The Rockstar Energy Drink(s) helped keep me awake on Saturday night. Sadly, UFC 78 wasn’t all that exciting. But that’s ok because it still had its highlights, plus we have UFC 79 to look forward to. So join me this week with your 5oz’s of Fury as we’ll discuss 78, Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra, Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson, Houston Alexander, the “African Assassin,” a couple of lightweights…plus another picture of Rachelle Leah.
UFC 78: Meh. It wasn’t a bad show, but it wasn’t particularly exciting either. Rashad Evans, Michael Bisping, and Karo Parisyan didn’t impress me all that much. Ryo Chonan kept up the string of disappointing debuts from former Pride fighters. And while it was an impressive knockout, I still hate Ed Herman. However, I really enjoyed Frankie Edgar vs. Spencer Fisher and Joe Lauzon’s domination of Jason Reinhardt. Overall, it was an ok show.
Serra vs. Hughes: Now that UFC 78 is behind us it’s on to UFC 79 where Long Island hometown hero Matt Serra will defend his welterweight title against former champion Matt Hughes. To promote the fight, both men were featured on the cover of this month’s “Men’s Fitness.” The article didn’t have anything in it that was all that shocking. There was a brief history of MMA, Hughes says his strategy against Serra is to focus on his wrestling; Serra is going to stick with his stand up. Though, can I give you some advice? Before you try Matt Hughes’s leg work out where he does 100 reps of leg presses, remember that he’s a world class athlete and you’re not. Don’t make the same mistake I did. (P.S. There’s a picture of Alyssa Milano on page 75).
Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson: It’s official. UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva will fight Pride Middleweight champion (I guess) Dan Henderson in March. There was an issue with Henderson’s contract and the fact that he didn’t want to drop back down to 185, but I’ll assume it’s all been worked out otherwise he wouldn’t be getting a title shot. Now they just have to build another middleweight contender or two so that Anderson will have someone to fight afterwards.
Houston Alexander: I’m not going to lie; Houston Alexander losing to Thiago Silva was extremely disappointing. Once it went to the ground, Alexander basically ate punches for two minutes. I just think it’s too soon to refer to his last two dominant wins as flukes and to call him a flash in the pan. Losing last Saturday isn’t as important as seeing how he comes back from it. Look at Keith Jardine. He destroyed Forest Griffin, got destroyed by Houston Alexander, and came back to beat Chuck Liddell. Houston is going to come back, and he’s still one of my favorite fighters. And you have to admit, his chokeslam was pretty freakin’ cool.
The African Assassin: As if the UFC light heavyweight division wasn’t packed enough, they just signed former Pride fighter and current Team Quest member Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. He’ll make his octagon debut next month at UFC 79 against undefeated Lyoto Machida. So for those keeping score at home, not only does the UFC have eight of the top ten light heavyweight fighters, they’re also pound for pound some of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts. If it were me, I’d only have Rampage Jackson defend the title twice a year, and build each title match as the biggest in MMA history. It wouldn’t be that much of an exaggeration.
And now, you guessed it…Rachelle Leah:
