UFC 84 Recap by Michael Hans
In case you were one of the few MMA fans on the planet that didn’t catch last night’s UFC event, fellow MMA fanatic Michael Hans has provided some guest commentary for The Punch. His thoughts on UFC 84 (FYI, I wholeheartedly agree with points number 1 and 4):
1) Loved the Penn fight. He dominated and I would like to see him rule the lightweights for years to come. I know why he wants to fight GSP, but that’s for personal not professional reasons. He wants to beat the one guy who is a true challenge for him and avenge his lost to George. If he stopped and looked at it from a professional stand point. He should stay at 155 and have three to four title defenses a year. He could be the Matt Hughes of the lightweights and rule the weight class for the next five years. If he goes up and fights GSP what does it do for the sport? If he loses, it devalues the lightweight belt, if he wins, is he going to just stay up and fight at middle weight? The UFC needs marketable champions at every weight class. Dominant fighters that they can bring in multiple guys in to challenge and get their asses handed to them. That’s what made watch Hughes’ title run so fun. I say, let GSP and Penn defend their belts for as long as possible.
2) Jardine went down like I thought that he would. I like the guy, but his chin doesn’t match up well with an aggressive heavy hitter like Silva or Houston Alexander. The only reason he was able to beat Liddell was because Liddell is a counter puncher. He was not aggressive and let Jardine control the fight. If you are fighting Jardine, you need to come at him hard and take a chance, hit him right and you will knock him out.
3) Keep your eyes on Goran Reljic. This Croatian sensation has it and I expect him to be a top contender in a few years. His over 80″ reach is off the charts. He has dynamic power in his kicks and just the right look and fighting style that fans pay to see. Granted he almost got KO’ed last night, but you could also say that he kept his his composer, fought back and had a entertaining fight for his first time in the UFC. How many fighters over the years have you had to hear that fighters have to get use to the lime light and that it takes a couple fights under the pay-per-view lights to get their bearings. This 24 year old kid looked good, and he could have a belt some day.
4) Shocker. Lyoto is boring. My buddy, Backdoor, says, “Lyoto is a strategic fighter.” I say, people pay good money to see a fight not a track meet. Engage or go home! If Machida fought with Silva’s passion he would be a hell of a fighter, but he doesn’t and never will. This guy needs to only fight aggressive risk takers. His next fight, if he even gets one, should be against Silva and then we’ll see if he will engage or run. My bet is that Machida will bring his track shoes.
5) Palhares looks good. Real good. Glad to see Sokoudjou get a TKO. I like the guy and he needs to string some wins together.
6) Shocked to read this morning that Heavyweight, Shane Carwin, was a division II National Wrestling Champion. You throw in his punching power, with what I can only assume is dominate ground game, and you got the makings of a great fighter.
May 25th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
You’re right, BJ should stay put and make a run at becoming the greatest champion in UFC history. He has plenty of years left in him. I could see him being champion of the division for at least five years if he stays in shape are really wants to fight. I could also see him jumping up in weight to fight GSP, lose to GSP, and then getting out of the fight game for a while, again.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Its a shame that the UFC is covered by reporters like you. To say Machida is a boring fighter and that he was running away the whole time is just an absurd statement. Your the same type of reporter that doesnt like fights when they get to ground, because its not exciting enough for you. What Machida does is fight like a smart man. Why would he stand right in front of Tito and not move when all he has to do is throw 3 feints, wait for Tito to throw a sloppy punch, dodge and then come in and attack? He showed true fighting skills in not letting his oppenent hit him(crazy guy huh?) while at the same time discouraging and dismantleing his oppenent. Titos frustrations were evident withing the first 3 minutes of the fight, meanwhile Machida kept a calm reserve while repeatedly landing a great jab and occasional hard right, As well as showing kicking skills not seen in the UFC. He didnt just go for the Mirko knockout head kick(he did land a few nice headkicks tho), he used his kicks as a methodical way to keep tito at bay while also delivering damage when possible. And everytime Tito try to shoot in, Machida would easily toss him aside. This isnt the 1990s, the early days in the UFC where the tuff bar fighters are standing in front of each other exchanging punches til one gets knocked out. Mixed Martial arts is called just that because its a mix of all fighting styles and Machida epitimizes style by not getting hit while still destroying and embarrasing his oppents. In my opinion i cant wait for all fighters to be as skilled as him, its going to make for a lot of great fights. Hopefully you will realize this as all real mma fans do, if not its a shame and maybe they should have another guy covering the fights on this site.
May 27th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I like the ground game. I laughed my ass off when Tito almost caught him in a Triangle. It must be hard for you to watch a “great” fighter like Machida stick and move and then have so many people boo him. If you like Machida you must love Kalib Starnes. He took out the stick and just added more move. You know the funny things is, BJ didn’t get hit that much and he engaged. You can keep your high and mighty artform MMA. I’ll stick with the masses. Machida vs. Ortiz was the worst fight of the night.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:43 am
first off when you use quotes in a statement(”a “great” fighter”) usually your using the quotes because you are quoteing something the person said, and since i didnt once say machida was a great fighter, i wonder where you got that, but anyway. Yes again you demonstrate your limited knowledge on mma. Kalib Starnes ran and ran and ran and didnt strike, Machida dodge and eluded Tito while still delivering enough strikes to not only keep the fight entertaining but also enough to impose alot of visible damage on tito. And when it comes to booing fans i dont care about any of them, American fans prove over and over that they dont demonstrate enough respect for the art of fighting and no matter what fight you go to there is always gonna be drunk, loud fans who dont even like the sport and are only there for the hype. Watch any pride or any other organization outside of the US, those fans dont boo the fighters. I had the luxury of sitting next to a group of those fans at a UFC fight nite in Vegas this past Sept. 5 guys all with a buzz on, none of which had even seen the UFC, and of course they were booing or yelling obscenities as soon as there was more then a 10 second break in the action, does that mean those fights werent good. They booed the Chris Leben vs Terry Martin, which was one of the craziest fights to watch. But these are the ppl you are siding with, “the masses”, your booers.