UFC on Fox 2 thoughts/Rate it

If you put this 3 fight main card vs. Strikeforce: Nashville on CBS, the card that was considered a complete bore and ratings poison. I'll take Nashville. However, UFC had a solid prelim card on Fuel which puts this event as a whole ahead of that one. This card just lacked energy. I give it a 5/10.

Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis. The result says it all...all Rashad all the time. Shad fought very conservative..he didnt seem to be as agressive as he was vs. Tito...this was more vintage Evans but he outclassed Davis everywhere. IMO Davis while he defeated Nog, didnt look good enough in that fight to continue moving up the ladder. Nog fought like shit but he was one good round away from beating Davis by a decision, if Nog was just a little better than he would have defeated Davis..when they were throwing around Evans and Machida for Davis after that fight..i knew he would get his ass kicked, and that showed tonight. Anyway, The fight was boring. I think Shad makes a very good fight for Jon Jones. I'm really looking forward to that.

Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping. I had it for Bisping. He landed the most significant shots in the first round. Chael scored 2 takedowns, but they were short lived. Sonnen landed a lot of quick GnP punches that were very short and didnt have an effect on Bisping. He landed one really good one on the feet. However, Bispings landed several punches in the round that put Sonnen back and then he ended up controlling the last half of the round against the cage. The second was all Bisping and the third was all Sonnen..but i card had a firm 29-28 for Bisping. I still think Anderson Silva took Sonnen's best shot and overcame it and will defeat him soundly in a rematch, thought that ever since the fight in Oakland and tonight only made that feeling stronger. Spider will still be champion beyond his rematch with Sonnen.

I was very impressed with Michael Bisping. I don't think i've ever praised one of his performances but i was very impressed with how he was able to muscle Chael in the clinch against the cage. I would have never thought that if this fight was fought on Chael terms, which i admit it was, that Michael Bisping would not only hold his own but probably should have won the decision. Definitely impressed with Bisping tonight. I'll never be a fan, but he had a good fight tonight.

It was the best of the 3 main card bouts but in no way a savior as it was mostly a control bout and not all that entertaining.

Maia-Weidman. I felt Maia could have got the decision. I'm glad atleast one judge saw it my way, and the other judges recognized it was a lot closer than fuckin Goldberg and Rogan were making it seem. Maia punches were crap, but the fact was he was landing them pretty much the entire fights while Weidman would go through stretches where he didnt do anything at all is the last 2 rounds. Not a single one of his takedowns led to any sustained control to be considered worth anything, and his punches were as low impact of Maia's. It was so horrible and both looked so bad, and i was not firmly behind Maia winning the fight. I could see the first and second going to Weidman, so i don't think it was a bad decision though i personally had those rounds for Maia.

The only decision bad involving this fight was keeping Maia on the card and putting him with a green rassler who might be affected by short notice instead of promoting Dunham-Lentz.

The announcing was horrible for this fight. It went from jocking Weidman. To ripping Maia and still jocking Weidman, although Weidman was being just as gassed, just as ineffective, and just as infuriating if you're a promoter who covets ratings and the image of the athletes in the company. To making excuses for why Weidman is just as gassed and just as ineffective while shaming Maia.

If i'm Joe Silva, i'm not letting Weidman ride the wave of a win over a fighter on the level of Maia aqnd put him in a fight he's not ready for...like they did with Davis by putting him in a fight he didnt belong in based off his ugly win over Nog. Weidman needs more middle of the pack fights. If he fights anybody any better than Maia, he'll get whooped at this point.

- Another impressive striking display and showcase of all around ability by Dunham. I got the hype train moving again

- Lavar Johnson looked excellent. Working that jab. Picking his spots for the big power punches and keeping a good pace and relaxed. That was the best i've seen Johnson and i'm happy to see he got paid for knockout of the night.

- Johnson-Roller was boring. Roller is likely gone with his third straight loss.

- Einemo is gone as well. He looked just awful. Russow keeps winning. How about they sign Sergei and book a rematch? Let's see if Russow can avenge his only loss.

- Sick sub by Charles. He'll do very well at FW and the division needs it.

