Jul 10 2010
The Aftermath – UFC 116
This will probably conclude our UFC 116 coverage unless something else comes out about the show. In short, it was fantastic and as you’ll see, the entire FGB crew enjoyed it.
Here’s what we thought:
Duan
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Worst Fight: Goran Reljic vs. Kendall Grove
A brilliant night’s action, and hands down UFC’s best card all year.
The first round of the main event was exactly what I expected it to be. Anyone with the smallest amount of cop on could tell that Brock had huge deficiencies in his stand up game, and we saw that exploited. Huge credit goes to him for digging in and seeing out the round. Carwin broke as soon as Brock survived the barrage. There was essentially no point in his corner even sending him out for round 2. You could already see from his expression that he was a beaten man.
Leben/Akiyama is the UFC fight of the year so far, and it will take some beating. Some of the exchanges in the second round were absolutely unbelievable. My hat goes off to Chris Leben for two incredible performances in a two week stretch. The man just loves to fight. I hope Akiyama’s standing in the middleweight division won’t be damaged by this because he put on a hell of a show after coming off an extended lay off.
We need a George Sotiropoulous title fight In Australia. That is an absolute must at this point. The guy has six straight UFC wins, he is one of the most entertaining guys on the roster, and the atmosphere will be electric. Somebody book it.
Alan
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Worst Fight: Goran Reljic vs. Kendall Grove
Biggest thing to come from this is Brock looking vulnerable for an extended period for the first time ever. That said, he did a fantastic job weathering the storm and I don’t think many folks would have survived that pounding from Carwin.
Did Brock look so vulnerable that I now think Cain Velasquez has the chance beating of him? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely considering the possibility more than I was. Cain’s a better wrestler than Carwin but he’s smaller. Cain’s a better striker than Carwin, but he doesn’t have the insane power. Cain however will definitely not be out BJJ’d by Brock. It’s a VERY interesting fight. Most interesting of Brock’s career so far.
Great show overall, not a bad fight on the card. The Leben and Bonner fights were incredible.
Cactus Jim
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
Worst Fight: Goran Reljic vs. Kendall Grove
This card had a lot of great fights. Leben and Sexiyama tore it up. Bonnar and Soszynski brawled with reckless abandon. And then there was the main event that put the icing on the cake. While I certainly wouldn’t consider it the best fight on the card, it did deliver a ton of drama and literally had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. We now have a unified Heavyweight belt and a new #1 ranked heavyweight. Some may say the fight should have been stopped in the first, but the result proved otherwise. I’m looking forward to seeing Lesnar versus Velasquez and would love to see Leben and Marquardt go at each other. UFC 116 is worth going out of your way to see.
GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Worst Fight: Goran Reljic vs. Kendall Grove
There’s not much else to be said as the guys said it well. While this show gave you a cornucopia of what MMA should be with two tremendous slugfests (Leben/Sexiyama and Bonnar/Soszynski), a strategic battle to start off the show (Sotiropoulous/Pellegrino), and a great submission as well (Lytle/Brown), what I’ll remember most is Brock Lesnar outlasting Shane Carwin. There was so much drama in that fight and it was after the rest of the show which was just fantastic already. If the UFC releases this one on Blu-ray, I’m buying it.
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Chris Leben created a new following after this fight I think! The more strikes he takes, the crazier that mofo gets. Lesnar got lucky due to Carwin not being a second round fighter..HE’s NEVER seen the second round in a ranked fight! If Carwin had more stamina, Lesnar would not be Champ right now! Carwin will return and become a champ, write that down!
I agree about Leben, but it’s also going to make his career shorter because of it.
As for Lesnar, part of being a great fighter is to be well conditioned. Carwin didn’t come prepared. That’s his fault, not Lesnar’s luck. And you could be right about Carwin. I’m sure they will fight again.
I hope and pray that around UFC 126 we will be seeing a Cain-JDS fight for the belt.
That would be such an exciting fight.
Someone has to beat Brock first.
I think Cain has a real chance to do that.
I do too, but I thought Carwin had a really good chance too. If Cain’s skill set was paired with Carwin’s power, I think that combo beats Brock. I’m still taking Brock.
If Cain’s skill set was paired with Carwin’s power, America would be a dictatorship.
What do you think about the 117 show? JDS has to beat Nelson right?
I was more surprised that Big Country got such a jump in competition so quickly. Supposedly the winner of this fight gets next title shot.
That would be from TUF Winner to Title Shot for Nelson in only 3 fights.
Surprising fast track for someone Dana doesn’t like much. He could have easily bogged him down with matches against Mir, Nog, Gonzaga, Kongo, etc. Instead he gets a top contender match.
From a skills standpoint, he’s not your normal TUF winner so I’m totally fine with that. You can say that Dana is throwing him into the wolves and Nelson keeps proving him wrong. This is a big fight for him though.
He is certainly the most advanced winner of the show yet. But I think JDS is the superior fighter here.
I don’t think he’s the superior fighter. But he’s most definitely the better and more powerful athlete.
Nelson is getting starched.
^Please cut and paste the above prediction when you are putting together our preview for 117.