Home
The FLD Aftermath - UFC 105: Vera vs. Couture
Written by Miles Hackett   
Monday, 16 November 2009 23:04
To say the very least, we've come away from UFC 105 with a lot to talk about. It's an event where the unlikely became likely, leaving many of us pulling our hair out in frustration at our faulted claims of ESP. Joining me in discussion of the fallout from a decent free televised card tonight is Matt "The Bumbaclot" Bremner, and we'll be attempting to make sense of such a bizarro-world inspired event.

Rising Stocks

Ross Pearson

Miles Hackett: I was incredibly impressed by Pearson’s performance against Aaron Riley. What stood out to me the most was just how nasty his clinch-work has become, as he battered Riley with knees and elbows which wore him down. Gone was the lay and pray against the fence, in favour of a torrid pace and unbridled aggression. Additionally, his hands looked much better too, not just offensively, but defensively, as he kept a high guard during exchanges. Simply put, Pearson outworked Riley from the get-go, and outclassed him in all aspects of the fight. Look for Pearson to take on a mid-tier opponent in his next outing, someone like Spencer Fisher, Jeremy Stephens, or Efrain Escudero would suit him nicely.

Matt Bremner: I actually thought that Pearson got the worst of any of the TUF fighter match-ups. Riley is a tough, scrappy fighter who has no quit and had the advantage of a superior camp behind him. None of that mattered, Pearson ran a train all over the face of Riley and had him backing up the whole fight. In a fight where Riley never managed a sustained takedown or any real measurable offense, Pearson looked to be a season vet, or perhaps, if you like nicknames, “The Real Deal”. He ended Riley's night with a flying knee to the face that busted Riley open in unfortunate fashion and to quote the doctor, “[the fight] had to go”. Pearson takes a win and next for him is likely a showcase fight to further hype the TUF winner.

Dan Hardy

Miles: Dan Hardy continues to grow as a fighter and did he ever show it against the highly-touted Mike Swick. Hardy’s striking was the crisper of the two men and his wrestling looks like it has improved significantly since the Davis fight, which is something most of the staff did not expect. Despite the impressive takedown defense he showcased, I think he’s going to struggle with Georges St. Pierre’s skill-set, but Hardy has shown that he has the power and technique to give anyone problems standing in the UFC WW division.

Matt: Hands down, to me, the most impressive fighter on the card. Hardy had looked alright in his three fights in the UFC, but never so impressive that I thought he would beat Swick, let alone essentially nullify Swick's striking and clinch game. His ability to stay off his back was quite impressive and it left Swick without any options, other than eat a few hard shots a round and lose them cleanly. The next stop for “The Outlaw” is Georges St. Pierre, which is pretty much a horrible place to visit, vacation, drive through, or whatever other metaphor you like. Hardy will have a puncher's chance, but in the Swick fight when he was getting getting caught by Swick's jab, he got frustrated and started swinging wildly, if he does that against GSP, he'll be on his back eating elbows before he can ask GSP if he's having a bully day. Nonetheless, Hardy really and truly impressed me in his most recent outing and proved that he deserves serious consideration as a top 170 lb fighter.


Michael Bisping

Miles: Michael Bisping showed true heart in his encounter with Denis Kang, and further revealed that he still has supreme confidence in his abilities as a fighter, which is important considering the brutal circumstances of his last loss. I realize now that I underestimated Bisping’s wrestling and overestimated Kang’s in my breakdown of this bout. Bisping didn’t look very good standing, but once he got the fight to the mat, he attacked with reckless abandon, breaking the Canadian’s questionable spirit. A good rebound win for Bisping, a match-up with someone like Patrick Cote or Demian Maia makes sense for him at this point, in my opinion.

Matt: “The Count” got dropped like a bad habit out of the gate and it looked like he was well on his way to dropping back to back fights for the first time in his career. However, Bisping used some impressive hip escapes to survive the first frame, and came out in the second looking like a different fighter. He very quickly got Kang to the floor and proceeded to abuse him in a way that physically hurt Kang's family, friends and fans. Bisping's victory was impressive on two levels. Firstly, Kang was unable to submit, overly damage or hold position on Bisping, which is pretty impressive in its own right. Second, after an abysmal first round, Bisping showed absolutely no quit and went out looking to make sure Kang didn't get out of the fight easy. With this win, Bisping got himself back on the right track and proves that he is, bar none, the most popular fighter from the UK now. Next for Bisping is likely someone like Patrick Cote, who has already showed interest in fighting the Brit. However, Bisping's chin looks to be marginally weaker than we've seen in the past and he needs to work on his striking defense while shoring-up a new look wrestling game.


