10 Things Learned at UFC 118

Here’s ten of the biggest stories to come out of UFC 118: Penn vs. Edgar 2.

No Questions left Un-Answer-ed

Sorry – I had to.

Frankie Edgar silenced the critics and proved (again) that he not only belongs in the lightweight division, but that he’s deserving of wearing the belt around his waist, dominating B.J. Penn for twenty-five minutes en route to a unanimous decision victory.

All the pre-fight speculation circled around what Edgar could do differently versus what “The Prodigy” could improve, and in the end, Edgar showed that a similar gameplan with a little added intensity was all it took to hand Penn another defeat and maintain his title. The stick-and-move style worked again, but there was more ferocity on his takedowns and exchanges, perhaps Edgar’s way of getting out the anger that accumulated over four months of hearing he didn’t deserve the title and was going to get beaten in the rematch.

Edgar dominated Penn like we have never seen in the lightweight division, adding insult to injury by scrambling effectively when Penn brought the fight to the ground. While he’s got another tough test in his future, for now, Edgar deserves nothing but praise and congratulations for another impressive performance.

The Shifting Legacy of B.J. Penn

Before the fights Saturday night, I wrote a piece at my blog for the Vancouver-based newspaper I work for asking if we’ve all been buying into the B.J. Penn mystique for far too long. Watching “The Prodigy” look decidedly non-prodigious, it looks like maybe we have.

Make no mistake about it: Penn is a supremely gifted talent who could be one of the greatest fighters of all-time, but his legacy might be moving closer to “imagine what could have been” territory.

Some fighters work every day to prove why they are considered the best in the world (see St-Pierre, Georges), while others are willing to accept the accolades and get by on their natural gifts. That is where Penn rests right now, and he’ll stay there for eternity if he doesn’t make some changes.

Shocker on Shock Street: Couture Clobbers Toney

And in other news, water is still wet.

This was the most expected outcome in some time, and proved absolutely nothing in the pointless “MMA vs. Boxing” debate. Honestly, it didn’t really do anything for the UFC other than drive up pay-per-view sales. Thankfully, Dana White has already said we won’t be seeing any more boxers inside the Octagon.

Assessments of Couture’s dominance – and he was dominant – need to be tempered by who he was facing. While Randy looked great in securing a quick takedown and earning a finish, it came against a guy who had no business being in the cage with the UFC Hall of Famer. “The Natural” remains an amazing figure – he looks better at 47 than I have in my entire life – but this win should carry next to no weight moving forward.

Toney’s Take Home Pay an Insult to Fighters Everywhere

It has been speculated that James Toney will take home somewhere in the neighborhood of $750,000 – $1,000,000 for spending 3:19 inside the cage with Randy Couture. Fighters everywhere should be pretty pissed off about that.

While Toney certainly helped push this fight into the mainstream consciousness and undoubtedly sold a few extra pay-per-views with the boxing and casual MMA fans, the fact that he made more money than Frankie Edgar has probably earned in his entire career is embarrassing.

Say what you will about selling PPV’s and whatnot – if there is that kind of money to throw at a guy who has no business being in the Octagon, put a little more money the pockets of the guys who do this day-in, day-out for next to nothing. All those dollar bills go a lot further in the hands of fighter who have a future in the organization than they do in the pocket of an over-the-hill boxer who we’ll never hear from again.

More Needed from Maia

In his first fight since being clowned by Anderson Silva, Demian Maia earned a unanimous decision victory over Mario Miranda that left more to be desired.

Maybe we’ve set the bar too high for the Brazilian jiu jitsu wizard, but Maia missed numerous submission attempts that he connected on in the past. He twice lost armbar attempts from the top, and while his control and wrestling was solid, we’ve come to expect finishes from Maia on the ground and when it doesn’t happen, questions arise.

Miranda deserves some credit; he has a black belt of his own and showed that he knows the proper escapes when needed, but while Maia earned the all-important win, he wasn’t overly impressive in doing so.

