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UFC 87 Recap and Thoughts
By Matt D. | August 11, 2008
My picks in BOLD
Ben Saunders (-260) vs. Ryan Thomas (+200)
Ben Saunders won by armbar in the second round. This was an undercard fight that wasn’t televised, so I don’t have much to say about it, except I still can’t believe Ryan Thomas took this fight on 3 weeks rest.
Chris Wilson (-330) vs. Steve Bruno (+260)
Wilson won by unanimous decision. This fight also wasn’t televised. From reading the description of the fight Bruno kept busy, but he was just unable to get Wilson to the mat.
Andre Gusmao (-215) vs. Jon Jones (+175)
Jones won by unanimous decision. This fight wasn’t televised, but since he is currently undefeated and is also the youngest fighter under contract to the UFC look for Jon Jones to make his television debut soon.
Cheick Kongo (-500) vs. Dan Evensen (+350)
Kongo won by TKO 4:55 into the first round. If I could go back in time and change one of my picks this would be it. I had no idea that Evensen was such a piece of crap. I had my suspicions that the UFC was madly in love with Cheick Kongo, but I thought they would at least try and find somebody who would stand a chance against him. And it wouldn’t be that hard. Cheick isn’t that good of a fighter.
Luke Cummo (-140) vs. Tamdan "The Barn Cat" McCrory (+110)
McCrory won by decision. This fight wasn’t televised, but I wish it was. On paper this may not have been the most exciting dark fight, but I’ve never seen McCrory fight before, and am interested in what he has to offer.
Demian Maia (-260) vs. Jason MacDonald (+200)
Maia won by rear-naked choke in the third round. This fight started off the televised portion of the card. Maia looked good and his superior jiu-jitsu skill was simply too much for Jason MacDonald to handle. I don’t think there is a submission fighter in the UFC that could compete with Maia. Now if you put him against a striker it could be a different story… I don’t know what the UFC has in store for Maia’s immediate future, but I am excited for when the UFC allows him to make a jump in class.
Kenny Florian (-165) vs. Roger Huerta (+135)
Florian won by unanimous decision. I really was surprised at how outclassed Huerta seemed in this fight. He had his moments, and I’m not sure a rematch in the future would go the same way, but Huerta lost every round of this fight.
Manny Gamburyan (-325) vs. Rob Emerson (+250)
Emerson won with a :12 KO. This was easily the most surprising result of the night. I still think that if these guys fought 10 times Gamburyan would win 9 (Vegas was of the opinion that Gamburyan would win about 7.6 of those fights). I hope Gamburyan learned his lesson about what happens when he tries to fight fair.
Brock Lesnar (-240) vs. Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring (+190)
Brock Lesnar dominated this whole fight winning 30-26 on every judge’s score card. I didn’t really believe in Lesnar before this fight, but this fight made me a believer. You might as well call me the driver of the Brock Lesnar bandwagon at this point. The UFC doesn’t have many top heavyweights anymore, so who is the UFC going to put in the ring against Lesnar next? Let’s assume Couture is going to follow through with his threat and never fight in the UFC again, so he’s out. Noguerira would be a good opponent, but there is no way Lesnar has earned a title shot, so he’s out. Gabriel Gonzaga and Fabricio Verdum come to mind. Of those two guys I think Verdum would be the better matchup. His jiu-jitsu skills would make for an interesting match. I personally think Gonzaga would be killed by Lesnar, but maybe that’s what the UFC wants.
Georges St. Pierre (-340) vs. Jon Fitch (+260)
St. Pierre won by decision winning every round of every judge’s score card. That said, I think Fitch had a chance to steal this fight. He opened up a massive cut above St. Pierre’s eye in the 4th round that could have led to major trouble for the champ if he was able to follow through and cause more damage…. but that didn’t happen.
Personally I thought UFC 87 was a great event. One of the best UFC PPVs of the year. The Lesnar fight alone was worth the cost.
