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UFC 101 8/8 Philadelphia
By Zach Arnold | August 8, 2009
Event results: Observer | USA Today | Fanhouse | Jake Rossen | MMA Weekly | Sherdog | MMA Torch | Bloody Elbow | MMA Junkie
Wachovia Center
As the card currently stands:
Dark matches
- Welterweights: Jesse Lennox vs. Danillo Villefort
- Lightweights: George Sotiropoulos vs. Rob Emerson
- Welterweights: Matt Riddle vs. Dan Cramer
- Middleweights: Thales Leites vs. Alessio Sakara
- Welterweights: Tamdan McCrory vs. John Howard
- Lightweights: Shane Nelson vs. Aaron Riley
Main card
- Lightweights: Josh Neer vs. Kurt Pellegrino
- Middleweights: Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo Almeida
- Welterweights: Amir Sadollah vs. Johny Hendricks
- Light Heavyweights: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin
- UFC Lightweight Title match: BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 43 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
At least the two main events are really good.
I’m actually going to this event. The two main events are really solid. From a PPV perspective, the undercard is kind of weak.
I am looking forward to a few of the undercard fights.
A card with a title fight is a rare event nowadays, so that has to count for something.
Sakara v Leites and McCrory v Howard should be great fights to watch on the undercard.
This is either going to be a hell of a night, or it’s going to be a night of hell.
It’s not the best card ever by any means, but the two main events should be really good. I look for BJ to sub KenFlo and Anderson to KO Forrest, because those lovetaps he calls punches aren’t going to cut it against Anderson Silva.
If it ends that way, Mark, it’s going to be a night of hell.
I sooo can’t wait for this, my first live mma event. I made the choice to be a hermit during the month of july up to the night of the fight just to cover the costs of tickets (section 119) and so that I have enough money to enjoy myself on fight night.
If any of you fightopinion.com readers want to meet up the night before the fight, or party after the fight, let me know. It would be nice to talk MMA with some knowledgable fans.
…and considering the fact that my clerkship is almost over, and NO law firms are hiring, this may be the only live mma event I’ll be attending for a long time.
A UFC tailgate hosted by me is in order the day of the fight, and I believe the Phillies are playing a home game that night, so the parking lots will be packed!
I saw a few live ECW events in Philly in my younger days, and I have a feeling you’ll see the same energy at UFC 101.
I can’t wait to hear what a Philadelphia response to perceived-stalling will be. It will probably make the New Jersey crowd reaction sound like golf claps. Although then again, since Philadelphia pro wrestling fans were always the “smartest” in America, maybe they’ll be “smart” to MMA unlike the Jersey idiots.
Attention all fightopinion.com readers:
I’m having a tailgate before the UFC event starting @ 2-3pm. I’m extending an invitation to all fightopinion.com readers to join me in my tailgate. It will be byob, but it would be nice to meet some of the commentators/readers of this website.
I hestitate to post this, but I will anyway. If you are interested in joining us, email me at [email protected]
The Phillies are also playing a home game on Saturday, and the Philadelphia tailgate scene is legendary!!
Should be a good time
William,
I might be able to join you if your tailgate is that early. I am not going to the show becasue I now go to sleep at 9:00 pm, every night, instead of 9:00 am like I used to. Can’t miss my sleep.
I wouldn’t have any expectations for Philly MMA fans either way. The ECW crowd was the way it was for many reasons, including being a reaction to the mainstream rasslin scene at that time. Philly crowds are very different for each sporting event.
All you gotta do is shoot me an email
My perception so far is that the Philly crowd is extremely hospitable for the regional fighters, and very patient, unlike California.
Wow, that seems on first blush to be a really bad stop.
No, after the replay, that looked bad for Amir to me. Good stop by the ref. Crowd is unhappy.
Crowd has been very good live. They did tear Leitas a new behind, but it was warranted.
And that was a horrible stoppage in the Amir fight. Amir was on his way back up. The replay made the crowd go crazy in disbelief that it was stopped.
Someone at UFC has a sense of humor, running Riley vs Nelson rematch (of a fight that was stopped early) after a fight that was stopped early.
That was absolutely hands down, a terrible fight. Was that actually the best dark match that they had to offer?
Silva has become a heel, the crowd HATES him.
I did not expect that.
Forrest Griffin has been humiliated.
