UFC 77 is in the books and overall the whole night felt pretty lackluster. There were some good fights but nothing too exciting.
- Rich Franklin vs Anderson Silva looked pretty much like their first fight did; Anderson dominating the standup with his speed and precision striking with Franklin looking in effective while his looping overhand strikes. I don’t care what Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg said, Rich Franklin had the same look in his eyes that he did in their first matchup: a look of fear and desperation. Frankling was mentally defeated before he even entered the cage, and with good reason. At the end of the night Silva was still easily champion and Rich Franklin’s nose was once again pointed more towards his ear than it was towards his chin.
- Tim Sylvia vs Brandon Vera was one of the more boring fights of the night to watch, but this time not because of Tim Sylvia. Sylvia looked good, aggressive and quick with his striking, and instead it was Brandon Vera who chose to clinch and make the fight extremely boring to watch. Tim Sylvia showed once again that his size and reach are going to be very tough for any of the “smaller” heavyweight fighters to handle. Add in Tim’s newfound hand-speed and striking accuracy and we could be looking at another title run for Tim.
- Jorge Gurgel vs Alvin Robinson was an exciting fight to watch. Gurgel easily controlled the opening round and then was completely dominated in rounds two and three by Robinson. I know that Gurgel was on the main card for this event because it was in Ohio, but can we know put Gurgel to pasture or at least relegate him to the undercard?
- Stephan Bonnar easily won the fight that he was supposed to easily win. I still don’t know what if any plans the UFC has for Bonnar as there is not much you can do with him in a heavily stacked Light Heavyweight division.
- Alan Belcher vs Kalib Starnes was one of the most awkward fights of the night. For the first two minutes both fighters looked like this was their first time actually fighting. Belcher eventually settled down and worked a pretty nice Muay Thai game on Starnes. Starnes is another fighter I’m sick of seeing on main event cards. I don’t care what kind of “promise” Starnes showed before his appearance on the ultimate fighter, but he hasn’t lived up to any of it. In fact, Starnes seems to be pushing David Terrell for the UFC injury record; however, at least Starnes actually gets injured in the actual fight and not in practice.
- Brock Lesnar is the newest UFC heavyweight signing. His first appearance will most likely be in February on the Super Bowl weekend show.
- Wanderlei Silva did not have his first opponent “officially” announced like we were all expecting. I’m sick of talking about this subject, so I’m just going to move on.
- Anderson Silva just looks untouchable at this point in the Middleweight division. There really is no one that the UFC currently has under contract currently at middleweight that could come close to giving Silva a tough fight. The only guys who could challenge Silva are Paulo Filho who is the WEC champ and therefore can’t fight him and Dan Henderson who has consistently said he wants to remain at light heavyweight. Other than Denis Kang (K-1), Matt Lindland (UFC hates him) or possibly Robbie Lawler (EliteXC).
- Tim Sylvia made a very smart move, in my opinion, by calling out Cheick Kongo. Sylvia has made it his trademark to call out his opponents after each fight and I think Tim made a good move by not trying to voice his desire for another title-shot already. A fight with Kongo would give Tim another bout to make sure his back is fine and also allow him to matchup with another guy that he thinks he can easily defeat.
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Tags: UFC, MMA, UFC 77, Rich Franklin, Anderson Silva, Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera
(via MMA HQ - Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis)