UFC 137 Results: Questions Answered and Lessons Learned

UFC 137 is over and in the history books. Nick Diaz proved to be too much for B.J. Penn—who subsequently announced his retirement—and Cheick Kongo exploited the Achille's heel of Matt Mitrione in order to earn a decision victory.

The fight card had many other fights on it, with most of them answering a looming question or teaching a valuable lesson to the MMA community.

So what questions were answered and what lessons were learned? Read and find out!

Francis Carmont Is Good but Needs Work

Middleweight Francis Carmont had a good showing against Chris Camozzi, but he still needs some work.

While his striking looked powerful, it needs to be tightened up a bit more. However, Carmont's takedown defense was exceptional.

Carmont can go far in MMA due to the fact that he train's with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, but he still does holes in his game to plug up; he almost got submitted at the very end of the third round!

Danny Downes Needs Polish, 155 Is a Good Weight Class for Ramsay Nijem

Danny Downes may be tough as nails, but he still needs a lot of polish in his MMA game.

He was taking a significant amount of punches from Ramsay Nijem when the fight was on the feet, and when the fight was on the mat, he just couldn't seem to get the better of Nijem. This included the time when Downes nearly had Nijem in an inverted triangle but couldn't finish it.

Nijem, despite not being able to finish Downes, looked much quicker at 155 pounds, showing that lightweight suits him much better.

Brandon Vera Isn't Anything Special

Brandon Vera won his fight against Elliot Marshal, but he didn't look all that impressive. He was rocked several times and was nearly submitted. Had be been facing a fighter of a higher caliber, he would have been finished.

Tyson Griffin Has Lost the Fire

Tyson Griffin is 1-4 in his last five and just recently came in three pounds overweight (and judging by the flab around his waist, he's lucky it was only three pounds).

After suffering a knockout loss to Bart Palaszewski, one must wonder whether or not Griffin still has the fire that burns inside all successful fighters.

Donald Cerrone Can Be a Champion, Dennis Siver Needs to Drop a Weight Class

Donald Cerrone continued his undefeated streak in the UFC by making short work of Russian-born German Dennis Siver.

Cerrone is now 4-0 in the UFC. He has looked better with each performance and a title shot is definitely in his future.

Siver, on the other hand, has been sent back to square one. If he is to have success in the UFC, he should seriously consider a drop down to featherweight since he is simply too small (both in weight and in height/reach) to contend with the highest echelon of lightweights.

Japanese MMA Is Not Dead

After his decision victory over George Roop, Hatsu Hioki himself proclaimed that Japanese MMA wasn’t dead.

Heading into UFC 137, Hioki appeared to be just another overrated Japanese “superstar” in a long line of overrated Japanese superstars that couldn’t hack it in the United States (Takanori Gomi, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, etc.)

Fortunately for Japanese MMA, Hioki proved the critics wrong; he showed that he belongs in the Octagon.

Roy Nelson Still Has Work to Do, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic Had a Sad End

The legendary Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic was merely a shadow of his former self when he faced Roy “Big Country” Nelson at UFC 137. The career of the once mighty Pride star had a sad end, being beaten down by a fighter with a gimmick of being the “fat guy.”

A noticeably thinner Nelson managed to submit Filipovic but still showed that he has some holes in his game to plug up. His striking could use some improved defense and his wrestling could be better. Also, he could stand to lose even more weight.

Matt Mitrione Needs Wrestling—Badly

The fight between Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo was a close one, but Mitrione seemed to get the better of the stand-up. Unfortunately for him, it was a mixed martial arts fight and not a kickboxing match.

An initially tentative Kongo took a helpless Mitrione to the canvas in the third round and battered him throughout most of the frame, guaranteeing the Frenchman’s victory.

If Mitrione’s wrestling was better, he could’ve stopped Kongo’s takedowns and possibly won the fight. If the former football player is to ever succeed at the highest level of competition in the UFC, he’ll need to devote many, many hours to wrestling.

BJ Penn Isn't a Great Welterweight

B.J. Penn proved two things, one that everybody knew and another that everybody knew but denied.

Everyone knew that Penn had questionable conditioning and this problem was only exacerbated by Nick Diaz's ample blows to the body.

What everyone denied for so long was that Penn wasn't a great welterweight fighter; he was above average at best. Penn didn't have the size or the athleticism to be consistently good at welterweight.

Now, we may never get a chance to see him disprove this notion since he announced his retirement after losing to Diaz (but it's worth noting that retiring after a loss is one of Penn's favorite past-times).

Nick Diaz Would Lose to Georges St-Pierre or Any Decent Wrestler

Nick Diaz would lose to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre or any decent wrestler in the welterweight division that has good submission defense.

Diaz beat a welterweight B.J. Penn who had lackluster conditioning and stood right in front of Diaz, playing to his "Stockton Slap" strategy.

St-Pierre and the wrestlers of the division would stick to Diaz like glue. They would press him up against the cage, stymie him, and simply out-position him for the duration of the fight. If Penn, an average wrestler, was able to take Diaz down, what would St-Pierre be able to do to him?

Nick Diaz and His Team Have Very Limited Vocabularies

How many times did Nick Diaz and his Caesar Gracie friends use the term "Mother f***er"? Time to read a dictionary, gentlemen.

Talking Creates Money and Money Talks

At the UFC 137 post-fight press conference, Dana White announced that Carlos Condit would no longer be facing Georges St-Pierre next and that Nick Diaz would take his place.

When is the fight scheduled? Superbowl weekend.

Rewarding Diaz with the fight against St-Pierre (as well as the numerous benefits Chael Sonnen has received despite a failed drug test and an accusation of fraud/money laundering) prove that trash talking is the way to go.

Diaz's talking creates (pay-per-view) money and that money talks to the UFC. A Diaz-St.Pierre fight would sell far better than one between St-Pierre and Condit.