Ultimate Fighter- good TV

[Johann]

I haven't posted about the UFC in a while, so I'm gonna do data-dump posts here, in parts. I've always followed it, I just don't want to seem like it means more to me than film. Because it doesn't. But Boy, do I love the UFC!

Re: Frank Mir vs. dos Santos (the May 26 fight in Vegas):

Mir looked fat and slow and heavy, and he gassed out. And he can't take a punch. The preview that profiled both fighters showed that Mir is utterly narcissistic and arrogant. He owns a private gym, so he can babysit his kids- their toys and jungle gym shit are EVERYWHERE- how does he focus on training with that noise around him? I'd go fucking bonkers! We see one of his kids puke in one of the clips. Nice.
It was utterly amazing to see Junior dos Santos land incredibly hard shots to Mir's empty melon- you see Mir wince and try to shake out the cobwebs on one right hand to the forehead in that bout. And then there is that gorgeous right hand that rocked Mir so hard he fell backwards like a sack of potatoes to the mat. I've seen it in slow-motion over 100 times. That shit is POETRY! Mir needs to be punched as hard in the face as any opponent can muster, and dos Santos did it. And watch Junior's hand when you watch it in slo-motion. He strikes Mir on the button, and then RETRACTS his fist like it was on autopilot! Dangerous man indeed. Watching Junior fight is a Joy. He is a beautiful fighter- he controls everything in the octagon. You have to force him to beat him, or he'll force you. At will. Mir couldn't do a damn thing. He looked like a buffoon in there. Bigger man. Heh.

And the absolute best part of that whole fight was that EMPHATIC hammer fist to end it. Junior just sledgehammers Mir's skull with a definitive one-drop hammerfist, as if to say, GET OUT AND DON'T EVER COME BACK.

Alaistair Overeem is out of the UFC I think. He lied to Dana White about being 100% clean. He had abnormal levels of testosterone in his system and he was barred from getting a license until the new year, throwing the UFC into a scramble. After all the millions they spent building him up, to have this happen...Overeem is done. No integrity. As far as I'm concerned the fight with Brock should be erased from UFC history. And I think that's why Brock is in talks to come back. But I think he shouldn't. I love the man, but Junior dos Santos would defeat Brock pretty easily, and if you're just doing it for a paycheck, then just commentate. Don't fight. Brock has trouble getting hit extremely hard, whether it's in the face or a kick to the body. You have to be able to withstand insane punishment to win in the UFC. You must have a chin. No glass jaws here! Because most of these guys have one-shot knockout power. Wrestling is Awesome, and it is a much-needed arsenal weapon in any fighters toolbox. But outstanding wrestling alone won't secure the wins. It will on a lot of guys, but you need to rely on your toolbag in totem, not one thing. And you have to employ those tools lightning fast, because things happen lightning fast in the octagon.

Take Fedor vs. Dan Henderson (not a UFC fight, but indulge me):

That fight is so fucking incredible you have to see it to believe it. In one split-second, Henderson is being swarmed by Fedor (like he does like a ferocious animal) rocking and knocking Dan to the mat against the cage. In the middle of that melee Dan manages to somehow get an underhand uppercut that tags Fedor, something that has never happened before, at least not like that.
It was enough for Henderson to win the fight. Watch it. It's astounding. I was always curious to see how a man could ever knock Fedor out, and Dan Henderson showed how you have to do it: be 1000% resilient, even when you are being floored and rag-dolled. You just might tag that bastard and have the whole arena in awed disbelief.