UFC 137

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

Preliminary card (Facebook)

    Middleweight bout: Dustin Jacoby vs. Clifford Starks

    Middleweight bout: Chris Camozzi vs. Francis Carmont

    Lightweight bout: Ramsey Nijem vs. Danny Downes

    Light Heavyweight bout: Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

    Catchweight (148 lb) bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Bart Palaszewski

    Lightweight bout: Dennis Siver vs. Donald Cerrone

Main card

    Featherweight bout: Hatsu Hioki vs. George Roop

    Bantamweight bout: Scott Jorgensen vs. Jeff Curran

    Heavyweight bout: Mirko Filipović vs. Roy Nelson

    Heavyweight bout: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione

    Welterweight bout: B.J. Penn vs. Nick Diaz

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

I'm looking for Hatsu Hioki to do better than the rest of the Japanese fighters who have come to the UFC.

Jorgensen should dominate Curran. 3 round decision.

Big Country will almost certainly put an end to Cro Cop's career, though it would be awesome to see an upset a la Big Nog and Tito.

So much is unproven in Matt Mitrione. But I'm looking for him to take the next step to contender status by taking out Kongo, who can't seem to escape his gatekeeper status. I don't see this fight going 3 rounds. Mitrione will catch Kongo the way Pat Barry did, except he won't make the same mistake of rushing in.

BJ Penn should derail Nick Diaz's hope of a title shot. He should be better in every area of the game. Welcome back to the big leagues.

Also expecting Cowboy Cerrone to make a statement.

[rayallen0]

Welterweight: Nick Diaz d. B.J. Penn (Unanimous Decision)

After a tight first round, Nick Diaz absolutely picked B.J. Penn apart and battered the Hawaiian like we’ve never seen before.  Diaz put on a show jabbing Penn into oblivion and taking a clear unanimous decision victory.  This was as impressive as Diaz has ever looked.

Diaz promptly called out GSP after the fight and his wish is granted as he will fight the champ at the Super Bowl weekend show.  Condit “stepped aside” from his fight with GSP and will be competing on the same card, though I think he was more accurately pushed aside with little choice.

As for B.J. Penn?  Well, it seems the former champion is intent on retiring after last night. Penn seemed different prior to the fight and was much more emotional than usual.  I have the feeling that we’ll see him return, but if not, this was a very uncharacteristic performance to end a career.

Heavyweight: Cheick Kongo d. Matt Mitrione (Unanimous Decision)

Kongo really exposed Mitrione and proved that he’s not quite ready to make the jump to the top ranks of the heavyweight division.  Kongo imposed his will on “Meathead” and was able to take advantage of his tentative opponent.  Kongo will likely get another middle tier heavyweight from here, while Stipe Miocic might be a good challenge for Mitrione.

Heavyweight: Roy Nelson d. Mirko Filipovic (TKO – Round 3, 1:30)

Cro Cop looked a lot better in this fight than in previous contests, letting his striking go a bit more and scoring with a nice flurry in the second round.  However, he wasn’t able to string consistent offense together and Big Country took advantage by finishing Mirko in the third round.  Nelson looked slimmer than before and used more of his ground game, but again seemed content trading strikes with his opponent.

Cro Cop announced after the loss that it would be his last fight and this announcement definitely had a more real sense of finality to it.  Cro Cop has been on the losing side of most of his UFC contests and the time seems to have come for this legendary fighter.  I’m sad to see Cro Cop go, but I hope he’ll be around in some capacity.

Featherweight: Hatsu Hioki d. George Roop (Split Decision)

I really felt like Roop won this fight as he outstruck Hioki and held his own on the ground.  Hioki did just enough on the ground to take this close decision, though he was far from impressive.  Hioki will have to take a fight with a more challenging opponent to show where he really stands in the UFC’s featherweight division.

Bantamweight: Scott Jorgensen d. Jeff Curran (Unanimous Decision)

I’m…not sure I remember much of this fight.  I think these two ended up putting me to sleep, but from what I remember, the fight was pretty clearly in Jorgensen’s favor.  Curran could never get going and Jorgensen won a fight that a top five bantamweight should win.

Lightweight: Donald Cerrone d. Dennis Siver (Submission – Round 1, 2:22)

I was really surprised how dominating Donald Cerrone looked last night.  He staggered Dennis Siver on multiple occasions and quickly submitted the German in impressive fashion.  Cerrone has been dominant since joining the UFC and is looking for a fight as soon as December.

Catchweight (148 lbs.): Bart Palaszewski d. Tyson Griffin (KO – Round 1, 2:45)

I used to be such a Tyson Griffin fan.  Then he came into this fight fat(ish) and got beaten down by Bart Palaszewski.  This is a big win for Bart who was making his debut at featherweight.  It looks like he can make waves as a dangerous striker at 145 pounds.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

Was it just me or did BJ Penn give a horrible performance on Saturday? He gassed early and put his head right in front of Diaz's fists. Diaz looked impressive, but I can't see those pitter-patter punches working against GSP, who will not stand in front of him and will find holes in his barrage of strikes. Though its unlikely GSP will keep the fight standing in the first place.

Mitrione vs Kongo started off as one of the worst fights in recent memory. The first two rounds Kongo did absolutely nothing except backpedal, though he did land a couple nice leg kicks. Mitrione was stalking him down but never let his hands go and couldn't figure out how to cut the cage off. In the third round Kongo remembered he was in a fight and took Matt down easily to beat him up on the ground. Mitrione clearly needs to work on his TDD and ground game, while Kongo needs to find his fighting instinct. I never want to see these two fight each other again.

What's next? Give Mitrione a chance to work on his wrestling and put him against a low level wrestler. Maybe Ben Rothwell. Kongo needs to be given a fight that will force him to engage early on. I feel that he's so afraid of losing now that he's essentially running from strikes for most of his fights. I'm liking a matchup with Roy Nelson. It should show whether Kongo's wrestling has evolved  and give Nelson some more experience with strikers (which he is going to need against the best of the division). The winner of that should get one of the top 5 heavyweights and a chance to put themselves into contender status.