MMA Hangover: Talking Points for UFC 111

By Michael Ford

UFC 111 emanated from Newark, NJ, in the shadow of New York City, and might be the last card where the “New York area” provides a proxy for the state where MMA has not yet been legalized. The first major UFC event of the year, the expectations for the card were high, and in a lot of ways, the fighters delivered on fans’ expectations. These are the takeaway talking points:

1. “The Notorious GSP” was unbelievable – Georges St. Pierre is always the consummate hero, but he won the East Coast fans over with his choice of walkout music. Biggie’s “Juicy” provided a suitable backdrop for a fighter living the life that was was previously all a dream. For five rounds against Hardy, St. Pierre implemented a perfect game plan of solid striking, which created openings for varied takedowns, which in turn allowed GSP to impose his will on Dan Hardy on the ground. His ground and pound wasn’t as ferocious as it has been in the past, but his control and guard passing seemed near-effortless, and seemed calculated to break Hardy’s spirit, before moving on to potentially breaking a limb or two. And yet, Hardy stood tough, gutting out armbars and Kimura armlocks that would have elicited tapping from lesser men, and which certainly caused the viewing audience to wince and grimace as elbows and shoulders were stretched and contorted to their limits.

However, while the outcome of the fight was never in doubt, many fans voiced their displeasure at the lack of a finish, or rather at GSP’s unwillingness to depart from the game plan that worked so well for him throughout the fight, in the hopes of bringing greater fireworks on the feet. While I understand fans’ preference for unambiguous displays of victory and defeat, or for violence and brutality of the highest order, part of what makes GSP such a special breed of MMA star is his poise and comportment. He is a sportsman first, and a “fighter” second, and while many fans are awed at displays of primal dominance and ferocity that sometimes borders on the sadistic, others view the sport as every bit as sweet a science as boxing, and a fighter’s systematic deconstruction of his opponent’s defenses as he executes a strategic game plan over the course of 25 minutes is worthy of high praise. St. Pierre wanted to finish Hardy, but he wasn’t prepared to forsake his discipline to do it. Maybe that’s a flaw, but I suspect that as St. Pierre continues to evolve and elevate his technique, we’ll see him incorporate stand up that is as impenetrable as his ground game. But right now, the only holes in his game are in the standup, and he was right to minimize opportunities for his opponent to exploit those holes. He is the World Champion, and everyone he fights is trying to knock him off the mountaintop. He shouldn’t degrade himself and the sport by “challenging himself” through fighting to the strengths of his opponents rather than accentuating and fine-tuning his own strengths.

2. “The Outlaw” Dan Hardy earned the fans’ respect – The flipside of GSP’s domination was that Dan Hardy found himself at the end of a one-sided beatdown. As is often the case, being a “never say die” fighter who “doesn’t know the meaning of quit” (or in this case, “tap”) will always curry favor with fans. Hardy, in the run-up to the fight, perfectly toed the line between “taking the piss” out of a unanimous favorite, relishing his role as an underdog potential spoiler, and delusionally acting as if he believed that St. Pierre was overrated. In doing so, he set the stage for the REAL drama of the fight: Could Hardy get the “moral victory” of surviving against GSP’s relentless assault, or would he wilt under the pressure, like Matt Serra and BJ Penn before him? Most fans figured that he would not, especially if GSP “brought it.” To them, Hardy was a pretender, a challenger chosen because of his charisma, his nationality, and his novelty, who would be exposed as unworthy inside of three rounds. And while that came close to happening, those fans didn’t account for Hardy’s grit and toughness, which turned a lot of the fans who were booing him lustily before the fight, and chanting that he sucked during the fight, into fans who cheered for him after the closing horn.

What happens next for Hardy is largely in his hands. He will need a high-profile fight, preferably against an opponent for whom Hardy’s penchant for verbal mindgames will be well-received by fans. If Paul Daley, his teammate, can put down Josh Koscheck, that would be perfect, as Daley would likely be slotted in as the next Welterweight Title challenger, and Koz could be a worthy foil for Hardy’s brand of prefight trash-talk. Plus, that would put Rough House Gym up 2-0 on AKA, which could set up an IFL-style sweep for the British camp.

3. Rousimar Palhares screwed himself out of a Submission of the Night bonus – If GSP represented one end of the spectrum when it came to poise, Palhares represented the other, cranking feverishly on the leg of his opponent, Tomasz Drwal, which not only elicited an emphatic tapout, but appeared to seriously injure Drwal’s leg. As he writhed in pain, discussion shifted to why Palhares had to be pried off of him by the referee, as replays demonstrated that Drwal had been tapping for 3-5 seconds before the hold was released. This was not a Frank Mir-Tim Sylvia or Shinya Aoki-Mizuto Hirota situation, where a fighter was forced to break his opponent’s arm to get the fight stopped; it was a fighter ignoring a referee’s instruction while his defeated opponent is helpless. While I would like to believe that this was the result of overzealousness and aggressiveness, rather than viciousness and brutality, I respect Zuffa’s decision to not reward Palhares’ behavior with a Submission of the Night bonus. While the fight was certainly a highlight, the refusal to release the hold was one of the night’s lowlights.

