UFC 106: A Night of Great Fights...Except for Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin

UFC 106 was supposed to be an amazing card. But then Brock Lesnar (4-1) got sick and is rumored to be out for at least six months. And then Mark Coleman (16-9) injured himself.

As a result, the main event fight at Las Vegas became a rematch between Tito Ortiz (15-7) and Forrest Griffin (16-7). Two former UFC Light-Heavyweight champions were about to meet again, and the other fights seemed pretty intriguing too.

The first fight, which happened three years ago, had the Huntington Beach Bad Boy winning a controversial split decision against the TUF champion and former police officer.

Ortiz dominated the first round, and then was shaky in the last two, eating shots from the lanky striker.

I have to give Ortiz some credit; any striker would have an easy time landing his fists on that giant, yellow beach ball of a head, but at least in the first fight, Ortiz actually threw some punches with bad intentions.

The second fight, sadly, did not live up to my expectations. It just lacked the fire and tension that made their first bout so exciting.

Of course, it was much better than the main event fight for UFC 105; Randy Couture almost cured my insomnia by hugging Brandon Vera for 15 minutes. Also, the judges got it right this time: Griffin won this fight, although not by 30-27 like how one of the judges scored it.

What I saw in the rematch was two unmotivated and unwilling fighters trying to squeeze out a painful decision.

I congratulate Griffin for taking the fight on short notice (apparently he abruptly ended his honeymoon to come back for training), but I don't think he has fully recovered from his embarrassing loss to P4P great Anderson Silva.

His strategy was not too different from his other fights. Use leg kicks, use combos, find angles and try to tear the opponent down slowly but surely.

Ortiz's game-plan was also quite unoriginal; look for the take-down opportunity and then rain down elbows.

But that was exactly the problem with this fight. Nothing changed. Nothing had changed.

During the three years that passed since the first fight, MMA as a whole had developed tremendously; these two fighters somehow managed to stay the same.

It was the same ol' Ortiz vs. the same ol' Griffin. Only the result changed, but it was not because Griffin was a better fighter than Ortiz. Ortiz simply deteriorated a little more than Griffin did.

Add in the fact that Ortiz started gassing after the second round and that Griffin basically threw the same combinations over and over again.

Griffin was defenseless to Ortiz shooting from three feet away, while Ortiz showed basically no head movement and essentially proved how hard-headed he was.

The single most entertaining moment in that fight was when Griffin landed a front kick that made Ortiz's mouthpiece fly away.

Ortiz's facial expression read something like: "What the heck just happened?" while Griffin's face was saying something like, "What the heck did I just do?"

These guys were lost; they wanted to show the world how better they had become, but in the end, they showed up into the octagon as shells of their former prime selves.

I think that if Ortiz had kept training while he was out of the UFC, then he would not have tired out so fast, and would have won this fight too.

I gave Round One to Griffin, Round Two to Ortiz, and Round Three to Griffin. If Ortiz had made a successful take-down and kept Griffin on the mat, he would have taken Round Three, but alas, it never happened.

Griffin was supposed to have improved tremendously, but it was the same Griffin from three years ago. He still got taken down, and unfortunately he still has no KO power.

For him, a rematch with Keith Jardine seems like a good option. For Ortiz, maybe Stephan Bonnar? Or a rematch with Chuck Liddell?

But enough with my criticisms; the other fights were awesome!

Josh Koscheck (14-4) versus Anthony Johnson (8-3) was an amazing fight.

I loved seeing Koscheck finally going back to what he was good at. Watching him shoot for the double-leg makes me feel ashamed of my past High School Wrasslin' technique. Koscheck is like a freight-train; the guy is strong !

Johnson had no answer for those powerful take-downs; he also seemed to tire out considerably after the first round. Cutting down from 220 pounds will do that to anyone; Johnson is a talent, no doubt, but all that weight-cutting cannot be good for him.

This fight, however, was not free from controversy. Camera-replays showed that Johnson's illegal knee did not even touch Koscheck's face, yet the NCAA champion was still given considerable time to rest.

Did Koscheck give an Oscar-worthy acting performance, or did Johnson really do something to Koscheck's left eye?

Koscheck put that question to rest by finishing Johnson with an electrifying rear naked choke in the second round.

And then he called out Dan Hardy, saying that he was not a worthy contender for the belt. And then he talked about his Twitter account. Priceless. Koscheck always delivers the goods.

Paulo Thiago (12-1) vs. Jacob Volkmann (9-1) was another good fight.

Thiago showed his striking finesse while Volkmann utilized his wrestling pedigree to put Thiago in several difficult positions.

It was an entertaining back-and-forth encounter, and for Volkmann, it was a great way to introduce himself in the ever-growing UFC welterweight division. Some times, a loss could be more interesting than a win.

Thiago might have gotten the split-decision, but Volkmann gave a spirited performance. What more can the fans ask for?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3) made a fantastic debut in the octagon by dispatching formidable contender Luis Arthur Cane (10-2) in the first round.

In a battle of two dangerous strikers, it was the more refined and technical boxer that won over the brawling Muay-Thai specialist.

Lil-Nog, I think, has a great future ahead of him in the UFC. I cannot wait to see more of him. The possibility of having two Nogueiras as champions of their respective weight classes...is higher than you might think.