Mike Chiappetta takes a stab at it and comes away scratching his head and wondering what fight the judges were watching:
Vera stopped most of Couture's takedowns. He landed the only damaging blows of the fight. He knocked Couture down. He earned a takedown of his own and moved to the full mount.
Aside from an early clinch flurry in the third, Couture's main offense consisted of closing the distance, holding Vera against the cage, and searching for a way to take him down. As executing game plans go, you can't say he was successful in doing anything but slowing Vera down. You can say he dictated the tempo. You can say slowed the pace. You can't say he hurt or even rattled Vera.
The critique focuses on the first and third rounds:
The judges scored the first round for Couture. I'd just like to know why? Couture spent almost the entire round in a futile clinch (4:34 of the round, according to FanHouse's unofficial count). He finally took Vera down, but couldn't even hold him there for 10 seconds. He didn't land a single power strike in the round. What did he do to win the round?
FanHouse unofficially counted the landed strikes as 7-7. Couture's takedown was nullified by Vera's rapid escape. Neither man could get any real offense started, and it should have been a 10-10 round. Couture supporters will object, saying he exhibited "octagon control," but failed takedowns do not constitute any type of control, and neither do they deserve a reward....
FanHouse unofficially gave Couture an 11-10 advantage in strikes in the third, but Vera the edge in power punching, scoring the most significant blow of the round with a knee to the body. And this time, it was Vera getting the takedown. So here's my biggest issue with the decision: If the judges gave Couture the close first round because of a takedown as the decisive factor, shouldn't the close third have gone into Vera's column for the same reason?
I have to agree with Chiappetta here. In UFC 104's Machida vs Shogun fight, at least the judges were able to present a coherent argument for why they scored the fight the way they did: Machida won the first three rounds based on the premise that shots to the head outweigh shots to the legs and body.
In this fight, the judges apparently gave Couture the first round based on one premise -- that a take down scores points -- and yet refused to give Vera the third round on that same premise.
I'm not too worked up about Vera losing this decision though. It will hopefully be a wake up call for him. He has had a manifest reluctance to pull the trigger and go for the kill since his return from holding out a year in a contract dispute. He had a chance in the second round to get the definitive finish of Couture and he chose instead to follow Randy to the ground and let Couture recover. And throughout the fight, rather than keeping the fight at kickboxing range where he was winning handily, Vera elected to start clinch battles with Randy Couture, the king of the clinch fight.
It's too bad that Couture won such a lame decision though. It's going to be hard to justify giving him a title shot based on that performance.