Title Writing: Mopping the Mats 5 "UFC 141"

This post edited and promoted to the front page by Cory Braiterman

Hello,

Mopping the Mats is a weekly Monday feature meant to wrap up the weekend that was in Mixed Martial Arts. Due to the holiday it's coming out on a Tuesday this week. Last week I made a few predictions for 2012. This past weekend featured the final UFC show of 2011 along with the annual Dynamite!! Japanese New Year show put on by Dream. I have to admit that I didn't watch the Dynamite show but I checked out a couple of the bigger fights on the card, including Fedor's second consecutive victory since suffering three straight defeats, so I'll have a few words to say about that.

THE EVENT: UFC 141

I felt the final card of the year was a little bit undervalued going into the show and after it was all said and done with I'm confident I was right. It was one of the better main cards of the year, with three quick knockouts and two decisions: a one-sided beat down and a high paced striking battle. The undercard also contained some good action, although it was more about who won then how they went about doing it. Overall the card cleared up a few questions that sat at the top of welterweight, lightweight and heavyweight divisions and revealed potential contenders in the featherweight and light heavyweight divisions.

THE RESULTS: Overeem arrives in America at the expense of Brock Lesnar.

The biggest story after the event was the retirement of Brock Lesnar, who announced that he would no longer be competing inside the Octagon immediately after being knocked out of the main event by a kick to the liver from Overeem. There has been a lot of good writing about Lesnar and his mixed martial arts career around SB Nation and I would encourage you to check out some of it:

• Ben Thapa looks at failure in sports and the public response.
• Brent Brookhouse asks if Brock is the Ultimate Quitter
• MostDiabolicalHater pays tribute to Lesnar here at Head Kick

Among many other good articles those were my favorites from the weekend. As for my own experience with Lesnar, I must admit that I was interested in the UFC but not nearly as much until Lesnar arrived. I didn't really know who he was before he stepped into the cage at UFC 81, I just knew his name as a pro wrestler. I was intrigued by the reaction of a number of my co-workers at the time, who were positively giddy about Lesnar coming into real fighting. They all expected him to lose badly to Frank Mir and while he did lose in less than two minutes, it was surely not the way anyone expected it to go. From that point on it was destination television whenever Lesnar had a bout. He brought a lot of eyes to the cage and, due to his one dimensional skill set, while he never completely succeeded in making the transition from promotional star to a legitimate combat superstar he is leaving the sport in a better position than it was. That should be his legacy.

As for Alistair Overeem, I can't help but feel like we aren't fully appreciating him for what he is just yet. Brock's penultimate battle with Cain Velasquez was a fight. Brock came out like a freight train, Cain withstood the onslaught, they traded strikes and then takedowns and up until Brock whirligigged around the cage you weren't sure who was going to come out on top. Contrast that to his final contest, which didn't look much in doubt from the start. Lesnar looked timid and never fully committed to a takedown attempt; Overeem looked calm and ready for whatever came his way. He shrugged off the only takedown Brock would latch on to. He easily avoided the only real power punch Brock attempted, the same long, straight right that dropped Heath Herring. He bullied Brock against the cage and landed a trio of devastating knees before the telling body kick. If you've ever watched THE REEM documentary, you would be familiar with the sight of a hulking Alistair standing over a prone sparring partner; the image in the cage on Friday night could have been straight out of his training footage. Joe Rogan called Overeem the most technical striker in the heavyweight division, by far. He is also the most powerful. To finish Brock Lesnar in the fashion that he did was very impressive, whether Brock was fully invested in the fight or not. Alas, I feel he won't truly get his due unless he beats Junior Dos Santos, which isn't really fair. Overeem should be recognized now as one of the great heavyweights in combat sports history.

