Kevin Marshall's America
Unaired Prelims:
Jacob Volkmann def. Antonio McKee via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Daniel Roberts def. Grego Soto via Submission (R1; Kimura)
Diego Nunes def. Mike Brown via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Prelims televised on ION:
Brad Tavares def. Phil Baroni via TKO (R1)
Dustin Poirier def. Josh Grispi via Unanimous Decision (30-27 across the board)
Jeremy Stephens def. Marcus Davis via TKO (R3)
MAIN CARD
Clay Guida def. Takanori Gomi via Submission (R2; Guillotine Choke)
Guida went with frenetic, awkward footwork that dazzled and confused Gomi. Rather than go after Guida and throw off his rhythm with straight shots, the perpetually overrated Gomi instead opted to stand flat-footed and let Guida dance around him until he found his opening. Terrible game plan.
Dong Hyun Kim def. Nate Diaz via Unanimous Decision (29-28 across the board)
After the fight, Kim yelled out “My name Stungun, I want GSP!” I think he’s a few fights off from title consideration, but he looked impressive against Diaz, particularly with his grappling and submission defense. Diaz was able to win the third with a late rally, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
Thiago Silva def. Brandon Vera via Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
It’d been almost a year to the day since Silva’s last UFC fight, where he lost to Rashad Evans. At the time he’d been suffering from two herniated discs and looked terrible. Tonight he was in incredible shape and acted as if Brandon Vera, who was very humble in the lead-up to this fight citing overconfidence as the reason for his fall from grace, owed him $5,000. It was a Hell of a beating and with it being his third consecutive loss, most likely Vera’s final UFC outing.
Brian Stann def. Chris Leben via TKO (R1)
Stann looked better than he has in any other UFC outing. His clinch looked impressive and his striking was precise. It was a pleasant surprise, though I don’t know what this means for him in the Middleweight division. Definitely not a contender yet, but he showed signs of improvement.
Frankie Edgar & Gray Maynard went to a Draw (48-46, 46-48, 47-47)
All three judges gave the first round to Maynard with a score of 10-8 and for good reason. Edgar took many hard shots and went down at least three times, and there were two points where the ref must have been within a half-second of stopping it. Somehow, Edgar not only survived the round but then dominated Maynard (!) in the second. Maynard had punched himself out, and Edgar used his superior conditioning to tag Maynard with combinations that had him dazzled and stuffed most of Maynard’s takedown attempts, and even at one point hit Maynard with a powerslam. Despite a big size disadvantage, Edgar actually out-grappled Maynard for most of the fight and I thought beat him handily on the feet as well with tight combinations. Unfortunately only one of the judges agreed with me, resulting in a controversial draw. There have, however, been worse decisions in MMA, and we can at least take solace in the lack of white-out present on cards a la the Hopkins fight a couple weeks back. Still, I thought 48-46 Maynard was a stretch, but it’s objective enough to where I won’t take to the streets.
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And there you have it. What looked on paper to be a lackluster card was actually one of the more entertaining in recent memory, proving once again that you can never tell when you’re going to see a card (or potentially fight) of the year.
As for my picks, I went 5-5-1. Five correct, five incorrect, and one draw. Fitting, no?
NEWS COMING OUT OF THE EVENT:
- At the press conference it was stated that despite tonight’s draw, WEC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis will still get the next shot at Frankie Edgar to unify the belts. Later in the night, however, Maynard’s camp informed the media that Dana White, who wasn’t at the presser, informed them that an immediate Edgar/Maynard rematch would occur instead. This’ll unfold over the next couple days and we should know tomorrow or Monday at the latest, but if I’m a betting man, I’m going with the immediate rematch.
- Although the UFC says the match “isn’t close to being official,” Rand Couture told MMAFighting.com that he will fight at UFC 129 against Lyoto Machida. Interesting…
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3 Responses to UFC 125 Results: Controversial Draw Ends Surprisingly Eventful Evening
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Leben’s first-round TKO loss to Stann surprised me the most. Although I like and respect Stann, I thought Chris’s iron jaw and deadly left hand would eventually cause Brian’s defeat.
Nate Diaz, though talented and capable, often exhibits behavior that would embarrass a classless punk. I enjoy seeing him knocked around. (Admittedly, one of my many character flaws.)
Felt bad for Marcus Davis. He was doing quite well until he lost focus and needlessly bent into a monster shot. (Of course, Stephens may have won anyway.)
Most UFC fights–indeed, most MMA fights–remain difficult to predict. Unlike professional boxing, obvious tune-ups with “practically-dragged-in-off-the-street tomato cans” do not exist. Contestants are, almost always, very evenly matched.
May it ever be so.
You are one of the few people that thinks Edgar won the bout. Most felt is was Maynard or a draw. Maynard won first 10-8 and the third round was decided by the late takedown. Round 5 was a toss up that personally I gave Maynard given that Edgar was running and not engaging. Best score Edgar could have put on cards was a 47. It was Mayanrd or draw, not an Edgar victory.
I agree with Tim, I can’t see Edgar getting the win there, although a draw is reasonable with the 5th round being so close. On the other hand, it was a damn close fight, and I’m happy with the draw.. the purist in me says if the fight is that close the champ should retain the belt, the challenger needs to decisively win. Plus now we get to see them fight again!