Well, I guess UFC president Dana White might say "I told you so"as UFC 108 was a pretty entertaining event with only 3 of the ten scheduled fights going to the judges. We saw great knockouts, great submissions, and even the fights that went the distance were pretty entertaining. Well, all of it except the part where Thiago Silva forgot he was losing a fight, then get on the brink of winning only to give it away by doing something stupid. Nevertheless, on to the fights.
-Jake Ellenberger is straight cornfed strong. I was really impressed by this kid in his loss against Carlos Condit. So I figured with a full training camp(he took the Condit fight on short notice) he could be a hand full for anyone and man did he deliver. All that guy needs is a couple of punches to land and it's lights out for his opponent. He hits like a mack truck and his oponnent in Mike Pyle is no joke. Big win for Ellenberger and it'll be interesting to see who they match him up against.
SBN coverage of UFC 108: Evans vs. Silva
-Mark Munoz looks sooooo much better at 185. He seems more comfortable in the cage now and the best thing about him is that when he thinks he has you hurt. He goes for the kill with everything he has and he isn't relying soley on take downs to win decisions.
-Cole Miller was very angry for some reason this weekend. Luckily for him he survived being dropped to come back and submit Dan Lauzon. That was a sweet submission and you could tell that Lauzon didn't think he was in any trouble until the very end. Nice comeback win for Miller after getting KTFO by Efrain Escudero at UFC 103.
-I knew Martin Kampmann was going to knockout Jacob Volkmann in the first round. I didn't anticipate Volkmann having that much success hitting Kampmann standing though. It seems that Kampmann still hasn't learned from the Daley fight. Had that been someone with more power, it would have been a wrap for him. Volkmann will probably be cut after 2 consecutive losses, but I like the guy. I think he has skills and losing to Kampmann and Paulo Thiago is nothing to be ashamed of.
-Junior dos Santos is a BEAST. Now, don't get it twisted because beating Gilbert Yvel is something he was supposed to do. I just wish we could see more of his overall game. I'd hate to see him get in there with a big wrestler and look like a fish out of water. However, when you can KTFO people the way JDS can, there's no reason to show the rest of your game huh?
-I knew Jim Miller would sub Ludwig. We talked about it in the open thread. How can you be in the game as long as Ludwig, Pete Spratt, and some others and have absolutely NO ground game? That makes no sense whatsoever.
-I was afraid the long layoff after the injury would hurt Lauzon and that's exactly what happened. You could tell he had some cage rust and his cardio just wasn't there it seemed after the first round. However, hats off to Stout as he really took the fight to Lauzon. Now if he could only find some power to put behind all those strikes that he lands.
-I just had a feeling that Hazelett would stand with Daley too long. You could tell that Daley was finding his range right before he knocked out Hazelett. He was getting closer and closer with those leg kicks, not to mention that Hazelett was checking them. Which left him unable to move out of range if Daley feinted or anything. Great win for Daley, and he could become a huge heel if he keeps talking and KTFO of his opponents. I like it when guys talk smack and back it up. He said he'd knockout Hazelett with a left hook and viola. He did.
-Oh Thiago Silva...you had me shook in the third round. Thankfully you would rather taunt your opponent and get the crowd hyped instead of winning the fight. Thanks, it saved my parlay on the fantasy playground. I thought Rashad Evans dominated the fight until the last 3 minutes or so of the fight when Silva had him hurt. It was great to see Evans get back to his wrestling, but it's not a good sign that Silva was able to get back up to his feet after every take down. Silva is a big light heavyweight, but Evans may want to visit the weight room a bit if he wants to stay a light heavyweight.
Overall, I thought the event was good. We got to see almost all of the fights and there was a good mixture of endings with the KO's and submissions. For what the card went through in regards to fighters getting injured, the UFC have to be pleased with how everything turned out. What are your thoughts on the event/fights?
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