UFC 101: Five Things I Learned

UFC 101 is in the books, and it was a night of solid fights. We saw a champion redeemed, and one find his cure for boredom. If you haven't already logged on to bjpenn.com to see what he thinks, stay with me and take a look at five things I learned tonight.

1. Anderson Silva should keep fighting at light heavyweight.

I know Dan Henderson has been promised a rematch for the middleweight title. Georges St. Pierre may step up to see if he can wrestle the middleweight title from Silva.

Beyond that, Anderson Silva has no business left to finish at 185. He needs to be challenged, and not in a Forrest Griffin sort of way. He needs to be challenged in a Lyoto Machida sort of way.

2. Wanderlei Silva should immediately end his feud with Anderson Silva.

Not only should Wanderlei end his feud, he should apologize to Anderson, publicly. Wanderlei has a negative percentage chance of defeating Anderson. If this fight were to happen, I'm not sure Wanderlei has even the puncher's chance.

I know the UFC is looking for hyper aggressive types to bring out the best in Anderson Silva. But outside providing a highlight reel ko of himself, what can Wanderlei show us Griffin couldn't?

3. Kenny Florian has nothing to be ashamed of.

Kenny Florian is a classy guy. Although nowhere near as athletically gifted as BJ Penn, he is a hard working fighter. He is a smart fighter. He came in with an excellent gameplan, and attempted to execute it to the best of his ability.

Outside of throwing more legkicks and actually securing a takedown, there is little to argue with what Florian did tonight.

He avoided Penn in the standup, as he should have. He pressed Penn against the cage, as he should have. He attempted to take Penn down, as he should have. He landed leg kicks, although he could have landed more.

Florian simply was not strong enough to get Penn to the ground, and it proved to be all the difference.

4. BJ Penn defeated Kenny Florian with skill, not athletic ability.

A lot of pre fight talk centered around Penn being the better athlete, but Florian the better technician. That talk can be put to rest.

Penn stuffed Florian's takedowns for three rounds, then took Florian down himself. He then proceeded to show the difference between a jiu jitsu black belt and himself.

Penn looked to lack much of the explosiveness he normally shows in his fights. Maybe he overtrained, maybe it just wasn't there tonight. Either way he showed us all why is still the Prodigy, and the man to beat at 155.

Diego Sanchez, wherever you are meditating, I hope your ready.

5. Forrest Griffin was knocked out by...................embarrassment.

There are a few ways to look at Silva's knockout of Forrest Griffin. You can say Griffin quit, as he could have continued. You can say Griffin was rocked repeatedly, and never fully regained his bearings.

I say Griffin was outclassed, outgunned, and embarrassed. I think despite all his pre fight I'll do my best talk, Griffin thought he could win. Why else do fighters train hard?

I believe he had a good game plan and thought he could put up more of a fight than he did. He was rocked several times, and never really came close to being in the fight.

Silva did his usual shuffling, dropping his hands, and avoided Griffin's punches with simple head movement. He even ate a jab, shook it off and walked forward just to discourage Griffin.

In the end I think Griffin got frustrated, got wild, and got knocked down. I think his flopping on the canvas was more from embarrassment than being hurt. He realized he had zero to offer Silva, and that's a bad feeling to have as a fighter.

His quick exit from the octagon only serves to further my point. Fighters train hard, and not many train harder than Griffin. He simply was not on the same level as Silva, which is the pound for pound level.