Silva’s on another level. The crowd went from almost booeing him out of the building to giving him a bigger oviation then GSP….
Forget Silva/GSP… Silva/Machida needs to happen… Too bad it likely won’t.
Silva would beat Fedor…
“Silva would beat Fedor…”
I doubt that very seriously.
Did Forrest quit there or was that punch that on target?
At this point, it is indefensible not to rank Anderson Silva at 205. You have to rank him in both divisions. He is the #1 MW and I would argue he is among the Top 4 LHWs in the world, alongside Machida, Evans and Jackson.
I would not accept a fight with Silva if I was at 205 right now. It looked like a quit to me.
I just don’t think that Silva is that good. He’s very good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think he’s at the elite level.
But if I were a fighter, I would not want to be the one to be proved wrong.
LHW Top 10 (based on current wins against ranked opponents)
1. Machida
2. Evans
3. A. Silva
4. Griffin
5. Jackson
6. Henderson
7. Rua
8. Liddell
9. Franklin
10. W.Silva
Four of those fighters should be ranked at both LHW and MW (although W.Silva has no wins yet at MW.)
What’s with Penn and the coke-fiend licking?
Ranking people within weight classes independent of ranking them as fighters is silly anyway. There are too many guys who are able to go between classes right now.
Forrest to 265?
I found it funny that Roy Jones Jr. is in the crowd, which of course they didn’t show him, but Silva did the famous vintage RJJ with his hands down low dodging shots and exploding KO’ing people.
Silva knew that, and he succeeded. After his UFC contract ends he will get a nice little pay day with RJJ/Silva. Depending on how RJJ does with the most overrated fighter in ages with Lacy, I’d maybe give the edge to RJJ just for natural boxing skills.
I just find it funny how he mimicked RJJ and did it just perfectly.
Griffin got humiliated. He shouldnt of ran out like that either. Stay and give props to the winner.
[It appears Griffin’s jaw was dislocated or broken and he rushed out for medical attention.]
Quinton would get ko’ed by Anderson and Wanderlei would get killed by Anderson.
Penn is far too good at 155lbs for anyone. He put on a masterclass. Florian was never in the fight at all. Penn has quality striking skills and his takedown defence is just something else. The balance is complete calmness when pressed up against the cage is different level stuff.
If that fight doesn’t cement Silva as the pound for pound best, I don’t know what will. He not only cleaned out his division in completely one-sided victories, he moved up 20 pounds and took out a top 5 LHW in an embarrassing manner. Considering that LHW is one of deepest divisions in MMA, that’s one hell of an accomplishment. Imagine GSP moving up to MW and beating Marquardt that handily. Crazy.
“I just don’t think that Silva is that good. He’s very good, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think he’s at the elite level.”
If he’s not “elite”, who the heck is?
The idea of a dislocated jaw terrifies me to no end.
Another MMA fan trait is getting such a buzz off of a victory all kinds of outlandish claims get made.
Forrest is an opponent tailor-made for Anderson Silva: A guy whose strategy is to get punched and hopefully land enough counterstrikes to get the decision. He posed absolutely no threat to Silva, as he has no knockout power. It was a great performance from Anderson Silva, but let’s keep it in perspective, a dominating win was inevitable when the people hoping for a Forrest upset were suggesting a lay-n-pray strategy. Forrest running backstage to cry after the loss was the only surprising moment, I thought he outgrew that.
Once again the online Ken-Flo army look ridiculous. He was very out of his league (he needs takedown classes) and them hyping up Kenny’s strategy to make BJ gas out in the 4th and 5th backfired. Maybe a few fights from now you might be able to bank on BJ reverting back to laziness, but not coming off of the GSP fight, he was out to be at his best.
“Another MMA fan trait is getting such a buzz off of a victory all kinds of outlandish claims get made.”
You’re right about that. My favorite was Dave Meltzer’s claim that Forrest Griffin has better technical striking than Fedor Emelianenko, with the implication being, “Just imagine what Anderson would do to Fedor!”
LOL, yeah, right. Forrest’s need for medical attention was so urgent he ran away from the ringside doctor. Did Keith Jardine dislocate Forrest’s jaw too?
Forrest might have better technical strikes than Fedor’s kind of strange boxing style, but he has very little power whereas Fedor does.
