to see someone like GSP, who has cleaned out his division, take a few chances and end some guys early. I will give GSP credit for standing and banging with Koscheck, especially since Koscheck had dared GSP to try and beat him at his own game. If this is my biggest “issue” with the UFC, well then the UFC is doing alright. I am looking forward to attending UFC 125 in Las Vegas and seeing some knockouts.