Salamu
Well, what can we say about UFC 169 that hasn’t already been
said in the international press?
Well, let’s start with the fact that it was a FRIGGEN
AWESOME event which lived up to all of its expectations. I mean, what else can
you expect from a card which features two of the best fighters in the business
today in Renen Barão and José Aldo? Um,
maybe let’s throw in a former two time Heavyweight Champion in Frank Mir as
well as an up-and-coming star in Ali Bagautinov.
Ladies and Gentlemen…sit back and enjoy the latest edition
of The Rear Naked Choke.
One of the best fights I have ever seen in my life was at UFC
166 where Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez unloaded on each other for five
rounds. The result was one of the bloodiest fights in MMa history, but also one
of the best. The great thing about it was that the punches that Melendez and
Sanchez were throwing at each other were not technical punches, but rather what did you say about my mother
punches.
The first fight of UFC 169 between Abel Trujillo and Jamie
Varner proved to be the same. As usual, the
fighters spent much of the first
round feeling each other out. And then Trujillo unleashed fury on Varner that
few have ever seen. How Varner survived the round was a miracle, but he came
out in the second round and paid Trujillo in kind. After spending 10 minutes
with my jaw on the floor wondering if I was in a dream, Varner came out and
almost knocked out Trujillo, but he got cocky and Trujillo caught him with a
perfect overhand right which hit him square on the jaw. Varner hit the mat like
a ton of bricks and the fight set the tone for the rest of the evening. How
could any fight get close to that for fight of the night?
The next fight was between the man from Dagestan Ali
Bagautinov and Brazilian James Lineker. The two fighters are known for their
passion and the way they approach their fights. This was always going to be a
tale of contrasting styles because Bagautinov is a stand up fighter while
Lineker is a high level black belt in Brazialian Jujitsu. The first round was
dominated by Bagautinov while Lineker completely turned it around in the
second. It came down to the final round where Bagautinov threw Lineker around
like a rag doll.
Bagautinov won the fight and showed in the process that he
is a force to be reckoned with in the flyweight division. He has high level
combat sambo to back up his skills which is paving the way for a new breed of
elite Russian fighters who are proving that wrestling is not the only backbone
to a MMA fighter. For those of you who do not know where Dagastan is…it is in
the South-Western corner of Mother Russia and is bordered by Georgia, Chechnya
and Azerbaijan. Basically, if you blink your eyes, you will miss it.
We then move onto the main fights of the evening. Alistair
Overeem took on the former two time Heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Like the
Bagautinov fight, this fight was the stand up brawler (Overeem) versus the
ground dominant (Mir). Overeem ended up winning the fight, but what impressed
during the fight was that he paced himself well and didn’t gas out lie he did
in his previous fight which was a loss against Travis Browne. In my opinion,
Mir is over the hill and should hang up his gloves while he still has the
respect of the dressing room.
The co-main event of the evening saw the UFC’s only
Flyweight champion José Aldo take on the divisions third ranked fighter Ricardo
Lamas. While Lamas came into the ring with a hairstyle that looked like the
miniature version of Billy Ray Cyrus’ mullet, it looked like the boy could bang
a bit. But Aldo came in and literally kicked the shit out of Lamas. Basically,
if Lamas cut off Aldo’s legs, he would have won the fight. But he also would
have won the fight if he managed to submit Aldo in the fifth round. Aldo was
clearly struggling and spent the majority of the round on his back defending
Lamas’ half mount. If Lamas had managed to do a bit more damage in earlier
rounds, I think we would have seen a new Flyweight champion.
The main event of the evening was my boy Renen Barão versus
Urijah Faber. This is going to be the shortest
write up because they came out,
Barão caught him badly early in the first round and unloaded on Faber who was
on his ass. Faber got out and Barão caught him again, but managed to get
referee Herb Dean to stop the fight. There was a bit of controversy after the
fight. Faber accused Dean (very gracefully I might add) of sloppy refereeing.
Faber was on the floor and being hammered by Barão, Dean asked Faber to show he
was ok and Faber gave Dean a thumbs up which was behind Barão’s leg.
UM…FABER…HOW THE HELL IS DEAN SUPPOSED TO SEE THIS WHEN HE IS CLEARLY WATCHING
YOUR OTHER HAND? 
But Joe Rogan raised a great point at the end of the fight
when he asked Faber where do you draw the line between getting hammered and
still being ok as opposed to getting hammered and almost dying. And Faber
answered the question beautifully when he said that the line is when a fighter’s
lifeless body is on the mat. Faber clearly was still ok and had a firm grip on
Barão’s leg. If his hold dropped, then fair enough, stop the fight. But Dean
has a responsibility to have the fighter’s best interests at heart and he was
just protecting Faber.
What UFC 169 proved to me, is that I am a bit of a doos and
have a lot to learn about the sport. In my last edition of The Rear Naked Choke I slammed Brazilian fighters. And it seems I
was amiss because Barão and Aldo are just head and shoulders above anyone else
in the sport. Even above John Jones and Cain Velazquez. Barão and Aldo come out
of the same training camp and they must be trained by a person who is the
combination of Fedor Emelianenko and Superman. The combinations that these boys
throw are amazing. One a fighter gets slightly behind against either Barão or
Aldo, they might as well not answer the bell, because they are in for a long
night of hidings.
And their record speaks for themselves. Barão has a winning
streak of 21 fights and a title reign spanning 532 days. Aldo has a winning
streak of 16 fights and has a title reign which spans 1141 days. Simply amazing.
Awards (in my opinion)
Fight of the Night: Abel Trujillo vs Jamie Varner
Knockout of the Night: Abel Trujillo
Mei jua daima kuwa kabla yenu, na vivuli nyuma yako!
