First of all I would like to say that I really enjoyed tonight's event. We got to see a boatload of fights with very nice submissions, highlight reel KO's, and the dawn of a new era with Brock Lesnar's victory over Randy Couture. Let's get right into it:
- Kudos to Matt Brown, admittedly I wasn't much of a fan of this guy while he was on TUF because I thought he sucked. I got to see him fight live at UFC 88 and even though he lost he put up a good fight that night. Tonight I was impressed with the well roundedness of his game. Very nice job of improving yourself Mr. Brown.
- That loss has got to be the end of the road for Jorge Gurgel as I pointed out earlier this week.
- Jeremy Stevens landed a tiger uppercut from hell, that was a devastating KO.
- Dustin Hazelett is well on his way to becoming a top ten fighter in the WW division. Hat's off to Tamdan McCrory though as he came to fight tonight. He's very young and will only get better as he continues to train.
- Demian Maia is a BJJ wizard and everybody knows this, yet they can't do anything to stop him. He's undefeated and called out Micheal Bisping which is a logical match up for the MW division. Bisping is about 2-3 fights away from a title shot, Maia right there in the same realm. Why not hook'em up?
- Gabriel Gonzaga did what he was supposed to do. Now that Couture is no longer the champion I suppose we'll see the UFC begin to push Gonzaga as a challenger to the belt again. Oh wait, Joe Rogan already set the wheels in motion with that post fight interview.
- Kenny Florian impressed me more than anyone tonight. I was pretty sure he would beat Stevenson, but I never thought he would finish him..in the 1st round nonetheless. He rightfully deserves a shot at the LW title. I'm glad he won, because as I wrote here...I didn't think Stevenson deserved that honor. I don't think Florian can beat Penn, but I'll say this...that fight would be a lot more competitive than people think.
- Brock Lesnar beating Randy Couture is something I predicted and expected. I mean you can't hold off father time for forever. I will admit that Couture was able to control Lesnar more than I thought he would be able to. I'm not overly impressed with Lesnar's performance, and he still has a lot of growing to do as a martial artist. He'll be facing the winner of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir. I expect Nogueira to win that one, and I expect him to take Lesnar out as well. What's next for Randy Couture? Will he fight the loser of Nogueira/Mir? With the winner of that fight getting a title shot somewhere down the road?
All in all, I think UFC 91 surpassed many people's expectations. All of the fights were good if not great and a lot of questions got answered tonight. Now one has to wonder if Dana White's prediction of 1.2 million PPV buys will come to fruition. I'll say this, if he is correct then MMA just gained a whole shitload of fans. Here's to hoping that UFC 92 is just as good, because I'm hyped as hell about that card.
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