1. This PPV was a lot better than I initially gave it credit for. There were rumblings that this PPV wasn’t booked correctly with no title fights, but many of the matches were much better than I expected.
2. Brian Ebersole was the story of UFC 127. I had no idea who he was before the fight and was positive that Chris Lytle had him. I was shocked by Ebersole’s style. The cartwheel kicks? Insane. The hair on his chest shaved into an upward arrow? Strange. His performance? Undeniable
3. I think George Sotiropoulous was owned by Dennis Siver. Siver completely alienated the Australian’s ability to take him down and the way that Siver made Sotiropoulous takedown attempts look almost pathetic was incredibly impressive. The main thing that this fight showed was how dominant Siver is on his feet and that standing-up he can take out almost anyone. If you add takedown defense to that mix, it makes Sivery very dangerous.
4. Wow, lots to say on Michael Bisping. I was ready to rip him for the lack of sportsmanship he displayed during the fight. He didn’t really want to touch gloves at the beginning of the fight, threw an illegal knee, spit in his opponent’s corner and told Jorge Rivera to ‘go home.’ While he apologized for it later, it made him more interesting than he has ever been.
5. After Bisping threw the knee, the ref said that he was going to call it and then decided to let the fight go on. I thought Rivera looked very dazed after the knee and while the fan in me wanted the fight to go on (as I am sure everyone did), I think that the fight should have been stopped upon further review.
6. While Rivera didn’t look the same after the knee, his right hand looked very powerful.
7. Before the PPV, I had concerns that BJ Penn was finished and didn’t have a lot left. In the first two rounds against Fitch, he proved me wrong and showed that he had a lot left in the tank, but by the third round… he made me question whether he should retire or not again.
8. Neither fighter looked dominant during the fight, but Fitch definitely turned it up in the final round. It would have been nice to see what Fitch could have done if he had fought like that from the beginning.
9. I know that the majority draw call will be unpopular, but I thought that Penn had the first round and that the second had a very very slight edge to Penn with Fitch dominating the third. I think the draw was the right decision. Sorry.
10. Loved how honest Penn was in his post-match interview. Very classy. Bisping, hope you were listening.