- Strong performance by Swanson. Never cared for Roop and felt Swanson was hungry enough to take this one tonight

6/10.

Well the streak had to end sometime.

UFC on FX last week was stellar
UFC 142 in Rio was a great show
UFC 141 delivered many highly memorable moments
UFC 140 in December also was rock solid
UFC 139 was another 10/10 card
Even TUF 14 Finale had some nice fights

So really, you could say this is the worst UFC since the last UFC on FOX show.

Maybe Dana white pissed off the wrong lady and there is some kind of gypsy curse on all FOX Cards.

I have to watch the Russow Elimino fight and the Dunham Lentz fight, but this is feeling low like a 5 right now, and will take those two fights being truly epic to lift that score.

Too bad, this is not where you want MMA to look bad, regardless of the promotion.

Given the gravity of part of card being on FOX, I have to rate those three fights and the 2+ hours of the FOX show with just a little more significance than the cumulative show itself.

A few thoughts...

Still very very high on Olivera. He's going to challenge for the belt one day.

Maia has peaked. He will forever be a gatekeeper with sick BJJ that doesn't get used enough.

Chris Weidman looked solid. I hope the UFC slows down a little and doesn't give him too many more big names. A steady dose of vets to build his resume and experience up.

Did Sonnen looked gassed to anyone else from the get go? I think he had a bad weight cut or the big stage is starting to get to him. Even as bad as he looked, he easily won rounds 1 and 3 and hung ont he feet with Bisping no problem.

Bisping was able to pop up fairly well and hold Sonnen against the cage. Other than that, congrats on making it kind of close.

The main even wasn't pretty, but Rashad showed that he has all the skills to give anyone problems. He fights smart, can grapple with the best of them (no subs tho), and has quick quick strikes.

Davis still has some developing to go. He's still an athlete learning to fight. Still has a very bright future.

I was actually really nervous about the Chael fight going in. I didn't see these live but his face was really sucked up after weigh-ins yesterday and when Buffer was introducing him, I thought he just looked like dog shit. I said going into the fight though that Bisping's defensive grappling was solid and he did even better than I expected. He would've beaten the shit out of Maia. This will take away some of the luster from Chael-Anderson until the fight starts to get closer and Chael runs his mouth, but I don't know if it really should. Chael is still way stronger than Anderson and a way better wrestler. Give Bisping credit

Maia-Weidman sucked. Whatever

My DVR cut off after 3 rounds of Rashad-Phil

With the exception of Jose Aldo, you'd be really hard pressed to make an argument to me for anyone in that division to beat Do Bronx. I'm taking him against pretty much everyone

Johnson got the night off to an awesome start. Beltran looked terrible

Beltran always looks terrible.

7/10

I was worried about the 2 hour length so I made sure I recorded the news after, would've been pissed if I had missed a highlight knockout.

Rashas fought smart and there were a few times I thought he could've pressed and taken him out, but you got to think that title shot had something to do with it, I thought Phil missed a submission that was opening up in the 5th when they were on the ground but he was pretty gassed and he was getting dominated.

I thought Chael won but only because of what he did in the last round, that was Bisping's fight to take, I thought if he would've thrown his hands more he probably could've taken him and out and at least got the decision, but he was gassed or close to it after the first round, hands on his hips and breathing hard and the end of the 1st and 2nd round, if Chael fights like that in Brazil he is going to get destroyed.

Weidman great fight, Maia's striking was non existent and he gave Weidman no reason not to keep coming forward.

I was pretty entertained, though disappointed with the Maia-Wiedman bout. I expected Maia to work harder and he just looked tired. I gave the Sonnen-Bisping fight to Chael as well, with 1 and 3 going to him, but Kings is right, Bisping was really impressive. And yes, Chael looked exhausted and he either had a bad weight cut or was recently sick. All I know is one of those judges was crazy to give all three rounds to Chael. I was very impressed with Davis. I knew he was being thrown to the wolves against someone with Shad's talent, as his striking is still a work in progress, but he really hung in there and went the distance. I really enjoyed the card and considering the 'easing in' of MMA in America that DW and Joe Silva are doing, it was good stuff. I give it an 8.