Less than a week removed from the first UFC card of 2013 and it’s funny how Michael Bisping is already old news.
He is in the headlines so much with his trash talking and calling everybody out, saying he’s No. 1 contender and there’s no argument. But when he loses to Vitor Belfort, he doesn’t really make the headlines at all anymore, other than to say his title hopes were shattered. It goes to show you’re only as good as your last fight. When you lose, you become yesterday’s news.
I was actually watching the main event with some co-workers who are big fight fans and beforehand they were showing highlights from Belfort’s early days, knocking out Wanderlei Silva and so on. I was thinking to myself, “I hope he does that, seeing as he’s in such great shape.” Then he went out and barely threw a punch, and I was thinking, “Oh no, I hope this is not what it’s going to be for five rounds.”
But it was such a brilliant setup for the knockout — a kick to the body hard, setting up the big kick to the head. It was a great knockout, and as the headlines said, it shattered Bisping’s title chances. I don’t think it was big enough to shatter his ego though. I don’t think there’s a bomb big enough to shatter his ego!
Right now I think the only logical step in the middleweight division is Anderson Silva vs. Luke Rockhold. That’s actually more interesting than the Bisping fight anyways in my opinion. It may be a little less marketable for the UFC because Rockhold even as the Strikeforce champion is a little less known.
The big news Thursday was Matt Hughes announced his retirement. I respect Hughes, but I think it was definitely time to go. He had just been hanging on. I get it, you want to go out on top, you desire to fight one more time and hope for a victory so you can go out on top. But it didn’t work out that way. Many times it doesn’t. In fact, it often ends with an ugly loss. Look at Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. Hughes ended with a couple knockout losses.
I respected him over the years, I respected his hard-working attitude, the country boy work ethic, working on the farm and so on.
Good on him, it was a good time to go. It’s a hard decision for fighters to make. It’s a hard decision for any pro athlete to make.
But I think it was a good decision. The UFC will obviously treat him very well. They recognize what he did for the UFC and how much of a dominant champ he was in that division for so long.
It is interesting though the new position they’ve given him as VP of development and government relations. My experience with him is he’s never been an overly outgoing guy. So it’s a bit ironic that he’d be put in a position that has to do with relations. But maybe that’s just because I don’t know him at all. I’ve been in the same room with him on a couple occasions but he never spoke to me.
As for the UFC’s new “code of conduct” policy, it’s like in any pro sport, there’s some expectation of the way you act. But in any sport most people will act that way normally, just because that’s what they do anyway, but there will always be a small percentage who act out. They think they’re gangsters or whatever.
This is not just athletes, the population in general, they’re not going to conform. Is it really going to change the way Nick Diaz acts? No. He couldn’t care less. Is he going to sit down and read the policy and change the way he behaves. Not a chance.
It’s like what’s happening in Red Deer right now. The city wants to pass a law to ban all smoking outdoors where children could be; for example, on a park bench near a playground. It’s a great piece of legislature, but how are you going to enforce that?
Now for my UFC picks:
Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson
I’m going to go with Johnson. He impresses me every time he fights. He had two close fights for the title. Dodson came to the UFC from the TV show and had a few impressive wins, but not against top guys.
Quinton Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira
The old Rampage soap opera! I think this is a no-brainer who wins this fight. Everybody knows where Rampage’s heart is — definitely not in the UFC — and he’s fighting a guy who everyone is touting as a young Liddell in his prime. I don’t think we’re really even going to get a fight here, Glover will run through him in first round.
Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone
I’m a huge Cerrone fan, everyone knows that, his fighting style, his swagger, I just like the guy. Pettis has been inactive for a time, but even when he was fighting he never impressed me. His whole legacy is based on one flashy kick. I think Cerrone will destroy him. As soon as he came to the UFC against guys like the calibre of Clay Guida, he has not been as impressive.
Erik Koch vs. Ricardo Lamas
Koch was supposed to fight Jose Aldo for the title, but I never thought he deserved it anyways. I guess we’ll see Saturday night if I’m right or not. I’m picking Lamas.
TJ Grant vs. Matt Wiman
I think the undercard could steal the show. Stack these fights against some cards we’ve seen recently. Compare Grant vs. Wiman to CB Dollaway vs. Daniel Sarafian, which was a semi-main event last weekend and TJ vs. Matt is not even on the main card? C’mon. What’s wrong with this picture? TJ always gives an amazing fight, but nobody knows him because he’s never been on a main card.
I’m going with my buddy TJ, but it will be a grinder. Wiman never goes away easy. TJ has better standup and better jiu-jitsu. Wiman might be a slightly better wrestler, but if he takes TJ down, he’ll get into trouble on the ground.
Clay Guida vs. Hatsu Hioki
This is a dangerous fight for Guida. He’s been out of action for a while. Hioki is so good on the ground, and we’ve seen Guida get submitted in the past. But I’m going to go with Guida. Every loss for him has been against a top-level guy.
Ryan Bader vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
I’m going with Bader. Matyushenko’s best years are behind him.
One final thought. Why is it okay for Ronda Rousey to say whatever she wants, but not Miguel Torres?…