I haven’t done one of these for a while (since UFC 74 back in August), but since my columns will be posting on Mondays, I’ll be looking for a consistent post-event format for my thoughts concerning the event.  We’ll give this a whirl and see where it goes.

Thumbs Up:  To the overall pace of the show.  I thought initially that it was moving slower than it needed to, and I still think they could (and should) have shown one more fight on the telecast.  But on the whole, the show moved along pretty well.  They could do a few things to cut down on wasted time, but on the whole the pacing has been good to great so far this year.

Thumbs Down:  To the UFC’s “On Demand” service.  Joe Rogan mentions at every show that the unaired preliminary bouts will be available “shortly after the event”, but they’re never available until the next morning at the very earliest (usually much later – UFC 80’s fight wasn’t available until the following Tuesday), and there are always problems with at least one of the downloads.  Currently the Gurgel-Halverson fight is five seconds long, so we have to wait while they fix it.  On an unrelated note, the service is called “Zuffa on Demand.”  Why aren’t there any unaired WEC prelims on the service?  That would really make the subscription worth the $10 per month.

Thumbs Up:  To the welterweights in the prelims.  Diego Sanchez absolutely destroyed David Bielkheden in his UFC debut, and Josh Koscheck knocked out Dustin Hazelett with a nice kick in a bout that was shown on the main broadcast.  I haven’t seen Cummo-Fioravanti yet, so I can’t comment on that, but Kos and Sanchez were both tremendous.  And let’s not forget Hazelett.  He lost, but he looked pretty good and held his own against the more seasoned Koscheck.  Hazelett could be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Thumbs Down:  To whoever came up with Jake O’Brien’s gameplan against Andre Arlovski.  It was a carbon copy of what he did against Heath Herring.  O’Brien looked to take Arlovski down and lay on him, but Arlovski was able to stuff most of the takedowns in the first round while suffering zero damage, and he cut O’Brien on the head with elbows from the bottom when the takedown eventually succeeded.  Then in the second round, Arlovski made O’Brien pay for a few of his stuffed takedown attempts before getting a trip takedown of his own, quickly mounting, and pounding O’Brien out.

Thumbs Up:  To Chris Wilson for coming in and hanging with Jon Fitch for three rounds.  Fitch is one of the hottest fighters in the sport right now, winning 15 straight fights, and it’s no small feat to take him to a decision.  Wilson could potentially be a force in the division, and he’s a great addition to the UFC’s stacked welterweight roster.  I know there are some who say that Fitch fought not to lose, but I think that’s more of a byproduct of the situation he was in, rather than his desire to win the fight. Speaking of which…

Thumbs Down:  To the UFC’s way of deciding title contenders.  After Karo Parisyan defeated Ryo Chonan in November, the prevailing assumption was that he would take one more fight before getting a title shot against the winner of St. Pierre-Serra.  Parisyan even went as far as to say he didn’t want a tough fight before his title fight (of course, he won’t get his wish with a fight against Thiago Alves next month, but I digress.)  But my point is this:  instead of saying, “Hey, if you win this fight you’ll get a title shot,” how about putting two guys into a fight with a title shot on the line, and always decide contenders that way.  When you get two fighters in the cage and each has a title shot to gain, you’re bound to get a better fight than when one guy could get a title shot while the other one tries to play spoiler without getting a shot of his own.

Thumbs Up:  To Evan Tanner’s comeback effort, but he didn’t have much of a prayer against the much more recently active Yushin Okami.  Tanner looked way out of sorts in the cage, and Okami was able to handle him pretty easily with a nice knockout via a knee to the head.

Thumbs Up:  To the UFC, for putting Mark Coleman in the Hall of Fame.  Coleman was the first UFC Heavyweight champion, and a true MMA pioneer.  In the beginning, there was Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, and then Mark Coleman.  Coleman reached his peak with a win over Severn in the UFC, then again in Pride when he won the Grand Prix in 2000.  I would have liked to see more of a big deal made of Coleman’s history on the telecast (with some highlights), but it was good that they at least acknowledged “The Hammer”.

Thumbs Down:  To fight politics, which kept us from seeing Andre Arlovski on the main card.  Here’s hoping he re-signs with the UFC.  Since he’s been out of action so long, there are some intriguing matchups for him with all the UFC’s additions over the past year.

Thumbs Up:  To Joe Silva, or whoever decided to match up Mark Coleman with Brock Lesnar in Minneapolis of all places.  I don’t see a way that Coleman, at his age, will be able to beat Lesnar.  Coleman has hardly changed his training regimen since he began his career, and I’m not guessing he’ll do so now.  So we’ll likely see the same Mark Coleman we’ve always seen.  And Lesnar is a stronger wrestler than Coleman, with better boxing and otherworldly cardio.  Make no mistake that the UFC does not want Lesnar going 0-2 in his first two fights, so this is a way to get him a big win over a legend, and Lesnar is sure to get a tremendous crowd reaction in his hometown.

Thumbs Up:  To Alessio Sakara and Chris Leben for leaving it all in the Octagon again.  The fight may have gone down almost exactly as predicted, but it was still entertaining.  It’s too bad for Sakara that his chin isn’t as good as his strikes are.  Leben on the other hand, has whiskers that can hold up to pretty much anyone this side of Anderson Silva, so striking with “The Crippler” is usually a bad idea.  It’s good that Sakara is with American Top Team, because if he had a good ground game to set up his strikes (or avoid those of his opponent), he could be very dangerous.  Alessio Sakara working a good ground and pound game could be scary.

Thumbs Up:  To Heath Herring and Cheick Kongo.  That was a fight that looked like two guys who had something to gain from winning.  I’ll say this much:  if Kongo keeps working with Juanito Ibarra, there’s going to be trouble in the heavyweight division in a year or two. 

Thumbs Up:  To Dan Henderson, who could very well be the second best fighter in two weight divisions, but ran into a couple of brick walls in Quinton Jackson and Anderson Silva, two of the top five pound for pound fighters in the world.  There are certainly plenty more interesting matchups for Henderson at 185, should he choose to stay there.  Rich Franklin, Nate Marquardt, Martin Kampmann, Ricardo Almeida, and others could easily be matched with Hendo for a potentially entertaining fight.  And I wouldn’t be surprised to see Henderson beat all of them. 

Thumbs Up:  To Anderson Silva, who for my money is the best fighter in the world, pound for pound.  Georges St. Pierre is close, but the ease with which Silva dispatches his opponents is second to none.  It’s not often that you see a fighter who, when he catches one strike flush, is well on his way to ending the fight.  Chuck Liddell was like that in his prime, but Silva is on another level.  And it’s against guys who don’t get knocked out.  Nate Marquardt has been around forever and no one had stopped him with strikes.  Silva made it look simple.  I don’t remember ever seeing Dan Henderson being hurt, let alone staggered and frantically trying to avoid strikes.  Silva hurt him with a knee, then again with a punch before Hendo desperately tried to take the fight to the floor.  And as was mentioned on the telecast, only the Nogueira brothers have been able to submit Henderson.  Anderson Silva is otherworldly.  This is Michael Jordan.  This is Mike Tyson.  This is Tiger Woods.  It’s a time when an athlete is so much better than everyone else, it’s hard to imagine him being beaten.  Someday, someone will do it.  But until then, it’s going to be fun to watch.