TURNING BACK THE CLOCKS, IF JUST FOR ONE NIGHT
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had never fought in his homeland before. Saturday night, he made it a truly memorable event, knocking out rising contender Brendan Schaub in the opening round after an 18 month layoff.
In just over three minutes, we saw various elements of vintage Nogueira. As he’s done so often in his storied career, “Minotauro” weathered an early storm, then put his trademark boxing on display; a crisp one-two snapped Schaub’s head back, setting up the knockout blow.
Nogueira says he’s ready for another run at the heavyweight title after multiple surgeries and many months to heal his aching, oft-injured body. At 35-years-old, it’s hard to see him fighting his way back to the top of the mountain, but that’s what made Saturday night so special.
Three miles from his gym, in an arena he drives passed every day, Nogueira came home and turned back the clock, showing the form that once made him a champion.
TOO SOON FOR SCHAUB
Not many people gave Nogueira much of a chance against Schaub. The former TUF finalist had rattled off four straight wins, collecting three knockouts along the way, and appeared to be too (insert adjective of choice here) for the veteran to handle.
Along the way to the arena, we all seemed to forget that Schaub had yet to prove he truly belonged in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division. If we all agree that Mirko Cro Cop is no longer even a shadow of his once dangerous self, why were we convinced that a third round finish of the former Pride star made Schaub head and shoulders better than Nogueira on Saturday night?
Whether it was overselling Schaub, underselling Nogueira, or some combination of the two, it’s clear now that there are still some holes that need to be filled in the young heavyweight’s game. He still has the potential to do good things long term, but he’s not ready for a move to the top tier of the division just quite yet.
WORTH THE WAIT
Stanislav Nedkov has been under contract with the UFC for over a year, a pair of injuries — on his own, one to an opponent — delaying his debut until Saturday night.
The Bulgarian made it worth the wait by taking the best Luiz Cane had to offer early before blasting him with a right hand of his own and pounding out a victory in the final minute of the opening round.
Perhaps slightly undersized for the light heavyweight ranks, “Stucky” didn’t appear affected by his surroundings or the first fight jitters. Instead, he stood in with Cane, taking shots as he found his range and timing, then uncorked a fastball than caught the Brazilian flush. A drop to middleweight in the future wouldn’t surprise me; he’s a stocky 5’11” and looked like there was room to tighten things up going forward.
Either way, now that he’s finally made his debut, Nedkov is one to keep an eye on in the future.
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ROUSIMAR PALHARES?
Seriously? This guy is the right amount of crazy and kind of shady to be very, very dangerous.
For the second time in three fights, “Toquinho” stopped fighting for no apparent reason, proving what we thought was a one-time brain cramp against Nate Marquardt was really a chronic condition.
On the positive front, his stand-up and conditioning looked much improved against Miller, and could make him a real threat in the middleweight division. His proclivity for pushing the limits of the rules is worrisome, however; he should have been docked a point in the second for grabbing the fence, and we all remember his failing to release a nasty heel hook against Tomasz Drwal.
If he ever finds the few cards his missing to make a full deck — and that’s a ginormous if right about now — Palhares could be a player in the 185 pound ranks.
THE UBIQUITOUS BAD OFFICIATING TALKING POINT
Let’s get one thing perfectly clear, right here, right now: 30-25 is a joke.
I don’t know who submitted that scorecard or how they scored each round, but of the possible combinations that produce those totals, none come close to being representative of the action in the cage. My best guess is that the judge scored the fight 10-8, 10-8, 10-9 for Palhares. In that case, only the middle stanza is acceptable to me; I had it 10-9, 10-8, 9-10 on my scorecard at home because you can’t get a 10-8 when you get dropped by a straight left near the end of the round.
That particular judge was not alone in having a momentary lapse of intelligence. Both Mario Yamasaki and Marc Goddard had some questionable stand-ups on Saturday night, bring fights back to their feet, taking fighters out of advantageous positions in the process.
I know a lot of people don’t like grappling and want to see nothing but stand-up warfare, but ground fighting is a part of the sport, and fighters need to be allowed to operate there without worrying about referees standing them up the second they stop punching or trying to advance their position. I’ll have more on this topic later in the week.