The UFC hit The Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado Saturday night, and featured a much anticipated rematch between Ben Henderson and Frankie “The Answer” Edgar for the Lightweight Championship, with the winner due to meet Nate Diaz by years end. Here are the highs and lows of that night’s fights:
The Highs
22 year old Jackson’s MMA prospect Erik Perez continued his rapid ascent in the Bantamweight division, as he took just 17 seconds to knock out ATT fighter Ken Stone in brutal fashion. From one performance to the next Perez’s improvement has been very noticeable. I’m really looking forward to his next fight. Hopefully he will be matched against someone a little higher in the rankings than Ken Stone.
Dutch Judoka Michael Kuiper was dominant last night in a second round stoppage of Jared Hamman. The referee could have stopped the fight much much earlier, as Hamman was being rocked with nearly every strike Kuiper threw. At 23, Kuiper has a lot of time left to improve, and maybe he would be better off relocating to America and joining a solid team, as a fighter seldom becomes successful in the UFC without a big camp.
Since losing out in the Ultimate Fighter 14 finale to Diego Brandao, Dennis Bermudez has been on a tear, looking more and more complete in each performance. After rag-dolling Pablo Garza earlier this year, he made another statement against Tommy Hayden on Saturday night. Despite taking a early knee to the face, Bermudez recovered and locked in a Guillotine choke in the opening round.
In a battle of up-and-comers, Max Holloway faced Justin Lawrence, and in a decent scrap, the Hawaiian Holloway finished Lawrence with a devastating body punch. At just 20 years of age, the sky is the limit for Holloway, and the fight I would love to see for him next is against Bermudez. This would be a great test for both fighters — to see how Holloway’s takedown defence is, and to see how Bermudez deals with a rangy fighter.
The Lows
Nothing annoys me more than fans booing during every lull in action, and once again it happened during the event, especially during the Jake Shields vs. Ed Herman fight. Fans love to hate Shields but I personally love the way he takes fights to the ground with his trips and how he dominates in top control. I don’t know what the fans expected from the fight anyhow, as Herman vs. Shields isn’t exactly a style match up made for excitement.
Melvin Guillard and Donald Cerrone was a great one-round display of back and forth violence, and Cerrone, as he usually does, looked great. The reason this fight didn’t reach my highs list was the frustrating Melvin Guillard. He has talent in abundance, but always gets over-eager and caught. It has happened in 3 of his last 4 fights, and I don’t really know what he will do next in his career. I can see him fleeing the Blackzillians, joining back up with Greg Jackson, and hopefully going back to his successful ways, but Melvin is so unpredictable you never know what he’ll do next.
“Robbery” was the consensus amongst MMA journalists Saturday night in regard to the decision in the fight between Ben Henderson and Frankie Edgar, and although I scored it 49-46 in favour of Edgar, I wouldn’t call it a “robbery.” These things happen in MMA. Unfortunately for Frankie, the judges weren’t in his favour, but in the past he was on the winning side of controversial decisions, most notably his UFC 112 fight with BJ Penn, so he just needs to move on. If he wins his next fight he will be right back in line for a title shot, and I see the UFC matching him up with Clay Guida. As for “Bendo,”he has a big fight ahead of him, as he is due to face Nate Diaz later this year in what is sure to be an amazing fight.
