Two very different fights in two different weight classes at UFC 119 last Saturday night had two very different outcomes. Yet, they both displayed one central theme that is continually debated in the fight community: fighting hard vs. fighting smart.
Smack dab in the middle of the pay-per-view portion of the card was the Welterweight bout between Matt Serra and Chris Lytle. The fight did not have any great implications for the division, save for perhaps giving Lytle an extra boost in his quest to climb back towards relevancy at 170. It was an entertaining fight to say the least, but you’d be hard pressed to say that either fighter fought smart. Lytle dominated the first two rounds, but still went out in the third swinging wildly and taking chances that, against a fighter still in his prime, would have cost him dearly. His opponent, Matt Serra, also put on an entertaining and gutsy performance, but did so at the expense of giving himself a chance to win. He curiously went for the body in the first round, then spent the rest of it slugging it out with Lytle when he would have been much better suited (and may have had a chance of winning it) taking Lytle to the ground. Matt Serra has his strengths as a fighter, but he opted against them so that he could put on a better show.
In contrast was the main event of the evening, a heavyweight bout between Frank Mir and Mirko Cro Cop with much greater implications for both fighters; arguably, a loss for either meant far more than a win. As such, they gave each other a lot of relative distance and respect. They fought safely, with Mir trying to neutralize Cro Cop with clinches against the fence while former knockout artist Cro Cop gingerly spent three rounds feeling out his opponent and trying to find his distance. The result was an atrociously boring and regrettable main event, which considering it ended on a flash knockout via a hard left knee from Mir is saying quite a bit. Continue reading