UFC 109 Showcases Some Terrible Boxing Throughout

(Photo Courtesy of Sherdog)

From the main event down to the preliminary card, UFC 109 showcased some of the worst striking throughout the night. At it's climax Mark Coleman blocked punches with his head and threw telegraphed punches as he lumbered around the ring, and yet he was still able to land a couple of shots on Randy. That doesn't say a whole lot about Couture's defensive game. Paulo Thiago, although victorious with a spectacular Darce Choke, was wide open for straight rights as evidenced by the one that rocked him before he put Swick on the canvas. Matt Serra looked toward the floor as he wildly threw haymakers at Trigg's head until he caught him and KO'd him. In the most embarrassing showcase of stand up skill was the debut of Holles Gracie in one of the nights aired preliminary bouts. Holles gasped for air and swung at "The Mexicutioner" like he was Herman Munster while sloppily looking for take downs until he finally had enough of huffing for air and got pounded out. The night's bright spots were on the Spike TV aired preliminary action showcasing two lightweight standouts: Mac Danzig and Melvin Guillard. Danzig picked his shots and didn't just wildly wing punches towards his opponent hoping to land. Guillard, although wild with his big overhand right at times, always looks good on his feet and is now starting to put together a ground game and takedown defense to compliment that. Now MMA is not a Boxing/Kickboxing match and the amount of time spent working the strikes is going to pale in comparison to that of a strictly stand-up fighter, but have some of the fighters decided to forgo the basics of striking and rely too heavily on wrestling and jiujitsu? Damien Mia for example, although still not pretty on his feet, has recognized the err of his ways and dedicated himself to becoming better on his feet as evidenced by his fight with Miller last night. He won a fight that was primarily contested on the feet for three rounds, although the fans let the Middleweight competitors know their displeasure with the cautious attack employed, I was pleased to see that Mia has started to round out his game on top of his phenomenal jiujitsu. The point may be moot as evidenced by the fact that out of the fighters listed here most of them were successful in their respective bouts, but at a level considered to be the pinnacle of the sport can these athletes really ignore the intricacies of one martial art because they are so well versed in another?

UFC 109 Results: Sonnen Pulls the Upset, Coleman Looks Old!

(The battle of the old men wasn't much of a contest at all) 

Chael Sonnen has a lot of people eating their words after this weekend's Super-Saturday card. I predicted, as many others did, that Nate Marquardt would annihilate Sonnen with ease but I was wrong. Chael came out determined to top the fight and stayed true to his words that once he put his mouthpiece in he would find a way to win. It was a classic Team Quest-esque  grind out wrestling victory where he controlled from top position and banged on Nate for three rounds despite a nasty cut that opened up on his forehead from a Marquardt elbow. If Dana White stays true to his word, Sonnen should be next up in line for a shot at Middleweight gold and that will open the flood gates for some serious Sonnen trash talk in the lead up to the fight.
In other 109 news, Randy Couture had no problem reaching the target on Mark Coleman as Mark chose to block punches with his head as he so often does. Couture was in a league above Coleman who looked old and out of place in the main event of the evening. Randy landed at will and took Coleman down, and choked him out to get the win over the fellow HOF inductee. At the post-fight presser Dana White stated that it was likely the last time we would see "The Hammer" in the Octagon. The always class-less Tito Ortiz found a way to get his name on the microphone as he taunted the fallen Coleman as he was talking to Rogan. Coleman responeded with "F#%K You Tito" and "Anytime Douch-Bag" well said Champ, well said.

RESULTS
Randy Couture def. Mark Coleman via technical submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 1:09
Chael Sonnen def. Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Paulo Thiago def. Mike Swick via technical submission (D'arce choke) - Round 2, 1:54
Demian Maia def. Dan Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Matt Serra def. Frank Trigg via knockout (punches) - Round 1, 2:23

PRELIMINARY CARD RESULTS
Mac Danzig def. Justin Buchholz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Melvin Guillard def. Ronys Torres via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Robert Emerson def. Phillipe Nover via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Phil Davis def. Brian Stann via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Chris Tuchscherer def. Tim Hague via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
Joey Beltran def. Rolles Gracie via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 1:31

Chael Sonnen: Talking His Way Into Title Picture?

(Sonnen is a man of many hats: Real-estate, Politics, Fighting, and trash talking)

If you caught the news or saw the countdown special for UFC 109 you already know that Sonnen has recently been campaigning to become a State Representative in Oregon. The Republican Party has blessed us with many a gem over the years: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, George W. Bush, etc. Add to that list of true orators and all around good people Chael Sonnen. Hopefully his campaign is more successful than that of his teammate Matt Lindland's political aspirations. During the conference call for UFC 109 today, Dana White announced that the winner of the Nate Marquardt/Chael Sonnen fight will be next in line for a Middleweight title shot against the winner of Silva/Belfort. It is widely believed that Nate "The Great" is going to run straight through Sonnen this weekend, and I tend to agree with that sentiment. However, there is that off chance that Chael lays on top of Nate for three rounds to get the W, and one can only imagine the rhetoric that will be flowing through the mouth of the outspoken Sonnen if that happens. On his media blitz leading up to the fight this weekend Chael has dropped some of his best lines about everyone except for his opponent Nate Marqurdt. Sonnen recently had this to say about the Middleweight kingpin:

"If he wants to leave the division, leave the sport, who cares. Beat it, nobody tunes in to watch him anyways, and his little fake 'I don't speak English.

