Lessons Learned From UFC 99

• Wanderlei Silva does still possess that aggressive fighting style that made him so dangerous during his PrideFC glory days, he just doesn’t show it. We saw the “real” Wanderlei in the final minutes of round three against Rich Franklin, which while exciting, was also part of the problem. Wanderlei needs to fight with that same style from the opening bell to be effective. The “Axe Murderer’s” biggest fighting asset is the fear he used to drive into opponents, and he can only do that by coming on strong from the first minute.
• Wanderlei Silva might struggle at middleweight. While its nearly impossible to tell if the cut to 195 lbs. really did affect Silva, it definitely appeared that Wandi struggled with endurance and stamina. If that is the case, cutting an additional ten pounds to 185 lbs. could be devastating for his power and chances at middleweight.
• Rich Franklin is a very smart fighter and that will probably be his biggest asset while he continues to fight at light heavyweight. Franklin’s gameplan against Wanderlei Silva was smart and allowed him to outpoint his opponent.
• Now that we’ve finally seen the “other side” of Cain Velasquez’s game, I hope everyone can settle down on the hype and let him grow into the fighter he should be. While Cain was riding the “heavyweight hype train” and declared as the next big thing, we really had never seen his ground game, his stamina, or his defenses. Well, last night against Cheick Kongo we got too see all three and it’s clear that Velasquez still needs a bit of work before he is able to compete with the heavyweight elite. Velasquez ate several solid jabs that sent him to his knees which shows he needs to tighten up his defense. Velasquez was also unable to finish Kongo on the ground or do much significant damage which indicates his power might not be all it was cracked up to be. In a match between Velasquez and fellow rising heavyweight Shane Carwin, I’d have to take Carwin at this point.
• I said before the event that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic would have to show me something significant before I declared him as back to his former self. Well, Mirko didn’t show me anything and looked listless and clearly not like the Mirko of several years back. The weak heavyweight division in DREAM should provide several Al-Turk-style opponents that will setup nicely for the current Cro Cop.
• The Ben Saunders vs. Mike Swick fight was a bit disappointing I thought. Saunders didn’t really look to engage with his hands and Swick looked to play the extremely safe fight. I still don’t think Swick has a shot at the middleweight title. Most MMA critics seem to now be calling for a fight between Swick and Martin Kampmann; I agree and would love to see this matchup as a good test for Swick.
• The Spencer Fisher vs. Caol Uno fight was fun to watch. Caol (yes, it’s Caol, not “Carl” as Mike Goldberg whole lead you to believe) is non-stop action and will be fun to watch no matter who else he fights during his second stint in the UFC. Spencer Fisher continues to be a tough matchup for anyone and his grappling defense skills have greatly improved over the past couple fights.
• I really was hoping for a bit more in the Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy fight. As I thought, Davis took Hardy down early on, but he was simply unable to do much from the top position on the ground. Don’t get me wrong, the fight was exciting to watch with action the whole time, but it definitely didn’t deliver the “fireworks” that I think most fans were expecting.
• Watching Bruce Buffer try to speak German was fun to watch.