UFC Fight Night 25: 10 Things We Learned

Breaking down the battle in the Big Easy

“THE JUGGERNAUT” HAS ARRIVED

Jake Shields said in the build-up to this fight that he didn’t know much about his opponent.

A number of UFC fans were probably in the same boat. All of them—and everyone else—should be getting familiar with Jake Ellenberger now.

Ellenberger made quick work of the former Strikeforce middleweight champion and UFC welterweight title challenger, shrugging off two weak takedown attempts before burying a knee into Shields’ face, following him to the canvas and pounding out the finish.

His tremendous performance Saturday night extends his winning streak to five, and not only introduces him to a wider audience, but makes him an immediate title contender as well.

TOUGH TIMES AHEAD FOR SHIELDS

My heart goes out to Shields right now.

A class act through and through, he’s had to deal with a lot in the last month following the unexpected passing of his father and manager Jack. He put on a brave face in sticking with this fight, and now that it’s over, he can take the time he needs to grieve.

When he’s ready to come back to fighting, there are going to be questions that await him. Shields was manhandled Saturday night, losing for the second straight fight after underwhelming in his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann.

With the number of young talents looking to carve out their place in the welterweight division and Shields having reached his ceiling in terms of what he brings to the cage, it’s hard not to wonder where he goes from here?

THE BIGGEST LOSER IN ALL OF THIS IS GEORGES ST-PIERRE

I know some of you are wondering what the welterweight champion has to do with all of this when he was thousands of miles away in Montreal, but here it is:

Shields is now the second former challenger to get finished by a “lesser fighter” after St-Pierre fought them to a decision, joining twice-finished Dan Hardy.

With both Carlos Condit and Chris Lytle putting Hardy away, and Ellenberger now obliterating Shields, the questions being asked bout St-Pierre’s risk aversion are going to start getting louder, including from me; expect a full-length look later in the week.

TIME TO STOP THE HARD SELL ON FORMER TUF WINNERS

I think Court McGee is a serviceable middleweight. If his offensive weapons ever climb to meet his conditioning, he could be a dark horse contender because after going 15 minutes Saturday night, McGee looked like he could go another 10, no problem.

But when you stand him next to the other main card middleweight winner, Alan Belcher, you see that the big push the Season 11 Ultimate Fighter winner is getting is more promotional than actual promise.

Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan tried to find every way they could to make Jonathan Brookins’ performance against Erik Koch seem interesting, name-dropping Randy Couture umpteen times as the Season 12 winner pressed Koch into the fence and did little else. No amount of “Couture made his living here” was going to convince viewers that they had to tune in to see Brookins fight again next time.

I understand the logic and approach from a business standpoint, but sometimes the right thing to do in the boardroom is the wrong thing to do on the operating floor. McGee isn’t a co-main event fighter, even for a Spike (or future FX or Versus) card, and the UFC would be better served showcasing guys who can actually make an impact in both the present and the future, rather than pumping up their reality TV winners.

SPEAKING OF THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER

Overall, it was a rough night for the long-running program.

Seth Baczynski, a member of the Season 11 cast who had already been released by the company, returned as a welterweight and had the best performance of the night amongst the group of TUF graduates. While McGee edged out a decision against Dongi Yang, and Justin Edwards did the same against Jorge Lopez in the opener, there were no great performances from the recent cast members on the card, and that is telling of where TUF has gone in recent years.

I know the days of finding a bumper crop of future stars like was found in the early years have passed, but there has got to be better talent out there than Clay Harvison. Shamar Bailey showed tremendous heart and fortitude in his bout with Evan Dunham, but didn’t manage much offense, and that’s after cutting down to lightweight in an effort to be more competitive.

The upcoming season doesn’t count to me, as it taps into the previously untouched featherweight and bantamweight talent pools; the same goes for if they ever do a flyweight season. Moving forward, the onus has to be on finding fighters who can become contributors in the organization beyond filling out the preliminary portion of televised events.

KOCH’S UGLY WIN A BLESSING IN DISGUISE

There was nothing pretty about Erik Koch’s victory over Jonathan Brookins. After three straight first round finishes and a pair of explosive Knockout of the Night wins, “New Breed” barely pulled out a decision by landing the more effective strikes in a fight that didn’t feature much striking.

