This UFC event was an underdog betting man’s dream. Three out of the five fights on the card were won by the underdogs. The overall event was decent, but unfortunately George St. Pierre (GSP), a favorite fighter of mine, loss to Matt Serra. The odd against Serra were huge, 12 to 1. Before the fight it was almost inconceivable to believe that GSP would lose. It’s not easy watching your fighter lose in any fashion. But we all know in an MMA fight anything can happen. I’m sure if they fight again GSP will still be the favorite to win.
What did GSP do wrong in this fight? GSP didn’t have the same aggression as he did in his previous fights. His striking is technically superior to Serra’s yet he seemed to have held back. The only reason I can think of is that GSP respected his opponent too much and fought too cautiously. You have to give Serra credit for not just winning but to choose to stand and strike with GSP, and luckily for him GSP’s cautiousness Serra was able to catch GSP with a right hook that stunned him where Serra would take advantage and finish the fight.
The Sanchez and Koscheck bout was the fight I was more excited to see. Sanchez was on a 19 fight winning streak, and Koscheck has been moving up the rankings in the welter weight division. Their last encounter was on the first season of TUF where Sanchez won the fight, but only due to the fact that Koscheck was inexperience and his MMA talent consisted mostly of his wrestling abilities. After TUF Koscheck began training at AKA where he was able to develop into a more complete MMA fighter.
Koscheck came into the bout with an effective game plan, to stand and test Sanchez’s striking. In round one, the majority of the round had them standing toe to toe with Koscheck scoring with his jabs and straight punches. The last 20 seconds Koscheck took Sanchez to the ground, but only to be swept and Sanchez almost having Koscheck’s back at the end of the first round. Rounds two and three were similar but minus the takedown. Sanchez is a smart fighter, but I don’t understand why he didn’t take the fight to the ground where it seem he was better than Koscheck. His standup wasn’t scoring any points with the judges. Maybe it was his ego, and he wanted to win by KO. Koscheck definitely deserve the win even though the crowd was unhappy with the performance. UFC loves setting up rematches and we can see them again for a third time sometime in the future. But for now, Koscheck has the last laugh.