Holding Steady


Brandon Vera

Miles: I consider Vera’s stocks as “holding steady” because he did what I expected, no better, and no worse. He remains, in my eyes, a fighter backed by unwarranted hype, and simply unremarkable with regard to his skill-set. His takedown defense was in good form and he had glimmers of greatness, but his passivity ultimately led to his downfall against an obviously deteriorating Couture. In a sense, I feel bad for Vera because he’s not been able to go anywhere in either of the two UFC divisions he has fought in. He needs to do some soul searching and maybe even entertain the idea of finding a new camp. I expect him to take on someone like Rich Franklin or Vladimir Matyushenko next.

Matt: Nothing went right when it really mattered for Vera on Saturday. Throw some nice shots, get pushed against the fence, get roughed-up. Come out, drop Randy, do nothing on the ground, get up, get pushed against the cage, get beaten up. Mount Randy, do nothing, get stood up, get pushed against the fence. To make matters worse, despite the fact that he had the most significant offense of the fight, he still managed to lose a thoroughly unanimous 29-28 decision to Randy. It just wasn't a good day to be Vera, who showed flashes of competence in a high level fight, something he is not known for. “The Truth” is that Vera needs to smarten up in his fights, he has the tools to win but he too often plays the other fighter's game or picks the most counter-intuitive strategy that he can find and runs with it. Next for Vera is probably a somewhat nameless 205er, which he will likely win and we'll be talking about another high profile fight for him.

Terry Etim

Miles: Terry’s always a fun fighter to watch, he’s only holding steady though because he did what he was expected to do; defeat Shannon Gugerty. I really think it’s time that Etim is given someone on the next level, he’s proven that he can beat guys who barely belong in the UFC for long enough. I’d like to see him take on Evan Dunham or Roger Huerta next.

Matt: There's not much I can say for this, unlike pretty much everyone on this card, Etim did what he was supposed to do. Not necessarily in ridiculous fashion or anything, just hit a guillotine choke, closed it off and put the squeeze on. Mike Swick should ask him about that considering his guillotine attempt all to quickly turned into Swick getting elbowed in the head. Etim continues to be a solid fighter and a decent draw for the UFC in the UK and I expect to see him out again when the UFC crosses the pond again.


Falling Stocks


Denis Kang

Miles: What can be said about Denis Kang’s performance other than “disappointing”? He looked good in the first round, but he crumbled once he realized Bisping wasn’t giving up. I was very surprised to see how weak his takedown defense was, especially because Bisping isn’t exactly known for his wrestling prowess. Sadly, I really would not be shocked if Kang is cut in the next few days, as his stint in the UFC has been lacklustre, to say the very least.  If the UFC gives him another crack, a meeting with Alessio Sakara might make sense.

Matt: Denis, Denis, Denis, what the $#%*? You had Bisping floored, and you couldn't do anything, he got you on the ground to nullify his ground and pound you did... nothing. Brad said to me during the fights that Kang would quit half way through the fight “whether he was winning or not”, and he was right on the money (which is about all we can say about how he saw this card going). Kang just got stupid and ineffective and then he got finished. I think we've seen the last of Kang in the UFC, he has looked bad (or stupid) twice and decent once. Pretty much all the excitement that Kang brought with him is gone now and I'm not sure the UFC actually has any use for him. All the best back in Japan, Denis.


Matt Riddle

Miles: Probably the biggest surprise to me on this card, next to Paul Kelly losing to Dennis Siver, is Riddle being stopped by Nick Osipczak. Riddle looked fantastic when he dispatched fellow TUF housemate Dan cramer at UFC 101. Against Osipczak, Riddle looked frustrated on the ground and it showed when he started throwing headbutts to the Brit’s body. Osipczak made Riddle look very one dimensional in this fight by keeping busy with his hips and using the American’s aggressiveness against him, in the form of countering with sweeps whenever Riddle’s center of gravity was compromised inside the guard. Despite the fact there aren’t too many guard savvy fighters in the UFC’s WW division, Riddle needs to work on his grappling from the top position. He has the ability to take a fight to the ground, but he needs to work on the basics when in his opponent’s guard, as he was making beginner mistakes, such as leaving his hands on the mat and resting his head on Osipczak’s chest. At the end of the day, he’s only 23 and will certainly grow from this loss, so look to see “Chipper” taking on a WW opponent who is struggling to stay on the company roster.

