One Day Later: Thoughts, News, and Notes from UFC 91

It would have been hard for any promotion to live up to the marketing hype that UFC 91 had going into it and even though Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture wasn't a five round classic, it marked something almost as important: the passing of a torch to what could be the next great heavyweight fighter in mixed martial arts today.

While I thought Couture's experience would play in his favor, it became clear that Lesnar was just that much better. Everything he did was so good: wrestling, knee strikes coming out of clinches, striking in general—all were superb.

I thought the standing knee he hit seconds before the impending final strikes were about to rain down was crucial in how that fight ended. Couture looked staggered and probably was not fully prepared to defend against what was about to happen.

Call it ring rust for Couture if you want, but Lesnar went in there and won the UFC Heavyweight title—plain and simple. Now he will need to keep it up.

He will have his hands full with the winner of December's Minotauro Nogueira/Frank Mir fight and then the challengers that will come after that.

Gabriel Gonzaga looked awesome last night, and you never know when that Fedor guy everyone talks about might decide it is time to make the Octagon his home.

It is one thing to win, it is another to keep winning. I sincerely hope Lesnar does because he is fun to watch and discuss. The next big draw has arrived.

I also was very impressed by the dominant performances by Gonzaga in a no-doubt win over an over-matched Josh Hendricks, and Demien Maia's BJJ clinic on Nate Quarry.

Gonzaga was just plain awesome and if he can win his next fight, he should be in line for the winner of the Lesnar/Mir/Nogueira title unification match.

•What more can be said about Kenny Florian, who earned a shot at BJ Penn's Lightweight title with his first-round submission win over Joe Stevenson? "Daddy" was pushing the pace throughout the round, but Florian had answers for everything. I get the sense that people are not buying how good "KenFlo" really is, but he is legit and I think his eventual fight with Penn is going to be pretty awesome.

Also, I keep thinking about Joe Rogan's comment about how Stevenson looked worn out at the weigh-ins, as if he had a tough time making weight. He is still young despite all of his experience, so perhaps a bump up to welterweight might be a good career move.

•How entertaining was the Hazelett/McCrory fight? Just two young dudes going out to make a name for themselves. Hazelett's transitions into that reverse armbar were awesome. They made the most of their opportunity to get on the pay-per-view.

Thanks, Amir Sadollah.

Other Notes

Interesting comments by Dana White on Lesnar's fight-ending barrage of shots on Couture, seen left, that are being picked up by mainstream media today. When asked about whether ref Mario Yamasaki should have stopped the fight earlier, White said, "Mario was trying to give him time [to recover]. There’s a fine line between that and [allowing] too many punches. When I saw Randy go back down, I thought we had crossed that line.”

Of course, this turned into "UFC 91: White says Lesnar's barrage on Couture crossed the line" in the LA Times as if to paint the picture of unfiltered brutality that so many that do not understand the sport associate MMA with.

I also caught ESPN's late-night coverage and was a bit disappointed as the 3:00 am SportsCenter showed about 45 seconds of highlights and one of the anchors was laughing, saying Couture's head looked like a basketball. That's the best analysis you have?

Seriously.

•The paid gate was $4.8 million on a near-sellout crowd of 14,272, the fourth-highest in company history, and third overall for MMA in Nevada. (Five Ounces of Pain)

•The $60k bonuses were down from UFC 90's $70k; surprising considering the record amount of pay-per-view buys alone. Strange, right?

•Hazelett earned Submission of the Night honors, taking home an additional $60k.

•Fight of The Night honors went to Jorge Gurgel vs. Aaron Riley, which Riley won via unanimous decision. Videos are online and it's worth your 20 minutes of time. They each got $60k for their efforts.

•Go out of your way to see Jeremy Stephens' third-round uppercut knockout of Rafale Dos Anjos. It is as crisp an uppercut as you will ever see. It was a very good fight. He earned "Knockout Of The Night" honors for that shot, worth an additional $60k.

•Yahoo's Kevin Iole did a nice wrap of the fight and a look ahead to what Lesnar could face down the heavyweight road here. Yahoo Sports does a great job with their MMA section, by the way, something ESPN missed out on when the explosion of the sport began.

•The next event? The 12/10 Fight For The Troops card, live on Spike TV, before preparations for the year-ending The Ultimate ppv featuring Mir/Nogueira, Griffin/Evans, and Wanderlei Silva/Rampage Jackson on Dec. 27.

Josh Nason has written and maintained Ropes, Ring and Cage since 2007 and can be reached at [e-mail]. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!