UFC 118 Edgar vs. Penn 2: The Morning After

Added on Aug 29, 2010 by Bill Jackson in

UFC & MMA

Last night at UFC 118, champion Frankie Edgar solidified his position atop the lightweights with a second consecutive victory over former 155 pound kingpin B.J. Penn. Their first fight was a very close and debatable judges decision that went to Edgar, but the rematch was as lopsided as a fight gets, with Edgar clearly winning every single round. It was a shocking sight to see Penn so confused and overwhelmed, and I must admit, I was having a hard time seeing Edgar as the champion until now. But last night’s performance was a career defining victory for the New Jersey native.

In the co main event, boxing great James Toney got utterly embarrassed by veteran Randy Couture, but at least he got paid well. Surely that was the motivation behind this charade. I want to see Toney get one more shot at a big fight in boxing. He’s a more worthy challenger than a lot of the guys the Klitschkos and David Haye have been facing. Nonetheless, he should not fight in the UFC again and he likely won’t be given the opportunity. For Randy, it was his second meaningless victory in a row and did little besides line his pockets and keep his name in the news. But much more shouldn’t be expected from the 47-year old veteran.

Nate Diaz grabbed one of the best victories in his career against Marcus Davis and both were given “fight of the night” honors along with 60k bonuses. Diaz now has many options at 170, which I think is where he should stay. He made it known that he wants to fight Gray Maynard again at 155, but he would be better suited to just leave that behind and move on. If Penn decides to move up to 170, Diaz would be a great first opponent. As for Davis, he should seriously consider retiring, or at least fighting lesser competition than what the UFC has to offer. His face has looked grotesque too frequently as of late.

Speaking of Gray Maynard, he earned the status of No. 1 contender last night with an efficient shutout decision win over Kenny Florian. Maynard is the only fighter to hold a victory over champion Edgar, and will now get a chance to do it twice. Though it may not be the most marketable fight in the world, it is exciting to see two new young guys emerge as the top lightweights in the UFC. An era is certainly ending, and it appears Kenny Florian and B.J. Penn are being left behind.

Demian Maia got back in the win column with an uneventful decision win over Mario Miranda. Maia is seriously one of the nicest and most respectful guys in the sport and it is a pleasure to see him win anytime. Joe Lauzon looked absolutely stellar in his first-round destruction of Gabe Ruediger, earning 60k for submission of the night. Lauzon is a handful for any lightweight when he is in top form.

Notes from UFC 118:

I really don’t agree with just about everyone that Nick Lentz won every round of his fight with Andre Winner. Holding your opponent against the cage and doing no damage, unable to take him down either should not be worth anything. Winner landed some powerful strikes when he could get his distance and Lentz did absolutely nothing but hold him. Giving Lentz those first two rounds is like giving Mark Munoz a victory against Yushin Okami for takedown attempts. It would be one thing if Winner didn’t land a single punch, but he did and Lentz did absolutely nothing besides hug him. I gave the fight to Winner.

While I’m on the topic, how was the ref not separating Lentz and Winner after so many minutes of a stalemate against the cage. Standing fighters up off the ground is one thing that can be argued against, but pulling them off the cage and separating them is not. Nobody is being taken down, and there is no room for offense. If they have spent more than half the round clinching on the cage with no damage being done, pull them off and give them space.

As I stated already, it really feels like an era of MMA is passing. With Fedor Emelianenko, Urijah Faber, and now Penn all falling on tough times, it feels like when Chuck Liddell was first becoming less relevant with every fight. I wonder how Anderson Silva will do in his rematch with Chael Sonnen?

It is unbelievable how many talented fighters came out of season five of The Ultimate Fighter. Diaz, Lauzon, and Maynard all had impressive wins last night, and Manny Gamburyan will be fighting for the featherweight title very soon. It was one of the last seasons of that show where the fighters were actually prospects.

B.J. Penn’s corner was just awful last night. It was like they learned nothing from the first fight. They should have been telling Penn to go for takedowns early in the fight, instead of just chasing Edgar with the same predictable boxing. If Penn wants to continue at the top of this sport, he has to switch up his training to where he is not the man that everyone revolves around. Clearly, he is surrounded by yes-men that are not telling him the things he needs to hear. The corner’s repetitive advice of “Stop pulling out. Pull in!” was simply pathetic.

Couture’s last couple fights have been basically sideshows, but if anyone deserves a few novelty fights, it’s Couture. He has nothing left to prove and people still love to see him. However, you can’t do it forever and I would like to see Couture up against other legends of his era. His fight with Nogueira was one of the best fights last year and a rematch would make plenty of sense. Also, matchups with Cro Cop and Mir would be great.