By Dave Walsh


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So UFC 83 has come and gone, and it feels like no questions are answered, no progress was really made and that it was simply UFC flexing its muscle in Canada and showing the world and its competitors that they can present whatever they feel like and still get a sell out crowd and sell PPVs. We have our LiveBlog from last night up, where Jonathon, our resident boxing nut Alan and myself give some fight-by-fight opinions and some play-by-play. There really were no surprises last night, as opposed to being a lot of disappointments and leaving more questions than answers.




I think it is safe to say that a good PPV, or show for that matter, for a combat sport league sets up future fights and leaves the fans interested. This show had one purpose and one purpose alone: Highlight Georges St. Pierre and use him to draw in Canada, where they have never broken into before. To hype it up we had the usual fake hype and trash talk between Serra and GSP, hell, we had trash talk for undercard fights that interested very few, but in the end it was all hugs and ‘you did greats’ to show how far the sport of MMA has really come. Lets break down the night, fight by fight:



Danzig vs Bocek: This fight left me even more complacent with Danzig, and actually made me notice Bocek and recognize that he has some heart. Bocek showed some promise, showed himself pretty capable on the ground and able to fend off most of everything Danzig was throwing at him. That is, except for stand up strikes, he seemed to think his ugly mug was the perfect tool to block these. Ouch. This was Danzig’s first fight in UFC since winning the TUF, and he hasn’t given fans any reason to care about him. Great.



Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy: I don’t even know where to start, except that hopefully this sets up Anderson Silva vs Michael Bisping and somebody finally shuts Bisping the fuck up for good. Bisping dropped a weight class as it didn’t seem like he could really hack it against the 205 competition. The awful, awful decision win over Hammill followed by Rashad treating him to a Decision special was enough for “The Count” to drop down to 185. So of course, they push him right into the heat of competition against… Charles McCarthy? UFC has nothing outside of possibly an Okami rematch for Anderson Silva, another Rich Franklin fight would be really premature at this point (and there is no way Franklin would want that fight again), so this means there is a good chance Bisping is being groomed to be Anderson fodder. Realistically, I’d like to see Bisping/Franklin, but there is very little chance Bisping would get past Franklin.



Oh, the fight.. McCarthy taunted Bisping a few times, and Bisping attacked his forearms for the last minute of the fight, ending with a brutal flurry of knees before the fight was called.



Nate Quarry vs. Kalib Starnes: Seriously, why? This was an awful, awful bout, and just not a good match-up to begin with. There were fights on the undercard that went unaired that could have been a better swing bout than this. I understand the point of giving more exposure to TUF guys, but this was just pathetic. Nate used the jab, hook, leg kick combo every single time, and Starnes had no answer at all to this outside of running away. Seriously, at this stage in the game, should fighters seriously be running across the cage every time after they get hit? Fans had signs for Starnes showing their Canadian support, and quickly those signs were out the window and it was unanimous boos for him. Quarry provided the comic relief fake jogging around the cage and tying up his arm and slinking it around near the end of the fight as Starnes was still running away to give the fans some entertainment. Nate did his usual “I’m just a good guy” act and acted like there was nothing he could do. It should be noted that Kenny Florian in the booth kept saying “he should just take him down..” as was probably every other fight fan watching at home. Starnes went on to shout profanities at the booing crowd and call out some fans. I’m sure Dave Meltzer will be talking about the classic heeling at some point.



Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter: Does Travis Lutter actually train for his fights? He couldn’t make weight for a big title fight against Anderson Silva last year, took a year off, comes back and makes weight, but can’t, for the life of him, keep his body in the fight. He was soft and doughy looking, and after the first round was simply exhausted. This also doesn’t speak volumes for Franklin, either. Franklin did show some slick groundwork escaping an armbar in the first with precision and skill, but Lutter’s arms were at his side, his mouth was open, his head was hung, he could barely stand in the second round. The general feeling was that Franklin could have pushed him over and the fight would have been called, as Lutter had no way to defend himself and was throwing some awful half-assed strikes and even worse were his shoots. Once again, my doubts about Franklin come full circle. He needs to show more killer instinct if he ever wants to give Silva a challenge.



But I can’t stress this enough: Travis Lutter, at this stage in the game, should not be coming into fights so ill-prepared. Both him and Kalib Starnes are guys we should never have to see in the UFC again, but most likely will. I think this goes back to Iain’s “controversial” post from earlier this week about Jake O’Brien that UFC does whatever it wants and has a clear vision for what they want and are willing to make fools of themselves in the process. Somehow a boring stand up fight is more acceptable than a boring ground fight. I’m a fan of neither, but if they have any sense and consistency, we won’t see Kalib Starnes or Travis Lutter in UFC again.



Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre: Foregone conclusion alert. There should have never been a doubt that St. Pierre was going to destroy Serra, and he did. I feel bad for Serra, almost. It is like when the fat girl gets on the list for Prom Queen because people feel bad for her and want to give her that one shot in her life at something more, and give her something to remember forever. Matt Serra got his chance during the MMA boom to be a UFC Champion, pulled his back in time to not have to fight Matt Hughes and then had to face the kind, flexible GSP and get dominated by the French-Canadian. Hopefully this will erase the doubts people have towards GSP once and for all. Serra just turtled up and took knee after knee to the ribs like a man before the fight was called. Plain and simple, he was completely outclassed by one of the most, if not the most complete MMA fighters in history.



I think the bottom line with this show is that it focused on the 185 and 170lbs weight classes, but didn’t really do much for either. GSP is the best fighter at 170? No way. The 185lbs division has no clear contender for Anderson Silva and probably won’t have anybody to touch him for a while? Are you serious? UFC favors guys who are going to go out and give stand up fights that most likely won’t deliver? Go figure. Very weak card, no way near worth the $45 dollar price tag. Both Alan and myself had gone to UFC 55, and the conclusion was that this was the worst UFC card since that show. At least outside of the awful name of “Ill Will” which sounds like a band that would tour with Korn and Linkin Park, the next card seems pretty packed.