I know I’m late to the game in getting these up, but I wanted to share the feedback from the past two UFC events before UFC 139.

Here’s what the FGB crew thought about UFC 137:

Duan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz
Worst Fight: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione

The only thing that kept this show’s head above water was a spectacular main event, but what a main event it was. For two and a half hour’s we got a mixture of the average and the dull, but by the end of Diaz/Penn that was all forgotten about. Their three round war more than redeemed any undercard shortcomings.

There is now at least one welterweight title fight out there worth watching and that’s a major bonus moving forward. Diaz perhaps has the skill set required to ask some fresh questions of St. Pierre. This is the bout the division has been craving.

If this is to be the final farewell for both Penn or Crocop (and I think it should be), they can each leave with their head held high – huge efforts turned in by both guys on their last night even in defeat.

Penn is still certainly capable of competing in either of the divisions he once reigned, but I don’t see him being the type to just make up the numbers. Having been usurped by Edgar at 155 and now falling short of the 170 elite; he will likely see this as the right time for him to move on to other pursuits.

For Crocop, it’s more a case of diminishing options. At this point (should he carry on), he would be reduced to fighting at a prelim level and he’s getting paid way too much for that to make financial sense. He gave as good an account of himself as anyone could have realistically hoped for against Nelson, but Mirko has been a spent force for a long time. The truth is the real Crocop never once showed up in UFC – not even a glimpse – he perished with PRIDE in 07.

Alan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz
Worst Fight: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
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UFC 136 wasn’t a resounding thumbs up according to entire the FGB crew, but some have pegged it as one of the better shows of the year thus far.

Here’s what the FGB crew thought about UFC 136:

Alan
Thumbs In The Middle (leaning up)
Best Fight: Nam Phan vs. Leonard Garcia
Worst Fight: Kenny Florian vs. Jose Aldo

Florian/Aldo really dragged and I think that being a good fight would have made this a great show, but it was a half an hour of boringness at a key part of the event. The main event was good but the rounds after the exciting 1st round were kinda quiet until the finish. Garcia/Nam was very entertaining, and Melvin/Joe was fun while it lasted. Chael’s win and promo were the most memorable things on this show for me.

Duan
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar
Worst Fight: Brian Stann vs. Chael Sonnen
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I wouldn’t call UFC 135 a dynamite show, but it was the type of show where you felt like a grudge was settled and you got your money’s worth. Jon Jones solidified his ranking as one of the top fighters in the world and Josh Koscheck won his first fight since his eye was destroyed by Georges St. Pierre.

Here’s what the FGB crew thought about UFC 135.

Alan

This was one of those shows where the undercard did nothing for me so I just went with the top two fights. They were both enjoyable for what they were. I liked the Hughes fight because you were thrown the curveball of him looking good at the outset and you wanted to see how long it would last. It was quite like Shamrock Rovers going 1-0 against Spurs last night in a total shock, but they couldn’t hold on and Spurs obliterated them with 3 goals in quick succession. Josh Koscheck was Spurs. He may have just needed a kick up the backside to get going.

Rampage vs. Jones was a spectacle purely because it’s rare you see an MMA fighter in a high level title match no less, literally toying with his opponent. It was an unreal performance, and to me makes Jones the most must-see fighter in MMA right now. Can’t wait for him and Rashad.

Based on these two fights I’d give the show a thumbs middle leaning up.

(Christ, I completely forgot I watched Diaz/Gomi! That was really enjoyable.)

Duan
Thumbs In The Middle
Best Fight: Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz
Worst Fight: Rob Broughton vs. Travis Browne
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UFC 134 was a very good show. It was one in which Anderson Silva continued to establish his dominance on the sport of MMA. It’s getting so bad that there were people I was watching the fight with who thought the fight resembled pro wrestling because of how easy Silva had it. He’s just that damn good. There was also little better in MMA this year than seeing Big Nog win a fight he was supposed to lose in front of all of his fans in Rio.

Here’s what Big D and I thought about UFC 134:

Big D
Thumbs Way Up
Best Fight: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub
Worst Fight: None

UFC Rio was an interesting show because it managed to satisfy the hardcore, old-school fanbase (specially PRIDE fans) as well as the home town crowd by having the Brazilians win the top 3 fights. The Silva outcome was expected, and even though there was a tiny speck of doubt about Okami, I knew Silva would destroy him and I liked how he took his time and didn’t rush things to finish him off. Shogun’s win was also one I was hoping for, but wasn’t sure about, and it definitely answered a lot of questions about his future. I was shocked he was able to dispatch Forrest so fast. The BIG shocker though, was how a guy who everybody thought was finished, Minotauro Nogueira, was able to defeat Brendan Schaub. I’ve been a huge Nog fan for a long time, but even I admitted he was done, but apparently he’s still got some fight cause he went in and showcased the Nog of old, pounding away at Brendan’s face. Was a great moment. Overall – the show was AWESOME and surprisingly ended at the 2 hour mark, which is WACKY!

GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub
Worst Fight: Forrest Griffin vs. Shogun Rua

UFC Rio was quite the spectacle. With all of the PPV fights featuring Brazilians fighting in Brazil, you had a clear crowd favorite in every fight, and the Brazilians went 3-2 on the PPV card. Anderson Silva was fantastic as usual. Big Nog was inspiring. And Shogun Rua was all about business. It’s just too bad that Forrest Griffin didn’t really come to fight, even though he had his reasons. They should probably do a Brazil themed MMA show every year.

After such a great Money In The Bank show, I think we all figured this one wouldn’t quite match up and we were right. However, in its own right, it was a pretty darn good show. Check out what the FGB crew has to say about the 2011 version of SummerSlam.

Alan
Thumbs Up
Best Match: John Cena vs. CM Punk
Worst Match: Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly (but it wasn’t bad)

A good show hindered by one major problem – the announcing. Unlike one terrible match which is over when it’s over and you can forget about it, the announcing lasts from beginning to end. It was unbearable on this show (and even worse on Raw) and is really ruining the product.

If you were lucky enough to be watching the Spanish version then you probably loved this show. The main event rocked and was better than Chicago up until the weak finish. Orton vs. Christian was a very good plunder match (although I’m not the biggest fan of those matches). The 6-man opener was a great way to kick off the show too.

Oh and highlight of the show was unquestionably Joey Ryan’s sell when Sheamus and Mark Henry went through the barricade.

Duan
Thumbs Up
Best Match: Randy Orton vs. Christian
Worst Match: Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly

A little below last month’s show, but still a ‘better than most’ WWE PPV. Once again there can be little to complain about in terms of wrestling. Decent opener, Sheamus / Henry was a solid big man brawl, Divas were better than usual (aside from the idiotic finishing sequence), and D Bryan got a career best performance out of Barrett. Punk vs. Cena was good but nothing to write home about – a decent WWE main event with a flat finish. It did however pose some questions, and the right sort of questions. It gave a reason to tune in to Raw and that’s all that was required from it.

I’m concerned by the timing of Del Rio’s title win. I have never liked the Money in the Bank cash in gimmick anyway. All it does is create a paper champion. Alberto was ready for the belt at Mania, but they blew it and he has dropped off a lot since then. A cheapened title reign will do little to rehabilitate him. I’m willing to wait and see where they’re going with this, but they have a lot of work to do.

Now, there’s a lot of people who like to sound off about Christian and Orton wrestling on every show. Well… Thank goodness they do. What else is there to look forward to on Smackdown? These two guys stole the show again. It was a brilliant, brilliant match. They can fight on every card for the rest of the year for all I care.

This wasn’t quite the smash hit we had last time out, but you just can’t have shows like that all the time – still a value for money PPV.

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UFC 133 was a pretty low priority for me last Saturday night. In fact, I thought so poorly of the card, I was going to skip my first UFC show in years. It wasn’t until a buddy called me and asked me if I wanted to check it out did I think I was going to watch it. I sure wasn’t going to pay for it.

Rashad Evans is a really good fighter. In fact, he might be underrated. But he’s not a must-see guy unless he’s fighting the right opponent. Tito Ortiz wasn’t that guy. The Tito Ortiz of 2004 would’ve been a fantastic opponent for Rashad. That Tito would’ve probably beaten Rashad. But not in 2011. Thus, I think most people felt similarly about this show. It wasn’t a must-see show. At FGB, only two of us watched it in whole.

Here’s what the Cactus Jim and I said about UFC 133:

Cactus Jim
Thumbs Down
Best Fight: Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans
Worst Fight: Matt Hamill vs. Alexander Gustafsson

This wasn’t a great card on paper and it didn’t rise above the expectations I had for it. Half of the fights were fairly entertaining, but there was nothing near a fight of the year candidate on the card. Coming out of the card, the big news was Matt Hamill’s retirement. His performance would lead me to believe that it was a wise move on his part. Rashad Evans situated himself nicely for a title shot. And Vitor Belfort’s dismantling of Sexyama led several people on this site, myself included, to believe that Vitor is probably the best guy UFC could put in with Anderson Silva, despite his recent loss to the champ. If you haven’t seen this show I sure wouldn’t pay PPV prices to watch it. Wait for Netflix or some other method to view.

GG
Thumbs Up
Best Fight: Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
Worst Fight: Rani Yahya vs. Chad Mendes

With low expectations, this show simply had to be decent for me to not be disappointed. And I think it was. It might’ve only been a 6.5 out of 10, but there was enough excitement that I didn’t feel ripped off paying for pizza at my buddy’s house. Rashad Evans looked great, even though he was fighting someone past his prime. Vitor Belfort looked good in beating Sexyama, but someone has to do something about those shots to the back of the head. He did the same thing against Rich Franklin. It’s always fun to watch Brian Ebersole, especially if you know his background. I was overall entertained, but also glad that I didn’t spend $55 on it.