UFC Events
KELLER'S UFC 124 BLOG: Random thoughts in chronological order - GSP vs. Koscheck
Dec 12, 2010 - 3:10:04 AM KELLER'S UFC 124 BLOG: Random thoughts in chronological order - GSP vs. Koscheck

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising editor

KELLER'S UFC 124 BLOG
DECEMBER 11, 2010
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW

-Check out editor-in-chief Jamie Penick's in-depth fight-by-fight report with star ratings, analysis, ramifications, and more on the Main Listing. This is my blog with reactions to the PPV presentation and the fight hype and outcomes.

-Regarding weigh-ins, I'm not sure I've ever seen so many of the fighters look that skinny and weak. Those were serious cases of dehydration to make weight. A few looked like they should be on daytime talk shows for eating disorders.

-They panned the crowd as Mike Goldberg introduced the show and touted it as a record-setting crowd of nearly 24,000. Joe Rogan previewed the top fights.


(Please Indulge a Nitpick: At some point Goldberg should stop saying judges must give the loser of a round "nine points or less" and change it to proper grammar of "nine points of fewer." Or will they go another 15 years getting that wrong? I know, who cares, but you'd think someone would have pointed it out to Mike by now. He is a professional.)

1 - THIAGO ALVES vs. JOHN HOWARD

In the middle of the second round, Alves takes Howard down, and Goldberg's in the midst of one of his plugs for a future UFC PPV, and instead of stopping and calling the action, he keeps finishing the promo script. Finally Rogan jumps in and catches up. Seriously, the promo can wait a minute. Let's make a takedown seem more important than a plug for a future show, okay?


Alves was so fresh after the second round he helped Howard to his feet and wasn't breathing hard despite putting in a hard-fought active two rounds. He looks like a different fighter now that he's gotten better at cutting weight.

I loved Howard's corner whispering the strategy of going for a submission from his back "because no one's expecting it." The mic still picked it up, but I suppose it's smart to not shout a "surprise strategy" from the corner.

Rogan: "This is the best Thiago we've ever seen." Cool to see Howard smile and embrace Alves afterward and raise his arm. I was waiting for Goldberg to get in his first "classy" reference of the night, but it wasn't to be. Not yet. But it's a good drinking game, and often dangerous.


DECISION: 30-27 by all three judges. Clearly the right call, although Howard gave the sense that he had a puncher's chance in that one. It never materialized in rocking Alves, but while he was always behind, he didn't seem out of it. Alves, though, looked great at stand-up against a very tough stand-up challenge. He turned himself into a PPV name again with that performance, something more than a gate-keeper or fighter in decline.

-They showed Jonathan Brookins sitting at ringside. He looks more like a Survivor contestant than a UFC fighter. Or a co-star in a "Big Lebowski" sequel, like the long-lost son or something. Great fight from him last week, but if he messed with his hair one more time to keep it out of his eyes, I was going to fly out to Vegas and shave his head for him because it was driving me nuts. It's good for UFC to show the winner of the Ultimate Fighter to drive home that winning that means something as often as possible.


-Trying to sell UFC 125 is tough with the injuries and changes, and that deep voiceover guy listing the fights as if they were the biggest fights ever didn't make up for the fact that this seems like a weaker line-up than UFC had hoped.

2 -- MAC DANZIG vs. JOE STEVENSON

-As if Danzig didn't get enough heat for being vegan, now he's got the Justin Bieber haircut. He doesn't even look like the same guy. It's cool to see his UFC career get a new opportunity after it looked shaky there last year.

-Rogan said with the acquisition of WEC, there's a lot more 155ers competing for the spotlight and a lot of pressure to perform.


-Stevenson's intro song sounded pretty cool, and my iPhone App identified it as "Beggin'" by Norway's Madcon. It's out of my usual music genre, but I like it a lot. Favorite intro song of the night so far. The ability to get my phone to tell me what song is playing will forever amaze me. But I'm almost 40, so stuff like that will amaze me while my 20 month old son will grow up thinking it just comes with the territory. Joe, by the way, couldn't stop dancing to it as the ref was checking for his cup and all that. He entered the Octagon, ran laps, and then went back to dancing.

-Man, these two look small with Dan Miragliotta as referee. Randy Savage would never let Nick Patrik referee his matches in WCW because Nick was so big and Savage had insecurities about his size.

-Mac's celebration was as enthusiastic and genuine as you'll ever see. Man, was he elated. That was a big win, and as Rogan said, "Precision striking." That was right on the sweet spot on the jaw that just turns off the lights. Well, it wasn't Fight of the Night, as Stevenson predicted, but it might be Knockout of the Night.

