Looking Back at UFC 92
Posted by Dave Walsh on December 29th, 2008
UFC 92 has come and gone, and we, the fans were treated to quite an event to cap off another productive year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Some good, some bad, some indifferent and some just baffling, this was UFC 92. Thoughts.Cheick Kongo: Nobody is really talking about Kongo and they probably should. No, they shouldn’t be saying, “man what a beast” or even “wow is that guy great.” No, that shouldn’t be the first thing that comes to your mind. While they are pretty apt conclusions to come to after watching him, I think it really needs to be said; LOW BLOWS. Just like people tend to shy away from Chuck Liddell’s thumb to the eye, Cheick Kongo has shown when he gets frustrated or in a tight spot, his first instinct is to knee his opponent in the testicles. After dissecting Cro Cop after repeated low knee strikes, it was questionable. Now with his win over Mustapha al Turk by returning the favor after al Turk hit an unintentional low blow, Kongo came back with what was a blatant and brutal low blow. Al Turk had no chance after that, which he probably should have taken his full five minutes.
Dan Evensen: UFC has a bloated roster, they don’t have room for top fighters that haven’t gotten along with Dana White, yet this guy is on the roster? Get rid of him. Now. He was in embarrassing shape, especially or a heavyweight in the age of Brock Lesnars and Cheick Kongos.
Matt Hamill: I’m not sure he is really progressing like he should. Maybe a new camp? Also, he seems like a really nice guy, please spare him having to talk and deal with people heckling him, both in the arena and you know, watching at home and on the internet. I don’t know, there is no right answer for it, as him not talking is letting assholes win, but you gotta admit it is difficult to understand him. But at the same time, he is always inspiring. Wow, was that dude in his corner swearing up a storm. Maybe he wants to be friends with Dana White?
Hardonk/Wessel: This fight was really how I define do not care. Hardonk should probably get more of a challenge, no? Wessel doesn’t belong in UFC.
Yushin Okami: Seriously can’t win. I’m not a fan of his style, but when it comes out that Anderson Silva’s next fight is a title fight and that it doesn’t involve Okami, I just feel bad for him. Then you hear that this fight got an awful reaction live and that it was entirely lay and pray. I don’t know. I haven’t seen it yet, but I believe that I don’t want to see it. Regardless, he is up there with Lyoto Machida for guys that deserve title shots but will probably never see them, and Dave Meltzer will tell you why!
CB Dollaway: The only redeeming factor was his voice sounding hilarious. He is a decent prospect, but the card placement of this fight was baffling. He seems to fit the mold for guy who will headline Ultimate Fight Night shows and Dana White will hype up, build to a title shot, lose and then go back into obscurity.
Wanderlei Silva: I love Silva, he is one of the fighters that when I first saw in PRIDE had me hooked. Brutal, evil, sadistic and talented. Now he is sort of just beaten down and exposed. His style has been exposed over and over again, anybody with a decent game plan knows how to attack Silva and defeat him as long as they don’t get caught. I hate to say it, but Wanderlei’s time is up, he might get a random win here and there, but we’ll never see him as a title contender again. I think for his health, stop, now.
Quinton Jackson: Rampage proved a lot of things at UFC 92, first of all, he proved that there was something clearly wrong with him going into his title defense against Forrest Griffin. He did not go into that fight mentally capable of fighting. Second of all, he has no clue how to defend leg kicks. Really, that is going to be a major weakness for anybody that faces him. Forrest low kicked him to victory and Wanderlei was doing the same until he got knocked out. Rampage showed little in the way of defense, but regardless, what he did, he did very well. I’m not sure how he stacks up against Evans, but hopefully this new team helps him fill out his holes.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: I really don’t even know what to say. Did Frank Mir get lucky and Nog had a bad night, or is Nog really just reaching the point where he should stop? I love Nog, but he came in looking chubby, sluggish, slow, he couldn’t pull literally anything together. I really don’t want to see Nogueira tarnish what is an incredible career by continuing to fight past when he should.
Frank Mir: As I said above, it isn’t clear if Frank Mir is really one of the top heavyweights in the world, or if Nogueira seriously had a ridiculously bad night. The fact is, Nog is who he is, and he had nothing to offer Mir, at all. I hope that Mir, in his next fight, can really prove that he is this good, because the fighter that we saw here was a great fighter.
Forrest Griffin: Griffin is still a humble class act who can handle a setback like a man. On top of that, he is one of the best 205lbs fighters in the world and has grown a lot. His stand up was incredible and he really knows what his natural advantages are (height) and how to use them to his advantage. While his reign as champion was short lived, I’m not sure that he won’t hold it again, if not soon. Plain and simple; he got caught.
Rashad Evans: Find me an undefeated champion in the most stacked and competitive division in Mixed Martial Arts throughout history. Hell, find me an undefeated champion. Rashad Evans is a special fighter, and I think his journey through the ranks of the UFC has proven that. In the Tito fight, he looked good, but it wasn’t clear how good. In the Liddell fight, what was clear was he knocked out a guy who has been proven to not be the sharpest tool in the drawer of late, then in this fight, he proved just how great he is. Forrest was using his impressive stand up and his reach advantage to nullify anything Rashad could throw at him, but Rashad kept calm. Rashad kept moving, faster than the champion, and scoring big shots when he could. When most fighters would get frustrated and just start swinging, Rashad kept his cool and looked for his spots. Then when the fight went to the ground, he created his own openings, he took advantage of them and decisively won the Light Heavyweight Championship. I think whatever UFC can throw at him next, he’ll be able to handle.
He has scary, scary power and gets better every time. It isn’t hyperbole, it is truth.
Overall: Fun show, but man, where was the ground fighting? This was a Dana White wet dream of endless stand and bang. The two fights that involved ground work were on the undercard and went unaired. I loved this show, but really would like to see them toss together some more interesting fights with some variation. Also, maybe encourage guys to do some ground work here and there?
December 30th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Um, didn’t Rashad just win the LHW title with groundwork?
December 30th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Yeah, totally. I was just disappointed to see very little in the way of jiu-jitsu or any sort of fun grappling. I don’t know, when I look at this card, I see a card that was booked to have mostly stand up fights, and it was presented exactly as such. The only fight on the main card that looked like it would end up a ground war ended up with Frank Mir using stand up that nobody really ever gave him credit for to dissect Nog.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
This card had Dolloway versus a wrestler, Hammill versus a wrestler, and Okami-Lister. I don’t buy your premise.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
The first two were stand and bangs and Okami/Lister, well, didn’t make air.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
” I loved this show, but really would like to see them toss together some more interesting fights with some variation.”
They didn’t book stand and bangs. the card was put together in a pretty standard way. You just don’t always get what you want.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Yes, I can agree with that.