People are on the “Anderson would beat Fedor” bandwagon because the belief is Fedor would press forward and Anderson would tee-off on him with counterstrikes. No, Fedor would take Anderson down with ease and pound him out to TKO victory.
Griffin doesn’t fight smart. If you don’t have a chin, don’t stand with Anderson Silva. Take him down, lay n pray for the decision for 5 rounds. Because that’s the only way Forrest has a chance of beating Anderson Silva.
Fedor is elite, GSP is elite.
I do not like Silva. At all. Frankly, the result of last night’s fight introduces all sorts of very unpleasant complications into my worldview, but then maybe I was just drinking the kool-aid. LHW may be a lot less deep than advertised.
I view Silva as a quite one-dimensional fighter in terms of his UFC stint. He’s a countering striker with the ability to swarm, which describes much of the LHW division, including at least three or four of the last five titleholders.
Can Machida beat that? I don’t want to find out this year that he can’t. I want to see him fighting guys who have been fighting for a shot at the LHW belt. Next year, maybe Silva can have an LHW title shot at his retirement party.
But why is Anderson Silva fooling around at 205 if he’s not going to agree to fight his team mate Lyoto Machida? It makes no sense. He should continue defending his 185 title instead of taking on these meaningless 205 fights. It does make him a stronger pound for pound fighter but what’s the point if you are not going to fight Machida?
Because he has a six fight contract and he wants to retire, so he’s taking fights at both weights.
Or so the story goes.
LHW definitely isn’t as deep for talent as it’s hyped up to be. Rashad, Shogun, Rampage and Forrest are the big four challengers. None of them stand a chance against Machida. Rashad had nothing for him, Forrest refused to fight him last year, Rampage will probably fight the same fight Rashad did against him, and Shogun is only an interesting contender because we haven’t seen what Machida can do against Muay Thai, but I don’t think too many people believe he has a chance of beating him.
All the talk of Silva killing off the Middleweight division because he’s beaten every contender is overstating it. People rightfully call the Welterweight division the best in the UFC, but GSP has been equally as dominant as Silva has. But since he doesn’t get the same amount of hype people don’t notice it.
I really hate the cross-division superfights. You’re killing off a star in the fans eyes for nothing. If Silva beats GSP and then shortly afterwards retires, that would be the most idiotic thing UFC has done in years. What did Silva beating Forrest accomplish yesterday? Nothing. Forrest gets pushed down in LHW rankings and Silva goes back to Middleweight. Fans get to talk about what Silva would do against Machida, Rampage or Shogun, but the fights will never happen because after Silva fights Henderson next he’s down to 2 or 3 fights left on his deal before retiring, which means realistically he’d have only one more LHW fight.
I realize they made a ton of money from the fight, but it was counterproductive.
Where does Florian go from here? Is he pretty much done at 155, already having had two title fights? He is turning into Rich Franklin?
Kenny Florian is 33. I doubt he’s going to get much better. He’s an eternal gatekeeper now. He’s talented but just not good enough to beat BJ Penn. With guys like BJ, GSP, Anderson Silva and Machida as champions, it’s going to take a lot to earn the belt now these days. With Brock being so inexperienced and the heavyweight division being young, that division is still pretty wide open though.
I don’t know where Kenny goes from here, which is the other major frustration from last night for me. He just didn’t bring enough to take out Penn from word go.
It’s very much like he didn’t have a solid plan for finishing the fight.
He was game, he was in it, but every time there was one of those flurries you felt like Penn was a whisper from winning it, and Kenny was a whisper from losing it all. He wasn’t able to get in with elbows, no appreciable knees, when he got to the fence, he just bulled it out like a Lesnar with no standup.
He just didn’t bring any solution to the fight. He brought ways not to lose, but no way to win, and when it came down to it, his solutions for not losing weren’t even enough.
I kind of wanted to share this with all of you:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/bryan_armen_graham/08/09/ufc.101.piece/index.html?eref=T1
-From the article:
One well-dressed twentysomething in a suit asked White for a job (“I brought a resume!”) and drew playful boos from the crowd, but White told an assistant to “go get that guy’s resume.”
-That well dressed twentysomething was me! As soon as I mentioned on the mic that I was a newly admitted attorney, the crowd booed, but Dana did take my resume.
You have to give the man credit for being fan accesible.