Who looked good coming out of UFC 93?
Posted by Alan Conceicao on January 18th, 2009
Another UFC is in the books and this event above all others will be remembered for…well…ummm…I don’t know. Perhaps the most unremarkable card since UFC 55, the latest expedition into fighting prowess, UFC 93: Words that Mean Bad Things, was a exposition on the fragile nature of life and love. Or not. Perhaps it was just some guys in a cage throwing punches and slamming each other. With that less than philosophical approach taken, its worth noting just what we came away with that was perhaps not so blatantly obvious.
This could, after all, be another article about how bad Shogun looked and how utterly astounding Denis Kang’s brain fart appeared. After such a substandard show, it would seem to be time for something else, something more esoteric, something more meaningful.
-DISPLAYS OF COURAGE BY OLD MEN-
Mark Coleman and Jeremy Horn went in as heavy, heavy underdogs in the sports books, and there was legitimate reasoning behind it. Both have looked like crap recently, either with Horn losing to anyone with a pulse or Coleman by sitting at home in Sandusky, taking his kids to Kalahari Indoor Waterpark instead of learning how to defend basic submissions. UFC 93 was, in some way, redemption for both. No, not because they won. In fact, they lost and only showed brief flashes of talent in two somewhat dull (one being outright laughable) affairs. They came to win and damnit, they tried. They tried really hard. Yes, Coleman was redfaced and mouth agape during the introductions. Yes, Horn did an awesome job absorbing hammerfists to the dome and german suplexes. But for those brief moments where they looked to pull off the miracle (Horn’s side choke attempt in Round 2, Coleman’s takedown at the onset of the third round), don’t go lying. You were excited.
-DID YOU NEED TO SEE FRANKLIN/SILVA III?-
Franklin got ruined twice by Anderson Silva. Now we’re guaranteed either a sorta rehabbed/almost 40 year old Dan Henderson gets a second shot himself or that Michael Bisping gets a crack at reaching the summit for ol’ Britannia. Plus, did you see Ultimate Fighter Seasons 2 or 4? Franklin was horrible in both, especially with his infamous guest spot on the fourth season and his suggestion of fighting with a knee on the mat at all times to prevent getting kicked or kneed.
-BRITAIN: BETTER WRESTLERS THAN IRELAND TOO-
Tom Egan’s brutal beatdown loss at the hands of John Hathaway showed that while Great Britain is behind the US, Japan, and Eastern Europe in wrestling, they are still way ahead of someone.
-WHO NEEDS A WIN WHEN YOU CAN DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BY LOSING-
Chris Lytle’s last known guaranteed payday was at UFC 86. He made $14,000 in guaranteed money. Suffice it to say, he’s probably not making $40,000 in matching win bonuses should he come away with a W. We were all richly rewarded with two former pro boxers sorta kickboxing in a fight that was a potential WEC Fight Of The Month.
-A NEW WELTERWEIGHT CONTENDER-
Martin Kampmann took over a year off due to various injuries and came back to the middleweight division. That career path met an ignominious fate when he ended up with one time title challenger Nate Marqhardt at UFC 88. But not all was lost: Kampmann was long known to not be cutting at all and when he decided to drop a weight class, excitment returned to the 12-13 Danish fans who followed MMA. A win over Alexandre Barros may not be anything particularly special, but it already makes him assuredly better than all but 2 of the fighters in the WEC and not far off from where another recent undersized middleweight (Mike Swick) has landed in that already stacked division. Swick is apparently getting the chance of a lifetime against Alves. You can bet Kampmann hopes for a similar saving grace.
January 18th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
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