UFC 111: Where the Winners and Losers Go

UFC 111: Where the Winners and Losers Go

UFC 111 was a mixed bag. We did get more of the same from guys like Palhares, Fitch, Mir, Carwin, and St Pierre, but we were treated to breakout performances by Miller, Pellegrino, Diaz, and Almeida. One thing is for sure, this was the most spectacular card since UFC 107 and the fights make for some big implications in their divisions.

Matt Riddle: Other than the strange finish, we pretty much got classic Riddle here. Takedowns, ground and pound, repeat to decision. With matchmaking for Riddle you still have the fact that he’s 4-1 in professional MMA so it’s hard to find a guy who is considered a step up, but doesn't dwarf his record. Maybe go the direction of the winner of DeMarques  Johnson vs Brad Blackburn.

Greg Sotto: You’ve got to give Sotto props for stepping up at the last minute, but the fact is, he was badly outclassed  by a bottom tier welterweight. He get’s cut here.

Jared Hamman: What a sloppy affair that was. Hamman showed a lot of heart, chin, and not much else. He was extremely hittable and showed almost no wrestling. At this point you take the wheel of mid-tier light heavyweights and give it a spin. We'll say this time it comes up on James Irvin. Let’s see how good Jared’s chin really is.

Rodney Wallace: Despite sporting one of the coolest nicknames in mixed martial arts, Wallace came up short again and it only spells the end for his UFC career for now. He showed a lot of potential, so he needs to hit the regional shows, get some cardio, and maybe we’ll see you back. Houston Alexander may be looking for a fight...

Rousimar Palhares: Palhares is a scary man to get into the cage with. If you don’t train BJJ then you probably don’t know that the heel hook is by far the most dangerous and debilitating submission in grappling. Palhares is a guy who will dive headlong for said heel hooks from literally any position, and has the build of a gorilla that allows him to rip it harder and faster than just about any grappler in the world. Coming off this win, Palhares has a lot of options. There’s the winner of the Okami/Linhares fight, the winner of the Bisping/Miller fight, and the winner of the Cote/Belcher bout. All three present him with a striker vs a grappler situation so you just kind of take your pick. We can get some interesting stuff from the winner of Miller/Bisping so we go that direction.

Tomasz Drwal: Ouch. A long layoff is in the books for Drwal then it’s back to the drawing board. There’s really no telling what the division looks like 6-8 months from now, one thing’s for sure, Drwal will be taking on someone at the bottom of it.

Ricardo Almeida: George St Pierre and the UFC need Ricardo Almeida. I’ll talk more about this later, but after seeing the absurd backlash against GSP’s performance last night,  I think the champ needs a challenger who he can flex his standup against. He needs to be in there with an extremely dangerous grappler. Not only is Almeida that man, but he’s one of the only people in the welterweight division who you could consider a ground specialist. The question is, how do you get him there? Well after seeing the underwhelming streak Dan Hardy went on to justify his title shot, It wouldn’t  have to be a lot. The trick is to find a guy who is high profile, but who also presents a favorable matchup for "Big Dog". Speaking of Hardy, that would be the answer. Almeida’s on a three fight win streak and if you cap that off with a win over a former top five title challenger he should be there. I see no reason you can’t give him the title shot, let fans finally see George try to use his wrestling in reverse, and bust a guy up on the feet.

Matt Brown: Classic Matt Brown here, tough, gritty, and not enough talent in any one area to get it done. Just simply outclassed. A fight with Mike Pierce coming forward would be appropriate.

Nate Diaz: Last night Nate Diaz silenced a lot of the people who were critical of his move to welterweight. While nobody really thought Markham would be the man to expose some of the reasons people think it’s a bad idea, Diaz showed legitimate power at welterweight that was absent from his game at lightweight. The key here going forward, is to keep Diaz away from wrestlers. It’s a fact of MMA, if you put a Diaz in the cage with a wrestler, you get a Jon Fitch fight no matter who the wrestler is. I like Chris Lytle for Diaz. With Lytle vs Diaz you get two sluggers with very good chins, excellent jiu jitsu, and very poor wrestling. A perfect matchup that almost guarantees fireworks.

Rory Markham: Second bad loss in a row for Markham. Couple that with the troubles of making weight, and Markham is more than likely taking the walk of shame here.

