UFC 121[afterthoughts)

History was made on this one. This was more or less how this shit went down...

Brendan Schaub-Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga

A heavyweight match-up of infinitesimal proportions. That's because I really don't give a flying fuck who wins between this match-up. As far as I'm concerned, Napao is as irrelevant as Mike Tyson is to the heavyweight division(just exaggerating of course).

But of course, like most pundits, I was pickin' Gabe to win. This hairy gorilla has one-pop KO power. His head kick of Cro Cop was heard all around the world, so I was thinking why the fuck did he stop leg-kicking at some point in the 2nd rd? Such a stupid gameplan. Schaub was bouncier and more fleet-footed, so peppering the kid with leg kicks should've slowed him down.

But no. He instead relied on his hands for that one punch KO. Bad move because he can't even tag Schaub. The kid's too fast for him. Therefore Schaub ran away with the unanimous decision V.



Tito Ortiz-Matt "The Hammer" Hamill

Apprentice meets Master in the octagon. That would be a lovely headline after this event. If you remember, Tito Ortiz was one of Matt Hamill's coaches during his stint at TUF. Good for Matt that he got all the lessons that he learned to compete inside the cage because he was the one dishing out the vicious GNP that Tito was known for when he was still dominant, and relevant(yes, I'm wondering why he's still on the UFC's roster).

Another loss for Tito. Another slew of excuses comin' up from Mr. Jenna Jamison.



Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez-Paulo Thiago

Didn't expect this one, really. I mean, Sanchez was very lackluster the last couple of outings(heck he was dissected by John Hathaway!). So I expected more of the same comin' into this fight.

But surprise, surprise! Diego looked like the Diego of old in this one. Fast-paced, relentless, and crazy(yes, he was shouting like a caveman when he slammed Paulo to the mat). I like this new and "re-dedicated" Diego. If he always fights like this, then I won't hesitate on placing some cheddar on him.



Martin "The Hitman" Kampmann-Jake Shields

Sorry to say this, but doesn't Jake look like a retard or somethin'? Plus one of the judges(I'm sure Cecil Peoples is somehow involved in this one) is also a retard for giving Shields the nod for the decision. It really sucks because the UFC wants to set up the title fight between Shields and current UFC welterweight kingpin, GSP. And the stupid refs are obeying orders from the UFC bigwigs like dogs! Shame on those sucky judges!

If you watch the fight, Jake only got the takedowns. But that's it! Kampmann was able to stand up from it anyway. Plus he busted up Shields' (retard) face pretty good. Kampmann doesn't have a single scratch(Jake Shields actually has pillows for fists). And if you watch the fight overall, it's very clear who won this shit. So I really don't get all of this crappy judging lately. It is indeed a crying shame.


Brock Lesnar-Cain Velasquez

The fight that I was actually waiting for. Even my elder bro who's not into MMA so much(he just watches if Anderson Silva or GSP is on) was waiting in anticipation for Brock Lesnar to clobber Brown Pride. Well, that was the prediction anyway. It didn't really happen though. It was the other way around.

This fight clearly shows that size doesn't matter. It's always gonna be skill/technique over strength(just like that "mind over matter" thing). Cain's wrestling is just too good(former NCAA Div.I wrestler), and he used it to stand back up(he was taken down by the monster twice if I remember correctly).

Another problem for Brock is that Cain has an unlimited gas tank. For me, Cain and GSP are the real cardio machines in this game. Shane Carwin lost steam when he was pounding on Brock. Cain didn't lose any, and was methodically picking his spots when he was doin' the pounding. Plus Brock's stand-up is really raw, so that's another department that Cain exploited.

My take on this is that Cain just watched all Lesnar tapes out there, and took in all the good things. He noticed that Randy was able to stand-and-bang('till he got clipped)with Brock so that was one area to exploit. Another was the ground-and-poundage of Carwin. He fused all these elements together, and coupled his freakish cardio with it to formulate the winning gameplan, which was what exactly went down last Sunday.

Now who's next? Junior Dos Santos could use the Cheick Kongo formula(remember when Kongo tagged Velasquez multiple times?) to end Cain's HW reign ASAP. The problem is that if push comes to shove, these wrestlers all go back to their bread and butter and take their opponents down repeatedly. If that happens, then game over for Dos Santos and we have to wait for a Carwin or a (new and improved) Lesnar to dethrone Cain(who's actually sponsored by Dethrone).

History was made tonight. That's how it went down...