Another Great Night for UFC

a blog by La Kifo

If you had the pleasure of watching UFC 199 last night, then you don't need me to tell you it was fucking awesome. 

Every good UFC event gets the juices flowing from the Preliminary fights. It is not in any way an indication of how entertaining the fights to come will be, but a few good prelim bouts can really make a difference. UFC 199 had a couple of very good finishes in the prelims. I was not entirely paying attention to any of the prelims but the final prelim, Brian Ortega v. Clay Guida was an electric finish. The third round saw each fighter exchanging right hands. Ortega clearing was looking to set up a knee to the head as he launched two towards Guida, one landed to the body of Guida and the other, a flying knee, missed Guidas head. Guida then throws a right in response, as Guida moved into range towards Ortega to land the punch he ducked and moved to his left. As Guida did this, Ortega throw a nasty knee that landed clean on the chin of Guida. Guida's head as he ducked, moved right into the knee of Ortega sending him limp down to the mat. Ortega would finish him there and win the bout in the third round. 

That fight set the tone for the main card, after seeing that finish in a fight where the loser had won the prior two rounds prepared me for what was to come.

Max Holloway v. Ricardo Lamas was a hell of a fight. One of the greatest decision bouts I have seen in my life. The final seconds of the 3rd round is something people will see for years and years to come. The two stood in the center of the octagon, put their gloves to their sides and just began to throw hay-makers at each other. It was brilliant, beautiful, and insane. Max Holloway had a clear advantage and win on the score cards, even though Ricardo Lamas fought very well in the final two rounds. Even with the clear win in his pocket, Max Holloway allowed his opponent an opportunity to land a big fuck you on his chin. That didn't happen, but the two threw and landed some cool looking punches. Max Holloway won his 10th consecutive fight, making him the greatest challenger to featherweight division champion Conor McGregor. That is a fight I would do almost anything to see. Hopefully, McGregor gets beat at lightweight again by Nate Diaz at UFC 202 and decides to stick with the featherweights. So far, no one has been able to competitively challenge Conor McGregor at 145, but before Conor departs from 145 I would like to see him fight Holloway and/or Dominick Cruz. 

Now onto my pre-pay-per-view fight Dominick Cruz v. Urijah Faber. It was hard not to get hyped over this fight. I'm not gonna get into the particulars of this fight because I already did. Dominick Cruz looked different from the opening round. He moved more fluidly, his punches had more power and he managed to take get in some good exchanges on the ground with the wrestling specialist Faber. In the second round, Cruz landed a clean right hand to face of Faber, knocking him to his ass. Cruz then charged and Faber landed a very nice push kick while on his back right under the chin of Cruz. That was the last "significant" strike that Faber landed. The rest of fight was all Cruz. His movement and unorthodox stance proved to much for Faber as he couldn't find any patterns to time up his punches. The fight ended in unanimous decision, Cruz the victor. The interesting part of this fight was even though Cruz did not absorb a lot of damage, he did seem hurt at the end of the fight. In the forth round, Cruz landed a combination that pushed Fabers back against the cage. As Faber stuck his hands up in defense, Cruz viciously teed off. After that exchange up against the cage, Cruz backed off and seemed to be laboring his right hand. He threw his right hand significantly less after that point and stretched/flexed it multiple times before the end of the fight. Joe Rogan on the broadcast was nearly convinced he had injured the hand. Today, it looks like nothing significant has happened to Cruz's hand, but that is something I am going to be looking out for. Another intriguing aspect of Cruz's win, where will he go from here? I've heard him say in an interview that cutting weight to get to 135 has been trouble for him. Will he go up to 145 and challenge McGregors featherweight belt? Or will he stay to fight Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson? Either of those fights would be must watch television, now it's up to Dana White to decide whom Cruz will face next. 

The final fight of the evening was shocking to say the least. It pitted Luke Rockhold against Michael Bisping. Bisping took the fight on 17 days notice, when Chris Weidman dropped out of the event due to injury. Everyone, including myself thought Bisping had zero chance. I thought so little of the main event, that I didn't even bother doing a write up about it. Bispings last fight was extremely controversial. He defeated Anderson Silvia in a split decision that could have gone either way. In reality, Bisping lost that fight. Silva toyed with Bisping the entire time and walked away with a tiny paper cut. While Bisping looked like Heath Ledgers Joker had a little fun with him.  At the same time, the fight was extremely close. So his chances were very grim when it came to this fight. The early part of the first round looked to confirm masses theories. Rockhold threw a number of powerful leg kicks, that had Bisping on the retreat. Yet, halfway through the first round, Bisping threw a stray left hook that landed as clear as day to the cheek of Rockhold. The strike stunned Rockhold as he lost his balance and tumbled backwards, landing his butt to the mat and his back to the cage. Bisping charged and seemingly knocked Rockhold out multiple times as he near lifelessly sat limp up against the cage. Big John McCarthy had to step in and throw Bisping to the side as the entire worlds jaw sat on the ground. 

With 199 over and finished, we have 200 to look forward to. Only a month away, the card is stacked and the UFC just announced they will be adding Brock Lesnar to the card. They also released a teaser trailer to get us warmed up. I got nothing else on the fights, the main card was aMAZing and I am unbelievably pumped for 200 whether The Boys go to Vegas or not, it's gonna be lit.