UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2

[Posey H8er]

Saturday August 28, 2010


TD Garden, Boston MA



B.J. Penn (15-6-1) -400 vs. Frankie Edgar (12-1)
Randy Couture (18-10) -700 vs. James Toney (0-0)
Kenny Florian (13-4) -150 vs. Gray Maynard (9-0)
Nate Marquardt (29-9-2) vs. Rousimar Palhares (11-2)
Marcus Davis (16-7) vs. Nate Diaz (12-5)

On Spike TV:
Terry Etim (14-3) vs. Joe Lauzon (18-5)
Jorge Rivera (18-7) vs. Alessio Sakara (15-7)

Preliminary card:
Nik Lentz (18-3-2) vs. Andre Winner (11-3)
Nick Osipczak (5-1) vs. Greg Soto (7-1)
Mike Pierce (12-3) vs. Amilcar Alves (11-1)
Phil Baroni (13-12) vs. John Salter (5-1)

[cowboyronnie]

One of the best cards you could imagine. Looks awesome.

Andre Winner's the guy from TUF whose boxing is amazing, right? Osipczak is always fun to watch as well, to pick two fights from the unbroadcast prelims.

The Diaz brothers feed on stocky dudes, but on someone of Davis's technical abilities? That'll be cool to see. Glad Nate's at 170 still...assuming it's not Davis who has switched weight classes.

[Nemesis21]

Can't wait for Penn to get his belt back !

[Mike Hunt]

from what I've gathered, Dos Santos vs. Nelson is on this card. Makes sense as you probably want to establish a #1 contender to face the winner of Velasquez vs. Lesnar. I know the line will be heavily in favour of JDS, but I wouldn't count Nelson out. That guy has "crafty vet" written all over him. We know he can take a good punch, but we have to see if he can take a great one. I still favour JDS but if the fight hits the mat, I would not at all be surprised if nelson pulled off the victory.

People hated on that TUF but it did what it was supposed to. It provided a "name" to throw in there vs. second-tier competition. And once that "name" is built up enough, it can be thrown into top-tier fights. Nelson is probably a top-10 HW and JDS is top-5 or so. That's a legit fight.

[SDM]

Definitely not a fan of Penn getting an immediate rematch. I understand the logistics behind it, but in terms of the division, it makes little sense to artificially propel Penn back to the top of the rankings when he's already ruined his peers.

Edgar should fight the winner of Maynard/Florian, which will probably be Florian, therefore Penn would face Maynard, who he hasn't fought yet. Penn has essentially cleaned out the division from a championship perspective, except for a few guys clearly at least one tier below him. Penn lost a close decision... Let him earn his rematch, instead of playing it up like Edgar's a paper champion who earned a fluke win. Huge fail and title devaluation on Dana White's part.

[cowboyronnie]

It's unfair to Frankie, no question. White's treating it exactly, as you say, a fluke. 'Let's right things and move on with the real champ'. There was little controversy about the win, the decision wasn't outlandish.

From here on out, do you have to beat every accepted champ twice in a row to get the title?

Heck, and to my mind BJ is clearly the better fighter. But he can't just coast on accepted opinion.

[Posey H8er]

from what I've gathered, Dos Santos vs. Nelson is on this card. Makes sense as you probably want to establish a #1 contender to face the winner of Velasquez vs. Lesnar. I know the line will be heavily in favour of JDS, but I wouldn't count Nelson out. That guy has "crafty vet" written all over him. We know he can take a good punch, but we have to see if he can take a great one. I still favour JDS but if the fight hits the mat, I would not at all be surprised if nelson pulled off the victory.

People hated on that TUF but it did what it was supposed to. It provided a "name" to throw in there vs. second-tier competition. And once that "name" is built up enough, it can be thrown into top-tier fights. Nelson is probably a top-10 HW and JDS is top-5 or so. That's a legit fight.

Actually JDS vs Nelson is on the 117 card. I agree that JDS has the advantage on the feet, but I don't know about the ground game. Nelson has a black belt in bjj and if he's on top of you there's not much you can do. I think I've heard JDS has a great ground game but we haven't gotten a chance to see it yet. He knocks everyone out before that can even happen.

[SDM]

It's unfair to Frankie, no question. White's treating it exactly, as you say, a fluke. 'Let's right things and move on with the real champ'. There was little controversy about the win, the decision wasn't outlandish.

From here on out, do you have to beat every accepted champ twice in a row to get the title?

Heck, and to my mind BJ is clearly the better fighter. But he can't just coast on accepted opinion.

It was a close fight, but when it went to decision, I didn't think anyone expected Penn to win. Edgar shouldn't have to beat Penn twice to become champion, you're right. The same outrage and need to resolve Penn/Edgar just wasn't there like it was with Shogun/Machida recently. White wanted a rematch because he thought Penn would run him over. That's all.

[Nemesis21]

Why the hell is Baroni still fighting in UFC ? 13-12

[Mike Hunt]

I forgot this last UFC was 116. I forgot how to count.

[High 5]

It was a close fight, but when it went to decision, I didn't think anyone expected Penn to win. Edgar shouldn't have to beat Penn twice to become champion, you're right. The same outrage and need to resolve Penn/Edgar just wasn't there like it was with Shogun/Machida recently. White wanted a rematch because he thought Penn would run him over. That's all.

I thought for sure Penn was going to win the decision. It was razor close, but in my eyes Penn was the slightly more effective striker. Plus I figured with a fight that close they'd favor the champion.

If Penn doesn't punish Edgar in the rematch I'll be very surprised, but if he gives another sub-par performance then he doesn't deserve to be the champion.

[REDDzone]

I like Frankie and think he's a very good fighter, but if BJ is motivated like he should be, I could see him beating the **** out of Edgar.

[funkatron101]

Please Randy, make an example out of James Toney. The guy is such a turd.

[damo[23]]

Looks like a great card.

Still unsure about this Toney vs Couture fight, but at least Dana White came out and said it is a freak show.

The rest of the main card looks excellent.

[rpa]

I pray Diaz's last KO didn't give him the idea that he can bang with a guy like Davis.

[CPT]

Sick card, from top to bottom.

I think the shot should have gone to Florian (especially being in Boston), but IMO BJ got jobbed in the first fight and deserves it based on his body of work at LW as well, so I'm alright with the fight.

I'm very interested in the Couture vs. Toney freak show. Couture should take it 99 times out of 100, but what if that 1 time is at UFC 118? With the way Couture usually gets takedowns, he could easily eat a shot going in and have the fight be over. That being said, I'm sure he's proficient enough at other takedowns to get Toney to the ground and pound him out, or maybe sub him. I'm kind of hoping for a Tito-style spanking. On a side note, I can't look at James Toney and not laugh.

I'll get to the other fights later.

[Nemesis21]

Jorge Rivera out vs Sakara, Gerald Harris to step in for Jorge.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=A ... Sakara_118

[blkout]

I'd rather see Harris than Rivera anyway.

[Nemesis21]

I'd rather see Harris than Rivera anyway.

Ditto.

[cowboyronnie]

That's blasphemy. Rivera is a sentimental favorite of any feeling fan. He's a step back from only, like, Saku.