· UFC 128: What We Learned

“UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones” beamed out to the masses from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. last night and featured an all-star cast of MMA talent. One veteran looked to hold on to his title, one looked to hold on to his career, and others looked to hold on to their places in the pecking order for title contention. All the while, young upstarts hoped to begin their own eras of dominance. As always, once the Octagon door has closed on its latest event the only question worth asking is: What did we learn?

Schaub Adds Another Veteran To His Victim List

Youth was served in Brendan Schaub’s three-round battle with aging MMA star Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 128. Utilizing solid takedowns, boxing, and clinch work, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 finalist wore down the former Pride champion before landing a knockout blow in the third frame.

Schaub faced his fair share of adversity before having his hand raised, being issued a “hard warning” by referee Herb Dean early in the first round, and later losing a point in the second. "The Hybrid" also had his face battered during a dirty boxing exchange in the second frame. Cro Cop’s elbows in the clinch left a nasty cut on Schaub’s left eyelid and his nose a bloody mess.

After repeatedly taking the fight back to the canvas in the third frame, Schaub ultimately ended the fight on his feet. He landed a crushing right hand behind Cro Cop’s left ear that collapsed the Croatian to the mat. Luckily a vigilant Dean jumped into save Cro Cop from any further damage at the 3:44 mark of round three.

The battle offered up the traditional storyline of one fighter on the rise, with the other on the decline. To Cro Crop’s credit, he engaged head-on with a fighter much younger and more athletic than him, and looked to have plenty of gas to finish out a final frame. But another wicked knockout—his body dropping awkwardly and swiftly to the canvas much like in his devastating KO loss to Gabriel Gonzaga back at UFC 70—and a 4-5 mark inside the Octagon lightly stains the legend’s legacy and, more importantly, leaves fans wondering what else he has to offer the sport at this point after his illustrious Pride career.

Speaking of Gonzaga, Schaub beat him his last time out and now has a growing list of impressive wins over tough veterans. His capability of trading on the feet and mixing in takedowns makes him an intriguing heavyweight prospect that could develop into a contender if he continues to improve. He should see a marked step up in competition his next time out, which will help us gauge whether or not he’s a true contender.

Marquardt Grinds Out Decision Over Fill-In Miller

Nate Marquardt controlled Dan Miller for the bulk of their bout Saturday night, earning a unanimous decision to avoid losing three out of his last four fights. Though Miller threatened with a couple of guillotine choke attempts, Marquardt never panicked, escaping each time.

No matter where the fight took place, Marquardt seemed to have the upper hand. Whether it was notching a takedown to drag Miller to the canvas, pumping his jab into his opponent’s chin, or leveling thunderous elbows in full guard, Marquardt overwhelmed a tough, but overmatched Miller, who was filling in last-minute for Yoshihiro Akiyama, who withdrew from the match-up in the wake of the devastation in his native Japan.

Even when Miller worked off his back, searching for submissions, Marquardt always postured up and administered heavy ground-and-pound that halted any further attempts. In the end, Marquardt received a clean sweep of the judges’ scorecards with 30-27 marks across the board.

The victory allowed the former middleweight King of Pancrase champ to return to his winning ways. Recent losses to Yushin Okami and Chael Sonnen had the fighter backsliding as he tried to climb the ladder back to another title shot against division champion Anderson Silva. While Marquardt probably does not have the tools to take the title from Silva, and waits in a line behind Okami and maybe even Sonnen to have another chance to be middleweight king, he is always a tough out due to his well-rounded MMA game.

Miller Wears Down Shalorus For His Seventh Straight Triumph

Jim Miller welcomed WEC holdover Kamal Shalorus to the Octagon with a three-round clinic Saturday night. Miller outboxed the Iranian fighter and threatened to finish him in the second round when he took him down and spent the bulk of the frame on Shalorus’ back, hunting for a fight-ending rear-naked choke. To the Iranian’s credit, he survived on grit alone. But he survived only to meet a Miller onslaught in the third round.

Shalorus, desperate in that final round, waded in and was met with a stiff uppercut from Miller, who followed that shot up with by planting his knee into Shalorus’ face. Miller pounced on the turtled fighter, dropping hammer fists until referee Kevin Mulhall halted the action at 2:15 of the third round.

Shalorus continually makes the classic mistake of fancying himself a boxer when he has world-class wrestling skills that he rarely utilizes inside the cage. He routinely chooses to wing powerful but errant punches that meet nothing but air. Since he had remained undefeated (but with two draws on his record) until Saturday, he’s probably had a false sense of security in his stand-up skills. Still raw and unpolished, one wonders what would happen if he game planned to take fighters down and wail on them with ground-and-pound.

But the story here is not about Shalorus’ ill-advised strategy but more about Miller’s impressive run. He has strung together seven triumphs in a row in one of MMA’s stoutest divisions, and a title shot looks to be on the horizon for him. He has the pedigree to become a champion: steady on his feet with the capability of stunning opponents with a shot, tactical on the ground with a tendency to finish, and a huge heart that allows him to persevere when the going gets tough. Hopefully once Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar settle their score, he’ll have a chance to settle one of his own—his two losses are, respectively, against those two fighters.

