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Last night in Newcastle, England the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, held an event, but this wasn’t just an event, it was a warning to the rest of the MMA community. B.J.Penn is back, and it is a very scary prospect for the rest of the MMA world indeed. However that wasn’t the warning that the UFC sent out, their warning consisted of exciting fights, titles awarded, new faces discovered, and the prospect of a big time lightweight showdown. In an environment where everyone is after the UFC they took the time last night to make sure that all of their pursuers once again realized who the big dog is and why it’s not always the best idea to make the big dog mad.
The night opened with a middleweight contest pitting The Ultimate Fighter, TUF, winner Kendall Grove against TUF alum Jorge Rivera. Grove was coming off of a devastating loss to Patrick Cote, a loss that raised a lot of questions about his future. Rivera meanwhile was coming off of a similarly devastating loss to Terry Martin, a loss that further moved him towards the twilight of his career. The idea here was simple enough, Rivera is a tough somewhat known opponent that could help propel Grove back on the track to being the star that the UFC envisions. Someone forgot to tell Rivera why he was at the arena as he made short work of Grove, dispatching of him at the 1:20 mark of the first round when the ref had to step in to halt the rain of blows that Rivera was unleashing upon Grove’s huddled form.
The questions that were raised in the Cote fight have seemingly been answered in this contest. Grove is a tall and lanky guy that doesn’t realize how to use his length. When he is flustered he remains flustered and lacks the ability to recover on the fly and think quickly. Fortunately for Grove those things can be taught and he can learn them, but the biggest question that was answered was one that bears no solution, Grove does not have a solid chin. This was present early in his career and it has now found him once again in the UFC, but there is no way for Grove to learn to have a better chin, this problem can not be solved. Grove’s lackluster performance will not harm him in the short term, as a TUF winner it is almost guaranteed he will be brought back, but the rope is shortening, and the road ahead will not be paved with easy opponents as Grove tries to keep his place in the UFC.
With last night’s fight Jorge Rivera has extended his life in the UFC, he is once again an opponent that can be viewed as a quality win in the fans eyes, something that would not have been the case had he lost. The middleweight ranks can use a guy like Rivera, a solid veteran that knows what it takes to win and barring the KO punch shouldn’t be a pushover for anyone. From here Rivera will continue to face young up and coming middleweights and truly test their mettle. If those fighters can come out of their test with Rivera the victor then they have shown that they do have what it takes to possibly be a player in the UFC’s middleweight division.
Next on the card we were treated to a light heavyweight showdown between Jason Lambert and Wilson Gouveia. This was a fight that was supposed to take place at an earlier UFC, but injuries forced it’s postponement until last night. The first round played out just as was expected, Lambert was the consummate pit bull, always moving forward. never retreating and constantly putting pressure on Gouveia. Gouveia responded in kind with submission attempts that were close, but not good enough to stop the pit bull’s charge. At the onset of the second round both fighters decided to exchange wildly on their feet and that proved to be Lambert’s undoing. During an exchange he left himself wide open and Gouveia put him to sleep with a left hook at the 0:37 mark.
Jason Lambert worked long and hard to put himself into the position he was in last night, he was finally near the top of the light heavyweight ranks and his eyes were clearly looking forward. One can’t fault Lambert for his performance, he brought intensity and action like usual, and for that reason, and his name value, he will be brought back, but on the grander scale last night brought Lambert back to square one and securely removed him from any hopes of being near the title.
Wilson Gouveia is an odd fighter, last night he was given the chance to fold like he has so often done in his career, but this time he didn’t, he ended up the one with his hand raised when everything pointed in the opposite direction. The oddness comes into play because I really don’t know if that was a case of Gouveia standing up to the pressure or a case of Gouveia taking advantage of both men’s choice to abandon any and all pretense of technique or skill and swing wildly for the fences. Either way this will offer Gouveia the chance to once again face a top fighter and climb the ranks, if only he can stand up to that pressure when it presents itself.
That fight was followed up by Jess Liaudin facing off against Marcus Davis in the welterweight ranks. This fight was the most interesting of the night outside of the title fight. Showcasing two men that were essentially mirror images of each other, not skill wise, but rather career wise. Both men started off extremely one dimensional and were at one point pushed towards leaving the sport when they couldn’t seem to progress at all due to that one dimensionality. What brought both men to this point was their ability to look within themselves and to continue forward, but in a different way. Davis and Liaudin didn’t continue plugging away, but rather they stopped and assessed where they were at in their careers and how they could improve their careers. Following losses in 2005 Liaudin and Davis changed their games, their training partners, and their outlooks on the fight game, and with that came instant results. They both rode impressive winning streaks into this fight, a fight that would show which of the two was ready to be taken seriously as a contender in the welterweight division. The night belonged to Davis as after a quick feeling out process he sent Liaudin to the canvas with a left and followed up with a few more punches before the ref called a stop to the contest at the 1:04 mark of round one.
