Or could you blame it on the cage rust?

Same old Tito, same old excuses. He got his back fixed… but now he has bulging disks. No fighters are every 100%, and although I’m not one of the people who hate on fighters for making excuses, but Tito always has one ready.

Yet, he couldn’t put away Tito Ortiz in that final round.

Did anyone really expect him to? In his 8 UFC wins, only 3 were finishes (one against a injured/gassed Shogun, one against a very KO-able Elvis Sinosic). The guy has little power in his hands, and is no wiz on the ground. I still don’t get why people love the guy so much.

Baroni has madd heart. That’s about it though.

Why did the UFC pick up Baroni again? If it’s taking away talent from Strikeforce, they’re not taking away much. Brotha NEVER has anything past 4:00 to save his life. Jesus Baroni is terrible.

- Sadollah impressed with his diverse aresenal of attacks; knees (particularly liked when he had the right overhook and held Baroni’s right arm out and utilized his height advantage to punish the mid-section), elbows, punches and kicks. He got clocked with some big shots too.

- Lil Nog’s boxing was more on point that I gave him credit for (I basically said he was going to be able to hold his own and win the fight on the ground): Cane looked confused facing anouther lefty – and he has to learn to be the smart aggressor; no one can just stand in front of their opponent and take shots like that.

- Paulo Thiago is a bad ass and managed to continue fighting despite being gassed – it’s a thankless proposition taking on unknown prospects. Volkman was scrappy but his stand-up looked HORRIBLE. Great fight in which both got to shine.

- Rumble seems to get a little flakey when hit – I thought with his reach, power and relative accuracy he would OWN the stand up. Koscheck standing in front of him as long as he did made me go “boy-oy-oy” knowing the KO was not far away. THANK GOD Koscheck eventually did the smart thing and took the fight to the ground – where it became a lopsided affair.

- Tito looked incredibly slow, in the end I choose not to put too much stock in him new-and-improved after the surgery. He belongs with Randy Couture, Mark Coleman and Matt Hughes in that he only has legacy fights left if he decides to continue his career. Forrest scrambled pretty well and he PUNISHED Ortiz in that last round – it’s a win that doesn’t really move him anywhere BUT it must feel great for him to be back on the winning track and I think that makes all the difference.

Kos is right about Hardy not deserving a title shot but at the same time he threw his teammate under the bus by same Hardy hasn’t beat anybody. I wonder if he would be saying the same if Swick had won?
Kos has a very invalid argument also about being a number one contender or in the title picture, being that he hasn’t beat anyone lately to deserve a title shot either. The last time he beat a top guy in the division was when he beat Sanchez, which was how long ago? This is the same guy that wanted a fight against Matt Hughes. They should make Kos fight Fitch, since they are choosing to clog up the the division.

I like Forrest, but he has never shown me that he has the punching power to finish anyone, and his high kicks are too sloppy too. I’d be shocked if he ever KOed someone at this level of competition, so it doesn’t surprise me that he wasn’t able to finish off Tito. The only way that would’ve happened is by a submission, and although I was pretty impressed with Forrest’s guard work last night, he wasn’t going to finish Tito from the bottom because Tito is just too good and too strong from top position.

As for Amir, I like him as well, and we haven’t gotten to see him fight very much, but just from his fighting style and his build, he reminded me of a smaller version of Forrest last night. I wouldn’t look for him to finish many folks in the future either, unless it’s via submission, or maybe from those knee strikes he showed us.

Just my two cents anyway.

amir didn’t finish baroni cause he has no power. I don’t see him doing well in a division full of wrestlers

I called the Saunders fight perfectly. I’m glad the Irish Tool got decimated. I think Saunders had an off night against Swick. I’m not saying he’d win but he shouldn’t have lost that badly.

Lil Nog ! WOW! I’ve seen him in Pride but that was some world class striking right there. At this rate he is going to get a title shot in the very near future. I was very impressed. How can you not love the Nog brothers?

While Forrest wasn’t exactly impressive, theres no way that fight should have a been a split decision. Forrest won rounds 1 and 3 easily and did some good things in round 2 as well. We have to keep in mind that he was coming off that embarrassing loss so the performance he put on was decent enough.

I’m glad Anthony Johnson lost. That guy comes across as cocky and full of excuses. Koscheck was very impressive. He took a hard shot from Johnson and threw some bombs of his own. A lot of people criticize him for trying to stand and bang when he could use he wrestling but his standup isn’t that bad at all. And he does possess KO power. That loss to Paolo Thiago was just a case of getting caught. And he took the fight with Alves on short notice. I’d like to see him square off with Hardy and the winner taking on GSP.

Amir was pretty impressive but as you said, a good ground and pound guy would finish him easily.

Tito sucked. Broken eye socket, injuries …whatever man. He’s had the longest time to train and recover and he did virtually nothing in round 3. In fact all he did in the fight was a bit of gnp. His standup looked robotic and impotent and his big head was an easy target for Forrest’s soft punches.

Sotiropoulos was his usual self …absolutely magical on the ground. His jitz is just so graceful if you will. He gets into great positions and is always a move or two away from a submission. And I hope Dent gets cut. He has no business being in the UFC.

And speaking of submissions…. Kendall Grove! I didn’t think he’d beat a powerful wrestler in Rosholt but that was a sick triangle. Great stuff. These Hawaiian guys need to find a way to stay motivated always.

And I didn’t get to see the Brock Larson fight yet but wtf? How did he get TKO’d?!

Good event overall….except for the main event.