Eight Things I Learned from UFC 98

From MMAMadness.com: UFC 98 was a spectacular card from start to finish. The card featured submissions, brutal knockouts, and hard fought decisions. At the end of the day, a new champion was crowned, a bitter rivalry was put to rest, and several fighters took steps towards a title shot in their divisions. Here are the eight things that I learned from watching:


1. Fans will eventually root for talent

How quickly fans forget. Only two fights ago, fans were booing Lyoto Machida as he earned a unanimous decision over Tito Ortiz. Fast forward past a first round KO against Thiago Silva, and fans are suddenly chanting “Ma-chi-da, ma-chi-da!”

The UFC did an excellent job promoting Machida for this fight, hailing him as the rebirth of "pure" martial arts. Once fans started buying into this concept, Machida’s fighting style became much more impressive to watch. Expect fans to only fall more in love with Machida, if only to try and figure out how to crack his impeccable ring skills.


2. Yves Lavigne is going to get a fighter seriously injured

Refereeing mixed martial arts is one of the hardest jobs in sports. Refs are only given a split second to make judgment calls on a fighter’s well being, and as a result there are going to be stoppages that fighters and fans will be unhappy with.

While this is an unfortunate and unavoidable part of the sport, there is no place for referee indecision, and worse, confusion.

Fans watching the televised card last night might have noticed the fans booing Yves Lavigne every time he was announced. They had good reason. Early in the preliminary card, Kyle Bradley dropped Phillipe Nover with a short punch. Nover dove for a single leg to protect himself, only to slip and fall forward onto his face.

Lavigne grabbed Bradley from behind, seemingly to stop the fight. Nover rolled to his back, clearly conscious, causing Lavigne to let Bradley go. Confused, Bradley tried to throw more punches, but Nover kicked him away and stood. Lavigne then waved his arms, signaling the end of the fight.

For those keeping score at home, this is the second time in three months that Lavigne has moved to stop a fight, only to let it continue. The Matt Brown/ Pete Sell fight was worse in the sense that Lavigne overcompensated for the early stoppage by allowing Sell to take much more damage than he needed, but both fights are punishment worthy, and the athletic commission should step in.

If not, the next time Lavigne false starts on a stoppage, it might cause a fighter to drop his guard, leading to disastrous consequences.


3. Give Phillipe Nover a break

Despite the controversy, Nover’s record inside the octagon stands at 0-2. Headlines across the web are reading, “Watch the next Anderson Silva/ GSP lose his second consecutive fight.” The lampooning of Dana White’s proclamations is fair; the criticisms being leveled at Nover are not.

Nover lost to TUF winner Efrain Escudero, and then to a much more experienced Kyle Bradley, neither of whom are easy fights. As such, Nover should not be judged by labels placed by White, but rather as a talented but young and inexperienced fighter.


4. Sean Sherk needs to return to his roots

Sometime in the past year, Sherk forgot that he has some of the best wrestling in the lightweight division, and started trying to be an ‘exciting’ fighter. His Fight of the Night decision victory cemented the notion that to be exciting, you have to stand and trade.

The only problem is, Sherk does not have exceptional boxing skills. Content to move forward and look for the one punch knockout, Sherk shows little in the way of footwork or head movement.

Frankie Edgar was able to do a fantastic job on the feet, using lateral movement and bobs and weaves to fire off stinging combinations. Sherk clearly had the strength factor on his side, and would have been much better served to work for a clinch and overpower the smaller Edgar.

The sooner Sherk goes back to his old ways, the sooner he will climb the ranks back to another title shot. If he neglects his wrestling, he may be lost in the deep sea of talented 155lb fighters.


5. All pre-fight trash talking is hype, nothing more

I hold sportsmanship in the highest regard, but even I was disappointed to see Matt Serra and Matt Hughes become buddy-buddy after their fight.

Perhaps there is something therapeutic about trading blows with your arch nemesis for three rounds, but I cannot believe that a person can go from “I hate him so much” to hugs and hand raises in 15 short minutes. I’m not attacking Hughes or Serra, but I will dismiss any further hate talk between any two fighters as white noise, until they prove otherwise.


6. I don’t want to see “Hughes vs. Alves 2”

The win over Serra must have felt good, but Hughes is no longer an elite fighter. I selfishly want to remember Matt Hughes as the most dominant welterweight in UFC history, not as the guy who got manhandled towards the end of his career.

Hughes says he wants a rematch with Thiago Alves to avenge his earlier loss, but that fight would end in exactly the same highlight reel fashion as the last one. Hughes can still be an effective fighter, but his days of fighting the top talent in the division are over.


7. Krzysztof Soszynski is for real

Soszynski is as tough as his name is to spell, and he has quietly racked up three straight wins in the UFC. His boxing technique needs improving, but Soszynski has the power to make for it.

Soszynski also has a pension for finishing fights by kimura, something that the submission-starved UFC can use. He is not ready to take on the elite of the division yet, but I can see Soszynski achieving a level of success similar to that of Keith Jardine.


8. Lyoto Machida will be the Pound For Pound king

What do Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn all have that Lyoto Machida does not? The answer is a loss.

Machida has not yet fought the talent necessary to be anointed the top pound for pound in the world, but the talent rich light heavyweight division will provide plenty of opportunities for Machida to prove his worth.

If Machida can string together several title defenses against the likes of Quinton Jackson, “Shogun” Rua, Forrest Griffin and maybe even Rich Franklin, there will be little dispute over who the real king is.


Cameron Gidari is the Associate Editor at MMAMadness.com. When he is not playing UFC Undisputed, he responds to reader questions and comments. He can be reached at [e-mail].