UFC 152

Boxing’s been on a big hot streak this past Summer. Sure Pacquiao vs Bradley had a bad judges decision, but I hope people didn’t ignore everything else that went down this Summer. Because if you did, you missed out on one great Summer of action. Highlights include the great Showtime Victor Ortiz vs Josesito Lopez card, Danny Garcia’s upset over Amir Khan, Robert Guerrero’s triumphant return to boxing after dealing with injuries and his wife’s leukemia, Gennadiy Golovkin’s great showcase fight against Grzegorz Proska on HBO, Andre Ward’s best performance to date against Chad Dawson, and the epic September 15th double-header of HBO (Top Rank/Chavez Jr. vs Martinez) and Showtime (GBP/Canelo vs Ortiz). That’s just on the surface, as we saw plenty of great undercard fights on those shows too. Honestly, this Summer of Boxing on HBO and Showtime blew away the Summer of MMA by a significant margin. UFC suffered a lot of bad luck lately, but I was relieved to see that the UFC 152 card started the Autumn on a really good note. Overall, very good show.

• Really compelling and entertaining main event. The huge dramatic moment was when Belfot managed to lock an armbar and seriously damage Jones’ arm. For a split second, one genuinely believed that Belfort was going to be victorious. Jones did show some serious guts to survive that. He mostly took over, landed some short good elbows on the ground to end the first. At the end of the 2nd, Belfort got a triangle but it looked like Jones was very aware of what was going on and probably just let it happen since the round was seconds away from ending. Nasty top wrist lock (Americana) by Jones for the win in the 4th frame. Still, considering what Silva did to Vitor and what others have done to Vitor in the past, Jones loses a bit of his aura of invincibility by almost losing in the 1st.

• Really good fight between Johnson and Benavidez. Felt it was really close, but felt it was clear that Johnson was fighting the fight he wanted to. The 4th round was pretty awesome and one of the coolest rounds I’ve seen in the last few months. Seeing Johnson escape from under Benavidez and try for a heel hook was pretty slick. Johnson’s speed, and his takedowns were pretty phenomenal. The winner of Formiga-Dodson will be the next in line for Johnson. Not a fight of the year but I thought it was an obvious good fight. Sad to see that most people didn’t like the fight but that’s how it goes, I guess.

• Bisping vs Stann was solid stuff, Bisping got hurt in the 1st round and managed to survive the rest of the round. But for the most part, Bisping’s footwork and boxing was too good for Stann. Also, he hit some really good takedowns as well. I’ve come around on Bisping, feeling that he’s been underrated for the last few years. I would still put him against one more guy in a title eliminator. Seems most of the top middleweights are already tied up (Weidman vs Boetsch, Belcher vs Okami II, Lombard vs Palhares), so maybe they’ll throw together Bisping vs Shields, which should be a good stylistic match up for Bisping.

• I felt that Hamill vs Hollett didn’t deserve to be on the main card over Dunham vs Grant. I was sadly proved right. Dull, ugly fight.

• I remember when I first saw Oliveira, I thought he was a champion in the making. Then I saw him stumble against Miller and Cerrone, I figured he still needed a lot of time to grow. Now Swanson beat him so easily. Sadly, I feel I was really overrating Oliveira’s work and potential. He could still wind up being a top ten fighter but he seems to have too many holes in his game to ever be an elite fighter. On the other hand, so happy to see Swanson be on a three fight win streak in 2012. Knocking out George Roop, Ross Pearson, and Charles Oliveira is a pretty good resume in 2012. I hope Swanson fights someone like The Korean Zombie or Dustin Poirier next.

• Even though Jones did tap out a BJJ black belt, I still think from a pure technique stand point, Vinny Magalhaes’ armbar was the most aesthetically beautiful submission on the card. Awesome, awesome armbar. I was genuinely worried for Vinny since I know he doesn’t exactly have the best chin in the world, but he did good in his first fight back.

• Easily the fight on the night, Dunham vs Grant was awesome. Dunham looked like Perro Aguayo Sr. in a bloodbath, and Grant’s striking has improved over the years. Grant’s always been a great grappler, so I was happy to see him get better at his striking. Dunham, at least fought hard and put on a heck of a fight for 15 minutes. Great bloody brawl.

• I missed Pierson vs Benoist.

• I thought Jimy Hettes was going to run through Brimage. In the 1st round, Brimage showed us that Hettes still needs to work on his striking defense. Good fight, surprised to see Brimage get the better of Hettes at times (Hettes did obviously win the 2nd round).

• Nasty KO from Baczynski, not much more to say.

• Good win from Gagnon. TJ Dillashaw dominated Watson and couldn’t finish him, so it’s cool to see Gagnon finish him after knocking him down and getting the rear naked choke.

• Felt the stoppage was a bit early, so it’s a shame to see Brennenman lose so quickly but that’s how it goes sometime.