UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn looks so unbeatable that Kenny Florian, a legit No. 1 contender, never had him in any trouble at all Saturday night at UFC 101. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva looks so unbeatable that he moved up in weight class and absolutely dominated former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. So what does this say about the state of the championship picture in the UFC?It says that there's never been a time when the UFC has better champions than right now. Penn and Silva, along with welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, appear to be just about unstoppable in the Octagon.
That, of course, is the kind of statement that can end up looking silly in hindsight. MMA is an unpredictable sport, and anyone can be beaten on any given day. And there are plenty of good contenders in the UFC, meaning that any one of the UFC's champions could lose his next fight.
But when you look at these UFC champions, you just see five guys who are just about pefect at what they do. Penn, St. Pierre, Silva and Machida have nearly flawless styles. Lesnar is a physical freak of nature. When will one of these guys be beaten?
I don't know. But as I watched Penn and Silva dominate on Saturday night, I was thinking it'll be a long time before we see them lose again. The same can be said for St. Pierre, Machida and Lesnar. This is a dominang group of UFC champions.
Tweets of UFC 101:I feel so bad for Forrest. I don't even want a rematch anymore. LOSER!! http://twitpic.com/d8tn2-- Rampage Jackson, moments after Silva beat Griffin.
To THE HATERS.. Don't say nothing on the internet that you wouldn't say in person. Cowards.
-- Rampage again, after he was barraged by tweets from fans ripping him for the previous tweet.
Relax guys! It's just humor. Damn! If you can't laugh go follow someone else. Yeah that just happened.. I just said that!
-- Rampage one more time, before logging out of Twitter for the night.
OK, until now, I was a hardcore fanatic that GSP was the P4P best due to his dominance of late, but what Silva did was beyond.
--John_S_Adams, expressing an opinion that a lot of MMA fans are sharing right now: Silva's dominance of Griffin should make him the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. (My own pound-for-pound rankings will be posted later this week at FanHouse.)
I mean seriously what a beat down it'll take awhile for Forrest to overcome this one...I feel a little sorry for him.
--bigrickyb33
I'm sure Forrest isn't happy, but I think he'll overcome this loss and bounce back. He's a fighter at heart.
UFC 101 Awards
Fight of the Night: Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin. I was a little surprised by the decision to give Silva vs. Griffin Fight of the Night honors, just because the fight was so short. It sure was an exciting few minutes, though.
Knockout of the Night: Anderson Silva. No surprise there.
Submission of the Night: B.J. Penn, for sinking in the rear-naked choke in the fourth round to get Florian to tap. Three of Penn's last four wins have come by rear-naked choke; he also submitted Joe Stevenson and Jens Pulver with rear-naked chokes.
Griffin and Penn will get $60,000 bonus checks from the UFC. Silva, for winning two awards, will get a $120,000 bonus check.
Good call: I love the UFC's decision to put six live fights on the pay-per-view. The UFC 101 card had a faster-paced feel to it, and that's because of the bonus fight, Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson, getting moved to the TV broadcast.
Bad call: Referee Dan Miragliotta was out of position and couldn't see Amir Sadollah when Johny Hendricks floored him with a series of punches, and as a result Miragliotta stopped the fight even though Sadollah appeared to be intelligently defending himself. Miragliotta has a history of quick stoppages -- most notably Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson last year -- and it's a shame that Sadollah fell victim to one of them.
Stock up: Ricardo Almeida looked good in his unanimous decision win over Kendall Grove, and I think he'll look even better when he moves down to welterweight, which he says he's planning to do in his next fight. Almeida's ground game would make him a threat to anyone at 170 pounds.
Stock down: Thales Leites lost to Alessio Sakara by split decision on the non-televised cards, and the Phillly fans booed his passive style. Leites, of course, was also heavily booed in his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 97. That's two straight losses and a lot of ill will from the fans, which might mean his days in the UFC are numbered.
Fight I want to see next: Anderson Silva vs. Lyoto Machida. Yes, I know that's not the fight I will see next, but it is the fight I want to see next. Silva and Machida are friends who say they'd prefer not to fight each other, but I believe they're the two best light heavyweights in the world. And that means that if both guys keep winning, this fight eventually needs to happen.
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