UFC 154
Reviews
UFC 154
brought about one of the most hyped fights of the year, with GSP (George St
Pierre) coming back after nearly a year of rehab after tearing his ACL whilst
training for the match up with Interim Champ Carlos Condit, the fights year long
delay only served to build up what was to be one of the most exhilarating fight
cards in mixed martial arts this year. At the Bell Centre in Montreal, some
twenty thousand GSP fans all sat nervously, keen to see if the 5 year reigning
champion could overcome adversity and deliver a victory against Condit, who
has, in the past couple of years shown he is a serious contender in the sport.
This wasn’t the only big fight of the night though, the main card was packed
full of fights to remember.
The
opening bout of UFC 154’s main card was Mark Hominick Vs Pablo Garza, with both
fighters coming back from loses, three in Hominick’s case, two in Garza’s,
there were points to prove in this fight, both needed the morale boost of a
main card win. The first round kicked off in a fitting shroud of greatness,
with both fighters landing significant strikes and setting a good pace for the
fight from the off. Hominick found homes for his sharp right hand, in
particular a powerful strike to the body sat Garza down for a few seconds
before he eventually recovered and matched this aggression with a flurry of
quick punches. Garza’s leg kicks and knees seemed effective against the short
looking (in comparison) Hominick, but unfortunately weren’t enough to win him
the first round.
Strategies
changed moving into the second and third round; Garza worked more to his
strengths and really used that extra height to his advantage on the ground,
from the top he was able to control Hominick and reigned strikes down on him
throughout the second round, punishing the face of Hominick with elbows and
heavy punches. Hominicks only saving grace during the second was his occasional
attempt at an omaplata, but to no avail and subsequently opened himself up to
further nasty looking strikes to the face, leaving him cut up badly walking to
his corner at the end of the second, blood filled round.
Garza
glided through the third round with some really good offensive wrestling, it
seemed that Hominicks game plan had gone completely out the window as he was
subjected to a final round of further ground and pound and floor play similar
to the second round, the inability to find his way back to his feet in order to
stand up with Garza lost him the fight in the end with a decision victory going
to Garza. Hominick left with a truly messed up face, but thankfully the
post-fight word is that Dana White still intends to keep him in the UFC despite
him coming off four loses now.
The
second fight on the card brought to the table, the well respected BJJ black belt,
Rafael dos Anjos Vs Canadian’s own mixed martial artist Mark Bocek. This match
up looked like it was going to hold some explosive action, with both fighters
looking to take their game to the next level and snap themselves out of that
mid tier category, it did not disappoint.
Starting
on its feet, the first round began calmly, with both fighters testing each
other’s range, leg checks began accumulating, Bocek made his game plan evident
when he shot for a takedown early on, he unfortunately didn’t land it and
showed a weakness in his wrestling game when he got almost instantly shut down
against the fence by Anjos, who then opened up and fired some nice short
strikes. He looked to be figuring Bocek out by the end of the first round and
looked very sharp.
In the
second round Anjos really looked like he had Bocek sussed and Bocek was looking
fatigued from his constant failed take down attempts, he started to take big
shots and his face was showing the damage. Bloodied up, Bocek continued to take
nasty blows and even started to himself be taken down by the now, fired up
Ajos, one thing that really shone through throughout the fight was Ajos’s
conditioning and stamina, the guy just did not get tired, he really set himself
apart from Bocek, and for most of the fight looked like he was leagues above.
The third round was a like the second, with Ajos continuing his almost complete
physical domination of Bocek. Receiving a well deserved victory, Rafael do
Anjos looks set to go onto bigger fights and did a great job of displaying his
now near perfected craft. His performance proved that he has huge potential in
the UFC; I’m very much looking forward to this guy’s next fight, he made
himself a very watchable fighter at UFC 154.
Francis
Carmont Vs Tom Lawlor was the third bout of the main card. Carmont was to face
the seasoned veteran of the octagon Lawlor after winning his opening three
fights in his introduction to UFC, this fight could be classed as lacklustre in
comparison to the others on the card but it still managed to end in a fairly
controversial style with a decision.
