The Sydney UFC event gala promised excitement and delivered, as three of five main card fights ended before their allotted time.
The main card opened with the HW fight opposing Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic to Ben Rothwell’s replacement, BJJ expert and hometown favourite Anthony Perosh. Perosh, accepting to sub on 48-hour notice for an injured Rothwell, made no attempt to hide his strategy acted out through many awkward and slow takedowns, easily defended by CroCop. The stand-up battle essentially consisted of an intense stalking clinic given by the Croatian. A bit surprisingly, the action on the ground was as one-sided as it was standing up, CroCop peppering Perosh with hammer fists and unanswered strikes. Toward the end of the second round, CroCop delivered a short elbow from Perosh’s guard position, opening a big gash that brought an end to the engagement by doctor stoppage.
The Croatian will feel better about this outing, but shouldn’t make more of it than it is. He beat a very average fighter. Much improvement needs to take place before he gets to seriously challenge a top-ten fighter in the UFC. Among priorities should count his conditioning, as Filipovic appeared winded early in the second round. Using his legendary leg kicks would also add to his offence and establish distance between himself and opponents. Developing minimal yet efficient takedown and ground defense should top that list too. It would seem appropriate that CroCop fight Rothwell for his next outing.
The LHW bout between TUF winner Ryan Bader and Keith Jardine offered a back-and-forth scrap that was fairly evenly split before Bader blitzed his opponent, throwing among things a flying knee to Jardine’s chest, halfway through round three. Jardine was ultimately TKO’ed by a left hook. Who’s next for Bader? Maybe Luis Arthur Cane who has yet been assigned his future opposition.
Two ground experts, George Sotiropoulos and Joe Stevenson, provided the most exciting fight of the night, earning an additional $50,000 for their efforts. Stevenson, a former top-ten ranked LW, met stubborn opposition early. Sotiropoulos pressed the action and out-matched his opponent on the ground, Stevenson’s professed home turf. The Aussie fighter passed Stevenson’s guard repeatedly, almost at will. While in the dominant position, Sotiropoulos threatened with several submissions, notably an interrupted anaconda choke that nearly ended Stevenson’s evening, had it not been for the bell marking the end of round two. Any doubts as to the strength of Sotiropoulos were answered decisively, while his conditioning appeared on par with his previous outings.
Wanderlei Silva’s debut at 185 lbs in the UFC’s MW division was a great opportunity for him to vault himself into a lower weight division’s top rankings. Earning himself a unanimous decision over a fighter on the brink of cracking the top ten, such as Michael Bisping, is a good start. But gone are the days of the great Axe Murderer performances in Pride or his fight against Liddell for his UFC return. We’ll still all watch him fight Akiyama in June at UFC 115, if the rumours turn out to be true. Though Bisping lasted all three rounds, he clearly lost two. The UFC needs strong English representation in its ranks to keep its stronghold over the UK market. Neither Terry Etim, Paul Kelly nor Paul Taylor draw as much as Bisping. The two current exceptions are Paul Daley, in large part for his propensity to quickly bang his opponent’s gong, and Dan Hardy, due to his upcoming fight against WW champion George St-Pierre. Look for Bisping to be thrown a bone for his next outing.
The main event featured a young and fast kickboxer facing a sluggish veteran. And it all ended mid-way in the inaugural stanza with the veteran beaten silly. Needless to say, those sentences were neither self-evident to most MMA fans. 
It doesn’t mean the young HW contender Cain Velasquez is big enough to stand confidently against bigger opponents like Carwin or Lesnar (he had close to 10 pounds on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira), nor that his timing has improved tremendously while standing up since Noguiera appeared slow during the short bout. At least slower than during his fight against Randy Couture. Nevertheless, Velasquez will get a title shot by the end of this year. He will enjoy an additional $50,000 training towards that moment, the reported purse for the knock out of the night award. As for Nogueira, this might mean the beginning of the end, though he undoubtedly has many good fights to offer for some time to come.
Photos by Daniel Herbertson, Sherdog.com
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