The Five-Finger Death Punch: UFC Fight Night 17

If UFC 93 and UFC 94 weren't enough to get your MMA pants in a tizzy, would you believe me if I said that you could have saved your money and watched a more entertaining fight card for free on Spike TV? Believe it, brotha.

1. Joe Lauzon and Jeremy Stephens bring the goods

Mac Danzig and Josh Neer may have walked away with the $30,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus from last night’s UFC Fight Night event, but the headline clash between Joe Lauzon and Jeremy Stephens piqued my interest far more.

Maybe I’m just a sucker for a few nice ground scrambles here and there, but I felt the momentum shifts in the progressing stages of this bout were terrific.

One moment Lauzon would secure a takedown and whittle his way into an attempted submission or dominant position, and then Stephens would reverse and land some thunderous offense of his own. Rinse and repeat.

Lauzon was very active in looking for submissions and given the way the bout transpired, one can only imagine the jiu-jitsu chess match that could have been had Hermes Franca not blown out his ACL.

To Stephens’ credit, he did a fine job weathering Lauzon’s edge in grappling prior to the finish. He managed to escape several poor predicaments and despite falling victim to a number of advantageous positions, sustained minimal damage in doing so.

It’s hardly the kind of defeat that will set Stephens’ back and he has a perfectly ample opportunity to redeem himself in April when he meets recent "TUF" winner Efrain Escudero.

As for Lauzon, the pastures only get brighter from here on out. Already emerging as one of the more vaunted “TUF” semifinalists in recent memory, it’s hard to bag Lauzon’s post-reality show run when his only blemish has come at the hands of top contender Kenny Florian.

While it is still uncertain as to how long Franca will be sidelined, there should be more than enough intrigue to see the two headline a future Fight Night card or curtain jerk a PPV card. Heck, maybe Joe Silva could even consider letting TUF 5 powers collide and pair up Lauzon with Nathan Diaz down the road.

2. Time to test the deep end of the pool

It’s tough not to at least give Denis Stonjic some credit for not withering after getting battered and beaten by Cain Velasquez for the greater part of eight minutes, but you just had to feel sorry for the big fella’.

Less than stellar in it’s finish—although never in doubt—Velasquez coasted to 5-0 professionally not that it isn’t entertaining seeing him throttle the Stojnic’s and Brad Morris’ of the world, but now it’s time to see if fight fans broke out the anointing oil a few fights too soon.

Velasquez falls alongside Shane Carwin and UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar as the future stalwarts of the UFC’s heavyweight division and while Carwin gets his litmus test in due time with a UFC 96 contest against Gabriel Gonzaga, it’s time for Velasquez to follow suit.

It’s unfortunate for Cain though, whose hype has proved a dangerous commodity for the UFC’s more established heavyweights. To them, a fight with Velasquez has no upside, and for good reason.

His lack of name value makes for a lose-lose for any veteran fighter offered a matchup with the American Kickboxing Academy standout, but steps must be taken to up Velasquez’s level of competition.

With Cheick Kongo and Antoni Hardonk slated to square off at UFC 97, I think there would be substantial intrigue if Velasquez were to meet the winner of that fight down the road. Both Kongo and Hardonk are on a roll right now and a bout against Velasquez would make for a solid gauge on where Cain truly stands amongst the heavyweight division.

3. Fall from grace

It’s hard to argue with the caliber of fighters produced by The Ultimate Fighter.

Just speaking in terms of “TUF” winners, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans have already notched title belts at 205 pounds, Diego Sanchez has been a perennial top-10 welterweight before his recent drop to 155 pounds, Michael Bisping is one fight away from a shot against Anderson Silva and Nathan Diaz could very well turn into one of the major players down the road for the lightweight division.

Mac Danzig just may turn out to be the exception to the rule, as the season six winner has now dropped to 1-2 since being crowned The Ultimate Fighter. The Clay Guida fight was one thing, but Josh Neer has toiled around in obscurity for the last several years.

This wasn’t a flash win or anything, as Neer had his way with Danzig and seemed to be very much the better fighter between the two. It’ll be the interesting to see what the future holds for Danzig, as he now enters the very fragile territory of being in a must-win situation. Few fighters weather the storm of dropping to 1-3 inside the confines of the octagon.

As for Neer, this is no doubt his most well-rounded performance and biggest victory since defeating Joe Stevenson nearly three years ago and while his resilience and heart are enough to give plenty of lightweights fits, it’s hard to envision him as anything more than a gatekeeper at this stage.

4. Anthony Johnson has graduated from the ranks of UFC Fight Night

While this is most certainly an unofficial title, Anthony Johnson has been nothing short an MVP in the UFC/Spike TV ranks.

The wheels were set in motion back in June 2007 when Johnson burst onto the UFC scene with a 13-second knockout of Chad Reiner at UFC Fight Night 10. Freely-televised maulings of Tommy Speer and Kevin Burns would soon follow, but last night’s victory over Luigi Fioravanti should finally be enough to up Johnson onto the main card of a future UFC pay-per-view.

It’s taken Johnson only six UFC fights to assemble an octagon highlight reel that many fighters fail to capture in six years. His strong collegiate-level wrestling base often takes a backseat to his explosive striking, but Johnson has assembled quite the skillset to make waves against some of the welterweight division’s more stout competition.

Fioravanti is no slouch either, now at 14-5 with losses to the likes of Diego Sanchez, Jon Fitch and Chris Leben. He’s a solid mid-level 170-pounder and with Johnson’s victory last night, it’s time to get him off Spike TV and see if fans will pay for an event that has him on the main card.

Late notice and weight cut issues aside, it’s still hard to believe Johnson somehow managed to lose to Rich Clementi.

5. Time to stop sleeping on these Fight Night cards

Last night’s UFC Fight Night was better than UFC 94.

The sad thing is I don’t think I’m going out on a limb at all when I write that either, which really is a shame.

It’s troubling to know that I enjoyed a run-of-the-mill UFC Fight Night card more than what very well could end up as the most-watched event in UFC history. I understand it’s hard to get the casual fan interested in a card headlined by a pair of up-and-comers like Lauzon and Stephens and without any real significant draw on this card, it wouldn’t shock me at all to see last night’s event pull in a less-than-stellar rating.

Newsflash: Great names don’t always equal great fights.

I use UFC 91 as a perfect template, in that while this card is the on-paper definition of a one-match fight card, it was arguably the most entertaining overall fight card put on by the UFC last year.

Sure, the Randy Couture-Brock Lesnar bout was the main reason fans ordered the event, but it was fighters like Jeremy Stephens, Dustin Hazelett and Jorge Gurgel that made the fight fan feel like he or she made a wise investment that evening.

Also, don’t think that I’m using last night’s fight card as the only blueprint for success with the recent editions of UFC Fight Night, because last year’s Spike TV ensemble gave fans plenty to enjoy, with fights like Florian/Lauzon and Diaz/Neer notching “Fight of the Night” honors for their respective cards.

And let’s not forget Josh Koscheck’s highlight reel knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida either.

I can’t speak on behalf of every fan out there, but I’ve seen enough MMA to know that not every fight card needs an Anderson Silva or a Forrest Griffin to be worth watching.

You never know what you’re going to get once that opening bell sounds, whether it’s the sport’s most anticipated title fight or a run-of-the-mill undercard bout. Case in point: Apr. 9, 2005, as the UFC put on the first finale to it’s now-hit reality show The Ultimate Fighter.

In the evening’s co-main event, two fighters who up until then were nothing more than a pair of unheralded, blue-chip prospects/reality show stars named Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar touched gloves.

You know the rest.