UFC Fight Night 129 was this past weekend. Let’s get right to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night 129
GOOD- Vicente Luque stops Chad Laprise
Laprise was doing well and landing some good strikes but then Luque caught him and then finished him off with a series of punches. Good win for Luque.
GOOD- Veronica Macedo vs. Andrea Lee
This was a solid fight with some good action. You’re not going to rave to your friends about it, but it was nice enough assuming you don’t have to watch this kind of fight too many times. Lee won the decision.
GOOD/BAD- Guido Canneti vs. Diego Rivas
Another solid fight. This was fairly close, and Canneti won the decision. I can’t fault fighters for fighting smartly but man this takes the fun out of watching.
GOOD- Dominick Reyes stops Jared Cannonier
Reyes finished the fight with a series of left hands that first stunned Cannonier, then staggered him, then finally turned out the lights. Good win for Reyes as he showed his power.
GOOD- Tatiana Suarez submits Alexa Grasso
Suarez got a couple takedowns, with the second leading to a rear-naked choke that forced the tap. Good win for Suarez.
GOOD/BAD- Kamaru Usman vs. Demian Maia
Things started nicely but then the ref separated the fighters when it appeared Usman was going for a submission. That was an odd separation. Then they lost me in the middle of the fight when not much was happening. It kind of came back a bit towards the end there, but it still wasn’t all that exciting. Usman fought smartly and was able to stuff Maia’s takedowns repeatedly but he didn’t really want to engage Maia on the ground himself either. You can’t blame him for that, Maia is awesome on the ground, but this leads to a sort of stalemate that nobody really wants to watch. Usman had the right strategy but it won’t win him any fans.
Usman had won a bunch of fights in a row and wants to step up in terms of the level of his opponents. However, he just can’t seem to get big names to fight him. Some of that is them being booked in other fights and some of it might be them ducking him. He’s a tough out, he’s got the skill to beat plenty of fighters, but he also lacks name value and the excitement that usually follows guys on win streaks.
I want to see Usman fight another highly ranked opponent. Throw him in there in deep waters and let’s see what happens. I think he has some less than exciting fights because he’s not being challenged. Putting him in there with tougher opponents will likely lead to more exciting fights. Usman has the talent to be a major player in the division.
What’s Up Chuck?
To wrap things up this week, I want to quickly address a story that’s been going around. UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell had talked about coming back and has talked about fighting Jon Jones. As you would expect, Jones has responded and talked all sorts of trash about Liddell. I get that, if someone starts talking about you, you have to respond. We can debate about whether or not Jones has talked too much about Liddell, considering no sane person would want anything to do with that fight, but he had to respond at least once.
At the same time, though, Jones isn’t doing anything right now so he’s got time to get into Twitter beefs with retired fighters. That’s cool, that’s whatever, you keep your name out there and all that.
The problem is with Liddell. Does he need money or something? I get wanting one more fight to show you can still do it and all that, but why against (arguably) one of the best at light heavyweight? I say arguably because of all the failed drug tests, which is a whole other topic I could spend a long time on but isn’t germane to my larger point.
Tito Ortiz has come out and said he’d like to fight Liddell one more time. That I could live with. I wouldn’t be very excited for that fight, but at least I wouldn’t be concerned that Ortiz would kill Liddell, like I would be if he fought Jones. I don’t think either Liddell or Ortiz should ever fight again but if they pass physicals and medical tests and all that stuff, go for it. With one caveat, their opponent has to be a similar age. I’m not super interested in a MMA Legends Tour type of thing, where old guys from the past fight each other, but I’d take that over a legend coming back to fight a current fighter. I watch MMA to have fun, not worry about seeing someone get seriously hurt.
I assume that if Liddell-Ortiz 3 comes to pass, it’ll be the main event of some Bellator show. If that happens, I only hope that actual medical doctors have examined these guys. If not, it’s a no for me.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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