It didn't take a genius to see Mirko Filipovic's hesitance in his UFC 103 bout with "Minotauro" Nogueira's protege Junior dos Santos.  At times, Cro Cop found success with a straight left (leaving the Brazilian with some nasty lacerations and contusions to deal with in the morning), but he eventually settled into a pattern of pushing the Brazilian off whenever he closed in.

FightMetric has released their report for the fight this week, and the numbers are staggering.

Consider this: Cro Cop threw a total of 51 strikes throughout the entire bout. Meanwhile, dos Santos landed 83 of his own.  "Cigano" saw the lion's share of his success going to the body where he landed 49 of 61 strikes (80%), 29 of those landed being power shots.

Full stats:

Strikes by area

Strikes by round

UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort coverage

Photo via www.sherdog.com

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him
'Til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains

-Simon and Garfunkel, The Boxer

My sense of compassion hit me a minute-and-a-half into the third round when Junior dos Santos, a big buck of a Brazilian, landed a devastating knee to the face of Mirko Cro Cop.  In that instant, all the questions surrounding the Croatian's future were answered.

The following thirty seconds became the final period to the novel of Cro Cop's career.  He stumbled back with a look in his eyes that told me he had no more left to give.  When dos Santos latched on the Muay Thai plum, I begged for a merciful finish.  It became clear to me that Cro Cop had lost not only his physical strength, but his will to fight.

The ultimate ending proved anti-climatic as Cro Cop pushed dos Santos away - his most effective technique throughout the bout - and motioned to the referee that he had had enough.  Filipovic may not have uttered Roberto Duran's infamous "no mas", but his words following the event gave me the same feeling:

I’ve been living a military life for 20 years now. Getting up at 6 A.M. and having physically challenging task up to 8 P.M. I want a normal life. I’m entering a cage and thinking about fishing in Privlaka. You can’t win that way. Maybe I should’ve quit after I won the open weight grand prix.

Yet, before he leaves the sport for good, I want to see Cro Cop fight Randy Couture.  It's the fight the UFC angled for when they brought Mirko in from Pride and Couture held the heavyweight strap.  It's a fight that still means something now.  Bill it as the final UFC vs. Pride dream match.  Bill it as two fading legends looking to go out on top.  Bill it as a celebration of two men who helped build the sport of MMA in their own unique way. 

Enjoy the fish in Privlaka, Mirko.

The Event:

• Live Results and Commentary -- Brent Brookhouse
  
• Vitor Belfort Smashes Rich Franklin in Round One -- Luke Thomas
• Junior dos Santos Stops Mirko CroCop in War of Attrition -- Luke Thomas

• Martin Kampmann Can't Take the Left Hooks of Paul Daley -- Luke Thomas

• Josh Koscheck Demolishes Frank Trigg Easily -- Luke Thomas

• Tyson Griffin KOs Hermes Franca in Two -- Luke Thomas

• Efrain Escudero Knocks Out Cole Miller In The First Round -- Kelvin Hunt
• Tomasz Drwal Chokes Out Drew McFedries In The Second Round -- Kelvin Hunt
  

• UFC 103 bonuses and awards for ‘Franklin vs Belfort’ PPV fights -- MMA Mania

Multimedia:

• UFC 103 in Photos

• More UFC 103 Photogalleries

Post-Fight Analysis:

• UFC 103: Franklin vs. Belfort Post-Fight Analysis and Recap -- Mike Fagan

• Poor Gameplans Lead to Unsettling Performances at UFC 103 -- Leland Roling

• UFC 103 Post Fight: Dana White, Efrain Escudero, Paul Daley, Josh Koscheck, Junior dos Santos, Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort -- Anton Tabuena

• Is There Anyone Left to Fight Georges St. Pierre? -- Michael Rome

• Paul Daley took care of business against Martin Kampmann at UFC 103 -- Jesse Holland

• UFC 103 results recap and post-fight discussion for ‘Franklin vs Belfort’ -- MMA Mania

• Former Affliction fighters shine through at UFC 103 -- Zak Woods

• Franklin vs. Beflort and UFC 103 Hangover -- Zak Woods
• Night of Knock Outs -- Zak Woods

• Rick Story Cashes in With Two Fight Bonuses Following Victory -- Mike Chiapetta

• Contenders State Cases -- Dave Meltzer
  

Vitor Belfort and The Middleweight Title Picture:

• Whether new or old, Belfort is back -- Dave Meltzer

• Did A "New" Vitor Belfort Show Up At UFC 103? -- Kelvin Hunt

• Who's next at middleweight? -- Zak Woods
• Dana White: Vitor Belfort is ready to fight Anderson Silva -- Jesse Holland

• Belfort rises above other middleweight contenders -- Sergio Non

What's Next for Junior dos Santos and Mirko Cro Cop:

• Junior Dos Santos is now a senior ranking heavyweight -- Jesse Holland

• Mirko Cro Cop: ‘Maybe I should’ve quit after I won’ Pride FC Open Weight Grand Prix in 2006 -- MMA Mania

• Dos Santos Hopes to Follow Teammates Silva, Nogueira as Champ -- Mike Chiapetta

