Dave Bagler

Normally I don't blog on the weekends but this one couldn't wait.  UFC 101 was a huge let down. Six fights were televised.
 
Two of which (Kendall Grove Vs. Ricardo Almeida and Josh Neer Vs. Kurt Pellegrino) were pretty boring decisions where the guy who did the most laying (and praying) managed to win even though in the Neer/Pellgrino fight Neer lost while doing far more damage.
 
The Shane Nelson Vs. Aaron Riley was a less boring but still far from inspiring decision.  Sometimes decisions are wars that are more exciting than any stoppage could hope to match (watch Bonnar/Griffin 1 or Couture/Sylvia) but these decisions where the case of one fighter out matching his opponent in terms of wrestling and then laying on top of them for 15 minutes.  It doesn't provide much in terms of entertainment and points out the sever problems with the 10 or less judging system.
 
Amir Sadollah Vs. Johny Hendricks was one of the worst stoppages I've ever seen.  The ref made a horrible decision and clearly wasn't ready to referee a MMA fight at that level of competition.  I can't believe that Sadollah will have to take a TKO loss on his record when he was no where near out and was defending himself intelligently.  Also if someone is in the process of standing up they are not out, they are getting back in it.  If there is anything positive to say about this fight is that I came up with a word:  bullstop.  I'll let you figure out what it means.
 
Anderson Silva Vs. Forrest Griffin was disappointing.  Silva won an easy KO.  Griffin certainly didn't look like himself.  It was odd, either there was something going on with Griffin or Silva really is the most dominate striker going.  At this point I think the UFC needs to tell Silva to put his personal BS aside and make him fight Machida.
 
BJ Penn Vs. Kenny Florian was actually shaping up to be a pretty good fight.  While some fans in attendance booed when Florian pressed Penn against the cage in the first few rounds Kenny was working his great game plan.  However this one went the way I thought it would Penn eventually took Florian to the ground.  He then ground and pounded Kenny until he got his back and then he finished Florian with a rear naked choke.  I felt bad for Kenny,  I really hoped he would win but Penn looked great and even during the times when Florian was pushing the action Penn never looked like he was anywhere near trouble.
 
So using the point system Mic and I used for UFC 100 (one point for picking the winner, 3 points for picking the winner and the method: TKO, Submission, KO, Decision) we didn't do so well.  In UFC 100 nine points were awarded (4 for me, 5 for Mic) this time around only 3 points are given out which go to me for calling Penn by Submission (yes I picked the wrong round but that isn't part of our scoring system). That leaves us at Mic: 5, Dave: 7.  Let's hope that UFC 102 will be a better event.  Also I think I deserve some credit for the pun in the title of this blog.