UFC 89 "Bisping vs Leben" Recap

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-I guess the "New and Improved" Brandon Vera isn't much of an upgrade over "The Ultimate Fighting Turtle" who fought Reese Andy. The one thing I hate is when announcers oversell athletes in any sport. Last night Rogan and Goldberg spent the majority of the fight talking about how great Vera looks. You would have thought he was Anderson Silva with all the compliments they were dishing out. Meanwhile, Keith Jardine was winning the fight. The UFC made a mistake when they gave Vera a huge contract and they need to stop marketing him like a top fighter. His only quality win was over Frank Mir and that was 23 months ago. His move to Light Heavyweight has been an unmitigated disaster, despite his new abs that Goldberg and Rogan loved so much last night. If he headlines the proposed show in the Philippines, the UFC will be no better than EliteXC. It's time to cut the losses and move on.

-MMA needs to straighten out their judging issues before a huge main event ends in controversy. Last night Paul Taylor and Chris Lytle fought a relatively close match. Lytle came out strong early and faded once he fatigued in the 2nd round. I'm not gonna argue with the overall decision too much. In my opinion Taylor won the fight, but whatever it was a 29-28 fight either way. The thing I am going to complain about is the judge who scored it 30-27 for Lytle. This highlights a growing problem in MMA. Judges do not understand the sport enough to score it correctly. MMA needs a clear set of scoring rules and judges should be graded by their performance. If some one makes an obvious error, it should be on their record and cause them to get lesser bouts in the future.

-Luis Cane is for real and Sokoudjou is not.

-The crowd was better than I gave it credit for. The problem was the broadcast. First, Rogan and Goldberg almost never shut up. Second, they only showed entrances for the final two fights. Third, the production did not feature the crowd. This is one area where the UFC should take a cue from pro wrestling. Feature the damn crowd and it makes the event better for the viewers.

-Did any one else notice all the commercials? Although, It was nice to watch a sporting event and not have to see four hundred promos for Frank TV.

-Chris Leben is the same fighter he has always been. There was not some magical transformation last night. People love a good story, and a drunk trying to get their life in order always sells. However, a fighter can not transform themselves in a matter of months. Leben is still a brawler who loads up his left. The difference last night was he fought a smart fighter who refused to get drawn into a stand-up war.

-Why is it taking Bisping so long to get a title shot? He is 7-1 in the UFC, 3-0 as a Middleweight, and has headlined two events. I hope he is getting paid a mint for coaching The Ultimate Fighter.