Mayweather vs Marquez:

• Juan Manuel Marquez Crushed By Floyd Mayweather, but Dana White Unimpressed -- Luke Thomas

• Who is More Guilty of Hype? UFC or Boxing? -- Cage Side Seats

• CompuBox: The Numbers Behind Mayweather's Dominance -- Bad Left Hook

• Mayweather overwhelmingly routs Marquez over 12 rounds in Vegas -- Bad Left Hook

• Live Boxing Results and Commentary: Floyd Mayweather Jr. v. Juan Manuel Marquez -- Bad Left Hook

Continue reading this post »

~ Camp Statistics for UFC 103 ~

I will wage this war alone if need be. This indignation regarding our current position comes not in any part from a particular prowess shown by our competition in this game; it is resultant solely from our own inabilities to capitalize and the chances we have missed. The smallest personal joy they feel from this tiniest of things is something I find unacceptable. Half of the season is now over. Let us finally get started.

And now Fightlinker has joined the Playground game with a camp of their own. Good luck with all that I suppose.

Johnnychimpo is our camp leader for UFC 103 on points with 79 awarded through correct fight predictions. Those 79 points are good enough for 58th out of the 4820 who participated in the event. Johnnychimpo has 236 total points for the season; phantasma475, however, has the camp leading 327 with 5 events remaining.

In terms of fake cash, ABS363 earned $5,833 from a $1,915 straight bet on Paul Daley. That is good for 30th out of the 4857 who bet on the event. At mid-season ABS363 has totaled $7,748 in earnings. Sandbox23 leads the camp with $114,936.

Important: If you wish to join the BE betting camp, send me a message on MMA Playground with your BE user name or leave a comment in this thread so I can send you an invite. Please make sure your MMA Playground login name is the same as your BE name or as close as possible so we can give you the proper credit.

Betting Game Primer / UFC 102 Results / UFC 101 Results / UFC 100 Results

Continue reading this post »

Dan Rafael reports:

Mayweather put on a pure boxing clinic, pasting Juan Manuel Marquez in as comprehensive a performance as you will ever see in a unanimous decision victory before 13,116 (mostly Marquez fans on Mexican Independence Day weekend) on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

There wasn't one minute of true competition in the fight, as Mayweather simply ran roughshod over the smaller man.

"I've been off for two years so I felt like it took me a couple rounds to really know I was back in the ring again," he said. "And I know I'll get better."

That's the scary part. But the frustrating part was he missed a golden opportunity to close the show in style.

He left Marquez's face a swollen mess. Gave him a bloody nose, too. Oh, and he also deposited him on the canvas in the second round after landing a hybrid left hook/uppercut on Marquez's chin.

It wasn't just that Mayweather was bigger; he was also more technical and faster. The numbers, particularly in this case, do not lie:

Still, the CompuBox statistics were eye-catching in their landslide nature.

Mayweather landed 290 of 493 (59 percent) blows to Marquez's 69 of 583 (12 percent). Mayweather's jab was also dominant as he connected with 185 of 316 (59 percent) to Marquez's 21 of 288 (7 percent).

As for entertainment value, my sense of things is that the fight was captivating in its domination if predictable after a few rounds. Mayweather did turn up the heat in the later rounds, something he can do but generally avoids, but was never able to put Marquez away. That result prompted Dana White to offer a rather unfair, less than complimentary review of the fight:

"It sucked just like I thought it would, just like I knew it would," White said of Mayweather’s unanimous decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez in his first fight in nearly two years.

"It was a horrendous. It went to a 12-round boring decision."

As for what's next, Bad Left Hook takes a look at possible contenders. Like Atlas, most fans want Pacquiao to defeat Cotto thereby setting up a mega fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

So the obvious question: who won the night, UFC 103 or boxing? We'll have to be patient as the true PPV numbers roll in, but the early (if somewhat crude) signs of Google trends point toward Mayweather winning the day:

If we have to pick a winner judging from the top ten its a decision for Mayweather/Marquez. The return of ‘Money’ Mayweather to the ring gets the top spot–specifically the term ‘Mayweather vs Marquez play by play’. The UFC shows up in 7th place with ‘Rich Franklin vs Vitor Belfort fight video’, but boxing gets another term in the top ten with ‘Shane Mosley’. Mosley challenged Mayweather in the ring after his dominating unanimous decision victory.

When they first announced Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann as a number one contender's match at 170, I scoffed, knowing that neither was remotely in the class of the champion.  When Swick was replaced with Daley, I immediately suspected that Daley had more than a puncher's chance, and could ruin the UFC's well-laid plans to fool people into thinking Swick or Kampmann was a legitimate contender.  

Here is where we stand.  Georges St. Pierre is the champion, and he's aiming for a return early in 2010.  Martin Kampmann is out as a contender, Thiago Alves just lost, Jon Fitch lost much worse, Matt Hughes has lost twice, Mike Swick is a pretty unimpressive 9-1 in the UFC, and Josh Koscheck just came off a loss with a gimme win over Frank Trigg.

