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UFC 109 had a lot of exciting moments, but it didn’t have a lot of real surprises. The big ones for most observers was Sonnen riding Nate Marquardt like a borrowed mule and Demian Maia flashing some legitimate, if rudimentary, standup skills. All of this led to some interesting changes to the divisional rankings.
Additionally, two UFC debuts from talented fighters and some poor showings demand analysis.
Rankings
The middleweight division saw the most shake-up, with four top-ten fighters involved in fights recently.
Marquardt drops from #2 to #4, letting Henderson take the second banana slot he formerly occupied. Marquardt’s loss to Sonnen was very thorough, but Marquardt showed great heart, and he’s very well-established as an elite fighter in this division, so he can hold on to a top five slot. Sonnen jumps from #7 to #5 with the most impressive performance of his career earning him his biggest win to-date. While Marquardt employed a poor strategy from the bottom, Sonnen helped him along by aggressively trying to take him out of the fight and pound on him. Nobody at 185 can stop this man’s takedowns, so his next opponent better be ready to deal with him on top of them.
Demian Maia moves to his highest ranking ever at #3, showing what properly applied intelligence can do for you in the fight game. Maia showed a lot in coming back and being unafraid to exchange after being punted by Marquardt, even if Miller’s striking seemed very flat. Maia didn’t look ready to set the world on fire with his striking, but looked competent and comfortable, which is important. One big change was Maia using some real ground and pound to soften up Miller. Maybe he’s given up on not hurting opponents after Marquardt blasted him halfway out of the octagon, which was a change of pace from his previously effortless submission wins. This is a man that can absolutely control opponents with his jiu-jitsu, so if he decides to work an aggressive pounding game against a fighter that doesn’t have Miller’s ground chops, he will bash opponents up.
At welterweight, Paulo Thiago re-enters the list in the 8 spot, poetically bumping Mike Swick off the bottom of the list. Thiago is still very rough around the edges in terms of his technical fight game, but he has all the uncoachable things that make a great fighter. He has good natural power, letting him floor better strikers if he can land cleanly. He has the poise to see the proper way to finish instead of flailing on a downed opponent futilely, and he has the grit and indomitable spirit of a true BOPE. If Thiago can continue to improve, this won’t be the last time he embarrasses a top-ten opponent.
Prospect Watch
He hasn’t earned his way into the top ten yet, but Phil Davis was very impressive in his debut. Davis showed good control on top, especially with his ability to take the back, sink in hooks, and still control and maintain top position-something not all wrestlers develop. His standup is powerful and not too wild, but he has no sense of distance, missing badly on some strikes that had no chance of landing. Knees to the body on the ground, in fact any strikes to the body, are tragically underused weapons in MMA, so it was encouraging to see Davis try to bust Stann’s guts and roast his ribs. It might be best for Davis’ career for him to turn in a horribly boring performance so he can avoid being fast-tracked into fights with elite opponents before he’s ready. Being boring and getting time to develop did wonders for Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans, whereas turning in exciting fights got Anthony Johnson mangled by Koscheck at a point where he still had no ground game.
Stann looked hesitant to pull the trigger on the feet and had nothing on the ground to escape or threaten. That kind of performance really indicates he’s a mid-level guy that’s going to struggle with anyone that can hit takedowns on him, although he can rough up those who can’t.
Ronys Torres finally made his debut after so long on the shelf, and he didn’t quite live up to the hype. He’s obviously ready for the UFC, but he needs to come with a stronger game than the one he brought against Guillard if he wants to be more than an also-ran. This fight was very close, with the potential to easily go either way, but if you’re a Nova Uniao fighter on top of Melvin Guillard, you need to be able to threaten a finish. This was Melvin’s most mature performance to date, but I wouldn’t expect him to break into the top 10 anytime soon.
Miscellaneous
Rolles Gracie looked horrible, but I don’t think anyone should be too shocked by that. The man had very little experience coming into the fight and in this day and age, one-dimensional throwback fight games is what you should expect from a Gracie. If the Mexicutioner can drop to 205 he might contend with some of the crappier fighters in that division, but he’s obviously not truly UFC caliber. Matt Serra throws hammers; don’t stand in front of him. That shouldn’t need to be repeated, but apparently some people haven’t learned this. Trigg is done. He didn’t want to be in there and didn’t even look like he was trying to win. Coleman is donezo in a big way, but that’s been known for years. Couture is going to get knocked out again when he fights a big hitter.