-Post-fight, Danzig said he's been landing that for years and years, but it never had the power he needed, but it finally has been working for him in training. He said he knows he leads with his left hook based on studying tape, so he said he was looking for it. He said the whole key is hitting the jaw and not the forehead. That's all the more impressive that he trained for that and intended to do exactly what he did. That's why he was so happy. It was a plan that he trained to execute and it worked beyond his imagination. He sent his love to his baby daughter Nova. Love that name. Would have been my daughter's name, but I had a boy.


3 -- CHARLES OLIVEIRA vs. JIM MILLER

Rogan notes Miller had to cut weight, whereas Oliveira walks around at 155 or under. In fact, he weighed in at 153.5. The size difference here come fight time is pretty drastic. Rogan said Miller is a good test for the youngest current UFC fighter, Oliveira.

Miller comes out to "Bad Moon Rising" by Credence Clearwater Revival. A little less contemporary than Stevenson.

Impressive win for Miller and a lesson for Oliveira, who came at Miller with what turned out to be undisciplined enthusiasm, leaving himself open to a leglock. It's a credit to Miller that Oliveira was walking fine afterward because he seemed to have enough torque to do damage there if he wanted.

Miller said in the post-fight interview he wants a title shot. Goldberg said his 8-1 hot-streak at 155 makes a good case.

-They showed Shogun Rua at ringside.

A -- MATT RIDDLE vs. SEAN PIERSON

-Prelim fight inserted courtesy of Danzig and Miller doing their jobs quickly.

-Goldberg bragged about 23,000+. If you wanted to get a good buzz, that should be the drinking game tonight.

-When Riddle stood up after 4:00 of getting destroyed, I thought he was walking the plank, but he actually had some life left in him and held his own the final minute and even backed Pierson up once on a flurry of punches. Rogan said it was an impressive first round for Pierson. He's totally right, but some redit to Riddle for surviving and putting up a good fight at the end of the round?

-Riddle was the fresher of the two in round two and looked to have won the stand-up battle. Round three was very close. Riddle seemed fresher and threw more punches, but he didn't have the distance down as well as Pierson, who did more damage and landed more. Pierson also had the takedown and control late in that round, which was enough to give him the round.


-Okay, that's how you f---in' end a close fight. How many times have you watched the last 30 seconds of a fight and just gone mad wanting the fighters to let loose and go for broke in the final seconds. This resembled at times the Stephen Bonnar-Forrest Griffin fight.

-DECISION: Hmmm. All three judges gave it to Pierson 30-27. I'm a little surprised Riddle didn't get round two on any scorecard. Riddle seemed accepting of the decision. Both fighters were winners, though. That was a star-making battle with Riddle showing great fighting spirit.

4 - STEFAN STRUVE vs. SEAN MCCORKLE

-McCorkle called Struve young and dumb, predicted victory in three minutes, and promised to grab something and snap it and be the first to submit him. Struve said he's fired up by his trash-talking and wants to take him out in the first minute. Struve looked motivated coming to the Octagon. He looks ten years old still. Except for the 6-11 part.


-Goldberg noted that at 6-11 and 6-7, it's the tallest combined height of a fight in UFC history.

-The 22 year old is 24-4 and the 34 year old is 10-0. Go figure.

-McCorkle went by the nickname "Big Sexy." Will Kevin Nash claim gimmick infringement?

-Good staredown. Looked like more than a three or four inch height advantage. They did touch gloves despite the trash talking.

-That opening two minutes was scary for Struve. I thought his arm was going to be snapped off. At 3:00 the crowd began chanting "GSP! GSP!" Neither fighter's prediction for a win in the first minute or first three minutes turned out to be true.

-Impressive TKO win for Struve. McCorkle looked like he didn't like getting it. When Struve ran at McCorkle afterward, I wasn't sure if he was going to trash-talk him or show respect. He hugged him and tried to help him up. Rogan said their pre-fight trash talking was hype to sell the fight. I hate when they "admit" that. Rogan spent so much time on the Fight Night card last Saturday saying people think there's something not on the up-and-up about UFC because of screw judges' calls. Then he goes and basically says pre-fight heated words between fighters is orchestrated to sell interest. If so, don't admit it like that or it makes viewers who bought into the bad-blood angle feel foolish or taken for a ride. I think more likely, as usual, the fighters use the trash-talking to motivate themselves and will enhance their emotions for that purpose, but when the fight is over, there's almost always great mutual respect for anyone who enters that Octagon and lets the door close behind them.