Faber Triumphant In Long-Awaited UFC Debut

Urijah Faber finally got his chance to shine in the UFC’s Octagon after toiling away in the lesser known—but exciting—lighter weight classes formerly showcased in the WEC. Known to hardcore fans and possibly introduced to casual ones at UFC 128, the gritty Californian’s move to bantamweight has paid dividends. Though Faber did not win in spectacular fashion in his UFC debut, his next fight still might be for a UFC title after his performance at UFC 128.

His opponent, Eddie Wineland, initially gave Faber trouble as he stuffed his early takedown attempts and tied him up in the clinch, where Faber usually employs a strength advantage. Wineland even secured a hard-won takedown of his own in that first frame, only to see Faber bounce back up to his feet quickly.

But as the fight wore on, Faber began to land the crisper punches and use takedowns to take the wind out of Wineland’s sails. In the second round he took Wineland down and employed his typical and vicious ground-and-pound. In the third frame he began to pick Wineland apart on the feet, then scored another takedown late for good measure. In the end the ringside judges all saw it the same way, with 29-28 scores for Faber.

After the fight Faber called out bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz. “The California Kid” certainly wants to return to his glory days, when he was champion of the WEC featherweights before being chased out of that weight class by bigger and stronger fighters such as Mike Brown and Jose Aldo. It remains to be seen if his next bout will be for a belt, but it seems as if he and Cruz are on a collision course in what will be the most hyped bantamweight battle of all time.

Jones Wrests Light Heavyweight Title From Rua With Ease

Suffice it to say that Jon Jones can no longer be called one of the sport’s rising stars. After his flawless performance at UFC 128 he is a supernova, one on par with current and past legends, but one that carries the brightest future of any fighter alive today based on his propensity to improve and his precocious résumé at such a young age.

Though the Vegas odds supported the outcome, Jones completely outclassed Rua in their title tilt Saturday night. He used his entire arsenal to become the youngest champion in the promotion’s history. The first round presaged what was to come, as Jones launched a flying knee attempt and then uncorked a spinning back-kick that missed. Moments later he easily took Rua down with a trip and brutalized him in full guard. Though Rua rose back to his feet, he received more punishment in the form of knees and punches as he did so. Rua looked to be woozy but Jones, economical with his strikes, chose to be cautious.

Jones’ brilliance continued in the second round. He landed a spinning elbow before catching a kick and driving Rua back down to the mat. Once there, Jones doled out more punishment via elbows and punches, breaking the champion’s will. Jones, stunningly, even swiveled for a kneebar at the end of the round, but the bell halted him from following through with it.

However, Rua stood no chance of surviving the third frame. His fate was sealed when he dove for a leg-lock only to end up on his back again with Jones slamming his head with more elbows as he worked to pass half-guard. Rua turtled only to have Jones crush him with a knee to the body. Rua straightened up on shaky feet only to take a left hook to the body and another knee before dropping to the mat beside the cage. Referee Herb Dean mercifully stopped the bout at 2:37 of round three, crowning Jones the new light heavyweight champion in the process.

In fairness to Rua, it remains to be seen how healthy he truly was after knee surgery. He certainly looked a step slow against Jones, but Jones is gaining a reputation for making even the staunchest opponents look like their feet are fighting their way through quicksand. Rua was once the most feared light heavyweight in the world, and Jones made it seem like he didn’t even belong inside the Octagon with him.

Jones’ superior athleticism and burgeoning all-around skills have been well-documented. But what stood out against Rua was his complete serenity on MMA’s biggest stage and his patience to wait for the perfect moment to move in for the kill. Other fighters, some of them with many more years of experience, probably would’ve overzealously pushed to finish Rua in the first round when he was initially wobbled, sensing that that was the moment of truth. Not Jones. He knew he was in control, and he felt no need to rush in and put himself in the path of a desperate haymaker. That’s what is so exciting about his potential: it’s one thing to be an MMA prodigy from an athletic ability standpoint; it’s totally another to have that kind of unflappable in-fight intelligence at age 23. It’s also why we may be in store for an Anderson Silva-type reign in a division that historically has had a merry-go-round of brief champions.

The soaring ascent of Jones might even halt the momentum behind an Anderson Silva-Georges St-Pierre super-fight. As stated previously, this writer has no idea whether or not there is sincere fan interest in that bout or if it’s just been manufactured by the UFC’s hype machine, but we’d like to be counted as having little to no interest in seeing it (since Silva would win handily).

So, we’ll say it again, and hope that the matchmakers are listening: if there’s a mega-fight to be made, it’s Jones vs. Silva. While many said it was too soon for Jones to fight for the title, well, they were wrong (and maybe even slightly insane). So before Silva falls prey to boredom and casts an eye toward early retirement or a dalliance with boxing, put a fighter in front of him who will have his full attention—and who can also match his penchant for the spectacular. We can’t even imagine the hysterical level of hype that would precede that bout. For once, the UFC marketing department might actually have trouble keeping up.