UFC 78 Validated Nothing

November 18, 2007

A couple of days ago I proclaimed that “UFC 78 Is Really Not That Bad.” I would now like to retract that statement.

Remember after Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock put up a stinker at UFC 61 and Dana White ran around telling anyone that he was embarrassed and wanted to reward his fans with a free rematch? Well, I wonder what kind of present he will offer his fans this time around.

However, nothing short of Fedor vs. Randy will be enough to repay those that dropped $40 to watch this card.

Listen, I am the first to admit that the UFC should not be faulted when fights don’t live up to the hype. The problem was this card had no hype surrounding it and it still came out flat. A lot of fans thought that there were some potential candidates for MOY on the undercard and that was their only saving grace. Sadly, those failed to deliver too.

So, what can be learned from UFC 78? Here’s a nice little list:

– Akihiro Gono represented the late, great Pride FC quiet well. While his opponent, Tamdan McCrory, had way less experience than him Gono proved that he will soon be a force to be reckoned in the Welterweight division.

– Joe Lauzon + BJ Penn = One spectacular fighter. I love watching J-Lau fight and his decision to move to Hawaii to train under Penn will only make him that much better. However, seeing them together got me thinking: If Penn defeats Stevenson in January and Lauzon continues to roll what will happen when they ultimately have to face each other?

– Maybe Bas Rutten is right. Maybe elbows should be illegal after all. This is the second week in a row that a great fight was stopped due elbows. It’s a real shame since Chris Lytle and Thiago Silva were having a wonderful battle.

– Edgar vs. Fisher didn’t live up to the hype. It was one of the most exciting fight of the night (not saying much) but I was expecting a hell of a lot more. That said, Edgar’s takedowns were tremendous and Fisher proved to be no match for the hometown kid.

– Ed Herman and Joe Doerksen did have the match of the night. Great KO by Herman and much respect to Doerksen for taking the fight on short notice. Herman should be thanking his lucky little stars he survived that triangle choke at the end of second round.

– Karo Parisyan booooores me. He can’t finish fights and seems to do just enough to win them. That certainly takes talent but I am sick of the monotony of his bouts. Plus, I simply can’t root for someone who says things like “I ain’t losing to a Japanese guy.”

– Thiago Silva exposed Houston Alexander. Obviously, that is understatement of the year but, damn, who would have thought Alexander’s ground skills were so weak. The cheers for Alexander when he first walked out were as loud as anyones so here’s hoping the Nebaraska-native comes back stronger than ever…and learns some Jiu Jitsu.

– Evans vs. Bisping proved absolutely nothing (except for the fact that they should only be headlining Spike TV events for the time being). Both guys fought hard but the fight simply didn’t feel like a main event. Anyone who thinks Evans is one of the top 5 Light Heavyweights in the world is insane and Bisping needs to drop down to 185 lbs. When the fight was over part of me didn’t want to leave the arena because I felt like the real main event was coming up. But, alas, it was not meant to be.

– On a positive note, the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ was really nice and until MMA is sanctioned in New York I expect the UFC to return quite frequently.

I hate to be so negative. I really do. But I can’t help it this time around – UFC 78 was a major letdown.

Plenty more UFC 78 coverage tomorrow on JarryPark.com as we invite bloodyelbow.com‘s, Luke Thomas, to break it all down like only he can.