B -- DUSTIN HAZELETT vs. MARK BOCEK

Great submission win by Bocek with a triangle choke at 2:33 of round one. Impressive considering his opponent. Submission of the Night? Hazelett looked understandably dejected as he just kneeled and soaked up the ramifications of the loss as his coaches talked to him. Lots of first round finishes tonight. Not much room for controversial judges' decisions.

-Bocek said he has the best jiu jitsu in the lightweight division. He called out George Sotorpolous for a fight in Toronto so he can prove it to everybody. He got a pop from the fellow Canadians.


-They showed Scott "Big Cat" Pfaff from Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. He looked too cool for school, then someone off camera finally drew a smile out of him. Then he went back to looking very very serious at the camera again.

5 -- GEORGE ST. PIERRE vs. JOSH KOSCHECK -- Welterweight Championship Fight

GSP dominates all five rounds with jab after jab. Koscheck's right eye swelled nearly shut after round one and totally shut mid-way into the fight. And in the post-fight interview, it was as nasty a swollen eye as you'll see. Almost all of it was standing. There was one moment where Koscheck looked to be going for a leglock, but GSP scrambled his way free. Koscheck never had GSP in any jeopardy. Really, not even on the verge of jeopardy except for that split second where he was going for the leg early. As soon as the horn sounded Koscheck moved in and talked into GSP's ear for around 30 seconds. A very genuine show of respect and appreciation for being in there against the best.


Afterward, GSP begged the crowd to show Koscheck respect. He said because he showed up in Montreal and fought him, "we had a good show tonight." Koscheck said he did what he could to hype the fight, but put over Montreal as providing an amazing atmosphere for the event. He said he appreciated everything and said he hopes one day to come back and put on a better show for them. He was likable for the first time almost ever in UFC. He said GSP was a true champion and he had no excuses. Rogan asked what surprised him. Koscheck said GSP had a great gameplan and executed it by keeping him from damaging him on his feet and taking him down. Goldberg capped off the live show, as only Goldberg can, by saying Koscheck was "classy in defeat."


Rogan really stressed that GSP introduced the jab into MMA, something he felt was underutilized in MMA compared to boxing. He said now that GSP has had success with it, it is here to stay. He said it was the most precise boxing performance of GSP's career. Rogan said this will make Koscheck a better fighter. Rogan then asked what challenge is next for GSP at 170. He said GSP has considered moving up to 185 to fight Anderson Silva. He said he wants to gain weight naturally and over time, so it wouldn't be quick, but that's fine since Silva has to get past Vitor Belfort first.


FINAL THOUGHTS: A nice plus that they didn't do any mid-fight commercial copy reads by Goldberg other than that one time where he got caught plugging the next PPV during a takedown. I complained about that last month really getting in the way of calling the action, and it was gone this month and made a difference in not feeling pelted by ads during a pay-show. It's different on Spike, but it's not acceptable on a pay show.

Great crowd atmosphere, as expected. Lots of chants and singing by the crowd in the main event.


Again, I wish there was a little less of Rogan overtly saying fighters hyped the fight, giving the impression (or confirming reality) that fighters embellish their dislike of one another. Even if that's true, again, stop saying it. Just acknowledge that even when fighters don't like one another, going through war build respect and releases those hard feelings in most (but not all) cases. I get there's "fight promotion" that goes into the interviews, but reminding viewers of that constantly just wears away the sense that there's genuine personality conflict to the point that when it is genuine and not the least bit embellished, people will stop buying into it.

Very good show. One of the better UFC shows in recent years. The main event went as most expected, but it was still amazing to watch GSP who might be as good at what he does as any athlete is at their respective sport anywhere today. The undercard had some great finishes. A good start to finish showing for UFC.


QUOTEBOOK

Josh Koshcheck: "This fight is about Josh Koscheck knocking out George St. Pierre and pissing off 24,000 French-Canadians."

Joe Stevenson: "Definitely fight of the night, and I'm going to be victorious."

Sean McCorkle: "There's no bad blood on my end. I think there is on his end from everything I've read and seen in interviews, but I guess that's part of being young and dumb."

Joe Rogan on Struve hugging McCorkle after winning: "There was a lot of trash-talking to sell the fight and hype it up."

Joe Rogan: "All this is passion, all this is interest, that amounts to pay-per-view dollars and dollars in his bank account. He's very smart in that respect. Josh Koshceck is not an asshole in real life. He's actually a nice guy. He's just smart and knows how to get under people's skin. He's a serious, serious competitor."


Joe Rogan on GSP: "What's amazing is he's not even in his prime yet. He's only 29 years old. He's still not in his prime."

[George St. Pierre photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]