After taking some time to recover from the shock of UFC 76, I would like to analyze the current rash of upset victories plaguing not only the UFC, but MMA as a sport in general.
First of all. Lets dispel a myth: It’s not just former Pride fighters coming over to the UFC and getting smoked by seemingly easy prey. Sure that’s been happening. But that’s not all that’s been happening.
In fact, I personally think this “Bizarro World” or whatever you want to call it began back at Pride’s Second Coming PPV in February. That night, in 4 of the 5 main bouts major upsets occurred. Nick Diaz toppled then ranked #1 Lightweight Takanori Gomi. Complete unkown Sokoudjou knocked out heavily favoured Minotoro Nogueira. And most shockingly of all, Dan Henderson (moving up in weight) dethroned Pride 205 lbs kingpin Wanderlei Silva. Silva had at that time held the title for over 5 years.
Here is a list of what I would consider to be SHOCKING upsets since then:
- Sokoudjou knocks out Ricardo Arona at Pride 34
- Randy Couture def. Tim Sylvia
- Matt Serra dominates GSP
- Gabe Gonzaga knocks out Cro Cop with Filipovic’s own trademark head kick
- Unknown fighter Houston Alexander knocks out Keith Jardine
- Cheick Kongo def. Cro Cop
- Forrest Griffin submits Shogun
- Keith Jardine def. Chuck Liddell
That’s a pretty healthy list of top 10 guys, beaten by mostly unseeded fighters.
So, what can we learn from looking at this list? Well, only 2 Pride fighters appear in the “lost to UFC fighters” category so I guess it’s safe to say that isn’t the core of the problem. Second, notice that Keith Jardine appears in both the “win” and “loss” column of our little list which brings me to my point (I knew I had one!).
The point is more mismatches are being made these days than ever before. Usually in an effort to “showcase” a fighter against a lesser opponent. I believe the recent unpredictability is due in part to this type of mismatching. These “elite” fights simply aren’t taking their lesser known opponents seriously.
If you don’t believe me, just listen to Jardine’s comments before the Alexander fight. He said he didn’t think he should “Have to fight this guy” implying that he was so superior to Alexander that there would be no point in the bout occurring at all.
Now how hard do you think old Kiethy boy trained for that fight?
Cro Cop is also one who is notorious for underestimating his opponents. *cough* Kevin Randleman *cough*
In a sport with 4 ounce gloves, where knees, elbows and choking are all fair game - you can’t afford to underestimate ANYONE.
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Here it is, its finally frickin official, not cutting it close at all are we?
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