Last night I managed to see UFC 158 (GSV vs Nick Diaz) at a sports
bar in DC (Buffalo Billiards, which now charges an absurd $10 for cover), and
then went home and watched the Timothy Bradley vs Ruslan Provodnikov boxing
match. To most "mainstream" sports fans (you know, the ones
who until recently thought any boxer could be an mma champion, or the guys who
post about football all the time on Facebook, live and travel for their alma
mater’s college football team, say they like boxing but not mma, and who call
themselves big boxing fans because they have seen Floyd Mayweather fight
multiple times), mma is dangerous savagery (although the mainstream types love
watching football, which is much more dangerous than boxing or mma, if you
consider the force of the impacts on the heads of the players) and boxing has
better action, better fighters, is less brutal, and is more sporting (these people are often
homophobic, on an aside). I consider the inverse to be true.
In fact last night was the first time I can remember when I
thought that maybe I shouldn't be a boxing fan anymore. In the Bradley vs
Provodnikov fight, both men (especially Bradley, who won) suffered hellacious
damage to their brains. Bradley was clearly concussed in either the first
or second round, and didn't have his legs for the majority of the fight.
He was almost stopped in the first, second, sixth, and twelfth rounds,
but managed to stay on his feet (albeit clearly on sea legs and not there
mentally) in all but the twelfth round. The idiot announcers, like
football announcers, were just impressed by the courage of both men, and didn’t
once say the word concussion or utter the phrase brain damage. Both trainers were overheard threatening to
stop the fight, which the announcers laughed off as mere talk, because it is
not masculine to stop a fight. In fact
Max Kellerman interviewed both trainers during the fight, who seemed quite
serious about stopping the fight, saying that they had a duty to protect their
fighters, both of whom were taking far too many head punches.
The boxing announcers kept using the phrase “heart” when talking
about the fighting spirit of Bradley, who seemed the far more damaged fighter. I kept thinking instead “permanent brain
damage”. In fact, after Bradley peeled
himself off the canvas in the twelfth round and was able to stand and listen to
the decision (which he won), he produced the most honest bit of commentary all
night during his post-fight interview.
Max Kellerman, who loves to wax poetic about boxing like it is some
beautiful thing, asked a question and Bradley immediately said that he had
suffered a concussion. Seeming to not
believe him, Kellerman asked how he knew(!) and in what round it occurred. Bradley told him in the first or second, he
wasn’t sure. As for how he knew (a
ridiculous question if ever there were one), Bradley said “because I’m still
dizzy”.
Meanwhile, my previous engagement watching UFC 158 at a sports bar
proved to be a mixed bag. Nick Diaz, my
favorite fighter, looked like he was stoned until the third round, when he
started finally landing on GSP and stuffing takedowns. At the end of the day, GSP was the better
fighter and deserved the decision. He
fought his usual cautious, overpowering, dominating fight. Like in the rematch against Serra, GSP took
the fight to the ground immediately, and his standup consisted entirely of jabs
that Diaz shrugged off. GSP ended up
spending the majority of the fight on top of Diaz, with Nick constantly
attempting to scramble back to his feet or secure a Kimura that was not to
come. GSP landed some shots on the
ground, bust mostly just moved side-to-side on Diaz’s back like a gorilla
playing in the jungle. I was dismayed
that most people at the bar were cheering for the boring, greasing Canadian, but I
have found in general that people like to cheer for the bully. It is a metaphor for life, really.
In the co-main event, Johnny Hendricks “beat” Carlos Condit in an
absolute barnburner that was incorrectly decided by the judges. My biggest gripe about mma is that judges
weigh takedowns far too heavily, unaware that the guard is not necessarily an
advantageous position for the man on top.
Hendricks took Condit down repeatedly (usually when he was getting
beaten on the feet), and every time they went to the ground, Condit landed
shots from the bottom and stymied Hendricks entirely. In terms of damage, when they were on the
ground, Condit inflicted more, yet the judges scored the second round for
Hendricks on the strength of those beating-induced takedowns that led to no
offense whatsoever. Condit furthermore
scrambled back to his feet with relative ease after each takedown. He massacred Hendricks in the third round,
and in my view won the lsat two rounds.
I, along with everyone else at the bar, would have liked to see two more
rounds, which would have been appropriate given that it was a #1 contender
match. C’est la vie.
Hendricks vs GSP will be a great fight; GSP won’t have a strength
edge, or a sizeable wrestling edge.
Further, Hendricks drops BOMBS.
He is a heavy hitter with fast hands and good accuracy and timing. As a two-time national champion wrestler, he
is one of the few guys in the division who can, if not outwrestle GSP, at least
neutralize him. If Diaz doesn’t open up
his own marijuana farm in California and put down the gloves for good, a
rematch with Condit would be great.
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