UFC 124 Round Up

- St. Pierre in Another Snoozer -

GSP is afraid to take chances

   In the build up to this fight much ado was made of a supposed “fiery and passionate” Georges St. Pierre. Multiple articles on Sherdog and Yahoo Sports were written on it, and commentators like Joe Rogan and Kevin Iole even pointed out how this was allegedly the angriest St. Pierre we had seen, and it would surely translate into a monstrous performance driven by a desire to punish the trash talking Josh Koscheck.

   Well, surprise surprise, all of that turned out to be nothing more than the standard pre-event hypebole from the usual suspects of Zuffa shillery. What the fans saw during UFC 124’s main event was the lamentable sight of what was once an exciting MMA fighter that has since been gelded by Greg Jackson’s style of decision based game planning.

   Fans around the world sat with folded arms, patiently waiting for the champion Georges St. Pierre to boldly defend his title from the trash talking challenger who had disrespected his French-Canadian ethnicity during pre fight build up, but nothing significant ever materialized. Instead the fight unfolded as a twenty five minute jab-a-thon with all the urgency of a dark match on a regional card. This did not feel like a championship fight between two elite fighters. Koscheck couldn’t do anything and St. Pierre had no interest in doing anything. Even in fighting a half blinded opponent after Koscheck’s eye swelled up almost immediately, St. Pierre refused to turn up the heat. When any other fighter would have pounced on his opponent’s weakness, St. Pierre, in classic Greg Jackson style, simply stayed the course and rode out a steady as she goes decision, disappointing fans around the world in the process.

   The old Georges St. Pierre who mauled Sean Sherk, trashed Jay Heiron, and pounded Travis Galbraith is gone, replaced by a meek imposter. The once wild boar with its aggressive instinct, razor tusks, and fiery eyes has become a bloated pink bellied pig, fat and lazy off the slop of farmer Jackson. If a steady pay check is what St. Pierre wants, perhaps a nine to five desk job may be more appropriate, and a lot safer for a man seemingly terrified to take a risk in a sport that is supposed to be inherently risky.

- UFC Heavyweight Roster Proven A Joke... Again -

34 year old Internet Troll Sean McCorkle

   As if bringing in Sean Gannon based off of a youtube fight video wasn't bad enough, the UFC stooped even lower by signing internet troll Sean McCorkle, and now that he has been thoroughly spanked by Stefan Struve, a fighter who struggles against even sub-par opposition, as demonstrated in his knockout defeat to Roy Nelson, lets see if Zuffa will send him back to internet forum flaming where he belongs.

   The UFC heavyweight division is in a miserable state, and what an admission of this fact the co-main event of UFC 124 was. A clash between thirty four year old internet troll Sean McCorkle and Stefan Struve, whose notable victories are over no names like Christian Mooecraft and Chase Gormley, is what passes as a co-main event in the UFC nowadays? How absurd that these are the kinds of heavyweights that are being tailored for a title shot while simultaneously UFC president Dana White is verbally attacking rival organization Strikeforce as a “minor league promotion.” I guess a stable which includes MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko, MMA and K-1 champion Alistair Overeem, and Fabricio Werdum is of lesser renown than one consisting of a hodgepodge of WWE wrestlers, untested paper tigers, aging internet trolls, and obese pro wrestling wannabes.

   By now it is abundantly clear that any heavyweight MMA fighter who wishes to prove himself great must do so by fighting competition outside of the UFC, as it is impossible to prove anything of significance against the likes of the current UFC heavyweight roster.

- Matchmaker Joe Silva Again Plays the Fool -

Joe Silva's Incompetence Sabotaged Oliveira's Career

   UFC match maker Joe Silva has once again proven himself a fool entirely incapable of properly grooming a potential star. Just as he threw the rising prospect John Hathaway to be torn apart by the crafty Mike Pyle, he again repeated this lunacy by prematurely matching a young prospect with loads of potential against a grizzled veteran fighter. Charles Oliveira in his two previous UFC fights demonstrated a unique dynamism that the majority of fighters simply don’t have, a mixture of seamless striking and grappling which is as appealing to the fans as it is effective in the cage. So what does Joe Silva do with this potential star? He matches him up against the worst possible opponent for him at this point in his career.

   Jim Miller is a top tier grappler, both offensively and defensively, with a strong wrestling base and competent striking. While Oliveira had much hype surrounding him coming in, he had not faced anyone with even close to the skill set of Jim Miller. This fight really could not have gone any other way. At this point in his career Oliveira does not have the power to knockout Jim Miller, he does not have the grappling to submit him, nor does he have the wrestling to dictate where the fight happens, so how did Joe Silva think this fight would be competitive? This is not how you treat a young prospect with potential star qualities, this is how you treat a one-and-done body brought in as a showcase opponent. So because Joe Silva is an incompetent matchmaker, Oliveira must now attempt to bounce back from being dominated by an established veteran at such a pivotal point in his young career.

- Enough of TUF -

TUF continues to ruin the sport

   Danzig’s knockout of Stevenson was an awkward back pedaling jab that seemed it would have struggled with the cracking of an egg, but it was enough to win this fight which epitomized what so many UFC fights are nowadays, a clash between two TUF alumni with names bigger than their abilities. Joe Stevenson and Mac Danzig are regional show quality fighters who get opportunities on the main card because the common fan is familiar with them, and this name recognition may help to push a few more pay-per-view sales. This is fine if you are a Zuffa big wig that gets a cut of the PPV cash, but to the MMA fan who pays to see high level fighters, its an outrage that this is what gets pushed by the self proclaimed “super bowl of MMA.”

   It raises an important question: How many times can an organization promote c-level fighters before that organization becomes a c-level promotion?

- In Summary -

Strikeforce is gunning for the UFC

   Overall, UFC 124 was yet another paint by numbers event. The majority of the UFC has become staler than week old bread. Too many events, too many TUF’ers, too much hesitation, too much decision based game planning, simply put: Just too much. It is vital at this point in time for Zuffa to scale back operations and have events only once a month, although this seems unlikely with the WEC merger, and instead fans will probably be subjected to more filler and a whole new division for TUF losers to water down.

   In order to maintain some level of relevance, Zuffa must weed out sub par TUF fighters and totally rework their abysmal heavyweight roster. If they want to bill themselves as the world’s elite MMA organization, then they had better start proving the title, and a stable full of TUF rejects is not going to cut it. The fact is that TUF has proven itself a complete failure in terms of producing high level talent, instead generating gatekeepers at best, and utter wash outs at worst.

   Strikeforce has long since surpassed the UFC in the heavyweight division, and now is making tremendous gains in other divisions as well. The passed five UFC’s combined could not match the excitement generated by Strikeforce’s latest event, and with the next UFC card scheduled to be headlined by a twenty five minute fight between perennial snoozers Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, its hard to see anything but further disappointment in the UFC’s future. The hardcore fans have long since known this, but one has to wonder what will happen when the casual fan discovers it.