The fight
started on its feet with Carmont circling the shorter Lawlor, pecking at him
with occasional kicks and punches, a lot of these fell flat and Lawlor began
shooting for takedowns but didn’t manage to get Carmont to the ground due to
Carmont’s greatly improved takedown defence. Carmont began landing significant
knees. Lawlor nearly redeemed himself at the end of the first round by a
powerful looking guillotine choke that he was unfortunately unable to finish it
due to his poor technique. Round two was a similar except for Carmonts slightly
more aggressive work on his feet, he was again landing some good strikes on
Carmont but still not enough to do any real damage. Lawlors takedowns on two occasions
became successful in the second, earning him some points on the board, but
nothing else as the well rounded Carmont swiftly returned to his feet in both
instances. Going into the third round looking pretty tired and sloppy, both
fighters briefly pattered each other with jabs and kicks but nothing that could
do the job effectively, Lawlor was however, having the better round, trying to
go for takedowns again and pushing Carmont into the cage and putting the
pressure on the Canadian. An exhausted looking Carmont gave some big kicks and
slow punches back as the round closed in but the fight was to go to the judges,
who would they pick? It seemed at the end that Lawlor was going to pick it up,
albeit not a great win for him, but he was the one throughout actively looking
for takedowns and being more aggressive. The judges gave it to Carmont, a
decision even contested by the home crowd, who booed after the call.
The
fourth fight on the card saw Johny, appropriately ‘Big Rigg’ Hendricks take on
Martin Kampmann, and after the disappointment of been told the fight wasn’t for
a title shot; both fighters had no other goal than to go into the octagon and
make something amazing happen to convince the higher ups that they were
deserving of a shot. Hendricks achieved that in just 46 seconds with a
staggeringly powerful left hook that followed straight from a misleading right,
the follow up punch was also devastatingly accurate, catching Kampmann on the
floor, already gone, before the ref could stop the fight. The punch completely
cemented Hendricks’s position as a contender for the belt, his ability to land
these insanely powerful hands time and time again are making him look
dangerous. Future champion? He’s certainly a fighter of extreme confidence in
himself and has the ability to back it up, there’s definitely a possibility
there.
Still
buzzing from the incredible strike of Hendricks the crowd insured GSP got the
reception that warranted this momentous return to the octagon. The roar sent
shivers as he marched down to the beat of twenty thousand fans screaming their
lungs soar knowing that what they were about to see was going to be epic. That
speaks to the consistency of both fighters, Condit’s looking good these days
and as top contender just had that look in his eye pre-fight that this what all
he ever wanted, a shot at the champ, he’d got it, this was it. Do or die. GSP
was coming back in after injury causing lots of questions to be asked about his
physical shape, he needed to silence the critics, Condit just needed to win.
This was going to be a battle. Everyone easily got their money’s worth on this
fight alone.
The first
round kicked off with GSP skilfully working the centre of the cage, pushing the
attack and keeping Condit on the back foot while going forward with his
strikes, textbook stuff. He looked sharp and managed to duck most of Condit’s
striking attempts as the round began. GSP’s wrestling was back to its
unquestionable form two minutes in when he took Condit down effortlessly,
sealing him the first round. GSP by the second round seemed to have things
almost completely under his control. Throwing some nice jabs, some significant,
he was doing some nice damage; Condit’s mangled face at this point reflecting
this punishment. A second take down coming off a failed kick from Condit saw
the contender get put to the floor once more, giving GSP a second round. The
fight was almost becoming predictable. The third round changed this.
A now
calmer looking, relaxed GSP began the third round comfortably until Condit
placed a perfectly aimed head kick at the champion, landing it right on the
side of the head, GSP didn’t see it coming as it came after a wild pair of
punches, thinking the combination was over GSP was stunned by this kick, enough
to knock him to the floor, allowing Condit to jump in and finally inflict some
damage back on the clearly hurt GSP. Unfortunately for Condit he couldn’t
finish the fight here and didn’t manage to get anything significant through
GSP’s superb survival mode ground defence. GSP managed to clamber back on to
his feet eventually, and after a few jabs, landed a big right and took Condit
to the floor once more, where he remained for the duration of the round.
Rounds
for and five were both GSP’s, his wrestling took over and he kept Condit to the
floor once again and had him defending an almost constant onslaught of jabs and
elbows. Condit tried on occasion to submit but his opponent, the champion, in
this case was to strong and breezed out of the attempts before reining more
strikes down on the battered Condit. The fight was over; GSP had silenced the
critics and shown people after his lengthy break in play, that he’s still the
rightful owner of the belt.
Condit
can’t be too hard on himself though, he fought amazingly well against GSP, nearly
putting him out at one point and sending shivers down the spines of everyone
watching. He seems to be growing as a exponentially as a fighter and will go
from this a much more experienced mixed martial artist.
GSP
showed that he can overcome injury and still mix it with any big contender. He
uses his body so well that it’s hard to imagine him ever losing again, but with
a possibly super fight with Anderson Silva on the horizon, next year will be
very interesting for GSP and his fans. UFC 154 was a fantastic card and housed
some amazing fighters, it’s events like this one that justify any fans love of
the sport, it showcased flash knockouts, great ground work and some intense
brutality and skill and with UFC 155 on the horizon with Heavyweight champion
Junior dos Santos and former champion Cain Velasquez facing off again, the fun
doesn’t look to be stopping here. By Owen Ramirez.
