UFC 133: Evans vs. Davis

By Rappy
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Grand Master

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Ended up being a nice event. Comments in bold as usual.

Rafael Natal vs. Paul Bradley - Didn't watch.

Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan - Didn't watch but it's good to see that Mike Brown picked up a much needed win. I hope he gets his career back on track.

Johny Hendricks vs. Mike Pierce - This was a very nice fight. Good striking, good grappling exchanges. Not extremely exciting but a good fight nonetheless.

Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace - Another good fight in the undercard. Pace fought very well but Menjivar is a beast. He really needs to move up to 145 or lose some of that muscle mass. His striking was great and Pace showed a great chin.

Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya - No surprises here. Mendes is an amazing fighter. He isn't a finisher but he will clearly beat you. He had better striking, evasion and once he figured out that he could outgrapple Rani, the fight was over. He took him down at will and beat him from within his guard. Is he ready for Aldo (or Florian...)? All of the guys he fought so far aren't very good at striking, I don't know how he will fare against Aldo who already beat Faber (who is very similar to Mendes). I know it would be unfair to him to delay his title shot after Florian just cut in line but maybe it would be for the best if he fought a guy like Hominick or even Hatsu Hioki (instead of George Roop).

Matt Hamill vs. Alexander Gustafsson - Gustafsson keeps steadily climbing the LHW ladder. He showed some nice striking in this fight. Hamill on the other hand keeps falling. For a guy that is supposedly a great wrestler, he showed none of that yet again. Much like in the Rampage fight, telegraphed takedowns from a mile away and really crappy striking. He's Keith Jardine 2.0, a body to fill LHW midcard fights.

Rory MacDonald vs. Mike Pyle - Rory is a beast and a future force in the WW division. What else could we expect out of someone being mentored by GSP? If Jake Ellenberger gets past Jake Shields, I could see them fighting for the next title shot after Diaz and the winner of Condit vs Penn. Will he have the mental fortitude to fight GSP? (Yes, GSP will still probably be the champ... either him or Condit).

Jorge Rivera vs. Constantinos Philippou - Very close fight, could have gone either way. I think Philippou deserved the win because he was the one closer to finishing the fight in the 2nd. It seemed he didn't know how to finish the submission. Rivera also fought well. The Matt Hamill vs. Alexander Gustafsson should have been on the main card instead of this one.

Dennis Hallman vs. Brian Ebersole - First of all: LOL. Those shorts man... This fight was great. Hallman started out quickly and took it to the ground but Ebersole showed his veteran skills and ended up on top raining elbows. One cracks Hallman right in the temple and it was lights out. Ebersole is making quite a splash in the UFC. He won't fight for a title but I'm sure he will be kept around to provide some good midcard fights.

Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama - Again, no surprises. Akiyama's career, like many other japanese fighters that come into the UFC, is a hoax. Built upon a bunch of victories over Japanese cans, Akiyama couldn't even cut it against mid-tier UFC fighters. Belfort was saying he was back, I didn't even knew he had left. It's not like he massively improved after his loss to Silva. He should probably fight his way up slowly before giving in to any delusions that he is an elite MW that can beat Silva (he can't). Maybe Bisping or Leben.

Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz - After a 14 month break, Rashad's still got it. But did anyone really doubt it? He is always in peak shape and trains constantly. It's not like he forgot how to fight. Tito Ortiz also put on a good fight but in the end his skills weren't enough to beat Sugar. That knee was amazing, right in the chest crumpling Ortiz. Now we only need for Jones to stop ducking Evans and finish Rampage in brutal fashion to set up Bones vs Sugar.

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Grand Master

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Matt Hamill has decided to retire from MMA following his 2nd loss in a row. He will be miss... who am I kidding? Opens up a spot for a new, exciting LHW. I would love it if the UFC picked up Gegard Mousasi.

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Colin.B

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Matt Hamill has decided to retire from MMA following his 2nd loss in a row. He will be miss... who am I kidding? Opens up a spot for a new, exciting LHW. I would love it if the UFC picked up Gegard Mousasi.

Plus 1.

Matt Hamill was just kind of...There. Not talented enough to be a contender..Or a gatekeeper. Seems like a nice enough guy but..Not very entertaining to watch. I think he made the right choice.

Overall, I enjoyed that card. Tito was humble in defeat with no excuses which was probably more surprising to me than him beating Bader. It was nice seeing Belfort win against Okami. Not like I had any doubt. I disagree with your assessment about him not being able to beat the Spider. I think should they have a rematch he might fare a bit better. I do, however, agree with you on the fact that he should work his way back up. He lost. It wasn't a controversial decision. He lost. I feel the same way about Sonnen however. People saying he deserved a rematch right away. He was submitted. End of story. It wasn't Edgar/Maynard III. It wasn't Penn Vs Fitch. It was Sonnen being submitted when Silva was down to the wire. As for Belfort, I think he's the best striker in the MW division but he definitely needs to face a couple of other guys before facing Silva. I'd like to see him face the winner of Leben/Munoz. I heard some people speculate that the winner of that fight will be the next contender but timing wise it doesn't make much sense as you've got Silva fighting Okami here soon and Sonnen/Stann which will likely have title fight implications.

What about Ortiz though...Where does he go from here? I could see him facing the winner of Rua/Griffin, although that fight will likely go (rightfully so) to Machida....Unless Dana gives Ortiz to Machida. See that's the thing, Griffin, Rua, Rampage are all spoken for, Ortiz just beat Bader who is/was a top ten but lost to Rashad....Who can they have him fight? Phil Davis! But...Why give Ortiz a fight against someone with a perfect record in the UFC if he's coming off a loss.Hmm. Matyushenko could be a possibility...

Oh and yeah...Rory MacDonald looked as awesome as ever. Not sure what I thought about the brushing the shoulders off bit but hey lol.

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Grand Master

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Dana White has all but confirmed that the winner of Sonnen - Stann gets the next title shot. Belfort will probably be matched to the winner of Leben vs Mu?oz or the winner of Maia vs Santiago. I think the latter because if Mu?oz beats Leben he's on 4-fight win streak and probably gets the next title shot. If Leben wins, then he fights Belfort.

As for Tito, Joe Silva doesn't like to match up losers with winners so he may get the losing side of Rua vs Griffin. I also think his win speaks more about Bader needing work to hang around the LHW division than Tito showing a great improvement in skills. Phil Davis is probably going to fight Dan Henderson if he jumps ship back to the UFC (I'm guessing here). Either that or maybe Rich Franklin for name value.

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