Title Writing: Mopping The Mats 7 "UFC 142"

Mopping the Mats is a weekly Monday feature meant to breakdown the weekend that was in Mixed Martial Arts. Last weekend featured the first UFC card of 2012, nnumber 142 in Rio, Brazil. 2012 will be the 11th year of business for the UFC since Zuffa took the reigns. For all the criticism they receive for an issue such as fighter pay, they have never failed to give fighters more opportunities to fight (and on bigger stages at that) with each passing year. For a little perspective on how far they've come, check out the numbered events that kicked off each of the last 10 years:

2012 - UFC 142
2011 - UFC 125
2010 - UFC 108
2009 - UFC 93
2008 - UFC 80
2007 - UFC 67
2006 - UFC 57
2005 - UFC 51
2004 - UFC 46
2003 - UFC 41
2002 - UFC 35
2001 - UFC 30

Among other changes to the status quo that I want to see, I'd like fighters to get paid a little more. I also think it would do everyone some good to sit back and look at just how far the sport we love has come since the Ultimate Fighting Championship came under the direction of the Fertitta brothers and Dana White.

THE EVENT: UFC 142

Going into this weekend, a friend of mine told me he wasn't planning on ordering the card due to the lack of exciting match-ups on it. This is a guy who does not miss an event for anything, he's easily the biggest MMA fan I know. We've watched every event together for as long as I can remember and for him to say he wasn't interested was a big indicator of just how lacklustre the event appeared, even to the most die hard of fans. In the end some other friends wanted to watch the event so we all got together and bought the fights.

It's a good thing we did too, as the event reinforced the notion that the UFC itself is the star, not any one particular fighter. The card was filled with jump off the couch moments and was capped off by the coolest thing I've ever seen in MMA, Jose Aldo leaving the cage to celebrate with his countrymen following his first round knockout of Chad Mendes. Dana White has stated many times that you can't judge a card on paper and he's been proven right many times. 142 was no different. In a way it was the perfect card to follow UFC 141, which featured the retirement of the biggest draw in company history, Brock Lesnar. There were no individual pay per view stars to watch at 142 yet if you didn't see the card, you missed out on some special moments, which is exactly what the UFC wants to convey to it's fans: No matter who is fighting, something spectacular could happen and you don't want to miss it.

The results and the takeaways are after the jump.

The last Brazilian card, UFC 134, saw the home country fighters dominate their opponents, with Stanislav Nedkov being the only man to defeat a Brazilian. They duplicated that feat at 142, with Ricardo Funch being the lone Brazilian to suffer a loss, a first round TKO at the hands of Mike Pyle. This comes as no surprise; Pyle has become rather good at playing the spoiler, with his last three victories coming over home town guys. The best moments of the undercard were watching Gabriel Gonzaga showcase his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu top game in a dominant submission victory over newcomer Edinaldo Oliveira and the first round of Yuri Alcantra vs Michihiro Omigawa. The round had so many interesting moments that I'll be breaking it down in detail later this week, but if you haven't seen the fight yet, you should.

As for the main card, Edson Barboza started the show by knocking out Terry Etim with a wheel kick. The technique is one of my favorite strikes (I might be a little more partial to flying knees and superman punches) and along with the Barboza knockout it has lead to one of the most brutal knockouts in combat sports history, in a K-1 Grand Prix kickboxing match. Just months after Stefan Leko knocked him out with a wheel kick to the body, Badr Hari one upped him in their instant rematch, landing the kick to Leko's head, breaking his jaw and knocking him out cold. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has an impressive tutorial on the kick that can be found on this video (Fast forward to 7:00 for the start of the tutorial). Barboza is one of the finest strikers in the company but he has yet to face a grappler who can put him on his back. I hope he gets that test soon.

Another young Brazilian quickly becoming a star is Erick Silva, who destroyed Carlo Prater in the first round of their fight on Saturday. The win was short lived though; Mario Yamasaki disqualified Silva for striking Prater to the back of the head. The blows were less egregious than many other back of the head strikes that we've seen allowed in the Octagon in the past and it's disappointing to see Silva lose the fight due to a borderline call. At the same time though, fans and media alike have been expressing concern over blows to the back of the head for a few years now; if this is the start of a crackdown on them, we should be glad, not mad at Yamasaki.

Rousimar Palhares won by heel hook in the first minute of his fight with Mike Massenzio. I'm not going to make any jokes, only offer condolences to Massenzio, was in bad shape following the stoppage. When Palhares went for his leg, it seemed to me that Massenzio panicked a little, turning away and trying to pull free of the grasp of "Toqinho". In doing so he fell right into the lock. I'm just a lowly white belt, (two stripes, I'm getting there) but I felt that Massenzio would have been better off getting his weight over top of Palhares and keeping everything in tight. Then again, what do I know? Maybe the best defense is simply not getting in the cage with a monster like Palhares.

