UFC 83

I know, I'm so late with this review of UFC 83 in Montreal because UFC 84 just happened last weekend but it had a great card featuring one of my favorite fighters, George St. Pierre. Joe Rogan was out but Kenny Florian was quite the competent substitute.

It was kicked off with a great fight between two lightweights Mac Danzig and Mark Bocek. The first round had great energy: these wiry scrappers had fast transitions, some sweet reverses, topped with some moments of "this is it". It was the third round where Danzig gave a sharp knee causing a nasty cut above Bocek's eye, which was just streaming during the rest of the fight. Danzig eventually got the submission with a rear naked choke--though I'm sure we'll be seeing more of tenancious Bocek.

Next was the middleweights, Michael Bisping vs. Charley McCarthy. The highlight for me was their entrance music--Bisping went with The Clash's "London Calling" and McCarthy chose the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black". I would have given McCarthy mad, mad props if he used Marie Laforet's French version of "Paint It Black" (from Talledega Nights) considering this event was in Montreal. The lowlight of the fight would be McCarthy's constant tongue-wagging and gorilla chittering after a barrage of hits.

Yes, yes we get it, after being pummeled you can make funny faces which sends the message that you're one tough fighter. You know what really sends that message home? Winning. Or not totally turtling on the ground waiting for the bell to ring, which in this case, did not deter the ref from calling a stoppage. Yes, McCarthy did have that solid takedown but he couldn't capitalize on it even with an arm bar attempt. I suggest McCarthy focus on his game not making faces.

Yeesh, and the now-infamous Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry match. Perhaps their entrance music was a hint of the match to come: Quarry's choice of Public Enemy's "Shut 'em Down" vs. Starnes' selection of The Verve's emo-pop hit "Bittersweet Symphony". Quarry, who looked amazingly fit and shredded for someone who recently recovered from back surgery, was the aggressor the entire fight while Starnes was literally running backward for most of the fight. Florian's comment pretty much summed it up, "Not sure what Kalib's strategy is..." Quarry ended up mocking him by chasing Starnes in an exaggerated running man. Now in real life, flight is realistically a great strategy, but when you're paid to fight, you're not supposed to pick that option. Starnes obviously lost the fight, earning the first 30-24 scores I ever heard.

Quarry kept it light in the post-fight interview in the ring by quoting Rocky IV "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change!" Though I don't think US-Canadian relations are as chilly as the Cold War relationship in Rocky IV. I look forward to Quarry's next movie quote--I remember he gave this Napoleon Dynamite gem in another fight, "You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys?"

The Travis Lutter vs. Rich Franklin light heavyweight bout started out promising with my favorite entrance music of the night--AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock" for Franklin. Lutter came in with the recognizable but mellow "Rock Star" by Nickelback--not a good sign. The first round featured Lutter bring Franklin to the ground, fully mounting him and getting him in a text book arm bar, which Franklin impressively escaped. Unfortunately, Lutter pretty much pooped out after that and even entered the 2nd round gassed out--frankly, embarrassingly so. Lutter is probably going to be pretty depressed when he reviews this footage. Ultimately, the ref stops the fight. Franklin in his post-fight ring interview though initially giving a tip of the cap to him, remarks that Lutter is "known for his lack of conditioning". Oh no, he dih-int!

Finally, the George St. Pierre and Matt Serra welterweight fight. What can I say? It went how I expected it, given that GSP is a phenomenal fighter--physically and mentally he is tight. Serra gave some good ground defense and landed a few punches, but he looked gassed out compared to GSP. Finally the fight was stopped as Serra turtled under a barrage of knees to the midsection. GSP just dominated. I heard he's fighting undefeated Fitch next--that should be a great fight.

Overall UFC 83 was one of my favorites. I have to confess that corporate shilling reached its regrettable "high" when Goulet (fought in the prelims) spraypainted his head with the web address of a sponsor. On the plus side, discovering Kenny Florian was a pretty good commentator was a pleasant surprise. And my question for the evening--where was Herb Dean? Maybe he wasn't able to get his passport in time...