UFC 113 - Yes, I AM Blogging About This

As promised, my first post on the wide world of sport. Last night, in preparation for Mother’s Day, we watched UFC 113. The main event was crazy. Mauricio Rua came out with none of the caution he exhibited in his first match against Lyoto Machida, a disputed match which the judges said he lost. He wasn’t reckless. No concern that Machida would pull some kind of disorienting and indefensible karate. No. Rua outgunned Machida and knocked him out in the first round. My only complaint about that fight is that it was too short.

The Jeremy Stevens-Sam Stout fight was excellent, in part because Stout looked so overmatched early by the fast and furious Stevens, but rallied and went the distance. This battle deserved the Fight of the Night honors.

The Fight that Sucked Last Night was the Josh Koscheck-Paul Daley match. It was a Big Fight, in that both fighters were vying for a spot on The Ultimate Fighter and a chance to go up against the phenomenal and lovely GSP. I understand that they were trying to play up their bad-boy images. What I don’t understand is when the definition of “bad boy” was changed to include play-acting which I equate, at least during a sporting event, to lying. I understand that soccer has a whole culture of it, some of which has crept into other sports. But Koscheck faking receiving a knee to head while down on hands and knees, when there was very clearly no contact, seems kind of…this is a family blog, so I won’t us the 5-letter word that starts with a “P” that I was thinking of. Unacceptable.

Then, of course, Daley punched him after the match in a purely classless act. Yeah, he was frustrated at Koscheck outmatching him on the ground, at the childish act Koscheck put on, at losing the opportunity for the TV gig and the fight…but a professional fighter cannot do something so blatantly irresponsible that it was possibly illegal. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out of the UFC. Sadly, now we’ll all have to put up with Koscheck on The Ultimate Fighter. Hopefully he’ll remember to pause in his antics occasionally to help the up-and-coming fighters in his camp.