His striking is never going to make guys nervous, and while he will still submit inexperienced guys on the ground with ease, he’s in a place in the middleweight division where his only shot at success is to dominate with his grappling and his performance last night left something to be desired there as well.

Maynard Earns Title Shot, Rematch

Gray Maynard might have deserved a title shot back in April. After manhandling Kenny Florian Saturday night, the Xtreme Couture product earned his opportunity to fight for the title next. It also set up a highly-anticipated rematch with champion Frankie Edgar.

“The Bully” lived up to his nickname, using his stellar wrestling to put Florian on his back repeatedly and grind out a typical Gray Maynard decision win. Some will call it boring and lacking entertainment value, but the gameplan is smart and no different than stand-up guys who try to keep fights standing against wrestlers.

More interesting than the action in the cage is the bout Maynard’s victory sets up, a title bout with Frankie Edgar, a man he’s already beaten handily in the past. While Edgar has proven to be Penn’s kryptonite, the same could be argued about Maynard in regards to the champion; he’s the only man to beat him and it wasn’t even close.

Whenever it goes down – early 2011 – it will be worth the price tag, no matter what other bouts surround it.

Nathan Diaz Impressive Again

For any fighter who has scar tissue issues, the blood and cuts displayed by Davis should be all the motivation you need to pull a Wanderlei Silva (or Nick Diaz for that matter) to have some clean-up surgery done. YIKES!

With that out of the way, Nathan Diaz has looked terrific in two fights at welterweight and continues to grow into a better fighter, much like his brother. After going 1-3 in his last four fights as a lightweight, Diaz has dominated two tough veterans at 170, knocking out Rory Markham and choking out Davis Saturday night in front of his friends and family.

The skill set has always been there, while the trash talking, cocky bravado and TUF win will always make him highly-marketable, but now the younger Diaz seems to be putting it all together into an impressive package. While he’s not quite at the Top 3 contender stage he asked for following the event, he’s climbing the ladder at 170 and could be trouble thanks to his length and well-rounded abilities.

Godzilla Gets Clobbered

It’s always fun to write titles like that, but really, it was no surprise.

Hometown boy Joe Lauzon made quick work of fellow TUF 5 cast member Gabe “Godzilla” Ruediger, taking the fight to the over-matched journeyman and forcing him to tap to an armbar in 121 seconds.

After getting soundly beaten by Sam Stout in his first fight back from knee surgery in January, the real Joe Lauzon stood up Saturday night, showing why he is a solid contender in the increasingly deep lightweight division. Outside of his uneven performance against Stout, his lone loss in the division came to Kenny Florian in April 2008. His next fight should be a sterner challenge than Ruediger and will go a long way to showing where Lauzon sits in the 155-pound division.

Brits are Still Allergic to Wrestling

It continues to astound me how few answers most fighters from across the pond have for the most dominant base style in mixed martial arts today.

Andre Winner had nothing to offer against Nik Lentz in their sleep-inducing encounter to kick-off the Prelims Live event on Spike, and while Nick Osipczak fared a little better against Greg Soto, he lost and a lot of that had to do with Soto’s superior skills on the ground and in close.

There are only a couple guys who come to mind as exceptions to the rule – welterweight contender John Hathaway and lightweight TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson – but on the whole, the continued failure of British fighters to adapt to the style that is currently dominating the sport is beyond strange.

Takedown defense is important, no matter what side of the Atlantic you live on.

High Five to Yves Lavigne

The much-maligned referee earns a shout out for ensuring that the Nate Diaz – Marcus Davis fight wasn’t prematurely stopped by the doctor following the first round.

As the fighters were ready to re-engage, the doctor wanted a look at growth forming on the side of Davis’ face, and Lavigne was quick to fire out something along the lines of, “He’s good, Doc. Talk to him – he’s good to go.”

First-time doctors are bound to be extra cautious and Davis’ cut was nasty, but it clearly wasn’t something that should have forced a stoppage, as he soldiered on for two more rounds. While Lavigne’s comments may not have swayed the doctor one way or the other, the guy who often gets tossed under the bus deserves a high-five for his actions last night.