In which I offer my post-fight review and analysis of UFC 160 from top to bottom and add a lot of extraneous thoughts.
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The most stacked card of the year came through and delivered one of the best MMA programs of the year, if not the decade, however it raised some cosmological questions Kid Nate couldn't resist grappling with.
Topics include:
- The bittersweet aspects of a card that started with a bloodbath in Jeremy Stephens vs Estevan Payan and ended with the back-to-back fellings of two human redwoods in Mark Hunt and Antonio Silva. With some historical commentary on the time the savage Romans imported African elephants for a colosseum battle against lions, tigers and bears.
- Brian Bowles' almost wins one for the little guys but doesn't and takes a beating from George Roop.
- The tactical soundness of Stephen Thompson clinching Na Shon Burrell.
- "Fans" who couldn't appreciate Khabib Nurmagomedov's record setting performance against Abel Trujillo.
- Robert Whittaker as the very rare Ultimate Fighter I now enjoy watching fight.
- The irony of Dennis Bermudez clearly winning the fight against Max Holloway under Pride rules and just as clearly losing it under the 10-point-must system and yet thanks to inexplicable judging still getting the nod under the 10-point-must.
- Mike Pyle's amazing fortitude and resiliance in coming back to definitively beat Rick Story and yet again it was surprising that the judges scored him the win since it entailed (correctly) scoring the second round for the man fighting off his back.
- Donald Cerrone welcoming K.J. Noons to the UFC and likely sending him on his way back to a smaller promotion.
- T.J. Grant's epic Fight of the Night win over Gray Maynard and a lot of thoughts on why fans didn't see Grant coming until this win and worries that Gray Maynard has never recovered from nearly killing Frankie Edgar twice and still not winning the title and ultimately getting KTFO'd by Iron Man Frankie.
- Why Glover Teixeira's easy win over James Te Huna still didn't convince me he's a threat to Jon Jones or even Lyoto Machida or Rashad Evans.
- Junior dos Santos' epic win over Mark Hunt. Why it was such a great fight and a triumph of the human spirit because it visibly restored JDS' broken self-confidence and yet still gave Kid Nate a sad because...because Mark Hunt bleeding from the ear and staggering around the Octagon like Dana White suffering from Meniere's disease in the lobby of a Brazilian airport.
- Cain Velasquez claiming the lineal HW MMA title from Bigfoot.
- The incredibly high stakes of Cain vs JDS III and my fear that if it's a disaster ala Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski III that it could be a quick and bitter end to the short Golden Age of the MMA Heavyweight Division.
Enjoy!
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