From here there really isn’t anywhere for Jess Liaudin to go, this was the literal fork in the road of his career. A win and he was propelled into the bigger picture, a loss and he was shoved back down in a division where you can’t afford for that to happen. It’s back to the drawing board for Liaudin, but he has already shown once in his career that he is capable of doing that and I have no doubt that he will do so once again. He may not reach the top, but Liaudin has the skill and the drive to once again get his career pointed in the right direction.
For Marcus Davis the sky appears to be the limit. He has gone from the guy on TUF that showed little to no skill and would be nothing but a footnote in the history of TUF, to a guy that has beaten twelve opponents in a row and is now primed for his crack at the big time. Davis has shown that he is a step above the rest and because of that the next logical step is for him to square off with one of the name fighters in the welterweight division. A fight against the likes of a Karo Parisyan or a Diego Sanchez looms in Davis’ future, and it is a fight that he has truly earned.
Next on the docket was a welterweight showdown between two British fighters in Paul Kelly and Paul Taylor. The contest went three spirited rounds, and all three rounds featured the same dynamic. Intense standing exchanges where Kelly’s crisper and more compact strikes got the better of Taylor’s more wide open style. Kelly scored numerous takedowns and from there he executed some superb ground ‘n’ pound while managing to deal with the submission attempts and strikes dealt by Taylor from the bottom. It was a very good fight, Taylor and Kelly brought intensity and action to the table, but Kelly was just too much for Taylor and the judges agreed as they awarded a unanimous decision to Kelly.
Taylor has now lost his last two fights in the UFC, but he has shown quite a bit of skill and a lot of heart in doing so. He is clearly a talented young fighter and will continue to be brought back. His fights provide excitement and he provides a necessary link to the British market that the UFC so desperately wants to capture. However that may not be the best thing for Taylor. While it is clear he has the talent, it’s also clear that he needs time to work on his game and improve so that his UFC run isn’t finished before he ever truly reaches his potential. Perhaps a trip to World Extreme Cagefighting, WEC, or even some time spent for a rival company would do Taylor some good. I think it would and in the end his career would be much longer lived for it.
At this point in time there really isn’t much to say about Paul Kelly, other than that he has shown to be an exciting fighter with a lot of skill. Surely he will be back and he is most definitely a good sign for the ever improving MMA scene in England. Who knows where Kelly will go from here, but it will be with the UFC and I have a feeling he will be around for some time and be a nice addition to an already deep welterweight roster.
A heavyweight showdown was next on the menu, Gabriel Gonzaga against Fabricio Werdum in rematch from a fight that took place over four years ago in the Jungle Fight promotion. The smart money was on the fact that this fight would look a lot like the first, but that this time Gonzaga would not wilt and gas out, but instead would run through Werdum and show everyone that he had recovered from the Randy Couture fight and was once again a heavyweight beast. In the first round that appeared to be the case, Gonzaga controlled the stand-up and the action on the ground, he had Werdum in trouble on numerous occasions while he was never in any danger whatsoever. Unfortunately for Gonzaga the past does sometimes repeat itself. Gonzaga came out for the second round flat footed, tentative, and relying solely on flinging out high kicks left and right at Werdum. Werdum on the other hand pressed forward and dictated the action by pegging Gonzaga with numerous punches and a few thunderous knees. One of those knees hit square on the mark and sent Gonzaga to the mat where he turtled up while Werdum hit a few halfhearted punches that Gonzaga didn’t defend and the ref put a stop to the fight at the 4:24 mark of the second round.
There’s nothing worse than an incredible waste of talent, one need look no further than Ricco Rodriguez to see this. Gabriel Gonzaga appears to be falling into the same boat. Gonzaga is blessed with all the physical tools you can ask for, but he lacks the intangibles that you aren’t born with but have to earn. Gonzaga may have the size, the strength, the natural submission, wrestling, and striking game, but he lacks the heart and the drive to win. There have been stories that he lacks the will to train hard as well, and all of those factors add up to him being a waste of talent at this point in his career. If he fought in any division other than the extremely shallow heavyweight division he would fall to the back of the pack and be just another fighter. But, since he fights in said heavyweight division he will have more chances, but until he finds the drive and the heart to go along with it he can be given as many chances as the UFC sees fit and none of them will pan out. All of the chances and physical tools in the world can’t make up for what he is missing.
Fabricio Werdum needed this fight, and he showed that in his aggressiveness and in the fact that he didn’t fold under the pressure. Following his debut UFC fight against Andrei Arlovski where the only memorable moment was Werdum forgoing punching and instead opting for the always risky bitch slap of imminent doom, he needed a fight like this one. Werdum showed in this fight that he can hold up to the pressure and that he can put on a show while doing so. Werdum may not be a future heavyweight champion, but he is a welcome addition to the heavyweight roster and will add some depth to a division that is sorely in need of some.
