Fan Bias

UFC 108 is now in the books and most MMA fans have either watched the fights by now or at least know the results. So, rather than regurgitate what you already know and what you can find in a hundred other places, here’s my attempt at making sense of what we saw Saturday night while looking at the big picture.

Junior Dos Santos needs to be considered a heavyweight title contender. The Brazilian has now dispatched his first four opponents inside the Octagon in devastating fashion, with MMA veteran Gilbert Yvel his latest victim courtesy of a heavy left hand. After proving himself against the UFC’s second tier heavyweights, it’s time to put Dos Santos in the cage with the likes of Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. If he can pick off a couple of those fighters, then Dos Santos should have a title shot within the next twelve months. Is there a harder hitter in MMA?

Paul Daley is still an unknown entity. One thing we know for sure is that if Daley gets his paws on you standing up, you’re in trouble. He proved that again at UFC 108 against young BJJ wiz Dustin Hazelett. I wrote before the event that I’d be more impressed with a victory over Hazelett than I was with Daley’s debut UFC performance against Martin Kampmann. Well, I have to modify that sentiment a bit because I don’t know that the victory really taught us anything about Daley. The main problem is that we just don’t know how far his ground game has progressed since losses to Nick Thompson and Jake Shields prior to coming to the UFC. What would Daley have done if he had faced a wiser, more seasoned (and stronger) Hazelett?

Regardless, Daley took care of business and reports coming out of the UFC 108 post-fight press conference indicate UFC president Dana White would like to match the Brit against one of two AKA fighters — Josh Koscheck or Jon Fitch — next. A win against either of these guys, regardless of how he achieves it, and I’m ready to proclaim Daley the real deal. But, let’s not get too excited quite yet even as we admire his explosive punching power.

Martin Kampmann has to find a way to break through the ceiling. Since his UFC debut at 185 pounds, Kampmann has been one of the promotion’s most tantalizing prospects. He would appear to have the all-around game to make a lot of noise, especially now that he is fighting at 170 pounds. But, the one problem Kampmann has had is breaking through against the elite. After all, it was his thorough loss to Nate Marquardt that sent him down to welterweight and his recent loss to Paul Daley that has him having to work his way back up the ladder. Against Jacob Volkmann at UFC 108, Kampmann re-established himself as a fighter who is on the cusp of belonging with the game’s best. Now, he has to find a way to push through.

Rashad Evans is workmanlike in victory. Recently, the former light heavyweight champ had become enamored with his stand-up game, scoring highlight reel victories over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. But, Evans’ loss to Lyoto Machida apparently made him reconsider his approach and in the UFC 108 Countdown show, he admitted as much. So, it was no surprise that the compact, powerful Evans went back to his wrestling roots to control Thiago Silva for the better part of three rounds. Coming off a loss, the most important thing for Evans to do was score a victory over a top fighter, which he did. To do so in dominating, even if unspectacular, fashion was icing on the cake. Reports out of the post-fight press conference have Evans facing TUF 10 rival Quinton Jackson in his next fight, which is the perfect bout for both of them. The winner of that fight should face the winner of the Machida-Mauricio Rua rematch for the light heavyweight belt.

Thiago Silva is not yet great. Much like Kampmann, Silva has a tantalizing array of skills to dazzle fans and when he wins it’s usually in spectacular fashion. But, now Silva finds himself in the company of fighters who are just as athletic and just as well-rounded. But, his opponents appear to have something — potentially better game plans or better technique — that he doesn’t. Thus, in Silva’s last two bouts against championship-level fighters in Machida and Evans, he has been thoroughly outperformed. It’s not even that Silva took that much damage against Evans, it’s just that he couldn’t get off on offense until the waning moments when it was too late. Give Evans credit for being able to establish his tempo early much like Machida did to Silva in their fight. I have faith in Silva though. He has way too much talent to go quietly into the night and his ground escapes at UFC 108 showed us his much-vaunted ground game to accompany his stand-up ability. Sometimes experience is the best teacher. If that’s the case, look for Silva to come back stronger the next time he faces a top contender.

Takanori Gomi adds depth to the UFC lightweight ranks. BJ Penn has cleared out the UFC 155 pound division in recent years. And, with the likes of Shinya Aoki apparently tied to Strikeforce, the UFC needed to find outside help to continue to give Penn a worthy challenge. With the announcement at UFC 108 that the promotion has signed former Pride champ Takanori Gomi, it appears that Dana White has made sure that Penn won’t be bored for too long. Gomi has struggled in recent years but he’s an entertaining fighter (who can forget his gogoplata “loss” to Nick Diaz when Pride came to Vegas a few years ago?) who is still relatively young and has the pedigree and MMA record to make him an instant contender. Interestingly enough, Gomi and Penn fought over six years ago with Penn securing a submission victory. If rumors are true that Gomi’s first Octagon fight will be against Kenny Florian, we will find out very quickly where the Japanese stands in the lightweight division. A victory would have to put him in position to fight Penn for the belt. Now, if we could only find GSP and Anderson Silva some fresh competition as well…