In the final two fights of the night, Vitor Belfort dispatched Anthony Johnson via first round rear naked choke before Jose Aldo provided a spectacular cap to the evening, a spinning knee knockout of Mendes and the first crowd surf in UFC history. Mendes was expected to give Aldo his stiffest challenge to date but instead it looked like the champion, or perhaps the moment, got to him. He stood well out of take down range and traded leg kicks with Aldo, clearly a losing proposition, until finally closing the distance and securing a body lock on the the champion in the final minute of the round. As Mendes tried desperately to get the fight to the ground, Aldo worked to free himself, finally doing so with seconds remaining on the clock. Instead of resetting and allowing the round to expire, Mendes instinctually shot forward at Aldo's hips. Aldo was also working on instinct and as he spun around to face Mendes he threw a picture perfect left knee, connecting solidly with Mendes' head, dazing the challenger and sending him to the mat. A few punches later and Aldo had retained his title.

As incredible as the finish was, Aldo's celebration was the real show-stopper. The champion burst out of the cage, sprinted down the Octagon stairs, flew across the space reserved for the commission, the UFC brass and the media before leaping into the crowd to share his triumph with his countrymen. As I watched the moment unfold I couldn't stop smiling. One of the unexpected things the UFC has given me is the opportunity to observe and learn about other cultures and as such, I have developed an appreciation for people and places that I didn't have before. In North America, professional athletes almost never go into the stands. When they do, it isn't to celebrate. Most distance themselves from the public, always wary of the crazed fan who might want to take away their livelyhood. Watching Aldo shrug off the potential danger of entering the stands because of his love for his country was thrilling and a reminder that sportsmen shouldn't take themselves too seriously.

THE TAKEAWAYS: Aldo is the "new GSP", while the UFC needs to revisit weight cutting.

On the eve of UFC 142, Fraser Coffeen wrote a story for Bloody Elbow that described Aldo as the new GSP. He suggested that was a bad thing, focusing on the recent theme that GSP fights boring and Aldo too was no longer fighting with a crowd pleasing style. While most people might chuckle at the article now, I'm going to give Fraser props for getting it right. Jose Aldo is the new GSP: He's young and dynamic, he stands head and shoulders above the rest of the fighters in his division and he's a huge star in his native country. GSP was instrumental in the UFC's North American growth and Aldo will be the man who takes the organization to great heights in South America. So really, what's not to like about the comparison?

The other big story coming out of the event was the complete disaster that was Anthony Johnson's middleweight debut. Johnson, who had missed weight twice during his time at welterweight, weighed in at a shocking 197 pounds on the eve of the card, a disturbing 12 pounds heavier than the agreed upon 185. This led to a stipulation that he be no more than 205 pounds on the day of the fight. For those who are still unsure of how Rumble could have possibly missed weight by such a large amount, King Mo had a very insightful take on the situation that everyone should read. Lawal describes in detail the havoc cutting large amounts of weight on a regular basis can play on your body and sure enough, Johnson stated that he was losing feeling in his legs on the morning of the weigh-ins.

If fighters are intent on putting themselves in serious physical danger in an effort to drop weight rapidly perhaps the UFC and commissions need to institute rules to protect these men from themselves. My suggestion would be two weigh-ins, one a week out, and one the night before the fight. There would be a cap for how much you could weigh in your week out weigh-in and if you come in over that cap, you don't fight.

I'm not a medical professional, so I'm just using rough estimates here. By all reports, Johnson was attempting to cut from around 215, about 15% of his bodyweight. Instituting a rule that states fight week cuts are to be no more than 10% of total body weight sounds about right. For each weight class the maximum cut allowed would be:

Flyweights (125) must start fight week at 137.5 pounds or less
Bantamweights (135) must start fight week at 148.5 pounds or less
Featherweights (145) must start fight week at 159.5 pounds or less
Lightweights (155) must start fight week at 170.5 pounds or less
Welterweights (170) must start fight week at 187 pounds or less
Middleweights (185) must start fight week at 203.5 pounds or less
Light Heavyweights (205) must start fight week at 225.5 pounds or less
Heavyweights (265) must start fight week at 291.5 pounds or less

To me this doesn't seem too outrageous and it would go a long way towards fighter safety. As for Rumble? He really should have known better. Trying to cut upwards of 50 pounds in order to have a big size advantage over his opponents is already kind of lame. Failing to actually make the weight cut on multiple occasions is just ridiculous, if it's not outright cheating. If Johnson is going to continue his career in mixed martial arts, I hope he does so in the light heavyweight division. He's been doing MMA long enough now that he should test himself against men his size. Unfortunately I think this is the last we've seen of Rumble and it's too bad. He has a lot of talent and if he had ever committed himself to the lifestyle of an elite fighter he could have realized that talent. Instead, it seems he'll just end up a cautionary tale to young fighters about the dangers of cutting weight.

As always, thanks for reading! Comments are welcome.