It seems once a year that a UFC event leaves a bad taste in my mouth or has me scratching my head. Last night was one of those nights and I'm not happy about it.
The UFC crowned a new light heavyweight champion last night. Lyoto Machida took Rashad Evans title with a solid TKO performance. I think I'm still waiting for Rashad to throw a punch.
Machida fought his fight and to his credit did everything he set out to do. He frustrated Evans with his akward karate style and eventually picked apart Rashad. A beautiful punch right between the defense of Evans started the onslaught. What seemed to be a ten to twelve punch combination ended the night and the very short reign as champion for Rashad Evans.
The first round of the fight has to be in the conversation for one of the worst rounds ever in UFC history. Niether guy did anything and they seemed to be on opposite sides of the octagon for the entire five minutes. I could count on one hand the number or punch attempts for Rashad.
Lyoto Machida is going to give anyone he fights problems. Everything about him is out of the ordinary. He kept his perfect record intact by fighting his fight, plain and simple. The style isn't the most entertaining but it gets the job done, and that's all that matters.
The co-feature fight between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes was average at best. The bad blood really wasn't there and Matt Hughes showed me once again that the mma game has passed him by.
All judges scored the three round fight for Matt Hughes and rightfully so. The lay and pray style was back in full force. The two rounds that Hughes won were identical, get a takedown and lay on Serra while mixing in a very small number of punches.
Full results:
Lyoto Machida def. Rashad Evans via knockout (punches) - Round 2, 3:57
Matt Hughes def. Matt Serra via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Drew McFedries def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 0:37
Chael Sonnen def. Dan Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Frankie Edgar def. Sean Sherk via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Brock Larson def. Mike Pyle via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 1, 3:06
Tim Hague def. Pat Barry via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 1:43
Kyle Bradley def. Phillipe Nover via TKO (strikes) Round 1, 1:03
Krzysztof Soszynski def. Andre Gusmao via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 3:17
Yoshiyuki Yoshida def. Brandon Wolff via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 2:24
George Roop def. David Kaplan via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 30-27)
It isn't very often when I feel let down by a UFC event, but UFC 98 was one of those fight cards that has me disappointed. I sure hope UFC 99 is better, but when I look at that card, I think it should be a SpikeTV event and not a pay per view. I hope I'm wrong.