Topics: Pick Recaps, UFC, UFC 87 |
August 11th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Our opinions vary wildly regarding Lesnar/GG. I’d pick GG to win 9 of 10 times against Lesnar. What I saw in Lesnar was great takedowns, aggression, strength, speed, conditioning. I also think he is severely lacking in offensive tools and I see many holes in Lesnar’s game. He still made the variety of mistakes during transitions that a wily bjj practitioner (Mir, GG, Werdum and Nog) could exploit for a win.
I thought Mir was nearly guaranteed to win against the rookie Lesnar, who’d ferociously take the fight into Mir’s world. Herring isn’t nearly as crafty or slick on the ground as Mir.
So far I’ve been accurate in my predictions about Lesnar. He’s had two years of mma training at this point and still has gaping holes. We’ll see where he goes from now.
And it was a great event.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Yeah, perhaps GG would have a better chance than I let on. I just can’t get his fight against Werdum out of my mind. Plus, if you ignore his win over Cro Cop and mark that up to America being Cro Cop’s kryptonite who has he really beaten?
I agree that Mir is much more crafty than Lesnar, but if Lesnar could have kept himself from hitting Mir in the back of the head the fight could have ended much differently.
Today, Sherdog.com mentions Cain “I just beat Jake O’Brien” Velasquez as a possible opponent, that’s a good match of styles that I would like to see.
August 11th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I think Cain or Carwin would be a good fight to figure out the pecking order of the wrestlers, but that’d probably be too many eggs in one basket. It almost feels like they’ll have all prospects fighting nobodies while Nog/Mir resolve their differences to create the illusion of depth.
I still hold GG in high regard. I thought he had a very good showing against Randy (gutsy and was a threat until his end). The Werdum fight was odd. GG might’ve gotten too cocky in his striking and wanted to wither Werdum with those monster leg kicks to set up the catastrophic RHK. I don’t know if those knees to the body that Werdum threw hit some weak point or screwed GG’s breathing up, but he gassed very quickly when pressured.
I still think GG’s bjj will cause very real problems for Brock.
I almost think the UFC should get Tim back to fight Lesnar. Tim had a problem with Lesnar’s pay, so that’d be a story to run with. Cain and Carwin are good opponents for Lesnar, but not very marketable.
O’Brien wouldn’t make sense after losing so badly to Cain. Kongo would be strange (and Kongo should lose very quickly).
Werdum, GG, Tim (which won’t happen) would be the most marketable matchups. I have a feeling that the UFC won’t put Lesnar against any unknowns unless he drops another fight.
Maybe CC could come back and fight Lesnar. Or maybe Hunt could workout a little and debut in the UFC. The UFC’s pool is just so shallow right now…
August 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I like the thought of Hunt vs. Lesnar, but I’d love to see him come to the UFC in general. I also think Sylvia would be a great matchup, but he probably still has some commitments left with Affliction. Regardless, the UFC needs to find way to rebuild their heavyweights or it’s going to be the same 4-5 guys fighting each other for the foreseeable future. I agree that O’Brien and Kongo wouldn’t make a lot of sense, but I kind of have the feeling that the UFC might give Lesnar an easier but still marketable opponent for his next fight.
Maybe he could still fight old man Coleman if he is recovered from his knee injury.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Last I heard was Coleman was dropping to LHW to fight Shogun. I don’t think it was confirmed.
UFC’s HW division is only slightly better now than when Sylvia/AA were standing atop the heap. Eilers got a shot at UFC HW title for his next fight after dropping a fight to Buentello (who wound up getting immediately destroyed by AA). Dark days indeed.
I’d wanted UFC to scoop up Roy Nelson.
Notable UFC HWs:
Nog (2)
Werdum (6)
GG (8)
Kongo (10)
Mir (16)
Lesnar (17)
Herring (18)
Cain (19, still rookie)
Hardonk (35)
Carwin (45, still rookie)
pretty sad.