UFC Fight Night 136 was this past weekend. Let’s get to the rundown.
UFC Fight Night 136
GOOD- Thiago Alves vs. Aleksei Kunchenko
There was some good action throughout this fight. It was a close one, for sure, but Kunchenko got the decision victory to improve to 19-0. Good win for him.
BAD- Andrei Arlovski vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov
I didn’t care for this fight much at all. It was just kind of there. The fight was slow and methodical for large stretches and it never seemed to get going. Abdurakhimov won the decision.
GOOD- Jan Blachowicz submits Nikita Krylov
Blachowicz was relentless in trying for submissions. Krylov was able to counter and avoid in the first round, but in the second round it was just too much and Blachowicz was able to lock in the choke to get the win. He called for a title shot afterwards and I respect that, but I can’t imagine the UFC getting on board with that. I think Blachowicz needs another win at least before getting a title shot. Really good win here, though, I just think the UFC won’t care as much as maybe they should.
GOOD- Aleksei Oleinik submits Mark Hunt
Hunt blasted Oleinik with a big shot but Oleinik stood his ground and took it. That was surprising and impressive. Oleinik landed a shot of his own, got Hunt on the ground, and started working for the submission. Towards the end of the first round, Oleinik locked in a rear-naked choke and got the submission victory. Good win for Oleinik.
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B.J. Penn Returns
B.J. Penn is scheduled to fight Ryan Hall at UFC 232 in December. This is stunning news. For one, Penn has lost his last five fights and had a draw with Jon Fitch in his sixth. By fight time, Penn will not have won a fight in literally eight years. This is crazy, and I’m surprised the UFC is putting this fight on.
Penn has always been a tremendous competitor but he hasn’t been good in years. All due respect to him for everything he’s done, but there’s just no other way to interpret things.
Well, I suppose it would be more accurate to say that he hasn’t been good by his own standards in years. This is a man who has won titles in both the welterweight and lightweight divisions. He’s been great in his career so to see him lose so many in a row just tells you that he’s not at the level he’s been at before.
Everything old is new again apparently, as it seems that any television show that was popular in the last 30 years is being rebooted or continued, but perhaps this is one show that should stay off the air? Of course, I never want to tell people how they should end their career unless they’re in danger health-wise but maybe grappling tournaments would be a better choice at this point?
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Cody Stevens gruesome injury
An Honor FC fighter named Cody Stevens is probably going to lose his eye after taking a horrific eyepoke recently. His opponent’s entire thumb went into his eye socket and you can imagine what kind of damage that did.
The doctors have done a great job but there’s only so much they can do.
When you’re talking about fouls in MMA, this is one of the worst nightmares imaginable. What makes it worse is that it could be prevented. MMA is a dangerous sport, no question, and accidents happen, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to eliminate and minimize the dangers.
For one, the first eyepoke needs to be a point deduction with the second being an immediate disqualification and loss. I understand some would find this too harsh so you could make it where the first is a warning, the second is a point deduction, and the third is a disqualification. Also, there needs to be a cumulative penalty for total eyepokes across fights. If you get two in a fight, then you get two more in your next fight, you get suspended or fined or something.
We’ve got to make the penalties harsh in order to curb this.
Fighters will adjust. The NFL is constantly putting in all kinds of rules designed to limit concussions and such, and the players adjust. Yeah, they’ll complain and say they’re “wussifying” the league and sometimes they’re right, but sometimes you have to do that for the good of everyone. There’s a danger of taking things too far but something should have been done about eyepokes long ago.
Some of it is the training and the coaching. When a fighter stands there with his fingers pointed directly towards an opponent, it’s not hard to tell what he’s trying to do.
Maybe there’s something that can be done with technology and the way the gloves are made? I don’t know, but it’s something that should be explored. Hopefully this serves as a wakeup call of sorts to organizations and brings about change.
Maybe some good can come from this horrible tragedy?
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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