"You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn't. I've had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he's so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking."

"It's quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me. How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, 'jeez, they're out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can't understand them. That guy's no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods. That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there's a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon. If Anderson ever signed to fight me, which is highly unlikely, he'll be getting a verbal beating like you've never seen. And his language barrier won't be the point of interest."

He also offers his thoughts on Mark Coleman calling the UFC Hall of Famer "A Bum":

"Even though Mark Coleman is a bum, he wins fights," Sonnen said. "Who's Mark Coleman's coach? Who is Mark Coleman's training partner? What is the name of the gym that he trains at? And don't tell me the Hammer House. I want to know an actual building, an actual piece of real estate with a sign on it. Where does he train? Everybody has a coach. Tiger Woods has a coach. Michael Jordan had a coach. Mayweather has a coach. Mark Coleman does not have a coach. Everybody has a team. Everybody has a team backing them. Tiger Woods has a team. Kobe has a team. All the greats have a team of any sport. He doesn't have a team! He's his own coach, he's his own team. He doesn't even have a gym he belongs to. That's just silly. How you could be in this for this long and be a one man show. On one hand (it) is remarkable. On one hand, maybe I'm looking at it wrong. Maybe I need to compliment him a little bit, but it's just silly. That's not what a dedicated guy does."

Has Sonnen talked his way into a number one contender bout, or does he deserve the status if he beats "The Great"? Either way it is shaping up to be a good night of fights on Saturday and Chael is taking his role as the heel seriously. Stay classy Chael and we look forward to the fight on Saturday!

Can Mark Coleman Defy The Odds Again?

UFC Hall of Famer Mark "The Hammer" Coleman is the granddaddy of ground and pound, and he was a beast with the head-butts, knees to the head, and elbows after a hellacious take down. Unfortunately for him two of his best ground and pound assault tactics were taken from him as the sport grew in size and notoriety. For Coleman, a man who just recently stopped wearing wrestling shoes to the ring, the fight with Couture is a chance to show some of the new school heads what he is all about and to gain some of the accolades that have alluded him in the modern era of MMA. I for one am loving the fact that Coleman is getting main event status on the Super-Saturday card, he deserves it, he was around when the money and fame were non-existent compared to today's opportunities and fanfare. This is a guy who is a trailblazer in the sport yet leading up to the Shogun fight he was unable to afford a proper training camp to get ready to re-emerge on to the UFC scene. For a man who is 45 years old, he beat one of the modern era stars in Stephan Bonnar at the much ballyhooed UFC 100 last year, and although it ended up on the preliminary portion of the card the fans in attendance let "The Hammer" know they were happy he was finally home. Bonnar isn't a world beater, but he's no chump either. He is a much better striker than Coleman with a boxing background and Thai-Boxing training with one of the best kick-boxers in Rick Roufus. His ground game is solid and he earned his jiu jitsu stripes under the tutelage of Carlson Gracie Jr. in Chicago. Simpy put he was supposed to beat Mark Coleman, but as we know now "The Hammer" won't just roll over because the odds say so, and as Dana White put it "You better eat your Wheaties if your fighting Mark Coleman".  Randy Couture had taken the proper steps to evolve with the sport of MMA as it grew and became a Martial Art all it's own, whereas Mark Coleman was a little more resistant to change the style up that got him where he was. Couture has been on a tear for a long time and just as soon as you think it's time for "The Natural" to hang them up he reemerges and proves people wrong. On paper Randy Couture should beat Coleman more than he doesn't beat Coleman which gives Randy the oft-alluded spot of being the favorite in the fight. For two guys that are so often underdogs in their respective bouts it is probably a weird feeling being favored to win, but if the odds are against Coleman this time he may just be the better off for it and we can all say "The f#%king Hammer House is back baby!" and give Coleman some of the shine he deserves.

Catch Coleman in action on Saturday February 6. The full fight card is below:


MAIN CARD
Mark Coleman vs. Randy Couture
Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen
Mike Swick vs. Paulo Thiago
Demian Maia vs. Dan Miller
Matt Serra vs. Frank Trigg

PRELIMINARY CARD (Spike TV)
Justin Buchholz vs. Mac Danzig
Melvin Guillard vs. Ronnys Torres

PRELIMINARY CARD (Un-aired)
Rob Emerson vs. Phillipe Nover
Phil Davis vs. Brian Stann
Tim Hague vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Joey Beltran vs. Rolles Gracie