Across the globe, in Japan, another of the great heavyweights of all time made quick work of his opponent as well. Fedor Emilianenko defeated Satoshi Ishii in 2:29, looking like the changes to his fighting style that he showed against Jeff Monson were here to stay. Fedor was measured in his approach, using leg kicks and single shots to soften Ishii up until he was able to land a nice three punch combo that finished the fight. Ishii has less MMA experience than Brock Lesnar, so excitement about this victory should be muted. That being said, it's been refreshing to see Fedor use his cerebral skills in these last two bouts. During his three fight losing streak he looked like the game had passed him by. He was using the same strategy that had worked for years against fighters who just weren't at his level: Come out throwing hay-makers and when one inevitably landed, finish the fight. Fabricio Werdum showed him you couldn't just dive headlong into guard these days while Dan Henderson reminded him that the elite fighters are as quick as he is and have just as good of a chin. To his credit, Fedor went back to work, tightened up his technique and reigned himself in. When MMA fighters lose "it", they often lose it quickly and it never comes back. If Fedor could notch a few more wins before riding off in the sunset he would be one of the few greats who didn't go out a loser and it would be yet another indication that he is the greatest fighter of his era.

THE TAKEAWAYS: Diaz, Hendricks, Gustaffson on the rise

Lesnar and his fellow heavyweights dwarfed the rest of the action on the weekend, which actually held quite a bit of relevancy for the top of three divisions. In the most impressive fight of the weekend, Johny Hendricks knocked out Jon Fitch with the first punch he threw. Fitch has long been considered the best welterweight in the world not named Georges St. Pierre. He's also been a fly in the UFC ointment in the form of refusing to fight teammate and fellow contender Josh Koscheck and bringing a fighting style that is at best described as "grinding" and at worst described as "a cure for insomnia". Dana White must have been celebrating inside as Fitch wandered glumly around the cage post fight, wondering what went wrong. Fitch joins Cain Velasquez as the second member of the American Kickboxing Academy to have been knocked out in the first round in their comeback from injury, which has to be discouraging for the camp. Luke Rockhold and King Mo have big fights in Strikeforce this weekend and they are both the favorite. I'm going to be watching closely to see if they can regain some of the momentum they've lost.

As for Hendricks, he joins the ranks of welterweight title contenders at the perfect time. He probably isn't quite in line for a title shot but he's certainly one fight away. I'd like to see him fight the winner of Jake Ellenberger/Diego Sanchez, with a title shot given to the winner.

In the co-main event Nate Diaz, one of my favorite fighters, put on a boxing clinic in his much anticipated fight with Donald Cerrone. No one welcomes animosity towards themselves more than the Diaz brothers. It fits their fighting styles perfectly; they like to get into high paced striking battles which favor their all world cardio. Make your opponent hate you and you are pretty likely to get them to come at you with all the have. If I were Carlos Condit, I would fore go all training, start meditating immediately, and bring the zen to the cage against Nick Diaz at UFC 143. It's boring, but the only way to beat the Diaz brothers is to avoid the drama and wrestle them. Nate is in the title picture now, as I expected he would be after this fight. I like his chances against Frank Edgar much more than his chances against Ben Henderson and if he's not going to get the title I love the style match up against the winner of Anthony Pettis and Joe Lauzon.

Finally, the last piece of business from last weekend is the rise of Alexander Gustafsson, who is looking he might be the only guy in the 205 pound division who has much of anything for Jon Jones. He would at least be close to even on physical terms with Jones, who has used his length to eviscerate all comers. I say close to even because, despite being slightly taller than Jones, Gustafsson still gives up eight inches in reach. While that doesn't make me like his chances, The Mauler is a great young fighter, the type of guy that we need more of in this division. His victory over Vladimir Matyushenko was exactly the type of performance I like to see from a young fighter facing a gatekeeper. Gain the upper hand early and finish them when the opportunity presents itself. The longer a fight goes, the more it favors an experienced fighter and Gustafsson has shown himself to be a finisher in his last two fights, against Matt Hamill and Matyushenko. I'd like to see him step into the top of the division against Shogun Rua in Sweden, although that might not be something Rua is that interested in.

Overall it was a very appropriate way to wrap up 2011. There was closure on the biggest MMA story of the past few years in Brock Lesnar and at the same time we got a number of glimpses into what the future will hold in 2012.

Thanks for reading. Comments welcome as always!