UFC 85 Thoughts

Well, I went 3-8 in my picks. NOt exactly stellar, but there were a few bad calls/upsets in there that make MMA such a hard sport to call.

Miragliotta is probably the most unpopular ref in history right now. Stopping the Vera/Werdum fight with 15 seconds left in the round and vera not terminally hurt was really disappointing. Hopefully the UFC sees fit to pull a near immediate rematch. WIth the (interim) heavyweight title tied up until Mir and Big Nog tie up, there should be no problem time wise. Hell, you could even have it as a heavyweight double header on the same card.

Lietes and Marquardt put on a hell of a show, and is another fight that should be rematched after the bad point deduction by Herb Dean for the elbow. Lietes is as tough as they come to take the illegal knee and fight through a broken nose while laying on his back.

Swick and Davis kept up the good fights. Swick looked a thousand times more comfortable than he did against Burkman in ending Davis' 11 fight win streak. He belongs at 170lbs and could very well be a factor at the top end of the division in another fight or two. As for Davis, we learned that he is good, but not top of the division good. If he had problems with Swick on top of him, imagine if he was in there with GSP, Koscheck, Fitch or Hughes. That being said, after a performance like this, I can't wait for him to get back in the cage. Exciting fighter.

Bisping looked like a beast in dismantling Jason Day. Yes, Day is a newcomer to the UFC and he may not be an elite fighter, but he is a tough, solid fighter. And Bisping systematically took him apart. The Brit served notice that he is a force at 185, and it will be interesting to see how he does when he steps up to fight at the upper end of the division. And no, he is NOT ready to fight Silva anytime soon.

I don't know what to think about the main event. Alves looked massively larger than Hughes, and that suprised me. Hughes is a pretty big welter who makes a decent cut to fight at 170, so for him to be physically dwarfed you know Alves was huge. That definitely played a factor, but the fight was so one sided I'm not sure if it would have made a difference.

It was pretty laughable to hear Alves ask for a title shot and say he's been a good boy. A diauretic suspension and not making weight for your first main event certainly isn't good behaviour in my book. It will be interesting to see what the UFC does with him. Personally, I'd like to see him take on someone like Josh Koscheck and see how he does. Or just move up to middleweight.