UFC on FOX 28 was this past weekend. Let’s get right to the rundown.
GOOD- Mike Perry vs. Max Griffin
Man, Mike Perry has fallen and he can’t seem to get up. After getting dominated in his last against Santiago Ponzinibbio in his last fight, Perry got dominated again here. He seems to have lost his confidence or something, he’s certainly lost that dangerous aura he had before these fights. Perry did win the third round in my eyes, but he got dominated in the second round and was nearly finished. Griffin also won the first round. This is a big win for Griffin as he showed good striking and patience.
GOOD- Ilir Latifi submits Ovince St. Preux
Not much happened for the first few minutes, but then Latifi dropped OSP twice and slapped a standing guillotine on him for the submission win. I thought OSP would win this, which isn’t the first time I picked OSP to win and ended up looking bad. Latifi challenges UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier, but that’s not happening anytime soon. Still, I guess it’s good to throw that out there just in case, you never when the UFC might do something crazy.
GOOD- Jessica Andrade vs. Tecia Torres
This wasn’t the greatest or most exciting fight ever, but Andrade did what she does and kept taking Torres down. Most of the time, she wasn’t able to do much with the takedowns, but they were wearing Torres down. In the third round is when it really paid off, as Andrade was able to unload on Torres and land some heavy shots. Torres had some success, but it just wasn’t enough. Andrade would almost surely be in line for a title shot now. It might not happen, though, but there’s no denying she’s close.
GOOD/UGLY- Jeremy Stephens stops Josh Emmett
Emmett won the first round, but Stephens came back in the second and got the stoppage. That stoppage is steeped in controversy, though. The main points of contention are a few elbows that might have been illegal and a knee that almost assuredly was. Stephens landed a big left hook that dropped Emmett. He then jumped on him with elbows that connected behind the ear of Emmett, which would be illegal. However, Emmett did kind of turn into them as he was trying to get up and recover so it’s questionable. It’s hard to fault a guy for that in the heat of the moment.
It’s the knee that came next that the real controversy starts, at least in my eyes. As Emmett was trying to get up, Stephens threw a knee at his head. Emmett was still considered downed at that point, which would make such a move illegal. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier, who was calling the fight with Jon Anik, even yelled out “Oh no!” immediately after that knee. The referee didn’t do anything and Stephens ended up getting the stoppage win. This very easily could have been ruled a Disqualification win for Emmett or at least a No Contest. There was a vigorous debate between Cormier and Dominick Cruz on the post-fight show about what should have happened. Cormier said the knee was illegal while Cruz first said the replays didn’t show it connecting and then switched to “If the ref doesn’t call it, it’s not illegal”, a very Nixon-ian viewpoint. I come down more on the side of Cormier in this, I think the fight should have been ruled a No Contest. A DQ win for Emmett is also a possibility, but I’m not sure if I’d go that far. It didn’t help that Cruz was behaving like a disposable feminine cleansing product, and the bag it comes in. When you advocate for a position and act that way, you undermine your point because your smirking arrogance is an immediate turnoff. It must also be noted that Cruz is teammates with Stephens, which possible (likely?) influenced his opinion on this. Emmett has said he plans to appeal. I’m not sure what good it’ll do, but at least he’ll make his objection official. There’s more to this story, I just hope it doesn’t take too long for everything to get settled. To be continued, as they say. This was a somewhat unfortunate way to end a fairly good card.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
NOW CHECK OUT HYDEN’S PREVIOUS BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 194 and UFC Fight Night 126
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