UFC 97 Aftermath

Now you done it Shogun, you dun killed Chuck

Alright I'm like a week late but I've been busy, sue me.

 

UFC 97 was...interesting. Here's what's up:

 

Ryo Chonan lost AGAIN and I'm really bummed out about it. I haven't tracked the fight down yet, apparently it was a good fight but I think he's 2-2 now in the UFC and that's not good for his chances to remain there. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him back in Japan sometime soon fighting in Dream or Sengoku.

 

Nate Quarry smashed Jason McDonald and subbed him in the first.

 

LIEUTENANT ALL AMERICAN BRIAN M STANN got humiliated by that vowel hating Canadian Krzysztof Soszynski and choked out in the first. I laughed pretty hard because Brian Stann is terrible.

 

Steve Cantwell; the man who beat Brian Stann to become the last WEC Light-Heavyweight champ before they folded the division into the UFC, put up a surprisingly good fight against Luis Artur "Banha" Cane. Cantwell impressed me by hanging tough despite taking a pretty big beating, and man his head kicks are lightning quick. Cane was able to dodge or block them but he pretty much had to keep his hand up at all times. Cane toughed out the decision but it went a lot better for Cantwell than I thought, I was expecting a first round massacre. Pretty good fight.

 

Cheick Kongo beat the ass out of Antoni Hardonk like I figured he would, and apparently has earned himself the next title shot. A bit surprising, I thought it'd be Shane Carwin that'd get the next shot but they may want to give the winner of Mir/Lesnar an easier first defense than Carwin. Kongo is improving every fight, but his wrestling is meh and I'm not sure what he'd do on the ground if he had to defend a bunch of submissions. Not sure he has much of a chance in his title shot but hey, crazier things have happened. Plus he trains at Wolfslair, a training camp that should be shit but is apparently magic (but only for the black fighters).

 

Denis Kang earned his first win in a decision win over Xavier "Professor X" Foupa-Pokam. Kang was coming off a 2nd round sub loss to Alan Belcher, which was pretty humiliating. Glad to see he bounced back. He used good wrestling and ground and pound to nullify Prof X's lauded striking ability. Good win for Kang, not sure who his next opponent will be.

 

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was awesome. It ended in the first round, so we still have some questions about Shogun's cardio, but he looked fantastic. Poor Chuck got smashed AGAIN, losing 4 of his last five, with 3 KOs in those losses. He got KO'd by Rampage, lost a decision to Jardine, beat Wanderlei by decision, got KO'd by Rashad Evans and now got KO'd by Shogun. Chuck looked to show up in shape like usual (despite what his weird ass gut seems to make you think) but he fell right back into his old habits, throwing these weird ass punches that start from his elbow. Shogun styled on him pretty hard and ended up basically clotheslining Chuck before pouncing on him and finishing the KO. I honestly thought that Shogun looked so terrible against Coleman that Chuck was gonna pound on him, but damn I was wrong. And Chuck getting KOd never gets old, it's hilarious every single time.
 

Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites was like getting absolutely smashed off Jack and trying to fuck a fat chick . You know you're supposed to be enjoying it, it's sex after all; but shit ain't workin right, it's takin way too long, you know you could do way better and in the back of your head you just know everything about it is wrong. Thales Leites, you are that fat chick, and Anderson should be ashamed of himself. We knew this was a mis-match from the moment it was announced, but we just hoped Anderson would smash this dude and move on, maybe move up to 205. After the Patrick Cote debacle we expected him to come out with a renewed fire and vigor, out to prove he wasn't a boring fighter. Instead we got a terrified Leites flopping to his back at the first sign of danger like a goddamn possum. We got Anderson dancing around and backpeddling from buttscoots. Sure it occasionally had a funny moment, he punched Leites in the leg and in the foot which was pretty silly; but it was twenty five god damn minutes long and just horrifically boring. Anderson really could have finished it at any moment, but he didn't even try. If he tried to engage a fleeing opponent a-la Nate Quarry/Kalib Starnes we'd be forgiving, but he fought like a huge turd. Don't get me wrong, the blame falls on Leites as well, who was so scared to engage Silva that he hit the fucking deck faster than Chuck getting KO'd when Silva feigned a strike at him. But come on Anderson, you're the champ, you can't play a game in the NBA by just running out the clock every damn possession. If you're gonna be a big baby and fighting shit fights on purpose to protest you getting crap opponents then hurry up and retire or move up to 205 because I don't want to have to sit through 25 minutes of THAT ever again.

 

Pictures and gifs to come later.