UFC 130 Summary
Brian Stann wins again.
It was clear from the first time that Stann dropped Santiago that it wasn't going to be the Brazilian's night. Stann was too confident in his hands and his wrestling and it showed. Santiago was bossed around and the referee rightly stopped the contest as Brian delivered unanswered blows. What's next for both fighters? Stann's victory has, without a doubt, elevated him into the top ten of the Middleweight Division and Joe Silva must be eyeing a possible matchup with the winner of Bisping-Miller after their future meeting. A fight most likely for top contendership to Anderson Silva's title. For Santiago, his return to the UFC didn't go the way he wanted but he has the potential to rebound and challenge in the future. He looked scared against Stann so hopefully his jitters have gone with this lose. An interesting matchup would be against Belcher or the winner of Belfort versus Akiyama.
Story upsets Alves.
For the first two rounds of their fight, Rick Story couldn't have been more pleased. His plan was working. He was frustrating Alves by constantly closing the distance that Thiago needed to land his devastating legkicks and the early takedowns won him this Welterweight fight that ended with a late surge from Alves that was clearly too little, too late. Story isn't top 10 yet but his 6 UFC wins in a row are a clear sign that he is a future force to be reckoned with. The obvious matchups for him would be rising stars Jake Ellenberger and Amir Sadollah. Two fights that would propel him to the top. Ellenberger will be very interested in getting revenge for a lose to Story outside of the UFC in 2008. For Alves, it is yet another blow to his title credentials as he falls to 1-2 since his failed title shot against GSP. Dana White gave him another chance at Welterweight after his weight issues so maybe it's best if Alves moves up to Middleweight where his stand up could pose problems for the likes of Bisping, Sonnen, Okami and others.
Superman Browne makes up for Kongo draw.
If you watched Browne's last fight against the Frenchman Cheick Kongo, you would have thought the Dutch kickboxer, Stefan Struve, would have had little problems against the Hawaiian. Oh how wrong you would have been. From the opening bell, Travis looked to stand and bang, to exchange and land bombs. Some would say he was lucky with the superman punch that earned him the Knockout of the Night bonus whilst others would say it was pure technique. Whatever your opinion, Browne has just shot up the rankings with that stoppage win and could face the likes of Mir, Nelson, Cro-Cop and others. Struve, on the other hand, will look to rebound as soon as possible and a likely match up would be against someone like Mark Hunt or Joey Beltran.
Mir's 260lbs > Nelson's 260lbs.
For this fight, there were more people hoping and praying for Nelson then there was actually thinking he would win. Both fighters weighed in at 260lbs but it was two completely different 260lbs figures. Mir's dense muscle was too much for Nelson's fat storage and after the first round, Nelson was in survival mode against Mir's knees. Nelson had been Mir in a Grappling contest a decade ago but that Mir was much lighter, out of shape and out of focus. This Mir, Mir version 3.0, was leaps and bounds above Nelson and the 30-26 scoreline perfectly reflected the fight. Next for Mir, possible rematches against Carwin or Lesnar (when he heals) or and interesting fight against Dos Santos if he loses to Carwin at UFC 131. For Nelson, it's simple: lose weight or retire. A fight against Cro-Cop would be interesting but most likely boring as both fighters are at the end of their careers.
Rampage did enough.
Many will be disappointed with the main event but Jackson certainly won't be. He stuffed all of wrestler, Matt Hamill's takedowns and bloodied him up with his counters. In his post fight interview he said he did everything he needed to do. He even threw some legkicks as he joked with Joe Rogan. Many failed to realised how one-sided this matchup was from the day it was announced. Rampage has a wrestling background (though not as good as Hamill's) so it was clear that Jackson would try his damn hardest to stop Hamill in that department. Striking wise, Jackson was, and has always been, a mile ahead of Hamill. The boos didn't help the main event but Jackson won't care and neither will Hamill, since being deaf prevented him from even hearing them. The main talking point will be Jackson's lack of luck in regards to timing. If he had stopped Hamill inside the first round, he would have probably got a title shot against the Champion Jon Jones whilst Rashad Evans squares off against Phil Davis soon. Sadly, Jackson's three rounder against Hamill could affect any chances of Jackson being ready for a title fight. Thus paving the way for Machida to challenge Jones. It's still way too early to sort that mess out as Jackson hasn't reported his condition to the world, yet. Machida, coming of his stunning KO of legend Randy Couture, is fresh and ready to take the opportunity if presented with it by matchmaker Joe Silva. If Jackson isn't title shot ready then he may be interested in several rematches. Rua faces Forrest Griffin in Rio in August. Both fighters have beaten Jackson and Quinton will be very interested in getting revenge on the winner of the UFC 134 bout. Another rematch would be Jackson against Evans IF Evans beats Davis. Again timing might be an issue if their fight is a three round war. Whatever the outcome, Jackson is in the mix and will rely on luck helping him out in the next few months. For Hamill, it's back down to the "second division" of the Light Heavyweight weight class. Fights against Bonnar and Matyushenko would be interesting as well as a fight against the winner of Franklin versus Lil Nog with the later fight possibly being a retirement fight with the loser owning at least a 2 fight losing streak (and neither of them are getting younger).
Its fair to say that, although UFC 130 wasn't an EPIC card, it was a card that cleared up several issues with many of the UFC's divisions. Fighters moved into title contendership whilst others suffered severe setbacks. One thing is for certain, UFC 130 is a stepping stone for a busy second half of 2011 that will feature many top level fights.
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