UFC 113 Thoughts: Welcome to the Rua Era?

By Elton Hobson

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of watching UFC 113 live from the Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec. In terms of Montreal cards, nothing can beat UFC 83 for the GSP hometown reception and insane atmosphere of that fight. But top to bottom, 113 was the most satisfying and entertaining card Zuffa has done in Montreal to date. A little of everything, and not a boring fight on the card - unless you thought Kos/Daley was boring.

More on that later. First,

Long live King Rampage…I mean King Forrest…make that Rashad…or rather, Lyoto…and how do you spell Maurico, sir?

The average length of a title reign in the UFC’s LHW division must be zero, or pretty close to it. In the last two years, no champion save Machida managed a successful title defence - and look how that turned out. Now, “The Dragon” has gone from unbeatable enigma to just another title contender, and his once superhuman karate style has lost much of its once fearsome reputation.

And Shogun? Well, he’s the second coming of Christ, the top P4P fighter in the sport and the greatest LHW fighter of all time. Haven’t you heard? Yes, in a rush to judgement so quick and ignorant it makes you wonder why we even bother having Google, fans have in no time at all hoisted the crown off Machida’s corpse and proclaimed Shogun the new unstoppable, unbeatable, totally badass forever champion at 205.

The king is dead, long live the king - and welcome to the Shogun era.

In all seriousness, it was a year ago that Shogun was staggering and sucking wind against Mark Coleman, and MMA fans had written him off as done. Now he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Instead of rushing to proclamations, let’s learn from history and hope Shogun can buck the trend and hold onto the belt.

The 205 lb. division got a whole lot more interesting with this win, and all eyes now turn to the Evans/Jackson grudge match at the end of May. Though they will never openly admit it, I suspect Dana White and co. are pulling for Rampage in that one, setting up a Rampage/Shogun rematch that they can, in typical fashion, hype to high heaven. As for Machida, I see either Forrest Griffin or the winner of June’s Liddell/Franklin tilt as good options for a rebound opponent.

Montreal Fans…I am Disappoint

Seriously, what was with the atmosphere in the Bell Center that night? The previous two UFC’s had great, enthusiastic atmosphere’s and crowds that were loving every minute (ok, except for the 15 minutes of Starnes/Quarry and the 25 minutes of Silva/Leites, but can you really blame us?). Sure, we were nationalistic last time, but if a fighter earned our respect we cheered them even against Canucks (see Quarry). We were by and large respectful and appreciative.

But not this time. Instead, the crowd jeered every decision that didn’t go a Canadians way no matter if it was the right call or not, showered fighters with profanity and abuse, and energetically booed any fight that was on the ground for more then 30 seconds. In short, we were the typical loud, drunk, uneducated North American MMA crowd.

Don’t get me wrong, the crowd was intelligent - but vicious, and petty, and boorish. C’mon Montreal - I expected more from MMA’s mecca (at least until the cage comes to T.O).

I just don’t understand fans who come to an MMA event and boo when a fight slows down, or hit’s the floor. Excuse me, but have you ever actually WATCHED Mixed Martial Arts before? Did you have ANY idea what you spent $250 a ticket to watch? Of all MMA fights, I’d say a generous 1 in 4 are slow, grinding, tactical ground fights, whereas 1 in 1000 is Griffin/Bonnar. Yet thanks to twelve seasons of The Ultimate Fighter and Dana White’s hyperbole, it’s the latter fans have come to expect in EVERY SINGLE FIGHT.

Then again, the Montreal crowd may have been a little bummed out, and with good reason. That’s because…

Canadian Fighters…I am Disappoint

What the hell happened? In the UFC’s first foray north of the border in 2010, in a stacked card replete with Canada’s best MMA talent all in winnable fights (or at least I thought so) and we go a lousy 1-6. Our sole win was thanks to Joe Doerksen’s Rear Naked Choke over Tom Lawlor.

If you had told me before the event that the only Canadian fighter to get his hands raised would be “El Dirte”, I would have told you you’re crazy. But that’s exactly what happened.

So who’s fault is it? Really, in all their cases, it was no error or mistake on their part that cost them victory (ok, except for Tim Hague, who gassed badly, early). Goulet was showing much improved wrestling and positional control, and seemed ready to reinvent himself with a win when Davis found his chin with an “Irish Hand Grenade”. Sadly, “The Road Warrior” will probably have to hit the road after this fight, thought I think he could still find success in promotions like MFC.

His team mate Patrick Cote seemed fully recovered from the knee surgeries and looked great - until Alan Belcher dumped him on his head and choked him out in the time it takes you to finish reading this sentence. Some hay has been made of Belcher’s unorthodox takedown being an illegal “spiking” move. Personally, I don’t think the slam fell into the category of a spike as traditionally understood although it is impossible to know Belcher’s motives. Great win by Alan and Cote goes to the back of the line.

Sam Stout put on the fight of the night with Jeremy Stephens in a wild, back and forth striking battle. Unfortunately for “Hands of Stone”, he simply had no answer for Stephens insane power, and despite a valiant effort found himself a half step behind Stephens the whole fight. TJ Grant was game, but he wasn’t able to keep up with powerhouse Johny Hendricks and even lost a point due to a couple low blows. And Jason McDonald took a single leg the wrong way and broke his leg in three places before the fight even really began.

For a country where MMA is as popular as it is, it’s insane that we only managed 1-6 on our home soil. For now though, I’ll chalk it up to Murphy’s Law, and to luck of the fight game. Sometimes, your best effort just isn’t enough. For several Canadian fighters who gave their all on Saturday, that statement came sadly and unfortunately true.

And the Oscar goes to…Josh Koscheck!

What was expected to be the most exciting fight of the night ended up being the strangest. Other then Kos’s near 15 minutes of perfect positional control and wrestling, the fight was notable for two reasons: Kos’s reaction to “the phantom knee” and Daley’s post fight sucker punch that may end up costing him his job.

Bur first, the knee. What the replay showed pretty clearly what that Daley’s knee to a downed Kos’s head either grazed by the slightest of margins or missed entirely. Kos’s overblown, dramatic reaction to the non-connecting knee basically exposed him in the act of imitating an Italian soccer player. Yes folks, it was penalty grubbing in the finest tradition, and once caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the crowd became absolutely relentless. “Fuck you Koscheck” chants rained down throughout much of the fight.

Yes folks, Kos oversold the knee. Big time. But before we lynch him, remember that an illegal knee to the head of a downed opponent it illegal whether it connected solid or just barely touched the recipient’s head. Illegal is illegal, and Daley clearly threw a knee to the head of a grounded adversary with intent. That he missed is fortunate. Sure, Kos is a princess, but that shouldn’t detract from his 15 minutes of pure domination of a top 10 WW opponent.

Kos openly dissing the crowd (dare he insult the all mighty Habs!?) after the fact was either a stupid move born of frustration, or a cleverly calculated ploy to get “heat” from the crowd and thus, interest. For better or worse, Josh Koscheck is the Tito Ortiz of the modern era, the fighter people will pay to see lose. Tito rode that gimmick all the way to the bank. I predict Kos will do the same.

As for Daley, I think a lifetime ban is harsh, and premature - better to suspend him for a year and let his career rot in purgatory then release him right away, making him a commodity for Strike force (Diaz vs. Daley anyone?).