UFC 98 -- Main Card Synopsis_______________________________

Frankie Edgar def. Sean Sherk via unanimous decision
Sean Sherk earnestly believes that he has excellent boxing skills. He said so himself after the B.J. Penn fight, even though that fight didn’t go so well for the Muscle Shark. Frankie Edgar actually does have great stand up skills. The difference between belief and reality was seen in the unanimous 30-27 decision awarded Edgar, whose constant movement kept the ever pressing Sherk at bay.

Sherk is confusing his tough chin with good stand-up skills. He didn’t take much damage in this fight but he didn’t dish any out either. He’s trying to keep things on his feet because he’s aware that fight fans considered him the lightweight version of Tim Sylvia - a boring champion. I appreciate that Sherk has adjusted his tactics to better entertain the madding crowd but he’s going at it the wrong way.

Sure, he managed to outperform Tyson Griffin at UFC 90 in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors. But Sherk needs to go back to his lethal ground and pound that let him dominate the likes of Ken Florian and Hermes Franca - but add some finishing skills. That’s where the boos came from. Ground-n-pound can be very boring to watch  but if you throw in some submissions instead of grinding out victory with an elbow here and a hammer punch there, you’ll keep the fans from booing.


Chad Sonel def. Dan Miller by unanimous 30-27 decision
Like Sherk, Chad Sonel needs to work on his finishing skills. Unlike Sherk, Sonel stuck to what he does best, dominating Dan Miller with a punishing and relentless ground-n-pound attack that started in round one and didn’t let up until the final bell. It was kind of boring to watch at times, with Sonel spending most of his time in Miller’s guard waiting for an opportunity to drop another elbow.

Milller attempted to stayed active from the guard but his energy dissipated pretty quickly. Next camp, he’ll be spending a good bit of time on his take down defenses because Sonel was taking him down with remarkable ease.

Still, Sonel should work on passing the guard or he’ll end being known as the middleweight version of Tim Sylvia: big and boring.

Drew McFedries def. Xavier Foupa-Pokam by T.K.O 37 seconds into first round
This was an ass-whoopin’, no two ways about it. Drew knocked Xavier down with his third punch, a right hook - and then proceeded to whoop his as until the ref called the fight. A dazed Xavier protested; he was still attempting to defend intelligently but as the key word was “attempting” I think the stoppage was a good call.

Matt Hughes def. Matt Serra unanimous 29-28 decision
Given the long history of shit-talking between these two cage veterans, everyone was expecting a good fight. While the bout did win Fight of the Night honors, it was only good, not great.

Matt Serra caught Matt Hughes with an accidental head butt to the chin that sent Hughes crumbling to the mat early in the first round. The blow wasn’t caught by the ref so the fight continued with Hughes scrambling to clinch with Serra in an effort to buy time. Hughes regained his composure, eventually executing a nice takedown throw that left him in side control. He works to take Serra’s back and gets both legs in but Serra spins out of  a rear naked choke attempt, momentarily landing in the dog fight position before limp legging out and onto his feet. The judges could have gone either way but gave it to Serra. 

Hughes took Serra down in the second round and stayed tight, preventing Serra from regaining half-guard in a boring display of ground-n-pound that earned a few boos and a request for some action from the ref. Hughes clearly won this round.

The third round starts out with a Hughes’ takedown. Serra starts to work an oma plata but then rests for a moment in chill dog. It looks like he’s trying to have the fight stood up rather than trying to use the rubber guard to finish the fight. For a moment Serra is in perfect position for a Carney, a shoulder lock that uses one leg to trap a shoulder and the other leg to trap your opponent’s opposite leg. But he doesn’t go for it and Hughes moves out of danger. Serra traps the other shoulder, poised for an oma plata - but again fails to execute anything. He ends up going for a triangle that Hughes easily postures out of and then the fight is stood up. Serra gets a takedown of his own and begins peppering Hughes with punches. Hughes turtles for a second and Serra could have attempted to take Hughes back or maybe even work a Peruvian necktie but instead throws some hammer punches until Hughes stands up to attempt a takedown. This round could have gone either way, but all three judges gave it Hughes. Serra pretty much negated Hughes offensive attacks and probably landed more frequent and effective blows but he was penalized for not attacking when he could have.


Lyoto Machida def. Rashad Evans by KO at 3:57, R2.
Although Greg Jackson’s camp is known for developing great game plans, Rashad Evans clearly had the wrong approach to tackling Lyoto Machida. Evans tried to outsmart one of the most strategic stand-up fighters in any weight division; he should have tried to take him down or at least to get inside where Machida‘s kicks would be negated. Instead Evans kept throwing his left hand out, trying to lull Machida into a rhythm with the intent of catching the unbeaten Brazilian by surprise with a sudden offbeat hook. Machida had none of it, ignoring the handsies game and sticking to his tried and true method of moving in and out.

The first round started off with a lengthy period of measuring each other. Machida throws a high left kick but doesn’t follow up. They continue to search for openings, Machida finding an occasional window to throw a quick kick before pulling back. Machida catches Evans on the chin at a moment when Evans has only has one foot on the ground, knocking Evans to the ground. Evan gets back to his feet pretty swiftly but Machida wins the round.

The second round has a brief exchange of punches early on but soon resorts back to the stalking of the first round. More than halfway into the round Machida connects with a punch that dazes Evans, who does a good job scrambling to his feet but takes a punch too many on the way up. He’s clearly dazed before he gets clipped on the jaw, knocking him out on his feet.

Evans, who was twice named an All-State wrestler in high school and won the National Junior College title out of Niagra County Community College before wrestling for Michigan State, didn’t even attempt a single take down. I think Evans has some good hands and I like his head movement - but damn, a wrestler fighting such an impressive stand up fighter should be working his take downs. That’s like Machida fighting without throwing a kick, which is what we would have seen if Rashad had taken him down and kept him there. Sure. Machida's a BJJ black belt, but on the ground Rashad would have given himself on at least equal ground.