UFC 121 was last Saturday. Here are my thoughts on the event.
Brock Lesnar needs to learn how to gameplan better
It may not have mattered in his loss to Cain Velasquez, but Lesnar came out way too quickly in his fight with Velasquez. His pace was unsustainable for any length of time and when he threw everything at the challenger in the first minute and nothing worked, he broke mentally. Combine this with a slow start against Shane Carwin when Lesnar was overwhelmed and nearly finished and its clear there is problem in first round gameplanning. Once again, it may not have made a difference in the result, but I believe Lesnar could have gotten into the 3rd or 4th round and tested both his own and Velasquez's cardio.
It is not the era of Velasquez yet
Joe Rogan was talking at the end of the broadcast about this possibly being a new era. While Velasquez was incredibly impressive, let's not get ahead of ourselves like we did with Lyoto Machida. Velasquez has yet to defend the title and Junior don Santos appears to have the most refined stand up game among UFC heavyweights. If dos Santos can stay off his back, he has a real chance to dethrone Velasquez in his first title defense. Also, no heavyweight has successfully defended the heavyweight title more than twice. Get to three defenses and we can talk era of Velasquez.
Diego Sanchez made the correct decision
Sanchez started off at Greg Jackson's camp and while he was still semi-successful while he was away, it is clear he is a better fighter with Jackson's gameplanning. Sanchez started slow against Paulo Thiago, but then imposed his will against the Brazilian wearing him down and while he was put in tough spots after getting the advantage still, Thiago had been worn down and could not finish off his submission attempts. Credit Sanchez for realizing what he needed to do and go back to Jackson's camp and credit both for working together and successfully implementing a good gameplan with nice adjustments as the fight went on
Gabriel Gonzaga is done
Brendan Schaub is not a top caliber heavyweight at this point. That said, he took apart gabriel Gonzaga who once looked like the next big thing in the UFC heavyweight division. Gonzaga looked slow and disinterested with no way to avoid getting picked apart by the jab. He also has lost his jiu-jistu game despite holding a black belt and being one of the more accomplished heavyweight grapplers in the UFC.
The welterweight title picture is a mess
Jake Shields, Jon Fitch and Carlos Condit have moved to the front of the welterweight class behind challenger Josh Koscheck and Georges St. Pierre. Considering Fitch and Shields are like watching paint dry when they fight, matching them up with each other, while eliminating one of them from title contention, would be one of the most boring fights the UFC could make and it would have to be at the top of the card. The better move is probably to send Shields to the title shot against the winner of St. Pierre/Koscheck and have Fitch and Condit fight a number one contender fight.
Tito Ortiz is done
Ortiz looked healthy but old against Matt Hamill. Considering his age, the UFC should just release him unless they are going to do the rumored third Liddell-Ortiz fight. If they do that fight, it should not be a main event (unless its a fight night or a Euro card) and the winner should be fed to the next big thing in the light heavyweight division after that with neither getting anywhere a major contender.
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