There's a young class of welterweights that could eventually be contenders if they shore up holes in their game.  This class includes Anthony Johnson, Paul Daley, Dustin Hazelett, and Jake Shields.  Shields has ensured that he won't fight in the UFC anytime soon by signing a title fight with Strikeforce.  If he wins he's locked in a championship clause, if he loses the fight with GSP loses its appeal.

I don't really know what the answer is.  I've long advocated for St. Pierre to try his hand at middleweight, though it's clear that there are a number of people opposed to him moving up in weight.  He could potentially try his hand against Michael Bisping or Wanderlei Silva while the contenders at 170 sort themselves out, like Anderson did against Forrest Griffin.  I'm not opposed to rematches for Fitch and Alves, but they have to win a few in impressive fashion to earn those rematches.

Internally, I am sure they are praying for Almeida to beat Jon Fitch in November.  I think it's pretty unlikely, but it could happen.  If it does they will have a new contender, but how long can they play this game of desperately searching for contenders before fans stop buying it?

-Let the parade of "old Vitor is back" begin.  One thing I glossed over in my gambling analysis is Belfort's reliance on patient counter punching in his last few fights.  When Mike Goldberg told us to watch for Belfort to blitz, I informed the people I watched the fight with that there would be no such thing.  Instead Vitor came out reserved, made Franklin miss, and capitalized with his left hand. 

-Rich is super durable, and he got a little unlucky getting caught right on or behind the ear which probably threw his equilibrium way out of whack.  A couple of the big bombs Vitor landed following the knockdown looked to hit him square in the back of the head too. 

-I think the pre and post show talk from the UFC shows that they've been hesitant about giving Henderson or Marquardt a title shot because they want to bank on a Silva/Belfort title showdown. 

-While I won't call for him to retire, I'm not sure where Mirko Cro Cop goes from here.  It's fair to say that he'll never see a title shot within the duration of his current contract.  I'd like to see him fight Randy Couture, though I expect him to be used as a special attraction on Euro shows outside of that.

-Junior dos Santos showed what he needed to show tonight.  He looked tired in the final frame, but still fought effectively.  His chin stood up very well and he reacted well (i.e. no reaction) to the sight of his own blood.  I'd like to see him fight the winner of Velasquez/Rothwell or Kongo/Mir.

-Nice to see Tyson Griffin get the finishing monkey off his back, especially against someone as tough as Hermes Franca.  It's hard to make a bad matchup at 155, and there's 10-15 guys he could reasonably fight next.  Nate Diaz called out Dana and Joe to give him top competition, and that fight makes sense from a scheduling perspective.

-I thought both the Trigg and Kampmann stoppages were warranted live.  As Joe said, Kampmann might have been given a couple extra shots, but I certainly can't fault Yves Lavigne in that situation.  Trigg, however, looked done to me.  Koscheck had him pinned up in an exposed position and unloaded some bombs straight to his face.  Almost looked like a repeat of the Trigg/Lawler fight.  Unconscious or not, he didn't appear to be fighting back whatsoever.

-I'll own up to the Kampmann loss.  Admittedly, I've been aware of his tendency to take shots to the face, but I let my mancrush on him overshadow those deficiencies.  It surprised me that Kampmann had trouble bringing Daley to the floor, and the Brit made him pay for it.

-Goldberg followed up a bad Fight Night performance with an even worse performance here.  I found myself repeatedly putting my head in my hands, begging Vitor's God for mercy.  I understand people hold some nostalgic feelings for him, but the man's job is to describe things to other people and he can't do it.  I also have a bone to pick with Joe Rogan.  Vitor Belfort is not literally twice as fast as other human beings.

-It's bad enough that the UFC continues to advertise to people who are PURCHASING their product, but do they really have to continue showing us clips from crappy B-action movies?  For all their monumental financial growth and preoccupation with legitimizing the sport, this stuff comes off extremely bush league.

-To end on a happier note, I hope we get to see more free prelims on Spike.  It just makes sense for everyone.  More free content for fans.  Exposure for the fighters.  A good lead-in to the pay-per-view.  I'm not sure who loses on this deal unless Zuffa's really hard up for the $54 they'll make on those fights from the UFC Vault.

Photo via www.combatlifestyle.com

Is the old Vitor back? No, the new Vitor is here.

After a feeling out period where Vitor held his stance as if he was Lyoto Machida, it turned out it was only a matter of time.

There wasn't much to the story except that the stories of Vitor's evolution are not overstated. While a left hand grazed the back of Franklin's head, his follow up was dogged enough to make it count with over committing.

Franklin crumbled face forward and could offer not resistance. Belfort followed up with punches on a Franklin on all fours before the referee was forced to stop the fight.

And now Anderson Silva has a contender. While this fight was at 195, the wins Vitor has put together cannot be contested. Vitor has stopped three UFC caliber opposition in a row and done so by finishing them all. While there is still a question of how he'll do against someone the caliber of the greatest pound for pound fighter on the planet, Belfort has clearly put himself in a position to be a viable opponent worthy of the Anderson Silva challenge.

Referee Yves Lavigne stops the fight at 3:02 of the very first round. Huge, huge win for "The Phenom".