UFC 68 : Uprising

I tell you what guys and gals, Dana White is sporting a chubby the size of Tim Sylvia right now. With Pride's last event showing Wanderlei Silva to be mortal after all, Dana's champ, the Iceman, looks is head and shoulders above anyone at 205 lbs. Okay maybe more like head, shoulders and bellybutton. Don't get me wrong Rampage is a real threat capable of beating Chuck but until he does so, if he can, he's still downward looking up. I'll break down that possible matchup later on.

The next reason for Dana's prodigious protrusion you ask? Last night's UFC was probably the best i've ever seen. Every single fight shown was excellent.

Randy had the whole nation counting down the seconds with him as he just owned Big Tim to take back his belt. Tim does not get the credit he deserves for having a polished game, mostly because he's so much bigger than everybody but I think also because of his steroid issue years ago. I don't know if that means he deserves it or not but it's getting hard to watch. I really feel bad for the guy. On the flip side though......WAY TO GO RANDY! This just opens up a new world as far as I am concerned. Who says you can't fight at a high level into your forties? Chuck's probably at the gym right now himself. If he keeps himself in shape maybe he can eke out four or five more years! That's a thought isn't it? But then Randy always was one of the smartest fighters in the game. He uses sharp technique and sticks to his gameplan.


Rich Franklin had the closest thing to a 'gimme' if you ask me. On paper he should have had his way with Jason MacDonald and he did. Now what happens does he get another crack at Silva or does Marquardt, who beat Dean Lister, get the next one? Probably Rich.


Matt Hughes against Chris Lytle was a very good fight and contrary to my belief Hughes did not look to stand up much. Lytle showed amazing perseverance on the ground and that cage crawling reversal was a thing of beauty. Lytle will get more Octagon time just in light of this fight, and well deserved. For a guy not even in the top ten of welterweights in the world to push the most dominant one to a decision is quite an accomplishment.


In the other upset of the night Jason Lambert survived a masterful first round by his opponent to stun Babalu. It really seemed like the Brazilian was putting on a clinic and Lambert merely survived the first round, although he did get in a nice shot at the end of the first. My personal favorite was at one point they were standing up with Babalu pushing Lambert up against the cage but Sobral was losing his position and for a minute i thought the Punisher would have his back, even if it was on the standup. Babalu just turned and basically did a standing 360 degree turn to get back chest to chest, more or less, with his foe. Such a simple maneuver but it was just one of several such that allowed him to keep the pressure on. Lambert though his massively strong an survived suberbly and later on rocked the Gracie jiu-jitsu fighter with sledgehammer punches finally knocking him down and then pouring it on to win the fight in the second.

Yet another excellent fight was Drew McFedries taking it to the kickboxer, Martin Kampmann. In the little i've seen both of these to fighters I have come to appreciate both of them. The Miletich product, McFedries, seemed to be getting the better of things in the striking department with those explosive hands of his. Seriously, the kid might have the quickest hands in the UFC. He's legitimately up there with Swick, Penn and whoever else you care to name and he's got heavy, heavy hands as well! Add to that the superb training you get in Davenport, IA and you have a guy that can make some serious noise at middleweight. Anyway getting back to the fight Kampmann realized after getting tagged a few times that this might not be his best area of attack against his antagonist scores a nice takedown and follows it up with knees from side control and then a beautiful side choke, ending with what I took to be a move to mount but he kept going and went to McFedries other side to crank the choke more and at the end of it Drew McFedries was limp as the proverbial wet noodle.

All in all it was a great night of fights with upsets, comebacks and gutty competitors enduring mountains of torment in the hopes of that opportunity to get a little payback. Thank you Dana White, UFC and all the fighters. And maybe more than anyone thank you Randy Couture for showing us that miracles do exist.