The UFC debuted its first card under its “Fight Pass” Saturday morning, which we covered here as it happened at the crack of dawn. Now, since there weren’t any massive things that came about from the card, it’s time to find the little things and break them down.
Tarec Saffiedine is very good … but not elite – Tarec Saffiedine is a very good fighter, maybe good enough to get a title shot with another win over someone of note because of the chaotic nature of the UFC welterweight picture right now. Dan Hardy got a title shot under very similar circumstances once upon a time. But will he ever be elite? I don’t know … but he certainly didn’t look it on Saturday morning. He showed how awesome leg kicks can be, as he destroyed Lim with them for the entire fight, but he didn’t show that killer instinct that guys like Condit, Hendricks, Lawler, et al, have. Saffiedine doesn’t have a ton of power but he’ll probably hang around the Top 10 for some time, and around the fringes once his peak is over, because of how technical and accurate a striker he is.
Who’s up next for him? Since I’m not doing a full Five for Fighting on a Fight Pass card … I’d say Matt Brown makes a ton of sense for Saffiedine. Both guys are in that Dan Hardy category of being a one time title contender for some bizarre reason in retrospect and you can have a credible matchup between the winner of that fight and Lawler/Hendricks for the first post GSP title defense in the division.
Tatsuya Kawajiri is closer to a title shot than we thought – He certainly looked like a Top 10 fighter in his debut, blowing Sean Soriano out of the water and tapping him, and I think he gets a title eliminator (or a fight to get into one) next. Perfect debut for him that in retrospect I wish could’ve happened on a bigger card.
Who’s up next for him? Cub Swanson and Denis Siver make tons of sense. Dustin Poirier wouldn’t be a bad matchup, either. Kawajiri coming in and having such a brilliant win gives him a ton of opportunity and with 145 being relatively wide open, as Jose Aldo has faced a ton of these guys already, another emphatic win and he could get into the cage with Aldo by the end of 2014.
Brian Stann is the best announcer in the UFC cadre – The UFC has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to their announcing staff. They have a number of fighters who make for great analysts as well. But the one guy they have that should be the voice of the UFC is Brian Stann. If and when Joe Rogan leaves his spot as the color commentator Stann would be the perfect fit into it. Out of all the fighters that have done commentary, or transitioned into it, he’s easily the best by a significant margin. We as MMA fans will look back at Stann’s tenure with delight when someone hires him to either voice big time college football or the NFL. Stann’s that good.
He’s not a great MMA announcer; he’s a great sports announcer. That takes insane amounts of talent. We can love everyone who does MMA but who’s the first name you think of when you answer the question “Which of the UFC announcing talent is most likely to call an NFL game” offhand? Stann.
MMA in the mornings could work – I didn’t get up to watch the undercard but was up, with Fight Pass loaded, to watch the main card. I remember getting up early for the Macau card, as well, and it was kind of fun to be able to drink my morning coffee and crack open a Greek Yogurt while watching some MMA in the morning. I’m curious if we ever find out the viewership numbers for the card; if we can openly doubt Invicta claiming more than 300,000 viewers for a free stream I think the doubts about Zuffa’s self reporting should be just as prevalent. The only other way is if we get the #s for Fight Pass like we do for PPVs, which are unsourced and supposed to be accepted as gospel from the usual suspects.