That brings us to the main event, Joe Stevenson versus B.J. Penn for the lightweight championship. Sean Sherk was champion, but following a steroid suspension and lengthy appeal process, that is still ongoing in many ways, he was stripped of his title and this fight was signed to crown a new champion. No matter how they hyped it this fight was always different than what the banner said, it wasn’t Joe Stevenson versus B.J. Penn, it was actually B.J. Penn versus B.J. Penn. That may sound like it is shortchanging Stevenson, and it is, but for as much as Stevenson was deserving of this title fight and was a formidable opponent he’s not B.J. Penn. With the exception of his fights against Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre every fight Penn goes into he is always regarded universally as the favorite, because he is The Prodigy, possibly the most talented fighter the sport has ever seen. Penn’s biggest opponent has never been across from him in the cage, his biggest opponent has always been himself. Penn has always struggled with the training, the eating, taking the fight game seriously and with giving his opponent the respect he deserves. Penn has given proclamations in the past that this was all taken care of, that a new B.J. Penn would be on display, a focused B.J. Penn. And in the past those proclamations have proven false as Penn has tired out early in fights, looked out of shape, or provided performances that were well beneath his skill level. That was not the case last night, from the opening bell Penn was a completely different man, flustering Stevenson with his striking, sending him to the mat a few times and once on the mat Penn was like a boa constrictor, he didn’t give Stevenson a moment’s respite. Stevenson proved that he belonged in the title fight as he employed good defense to keep up with Penn the best he could, but this was a focused and motivated Penn, even when Stevenson was keeping up with Penn he was still a few steps behind him, he just didn’t know it. Near the end of the first round Penn opened a nasty cut on Stevenson’s brow with a big elbow. That was beginning of the end, Stevenson came out for the second energized and full of fight but Penn was still a few steps ahead of him. Penn dropped Stevenson after hitting a series of crisp punches and from there the blood combined with Penn’s skill proved too big of an obstacle and Stevenson tapped to a rear naked choke at the 4:02 mark of round two.
Joe Stevenson reached the top of the mountain in this fight, and his post-fight reaction showed that. Stevenson was a man in tears, all he had worked for had been ripped from his grasp. It was a sad moment of realization for Stevenson, but I hope it was also followed by a moment of clarity where he realized all that he had shown in this fight. Stevenson showed a lot of skill in the fight, Penn was near unstoppable, but Stevenson staved him off for some time longer than he had any right to. The Joe Stevenson of a few years ago would not have been able to last out the first thirty seconds, but this Joe Stevenson lasted far longer than that. Stevenson is a top guy in the lightweight division, hopefully he realizes that and hopefully he realizes that with a few good wins he could find himself right back at the top of the mountain again.
B.J. Penn is a champion again, and once again he has realized his full potential as a fighter. We all know where he goes from here, a showdown with former lightweight champion Sean Sherk is on the horizon, and it will be quite the showdown. B.J. Penn at the top of his game is a scary thought, scarier than any other fighter in MMA at the top of their game, and if he takes care of Sherk there may not be any fighter in the world that can beat him, truly scary.
That didn’t end the night as we were treated to a few preliminary showings. The first of these was a heavyweight bout between Antoni Hardonk and Colin Robinson. Hardonk is a limited fighter, he is a one dimensional striker, and Robinson is more of the same but with less technical striking. This saw Hardonk take care of Robinson in very quick fashion with a pair of leg kicks and a few jabs that sent Robinson to the mat where the ref stopped the action at 0:17 of the first round.
This is a case where both men are still headed in the samedirection, one may have lost, but neither man is going anywhere. Hardonk is still a limited striker that will be eaten alive by any grappler he faces and Robinson is still a brawler that will be eaten alive by any grappler or technical striker he faces. I’m sure both men will be back, the heavyweight division needs bodies more than anything, but unless something drastic happens don’t expect much from either man.
We closed out the evening with a light heavyweight fair between Alessio Sakara and James Lee. Sakara made short work of Lee, avoiding his takedown attempts and repeatedly hitting him with rabbit punches until the ref pulled Sakara off of a slumped over Lee at 1:30 of the first round.
There’s not much to be gleaned from this fight, Lee apparently suffered some sort of back injury, and that leads me to believe he will be heard from again. Sakara looked improved in what little we saw, and he did announce his intentions of moving to the middleweight division. With these two fighters we’ll have to wait and see what happens in their next fights before we have any real idea of where they are going.
Overall this was a very good show, it had everything you could ask for in a UFC event. Exciting knockouts, new faces, established names, a good back and forth contest, and the return of B.J. Penn. This card shows more than anything that the future is still incredibly bright for the UFC. While the rest of MMA still has yet to find their place on the landscape, the UFC once again established that they are at the top and no matter how vicious the competition may seem they are the big dog that you need to be scared of.