Falls Count Anywhere

10-31-08

That's just climate change.

I spent a lot of my weekend watching MMA and the Godfather movies. Well, the first two Godfather films, at least. It was an enjoyable time and as much as I’d like to break down the Godfather flicks into their component parts, I’ll instead write about the UFC card from Birmingham, UK!

They showed five fights, none of them actively bad, and only one of them that folks’ll be talking about in the weeks to come. I’d say it was a successful free show for Spike and I’m interested in seeing what the ratings are!

Marcus Davis took on Paul Kelly in a fight that went into the second round and was competitive, but Davis had it in hand when they started round number 2. Kelly is English, so the crowd was way into him.

I thought that Davis was dominating, but not in a way that made Kelly look weak. The two were pretty evenly matched, but Davis got a bit more of the edge. The start of the second round was Kelly trying ot make up for the fact that he didn’t do enough to win the first round, but ended up getting taken down and then Marcus Davis got the guillotine and the win.

American beat the Brit. It’s sad, really, but he gave a pretty good promo after that got the crowd with him. There was an accidental low kick in this one.

The Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle match was a lot of fist-of-fury fun! They started by just throwing leather and trying to knock the other guy out. Not a lot of those connected, but the ones that did the guys managed to absorb. I’d say that Taylor got the better of it in the early going. Lytle, an American, was booed a lot, but the crowd loved it when they just started trading bombs!

They did the same opening to the second round. Lytle managed a couple of take-downs, which makes sense, and every time they got back up, they’d throw big punches again. The two of them looked good, and the crowd loved them, but it wasn’t the prettiest fight you’d ever see.

Lytle looked much better that Taylor in the third round, which makes sense. The two of them had a war, and the fight ended with Taylor getting some shots in on Lytle, but not really doing much visible damage.

The judges picked Lytle, and the fight was close enough that I buy it. One judge gave the entire fight to Lytle, but I think that I’d have given him rounds 1 and 2 and then Taylor 3. He did a promo where he was booed, but said that he’d made a friends in Taylor and he loved the UK and that got him big cheers.

I’d say it was the fight of the night. Again, in the second round, there was an accidental low kick, and that one looked really bad.

Sokoudjou vs Luiz Cane was a fight I was looking forward to. I like Sok, and Cane’s had some decent fights. The first round was mostly the two of them throwing, and Sok getting the most of the strikes. He had a couple of really powerful hits, but Cane didn’t seem to register them. There was a solid body kick that definitely did rock Cane pretty hard. The first round was Sok, with only a couple of decent flurries of action from Cane. Sok looked kinda tired.

The second round was good with another accidental low kick. It happens. Sok did a jumping knee that I thought would end it, but it was a knee followed by 10 or so unanswered punches from Cane that gave him the win. Not a great fight, lots of posturing, but the flurry at the end made it worthwhile.

Keith Jardine is a good fighter. He’s tough, he hit hard and he works hard through the entire fight. Brandon Vera is a good fighter who sometimes loses his way in a fight. This was one of those fights, but he kept it together enough to stick around for a decision that went to Jardine, who was the fave in the arena. Jardine took some vicious kicks to the legs, which I’m guessing were more visually damaging than actually painful as he just walked it all off.

The second round was close, and I’d probably have given it to Vera, but Jardine managed to look really strong in the final round and he got the decision. I like Jardine and I’m hoping he gets to fight for the big prizes soon.

The main event was strange and a case of a fighter winning because he looked stronger and not because he was closer to winning. Chris Leben is a fighter I hate. I’ve hated him ever since the Ultimate Fighter. I should say I hate him in the way that I hated Ted DiBiase when I was a kid, in that Total Jerk Heel sort of way and not “I want you to slip on soap and crack your head open” sort of way. He is a tough fighter, no question, but he has problems with drinking and such that he only recently kicked.

On the other hand, Michael The Count Bisping could serve as the classic ambassador for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. He’s a powerfully-built handsome man who can talk and isn’t overly threatening until you get him in the octagon. He’s also won The Ultimate Fighter.

The early section of the fight was a feeling out period. Leben threw a couple of kicks, Bisping hit a couple of knees and Leben was bleeding. A lot. He may have busted his nose. Bisping no question deserved the round, and Leben was already looking like hell.

Second round was Leben doing damage, including opening a cut on Bisping, but it wasn’t serious. When Bisping connected, he made Leben look even worse. I’d say that Leben did far more damage, but Bisping made it look like he was hurting Leben more.

Still, I don’t really know how you give Bisping a round like that. The final round was more like the first, with Bisping getting more shots in, but Leben was also tiring. Leben got a solid takedown, but Bisping got out of it. They’re at the end of the round, and Leben is dropping his guard and telling Bisping to hit him, which he does, and is still unable to close the fight.

Two judges gave it 30-27 for Bisping, which is just flat wrong if you judge based on who did the most damage. 29-28 Bisping, which the last judge gave, is close enough to reality to understand. You never want to give the fight to the guy whose face looks like it’s been through a coffee grinder, but Bisping never really had Leben in anything but momentary danger. Leben had Bisping up for the kill a couple of times, but The Count’s tough and he made it through.

A good night of fights in front of a hot crowd. I’m still more excited about Lesnar vs. Couture, but we’ve got a month before that one.

Chris Garcia