UFC 127 Results: Surprises, Reactions and Wrap Up from Sydney
UFC 127 is in the books, and it turned into quite the memorable event. There were a number of storylines that we were looking for going in, and we got even more than what we thought we would get coming out of it.
B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch fought to a controversial draw in the main event. Fitch completely dominated the third round, to the point where it should have been scored a 10-8 round, but that still wasn't enough for the judges to give him a victory over Penn.
Penn seemed as shocked as anyone to hear that he was going to walk away from the fight without a loss on his record. He even thanked the gods above for that one.
Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera had a noteworthy encounter, mainly because Bisping was such a sore winner. I know Rivera did a lot of talking before the fight, but dude, you just won the fight, so shut your mouth.
There were these stories and many more that came out of UFC 127 from Sydney, Australia. Here are some of the stories that caught our attention.
B.J. Penn Gets By With A Little Help From His Friends
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B.J. Penn knew that this fight against Jon Fitch was an important one in his career. He was sort of at a crossroads, coming off the two losses to Frankie Edgar and the quick victory over Matt Hughes, this was going to be his fight to establish himself as a top contender in the welterweight division.
The fight was close after two rounds, and you could make a case that Penn won both or it was split going into the third. However, the third round was all Fitch. He got Penn down right from the beginning and just pounded on him for five minutes.
Everyone in the arena was sure that Fitch would get the decision, but the judges didn't agree with everyone else. They scored the fight a draw. It was a lackluster ending to what was an otherwise good show.
Jon Fitch Proves His Mettle Against One of the Best in the World
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Jon Fitch had a lot of questions to answer going into his fight with B.J. Penn at UFC 127. He had to prove that he could hang with one of the top fighters in the business in order to get himself another shot at the welterweight title.
Fitch did more than just prove he could hang with a top fighter, he proved that he can defeat one of the top fighters in the world.
Despite the fact that the judges scored the main event a draw, Fitch was the winner of the fight with B.J. Penn. He put a beating on Penn in the third round that wasn't one of the more vicious that you will see, but he just threw punches and elbows in destroying Penn in the third round.
Fitch won't get an official victory for that, but everyone watching saw why Fitch is one of the best fighters in the world.
Michael Bisping Is a Villain in the Middleweight Division
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Michael Bisping went from afterthought to villain with one knee to Jorge Rivera's head at UFC 127. In the first round of their fight, Bisping had Rivera on the ground and delivered an illegal knee that caught Rivera right in the head.
Rivera was knocked silly, and the ref almost stopped the fight as a result. Rivera insisted that he could continue, and he made it to the second round before Bisping just unleashed on him with punches to the head.
After the ref called a stop to the fight, Bisping ran over to Rivera and demand that he apologize before they could exit the cage. There was a little more to it than that, but Bisping came off as a classless poor sport.
At least now people are aware of Bisping's presence in mixed martial arts.
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Jorge Rivera Went From Arrogant Schmo To Sympathetic Figure In A Snap
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Being able to turn yourself into a hero after playing a villain is no easy task. Jorge Rivera was able to do something to that effect at UFC 127.
After playing himself off as a villain for most of the build up to his fight with Michael Bisping, Jorge Rivera became a sympathetic figure with one blatant knee right to his head.
Bisping wanted to hurt Rivera in the fight, and he didn't really care if he won, which he did.
Rivera will never be a big star in MMA, but he earned a lot more fans because of what happened at UFC 127.
Dennis Siver Could Become The Next Lightweight Contender
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Dennis Siver has hit his professional peak, and he could ride that wave all the way to a lightweight championship fight somewhere in the near future.
Siver was able to knock off George Sotiropoulos with a great combination of kicks and punches and takedown defense.
Siver is now 18-7 in his career, with three consecutive victories including the Sotiropoulos win. He will probably have to take on one more challenger, possibly against someone like Kenny Florian, before he can get his shot.
Siver has been impressive lately and is making his way up the lightweight rankings. He could get a title shot late this year or early next year if things fall into place.
George Sotiropoulos Got Caught As A One-Trick Pony Against Dennis Siver
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George Sotiropoulos might have the best submission game in the UFC lightweight division. The problem is that he doesn't really have a whole lot else working for him, and Dennis Siver exposed him at UFC 127.
Sotiropoulos couldn't execute any real offense against Siver, and it wound up costing him the fight and a shot at the lightweight championship.
That's not to take anything away from Siver, who fought a great fight, but Sotiropoulos couldn't do anything at all.
Siver blocked every takedown that Sotiropoulos attempted. Sotiropoulos had no striking to speak of, and Siver was better in every way possible.
Sotiropoulos might be a very good fighter, but if he wants to become a title contender, he will have to improve his striking and power.
The Judging Becomes The Story...Again
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Another MMA event, another judging controversy or two.
The televised portion of UFC 127 started with a bang as Nick Ring and Riki Fukuda had a pretty good three-round fight.
If you watched it, you know that Fukuda controlled all three rounds and had an easy decision victory in his pocket. The only problem is the judges didn't see things that way. They scored the fight in favor of Ring.
The crowd in attendance booed this decision, and everyone watching at home had to be confused.
That wasn't the end of it, though.
The main event between Jon Fitch and B.J. Penn was marred in a little bit of controversy when it was announced that the judges scored the fight a draw.
Penn had the first round won, but Fitch won the last two rounds - including a 10-8 third round - and should have had the decision victory. Instead, the judges saw the fight as an even split.
It's just the latest instance where judging overshadows the work that actually went on inside the cage.
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