24 Hour Fallout: Thoughts on UFC on VS

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Its 24 hours since MMA fans witnessed the ushering in of two young fighters who look to be well on their way to a successful career in MMA. I hope to make this a staple of mine here on MMAforreal, in which i give the event a full day to sink in and also give the fights a few looks to see the ins and outs of each fight. Last night was a wierd night to say the least, from the eye punch stoppages to the eye breakages it was pretty unpredictable. On to the fights.

James Irvin looked out of it during the entire fight. Irvin was at no point landing any thing meaningful and keep getting tagged by a left hook over and over, never showing any intent on answering. This could have very well been due to the huge weight cut James made to get to 185 or ring rust. The jump straight down to 185 after being out for two years was not a smart move on his part, he should have took a fight at 205 in order to get his body back into fighting mode. A two year lay off paired with his sobriety left him with a whole different body to work with and i believe he jumped down in weight too fast and did not allow himself to adjust properly.  Sakara on the other hand looked great: boxing, control,and patience he had it all. I made a prediction based on Sakara's habit of being lured into a brawl and losing his technique (see his fight with Chris Leben). Sakara was able to see an opening and keep exploiting it. This win is Sakara's third straight and should be starting to toe the waters of the deep end. A fight with Allan Belcher would be an interesting fight.

The rest after the jump

Cheick Kongo walked through his fight with ease which was expected. Kongo took Buentello down over and over again and battered him. Kongo looked a little hesitant in the stand up, also his shots were sloppy. It is easy to see Knogo needs a wrestling heavy camp in order to get to the next level as a fighter. If Cheick fights Junior Dos Santos in the same manner he fought Buentello last night he will get caught coming in. Kongo's stand up is where it needs to be, but his ground game is still lacking and the only way it will get better is if he starts to grapple with guys that are his size and who actually know what they are doing on the mat. Wolf's lair will not get Knogo where he needs to be to reach a title shot. Paul Buentello is the same ol same ol, looking to stand and trade to land his sledge hammers and put the guy out. WIth the fight last night it is likely Paul is on his way out or one more loss away. Paul was a middle tier heavy weight when the division was shallow now he is in the lower quarter of the division. The only thing Paul has to offer now is the willingness to stand with any one and scrap. Paul isn't even at gatekeeper status. Paul's best move would be Japan to take on guys like Mighty Mo and other sluggers.

Junior Dos Santos has speed and some major power in his hands. Last night we seen how quickly Dos Santos can analyze what another fighter is doing and see openings from the other fighters habbits. Dos Santos shown great counters and ability to take advantage of the openings he sees in the other fighters game. Dos Santos is a savage and when he smells blood its game over for  the other fighter. We have yet to see someone take Santos down and keep him down so that is still a question mark, but from what we have seen he will be a foce to recon with. Gonzaga just renforced what people knew all along, no mental game. It was a no brainer from the first exchange that Gonzaga was not going to win this fight on the feet. Gabe did make one attempt to get the fight to the ground and once he failed, he checked out and called in the rest of the fight. Gabe will see himself back down on the unaired prelums, maybe fighting Paul Buentello.

In the main event Jon Jones lived up to the hype putting Brandon Vera away in brutal fashion. Jones threw Vera around like a rag doll and done a great job of controlling him on the ground. The only problem with his ground control last night was leaving his arm in a bad spot for submissions. Jones does compensate for his sloppy placing of limbs with brutal ground and pound. We got a glimpse of how busy Jones is on the ground when he fought Hammill, but last might he displayed power. One blow with an elbow wand Jones broke Vera's face. Jones is a very scary young man and what should strike fear in the hearts of the light heavy weight division is the fact this man is only 22 and has tons of time to improve as a fighter. Jones may very well be the next generation of fighter, but it has yet to be seen what he can do against a top five fighter. Vera failed in controlling where the fight took place and allowed his striking to be neutralized by staying in a clinch in which he did not have the ability to control. On the ground Jones was leaving the arm out like a big steak but Vera did not attempt any thing. Vera can not pull the trigger on the feet or on the ground. It isn't clear where Vera can go from here, maybe be Ryan Bader's next stepping stone.