MMA Mailbag #2: UFC 127 Questions

Added on Feb 28, 2011 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

If you have any questions for the mailbag, please send them to me via my twitter www.twitter.com/scream13 . I’ll make sure to answer as many questions as I can in future mailbag columns.

What did you think of Michael Bisping’s actions after the fight with Jorge Rivera?

Jorge talked a lot of trash before this fight, and obviously he got under the skin of Michael Bisping. I expected Bisping to act like a jackass, because that is his M.O., but I didn’t expect him to act the way he did. The illegal knee is one thing, and although I have a hard time believing it was unintentional, I can give the benefit of the doubt. That said, When you look at the tape, it almost looks like he checks to make sure Rivera was on the ground before he threw it. Rivera could have ended the fight right there, but he knew the crowd wanted to see a fight. He didn’t have to, but he did. It was a sportsman thing to do, and Rivera did it.

For those that don’t know what I am talking about. After the fight, Bisping walked over to Rivera’s corner and yelled some obscenities, and then spit at them. This was a ridiculous thing for anyone to do let alone a professional athlete, and I hope the UFC or the commission reviews the tape. This is a pattern with Bisping. Earlier in the week he was hurling homophobic slurs at Jorge. I just think its time to tell Michael Bisping, You either start acting like a professional, or its time to find a new job.

How did you Score BJ Penn Vs. Jon Fitch?

This was a close fight, and I’m ok with any argument for either fighter. Jon Fitch made a good case for winning round 3 by 10-8, and BJ makes a good case for winning the first two rounds. I scored the fight Round 1: 10-9 BJ, Round 2: 10-10, and Round 3: 10-9 Fitch.

I thought BJ won the first round with his pressure and his takedowns, and for a time it almost seemed like he was out-wrestling Fitch. I scored the second round 10-10 only because I was running into difficulty picking a winner of the round. When ever I have a hard time picking a winner I give it a 10-10 round. Arguably, BJ won the first half of the round and was even trying to finish, but Fitch came back and landed some good shots from the top position at the end of the round.

I understand the argument to give Fitch the 3^rd round by the score of 10-8. I saw numbers that said Fitch out landed Penn 120-3 in punches thrown. Thats 40-1! BJ had next to zero offense. That said, BJ was never in any danger of being finished, and if you hit someone 120 times in five minutes they should be close to being done. Fitch just didn’t do enough damage to warrant a 10-8.

Will the UFC cut Rikki Fukuda?

No, and I say that for it a number of reasons. Firstly, he didn’t lose to Nick Ring, and the scorecards were wrong. It even prompted Dana White to tweet about how bad the judges were for that. Also, the UFC is trying to expand into China, and to do that effectively they will need Chinese fighters like Fukuda to fight for them. On my score card I had Rikki Fukuda winning all three rounds against Nick Ring, and I am not sure what the judges were looking at in that fight.