UFN 18: What did we learn?
Posted by Alan Conceicao on April 1st, 2009
Another night of fights is over from Nashville, and there must be something that we can take away from it….right? Right? Well, a few things at least.
-WEC: Being the AAA of MMA is still being minor league-
Poor Carlos Condit. Close decision loss, sure, but a loss nonetheless. Listen, the fact is that even if you think Condit won, and some do out there, I’m sure, he showed nothing to make me believe that he can compete with top level welters, nor should he have done it with you. Kampmann is not a ground specialist, is smaller, and has chronic knee problems. Oddly, he dominated Condit in takedowns and on the mat. So when you consider that, think rationally: How would Condit beat Fitch? Or Shields? Forget GSP. For Kampmann, a fight with he and Mike Swick would be a solid fight to elevate the winner to the next level. And yes, I am intentionally ignoring Ben Saunders in that equation.
In the lesser question of what this proves about the WEC, well, the best WEC middleweight is a loser in the UFC and so is the welterweight champ. Doesn’t do that promotion any favors, but I doubt Joe Silva and Dana really care. I don’t want to be to overtly negative: This is at the moment the UFC’s fight of the year, and argurably so for all of MMA thus far in 2009. It was a closely contested bout that had everything in it: Standup, clinch, ground work, takedowns, throws, the whole nine yards.
-RYAN BADER: He is exactly what you think he is-
Bader is a guy with huge upside. He’s Matt Hammil, but better at the wrestling and control parts. He’s Vladimir Matyushenko but without back problems and being in his late 30s. When it all clicks for him, he’s gonna be a very dangerous guy. Top level wrestlers always will be. I’d argue that he could beat more established names like Bonnar right this second. This win will probably put him in a position where that ends up being who he sees next.
-TYSON GRIFFIN/RAFAEL DOS ANJOS: 30-27? Really?-
So let’s get this straight: Griffin is almost crippled by a second rate lightweight in the first, and that wasn’t enough to give Dos Anjos the round? Amazing. Well, in any case, Griffin moves on and Dos Anjos is probably on his way back to Jungle Fight, which was overwhelmingly expected. Maybe he gets mercy, but I can’t imagine he would when someone like Rich Clementi is gone.
-Did you really think Junie would win?-
C’mon. Go ahead. Raise your hands. Now ask yourself….why? He wasn’t as good standing, wrestling, or on the mat going in, and rationally, you must have known that. He talked some shit on TUF and beat up the worst guy to get more than one UFC fight since Danny Abbadi. I gotta say, if we get the winner of Fisher/Uno to fight Cole Miller, that’s a great fight. Really.
-UNDERCARD MISHMASH-
Tim Credeur wins another UFC fight, which is great news for bettors. That means one day, he’ll face someone good and the odds will be fantastic for the fighter who will obliterate him. Thank god most of the MMA world never watched Bodog….Does Brock Larson serve any purpose other than to beat midwestern club fighters?….I’m interested in Almedia/Horwich. I’m sure it was lousy, but Almedia at least has the potential of being a world class fighter. This does free up Horwich to fight in a Kingdom MMA show or something. Hey, why not him against Mayhem Miller?….Que up the Tibau bandwagon, its bound to start rolling soon. And it will stop rolling before the summer is out, should he stay healthy enough to fight again between now and UFC 102….Has Jorge Rivera been in a bad fight? He may be a mere gatekeeper to the top 20 or so, but he’s a really good gatekeeper. Hits hard, decent grappling, lots of heart. He is getting long in the tooth though, but being cheaper to fly in than Semenov and being more “fan friendly” than Trevor Prangley means he could be around awhile. I’m glad to see him win and triumph over his personal tragedy.
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:28 am
I really think that Dos Anjos should have won due to the Volk Han reverse STF alone.
My favorite part of the show was calling Cecil Peoples’ scorecard for the main event, knowing he would go in the wrong direction. Gotta love that guy.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:38 am
As far as the WEC goes, this only tells us what we (and the UFC) already knew - that the weight classes shared between UFC and WEC only served to make the WEC divisions the minor leagues. Sonnen and Condit (and Varner) aren’t top tier UFC champion caliber, and they never were. But don’t let that put a damper on the FW and BW divisions, which is obviously where the WEC really shines. Let’s hope they get that Flyweight division up and running.
As for Condit’s future, I think he’d be a fine WW Clay Guida - a gatekeeper who you can count on to have a good fight and will always be on the lower end of the top 10 in the UFC.
And FWIW - great fight, but I’d personally call Wicky v. Cullom FOTY so far.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Poor Carlos Condit. Close decision loss, sure, but a loss nonetheless. Listen, the fact is that even if you think Condit won, and some do out there, I’m sure, he showed nothing to make me believe that he can compete with top level welters, nor should he have done it with you. Kampmann is not a ground specialist, is smaller, and has chronic knee problems. Oddly, he dominated Condit in takedowns and on the mat. So when you consider that, think rationally: How would Condit beat Fitch? Or Shields? Forget GSP. For Kampmann, a fight with he and Mike Swick would be a solid fight to elevate the winner to the next level. And yes, I am intentionally ignoring Ben Saunders in that equation.
I suggest you watch the fight again after you get some glasses, Kampman in no way dominated Condit in their fight. Condit chose to stay on his back the entire round he wasn’t kept there by Martin’s great wrestling. Condit repeatedly showed he could get up or swith positions on Kampman during the first 2 rounds, so the idea that he was taken down and held down is ridiculous and makes me wonder what fight you were watching.
Condit is as legit as the come and he more than showed that yesterday, he won the first 2 rounds and was robbed of a win over a very tough fighter. Condit has already beaten top WW’s and will continue to do so in the UFC, he won last night and whoever is next for him I feel very badly for because Condit is going to work him too just like he did Kampman.
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I thought that it was really close, and I had Kampmann winning the first round and edging out the third round. I think the big point is that Kampmann is good, but he is tough to compare to the champ. Kampmann vs. GSP would be all GSP, and if Condit was having a rough time with Kampmann, I’m not sure how he’d fare against GSP.
Granted, just about anybody vs. GSP is a stretch at this point. Condit just has a ways to go. This isn’t saying he isn’t a good fighter; he is a good fighter. The issue is that he might not be up to snuff.
This shows a clear difference between WEC’s talent and UFC’s. The unstoppable WEC champ was stopped against a lesser known UFC fighter who would be considered a fringe contender if the rest of the division dropped out at best.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:19 am
“The unstoppable WEC champ was stopped against a lesser known UFC fighter who would be considered a fringe contender if the rest of the division dropped out at best.”
Again it’s like we saw 2 different fights, Condit was in no way stopped even if you gave Kampmann the edge in the fight it was razor thin against a guy who was a beast at MW and dropped down to his natural weight at WW. Condit is very young and very dangerous he was beating guys like Trigg and Charutto when they were top 5 in the world and he was an unknown trying to make a name for himself. There is no gap in talent between Condit and anybody in the WW division is he ready for GSP? not yet but it took a while for GSP to be ready for Hughes and sooner or later Carlos will get there trust me.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:04 am
Condit was very competitive in what I, the judges, and it seems the majority of the internet scored as a loss for him. Its not all bad. He’ll make for entertaining fights against second or third tier opposition like he was against Miura and Kampmann. He’s not getting cut. But he’s not ascending to championship level for some time, if ever.
Kampmann’s future I still don’t believe in. Anyone with the kind of repeated knee problems and surgeries he’s had can’t be counted on for a long successful career.