While he was hoping a win would propel him into title contention, this performance certainly won’t do that, and it should be viewed as a good thing.

Saturday night’s fight identified a few areas where Koch still needs to improve. Though his takedown defense looked good, it can still be better, as can his ability to circle off the cage. Drilling in the gym and putting those things into practice in the cage are the only way to improve them, and he won’t get that opportunity at the top end of the division.

There are already a couple contenders in waiting, so Koch should take the chance to pump the brakes, continue to get better, and know that his time will come. He’s a legitimate talent; there is no need to rush it.

BELCHER PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF

I honestly didn’t think Alan Belcher was going to come back and just step back into the cage like nothing had happened; that’s why I picked Jason MacDonald in The Face-Off for this event.

I was very, very wrong.

Belcher looked like he didn’t miss a beat, despite being 16 months and one scary eye surgery removed from his last fight. He capitalized on MacDonald’s decision to pull guard, dropping bombs on the vulnerable veteran, causing him to submit late in the first round.

He was a rising star tabbed as “one to watch” prior to his eye issues, and should return to that ranking now after this dominant performance. The winner of the Demian Maia–Jorge Santiago fight seems about right to me.

DUNHAM RETURNS TO CONTENDER STATUS

Some people are going to want to argue otherwise, but Evan Dunham’s dominant performance against Shamar Bailey returns him to contender status in my books. You can’t fault the guy for not getting the finish; he threw everything but the kitchen sink at Bailey, and still he came forward.

What Saturday’s performance showed me is that people were way too quick to chuck Dunham under the bus after his loss to Melvin Guillard. Lest we forget, “The Young Assassin” is now considered one of the top 5 lightweight contenders in the UFC, and was a horrible style match-up for Dunham.

Dunham has good, clean striking and an excellent ground game, plus he’s big for the lightweight division. This time last year, he was everyone’s favorite prospect at ’55. Losing to Guillard shouldn’t have cost him that status, and Saturday night’s win should return him there if he did.

SEVERAL IMPRESSIVE SHOWINGS ON THE PRELIMINARY CARD

Vagner Rocha still has absolutely no interest in the striking game, but his jiu-jitsu is excellent, and it showed against Cody McKenzie. TJ Waldburger deserved every cent of his Submission of the Night bonus; his transitions and chaining of holds against Mike Stumpf was outstanding.

Seth Baczynski is a monster welterweight and now 3-0 since moving to the 170 pound ranks, and Robert Peralta showed enough on short notice to make me want to see him again. Lance Benoist also impressed, showing fluidity in the stand-up game and a solid ground game in collecting a win over Matthew Riddle.

This is precisely why the UFC hits a home run by streaming these fights on Facebook. Without the stream, we’re not seeing any of these performances and there is no way to build interest in watching these guys compete again other than word of mouth from those in attendance.

Now I’ve got a handful of addition names added to my “I’d Like to See More” list, and I’m betting I’m not alone.

A COUPLE QUICK THOUGHTS ON JUDGING

The Koch-Brookins fight was a tough bout to score, and you really could have gone either way. Koch was clearly the more effective striker, but Brookins did a very good job of controlling the action against the cage. I was happy to see the judges reward the striking, but wouldn’t have faulted a single one of them for going the other way either.

I had Matt Riddle winning his scrap with Benoist 29-28, and disagree with the numerous assessments that Benoist “clearly” won Round 2 that cropped up in my Twitter feed Saturday. Laying in someone’s guard with a mangled nose isn’t offense, and the blow that created said mangled nose was the definitive point of the frame.

Benoist didn’t try to advance, didn’t do any real damage, and mostly just worked the standard body-body-head routine while bleeding all over Riddle in the final half of the second round. Being the guy on top isn’t enough to get you the round, at least not in my books.

Same goes for Justin Edwards’ “do nothing” takedowns of Jorge Lopez in the first. If nothing else happened in the round, sure, those quick takedowns count for something, but when Lopez pops back to his feet and Edwards doesn’t land anything?

Just some things to think about.