Matt: I genuinely thought Matt Riddle was a lock to win his fight. He's big, he's strong, he can wrestle and go full bore until he breaks you or the judges give him the win. None of that happened. In fact, Nick Osipczak beat on him for three rounds until the ref saved Riddle from further punishment. The good news for Riddle is that he's young, he already has 3 UFC wins and he's got a bit of a name for himself so he's not going anywhere but back to the US to train for his next UFC fight.


Mike Swick

Miles: I think I seriously overestimated Swick’s wrestling ability entering this fight, that, and his fight IQ. Hardy was eating Swick up on the feet and made his wrestling look novice, something I don’t think many of us expected, seeing as Marcus Davis was able to generally outmuscle Hardy for the takedown along the fence. Swick has essentially encountered the Rough House curse, the one that took Martin Kampmann out of contention, and has to find his way back to relevance in a division eagerly anticipating its new batch of contenders. Swick will probably take on Martin Kampmann next, seeing as they were both slated to meet at UF C 103 until Swick pulled out.

Matt: I was never sold on Mike Swick's hands. He is known for hand-speed, but has spent a lot of time on the ground for an allegedly devastating striker who is so fast you can't see him coming. He took down Davis, and he took down Burkman. It's really his bread and butter before his hands. However, he found himself in a fight that he couldn't get to the ground, and he had no striking advantage which just turned his fight into a long night. If you ask Joe Rogan, Hardy set the tone with a big right hand to open the fight, if you ask me, that right hand missed and Hardy just outworked Swick, who had no answer for the crafty Brit who looked better than he ever has before. Next for Swick? Probably one of the few top welterweights that he doesn't train with, I wouldn't be surprised to see him take on the winner of Parisyan/Hazelett or maybe even finally make his date with Martin Kampmann.


Randy Couture

Miles: It may seem weird having Couture, who won on Saturday night, as a falling stock, but I think it makes plenty of sense. Randy is going to be a non-factor at 205, judging by what I witnessed. Despite the fact Vera has a decent Greco-Roman background himself, Randy’s biggest strength (the clinch) was virtually negated until the third round when he actually began striking from that position. Couture’s skill-set was supposed to make him a unique asset to a striking heavy LHW division, but I really don’t think his fellow 205ers will be very impressed by what they saw. The division is so much deeper than it was 4 years ago, with most of the top fighters having impeccable takedown defense and knockout power. That’s not a good recipe for Randy whose ability to take shots has become a serious concern in his latest fights. I think Randy will be matched-up with someone like Mark Coleman next, the UFC will try to play the old-school significance of this fight.

Matt: I don't think we've ever had a guy who won his fight in the falling column. However, Randy Couture is all about doing things that have never been done, or things you thought he couldn't do. First, credit where credit's due, the man is 46 and he hung with a fighter who was thirteen years younger, that's no small feat. That bad news? He looked really unimpressive doing it. He was ineffective getting it to the ground, he was ineffective striking and ate many hard shots, even his dirty boxing wasn't anything special and that is usually his big weapon. In Randy's return to 205, I think the only thing he proved is that at 205, he isn't a factor. Gone is his former speed advantage and even his wrestling skills looked unimpressive against Vera (who, it should be noted, has a Greco base). I think it's clear to the UFC that a title fight is a bad idea and will look to utilise the Matt Hughes strategy for Randy's future fights namely “who can Randy beat that has a name?”. I wouldn't be surprised to see an Ortiz/Couture rematch as both men are on the downside of brilliant careers.


Temporarily Pulled from the Market:


The FLD Staff

Matt: The FLD Staff picked so poorly on this card that we made Three Mile Island look like something that could be picked up by a single Bounce sheet. Topping out the card were myself and Josh who picked an abysmal 5-6, which should never win anything ever. However, our MVP – Most Vacant Picker!? Miles “The Machine” Hackett who picked an indescribably ridiculous 3-8. The percentage for the five staff members combined? 38%, so yeah, about one in three and our average picking percentage going in was almost twice that. In a word: ouch. UFC 105 was epic sadness. If we actually got paid for any of this, we all should have lost our jobs, however, we don't and we won't. So onward and upward to WEC!!!

Miles: What Matt said, I’ll be over in the corner sobbing until WEC 44 where I’ll hopefully earn my credibility back.




Discuss this article