4. Jersey was definitely in the House – By my count, only one NJ-based fighter lost, Kurt Pelligrino teammate Greg Soto. But for the rest — the aforementioned Pellegrino, “Big Dog” Ricardo Almeida, and Jim Miller — their UFC-oriented homecomings were quite fruitful. Almeida was quite impressive in his SpikeTV showcase, dismantling super-tough Matt Brown, and Pellegrino braved the submission storm of Fabricio Camoes before dropping him on his head, and unleashing a jujitsu onslaught of his own. That earned Pelligrino the Submission of the Night bonus, good for $65K and a TON of respect. (Now he just needs a better nickname than “Batman” — we’ll call him “K-Woww” for now.) Jim Miller got a bit of a hometown decision (though not quite “the Robbery”), but his back-and-forth scrap with Mark Bocek stole the show, and should have warranted a $65K bonus as well. My only lament? No Jersey Shore cast members at Ringside. I’d have loved to see “The Answer” side by side with “The Situation.” Next up, hopefully, for these guys are higher-profile matchups. I’d love to see Miller lock up with Clay Guida or Sean Sherk next, while Pelligrino could face the winner of this week’s Gleison Tibau vs. Caol Uno fight. As for Almeida, hopefully a fight against Jon Fitch is in his future.

5. Sloppy standup defines Hamman-Wallace “Fight of the Night” – Maybe I’m turning into a bit of a snob, but as fun of a fight as Hamman-Wallace was to watch, it struck me as something I’d see on a Strikeforce Challenger series, rather than a UFC, event. While I’m sure that the live crowd dug these guys duking it out, the fight was neither technical nor multifaceted, and with Rodney Wallace sucking wind since late in the first round, while Joe Rogan explained that his muscle-bound frame drained his cardio, it didn’t feel like MMA at the highest level. And by and large, in deciding between two entertaining fights, the one that is higher level should be declared the Fight of the Night. Both guys, however, proved super-tough, even if they aren’t currently true “UFC caliber” fighters.

6. Nate Diaz may work out at Welterweight – Normally, fighters drop weight when they see their careers plateau, but in the case of Nate Diaz, we’re talking about a fighter who is still growing, and whose ideal frame likely supports more than 155 pounds. His brother Nick has experienced a bit of a career renaissance by returning to his natural weight of 170, and Nate, who seems to be emulating his brother’s career in many ways, might be better served by staying in the division. His boxing looked improved, and while his achilles heel has always been his defensive wrestling, his ground game is stellar, and his reach advantage over Rory Markham made a big difference. Diaz might not have the reach advantage in many fights, but in the fights that he does have one, he should be able to use his jab, and his active hands to stifle and stultify midlevel opposition. I’d like to see him against Chris Lytle next; that would probably lead to fireworks, and net the two a Fight of the Night bonus.

7. Carwin-Lesnar is going to be HUGE – Shane Carwin continues to defy the odds, crushing everyone he steps into the cage against in less than a round. When he unleashed a flurry of fists on Frank Mir, leaving the former World Champion prostrate on the mat, he made a lot of his doubters take notice. The anticipated face-to-face confrontation between the Heavyweight Champion and “Make-Believe” Heavyweight Champion was probably the high point of the night, as they declared their mutual intention to give the other a bad night this coming July. Sure questions persist about Carwin’s gas tank, and about Lesnar’s recovery from diverticulosis, but there’s no denying that these two behemoths plan on swinging heavy leather, and having a epic clash of titans. Dana White is probably counting the dollars and PPV buys as we speak. One thing that I noticed, however, was that Brock seemed bigger than Carwin. All this time, the conventional wisdom was that Carwin was the slightly bigger man, while Lesnar was quicker and more athetic. If Lesnar has the size, speed, an athleticism advantage, then Carwin will have to rely upon his punching power to supplant the Next Big Thing as UFC Heavyweight Champion.

8. What’s next for Frank Mir – Frank is probably the best talker in the heavyweight division, and there’s no denying that he can make even a bounceback fight with Cheick Kongo into a meaningful contest. That said, his obsession with fighting Lesnar was more interesting when Brock was the blemish on an otherwise perfect recent record, and he seemed to be improving in all facets. Now that he has been summarily whipped by Carwin, it’s hard to say how the fans will accept him and his story arc. First it was about redemption, then it was about revenge, and now it’s about…I just don’t know. Sure there are fights for him — he could entertain a rematch against Nogueira, but there are a lot of risks in that proposition for whichever fighter loses. He could face Gabriel Gonzaga in a bounceback fight, battle an up and comer, or wait for Lesnar-Carwin, and try to get in a rematch against the loser. But those fights don’t offer Mir the opportunity to stay relevant in the heavyweight division, as Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos are ahead of him in the queue, and prospects like Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, and Todd Duffee bubble beneath him. Maybe he should face James Toney…

9. Jon Fitch runs in place – The neurological issues that scrapped the highly-anticipated 2/3 Matchup of Fitch and Alves may have provided an opportunity for Ben Saunders to ingratiate himself to Zuffa brass, and score credit for surviving for 15 minutes, but for Jon Fitch, it denied him the opportunity to measure himself against the recent exploits of the current champ. If he looked impressive in defeating Pitbull Alves, maybe he’d be next in line if a title shot fell through. But instead, by grinding out yet another in a seemingly endless line of decision wins, Fitch allowed himself to be put into the role of divisional nuisance. The UFC can’t afford to have him knock off potential title challengers, and his unwillingness to face AKA teammates gives Dana White an excuse to deride his commitment to being the champion. Make no mistake about it, this is a red herring, because beating Josh Koscheck or Mike Swick won’t enhance his resume substantially, as much as it will just weaken the bonds of a camp that has proven hard for Dana to deal with over the years. Hopefully Fitch doesn’t get frozen out and relegated to prelims for his next couple of fights until they can thaw him out to make the Alves fight; a fight with Almeida would afford both fighters the opportunity to stay active, and stay on the minds of the fanbase.

Don’t forget to rate all the fights from UFC 111