Jim Miller: How many people have we ever seen in the history of the sport get an arm trapped in a body triangle and defend a rear naked choke with one hand for almost a minute? Add in the facts that Bocek is a dangerous black belt and that his specialty is the rear naked choke, and you have an amazing moment from last night. Jim Miller is the definition of tough and if you go back to his Gray Maynard loss, you’ll see more of the same. Miller’s at four in a row in his UFC career and is 6-1 overall now. I think it’s fair to call him a contender at this point. I like Miller taking on the winner of Etim/Dos Anjos to determine who’s near the title.

Mark Bocek: Close but no banana for Bocek. He still showed excellent takedowns. Hustling a talented wrestler like Miller to the mat was impressive. He’s also huge for the division and has a lot of potential. I like a fight with Guida moving forward for Bocek.

Jon Fitch: Jon Fitch could probably take a corpse to a unanimous decision. He’s a poor man’s George St Pierre. He is everything the champ is but just not as strong, quick, or overall as talented. Which is probably why he is, and more than likely will remain, the undisputed second banana at 170 pounds. The Alves fight was a big deal for the division and needs rescheduling. 

Ben Saunders: Was anyone surprised here? Saunders is a talented prospect, but that’s what he is: a prospect. He has no business in the cage with a guy like Fitch and it showed last night. John Howard is in a similar place in the division and makes for a fascinating style matchup for Saunders with his height, grappling, and power.

Kurt Pellegrino: What a fight. This could easily go down as one of the top ten best grappling matches in UFC history. What a back and forth affair. Pellegrino really gutted it out and established himself once again as a contender. A fight with George Sotiropolous  is not only divisionally important, but is just plain fun. Both guys have decent hands and wrestling, but more importantly, both are unorthodox and amazing grapplers. This would be a good one to watch and needs to happen.

Fabricio Camoes: Despite his two times coming up short, Camoes has impressed and I doubt he’s going anywhere. Throw him in there with Darren Elkins and clean up the lightweight division.

Shane Carwin: Carwin still hits like a freight train and still wonders in his private moments what a second round feels like. The only thing of real note coming away from last night is that Lesnar absolutely dwarfs Carwin. After all of the debate and hype about Carwin’s size, we come to a definitive end to the discussion, Lesnar is monstrous next to Carwin. There’s really not much to discuss here in terms of matchmaking, Carwin/Lesnar is coming in July and will be very interesting.

Frank Mir:  Just like with Carwin, we learn nothing new about Mir other than that despite all the big heavy things he can lift now, there’s nothing new about Mir. The man still talks a big game and still forgets he's a talented fighter when someone puts heavy hands on him. The key fact to keep in mind going forward is that, despite all of the talk from Dana White, the heavyweight division is still thin. Cain Valesquez still needs a top tier fighter to square off with, and there’s not really any man for the job other than Mir. Despite Mir coming off an extremely deflating loss, with Dana’s insistence that the Valesquez/Dos Santos fight will not happen, there’s no where else to go with Cain other than into a Mir fight. **UPDATE**Dana has confirmed that Cain is awaiting the winner of Lesnar/Carwin.  To me the only logical thing to do with Mir is to fight Dos Santos or to put him in there with the winner of Struve/Nelson.

George St Pierre: George St Pierre is still George St Pierre. He is still going to follow the intelligent game plan despite what the "fans" demand of him. I don’t want to turn this into a discussion about GSP’s style, but when you have a guy who not only has just one way to win a fight, but is extremely deficient in all other areas, what sense is it to play into his one advantage? The real story of this fight, is that Dan Hardy was willing to take an arm break and St Pierre lacked the cold, killer instinct to snap it. I’m sure people will debate it, but at least two different times, St Pierre had Hardy dead to rights locked in, and refused to hit that last jerk and "Razak Al-Hassan" Hardy’s arm. I’m not sure what that means about George St Pierre, if anything, but it’s worth noting. St Pierre has effectively cleaned out the division at this point and the only remotely interesting matchup remaining would have to be the winner of Koscheck/Daley. There’s just no one else close.

Dan Hardy: Once again props must be given to the evil genius that is Dana White. He has time and time again managed to sell us a main event that wasn’t even remotely competitive in a fashion that genuinely got the masses interested. Dan Hardy had absolutely no business in a fight with St Pierre. The fact that people are saying he looked impressive is astonishing. He did absolutely nothing but refuse to tap to St Pierre’s barrage of submissions. Furthermore, I don’t think he goes too many places at welterweight coming away. I mentioned the Almeida fight, which is a terrible matchup for Hardy, but you also have Fitch, Alves, and Koscheck at the top of the division who would be horrible fights for Hardy. At this point, I would even consider Kampman and Hughes to be tough fights for Hardy.