UFC 100: A view from a noob
Thankfully Nate and Luke had really primed me on some of the finer points of things. I knew the GSP…
Thankfully Nate and Luke had really primed me on some of the finer points of things. I knew the GSP has no rival and that he was quite possibly the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA. I knew all about the trash talking that had happened and was aimed at Henderson from Bisping. I knew that Mir had beaten Brock Lesnar who I last really knew as a rising WWE star because my brother in law is a huge WWE guy. I hadn’t seen Lesnar highlights before so I didn’t really know what to expect.
The fights started and I was really caught off guard by the first fight between Akiyama and Belcher and how the two combatants seemed to have so much respect for one another. They would be beating the living crap out of each other and then when they got up from a clutch or being on the ground, they would tap gloves and the go to beating each other again. Now there’s a reason I mentioned the movie Gladiator because it struck me like there was a respect for each other and two men willing to step into the ring and bloody each other. There is something beautiful, majestic and humbling about that.
Course that wouldn’t last long because the respect was tossed out the window with Henderson and Bisping. And let me tell you, I heard and read about much of the trash talk from Bisping and I wanted to bash Bisping in the face. I can’t imagine how Henderson must’ve felt. And for me, in many ways, that fight was the highlight of the night. My buddy who went to the bar with me was kind of repulsed by the extra shot Henderson gave Bisping after he was out, but I’ve got to admit, I took some sick joy in that. And I feel a little guilty for feeling that way since I do consider myself, by and large, a rather sensitive soul.
The GSP fight was a clinic in takedowns. Course this, to me, was the lowlight of the night simply because I’m a noob and I don’t understand the finer points of the ground game. It’s a lot less interesting to me once the guys hit the canvas (BTW do they reuse the same canvas over and over again because it looked like there were a crapload of blood stains on there already when the evening started). I much more enjoy the kickboxing, boxing aspects of the sport. But I’m told that the appreciation for the grappling on the mat comes later.
And the Lesnar fight was awesome just in the sense that Brock really appears like he’s just so freaking angry about everything. Seeing a guy that big and that downright frightening upset is great television, especially when that anger isn’t directed at you. I loved the Joe Rogan analogy of hitting Mir with lunchboxes too. It seemed to perfectly fit the situation. And the comments about Bud Light made the entire bar crack up as well as the comment about getting on top of his wife. I kept teasing my buddy all the way home about whether or not his wife was going to be awake so he could be on top of her. And we both screamed with joy when we rounded the corner on his block and the light was on in his bedroom. You’ve got to find pleasure in the little things.
