I have never been happier in my life to be wrong. I like Matt Serra, I rooted for him during The Ultimate Fighter: Comeback, and was glad when he won. However, beating Georges St Pierre, the man who stopped the "unstoppable" Matt Hughes? No way.
Right before the fight began, I remarked to some friends that I hoped Serra would give us "two good rounds" just to show that he belonged in the Octagon with GSP. No one was picking Serra to win, including me, but I at least hoped that he might put in a good showing. Instead, he "shocked the world" by rocking St. Pierre with some shots and pouncing on his opening, getting a mount and raining down punches until the fight was stopped. This was no early stoppage either. St. Pierre couldn't stop the onslaught and wasn't defending himself when the fight was called. I had written that Serra should consider going back down to Lightweight, and now he's the Welterweight Champion. A huge upset, and one of the things that makes UFC so much fun to watch. GSP was gracious in defeat, offering no excuses, and I am sure he will come back strong. As for Serra, he'll probably be the underdog again when he defends the title, but for now, everyone owes him an apology. He proved the world wrong. And I love it.
What a monumental disappointment. Who knew that the best action between these two would take place at the weigh-in and not in the Octagon? The bottom line here is that Diego Sanchez blew this fight, and has no one to blame but himself for the loss. The first round saw a lot of nothing, and it really appeared both were trying to line up the other for a big punch that never happened, although Josh did land one nice shot to the head. With less than half a minute remaining, Josh got a takedown, and Diego was in the process of getting on Josh's back when time ran out. Josh won the round because of that takedown, and little did we know that we had just seen Diego's finest bit of offense for the whole fight.
Would Diego have done something with a bit more time? We'll never know. The second round saw Diego circling and circling, throwing nothing jabs, while Josh landed a few shots that won him the round. Josh really wasn't doing anything impressive, but did just enough to get the round again. That brought us to the third round, and Diego had to know he was losing the fight and needed to finish here. Of course, because nothing had really happened in the first two rounds, Josh wasn't tired, and once again simply let Diego throw his jabs and circle, accomplishing nothing. With two minutes left in the round, and facing his first loss, I expected Diego to go for broke and charge in. After all, better to go down fighting than watch the clock tick away. It didn't happen. There was no sense of immediacy from Diego at all, as if he didn't realize there was no time left for him to be tentative. Josh took the third round, and Diego's undefeated streak changed to 19-1 with a whimper. This wasn't Josh using his superior wrestling or improved striking to win the fight. This was Diego Sanchez blowing it and letting Josh take the win with minimal effort.
I had picked Garcia to win, and while I think he put in a great effort, Huerta deserved the win. This was a fantastic fight, with both men putting in a huge effort and leaving it all in the Octagon. Both men were swinging wildly when standing, and working hard on the ground, with the pace only slowing in the third round due to exhaustion. Huerta earned the unanimous win, as Garcia didn't make it easy for him and showed a ton of heart, taking some big shots and just pressing on. This is the kind of fight UFC has been promising the Lightweights would deliver and they did. I'm looking forward to seeing both of them again.
Finally, one I predicted correctly! I had felt that if Okami could get past the first round and deal with Swick's punching power, he could take the fight. Okami has only been stopped once, and that was four years ago. Okami took Swick down in the first round and won it with strikes and an armbar attempt. Swick was verbally surprised at how strong Okami was. Okami kept taking Swick down in the second round, but right at the end, Swick started to rock him with punches. This was Swick's big chance to win, but Okami took the assault and managed to get Swick down on the mat to end the round. The third round, with Swick tiring, saw Okami take him down and I honestly thought the fight was going to be stopped as Okami rained shots down on him. Okami kept going for chokes, and when the round ended, you knew he won. I don't know if Okami is ready for Anderson Silva, but then again, is anyone? Either way, I really enjoyed this fight, and along with the Lightweights and the shocking Serra win, made this a PPV worth ordering.
This fight went pretty much as predicted, with it being a showcase for Grove as he works his way up the ladder. Belcher got the first takedown, but Grove easily reversed it and used a lot of kicks to win the first round. In the second, Grove used a variety of strikes, taking advantage of his substantial reach and long legs, and when it went to the ground, he cinched in a choke and it was over. Good performance by Grove, and I wonder if UFC would give us Okami vs. Grove in the future before sacrificing one of them to Anderson Silva.
The only pre-taped fight that aired on the PPV, Josh looked strong at the start of the fight, but Cummo was out striking him by the end of the first round. More slugging in the second, with Cummo simply out punching him and knocking him out. Good for what it was, but I was still sitting in amazement over Serra beating GSP.
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