UFC 109 took place in Las Vegas last night and this is the first time in a long time that I was let down in a UFC event. In what had the making of a very solid night of fights, I walked away disappointed.
Maybe it has something to do with two of my favorite fighters losing. But in all honesty, some of the fights were just flat out boring and uneventful. Add in the fact that the announce team of Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg get too damn excited talking about Randy Couture and it all added up to a bad night for the UFC.
"The Natural" Randy Couture pretty much ended the career of Mark Coleman last night with a dominating submission victory. At age 46, what Randy is doing is pretty impressive but Coleman has close to nothing left and it pains me to say that. Couture is a legend in the sport, don't get me wrong, but if he were to step in with any top contenders he would get hurt and lose convincingly in my opinion.
The UFC does a great job selling fights and always puts on solid events. But in the last few fight cards the work of Goldberg and Rogan has gotten painful and annoying at times. Rogan goes out of his way to say "Mike" after making his point and probably says Goldberg's first name close to 100 times a night. Enough is enough Joe.
The performance of the night goes to Chael Sonnen. He demonstrated the meaning of lay and pray in winning a unanimous decision over top contender Nate Marquardt. He used his wrestling and takedowns to control the fight and pull out the boring win. From the top position in probably ten of the fifteen minutes the fight lasted, I don't think Sonnen landed any meaningful strikes. Marquardt did a lot more damage from the bottom with solid elbows that cut Sonnen up pretty good.
With the win, Sonnen is now in line for the winner of Anderson Silva versus Vitor Belfort. Sonnen will be a huge underdog against either fighter and will have his work cut out for him. The loss for Marquardt is a huge setback but I expect him to get the loser of that title fight and come back better than ever.
Full results:
Randy Couture def. Mark Coleman via technical submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 1:09
Chael Sonnen def. Nate Marquardt via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Paulo Thiago def. Mike Swick via technical submission (D'arce choke) - Round 2, 1:54
Demian Maia def. Dan Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Matt Serra def. Frank Trigg via knockout (punches) - Round 1, 2:23
Mac Danzig def. Justin Buchholz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Melvin Guillard def. Ronys Torres via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Robert Emerson def. Phillipe Nover via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Phil Davis def. Brian Stann via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Chris Tuchscherer def. Tim Hague via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-28)
Joey Beltran def. Rolles Gracie via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 1:31
Eleven total fights on the card and seven of those went to the score cards. We didn't see any impressive knockouts and even the submission wins were somewhat blah. I don't know if it's the fact my two picks were way off or the way Rogan and Goldberg gush over Couture, but I still have a very bad taste in my mouth over UFC 109 last night. UFC 110 is right around the corner and I'm sure that event will remove my sourness.