UFC 105 Results: Brandon Vera Beats Himself via Unanimous Decision Against Randy Couture

I picked Brandon Vera to win his fight against Randy Couture at UFC 105.  However, I wrote earlier this week asking what if Vera lost a close decision against Couture.  I knew it was a real possibility, simply because of Vera's propensity to not let his offense go.  He came out of the gates on fire in the first round, hurting Couture with several punches and kicks.  However, Couture's experience allowed him to weather the storm and implement some stand and pray octagon control for the rest of the round.  The second round was no different until Vera finally landed a body kick that hurt Couture and sent him down to the mat.  However, again Couture's experience paid off because Vera wasn't able to finish him.  The third round was more of the same, but Couture was able to implement some of his patented dirty boxing early in the round.  He landed some punches, but didn't really do much damage.  However, he continued to hug Vera up against the cage for the majority of the round.  That is until Vera achieved a takedown of his own, and eventually mounted Couture.  However, he wasn't able to do much damage in the position. 

Do I think Vera should have won the decision?  Probably, I think he did more damage than Couture did and that should count for more than octagon control in my opinion.  However, you can't blame Couture, because he fought exactly how I said he should if he wanted to win this fight and Vera didn't.  Vera was visibly upset that he didn't get the unanimous decision victory, but the fact of the matter is he beat himself.

There's absolutely NO reason why he should have let Couture constantly pin him against the cage.  I haven't re-watched the fight yet.  But, I would be willing to bet that out of 15 minutes, 4-5 of those minutes were spent with Vera pinned against the cage and Couture doing nothing offensively.  Why on earth would he allow that to happen?  You know you can't let the fight goto the judges.  The fact of the matter is he should have been able to put a 46 year old Randy Couture away.  I take nothing away from Couture, but you saw what was evident when Vera had spacing and let his offense flow.  Why he didn't realize that in the fight is beyond me?  I mean that's stuff he should have known before the fight.  He beat himself, so there's no reason for him to get mad at the judges.  Did you agree with the judges decision?

SBN coverage of UFC 105: Couture vs. Vera