UFC 103 delivers on Franklin vs. Beflort

Has there ever been a UFC pay-per view card where all the televised fights ended with stoppages? Yes, you read that right, all five bouts avoided the judges cards. If you include the two live fights on Spike then all seven bouts ended with stoppages. To recap the butcher’s bill: three TKO’s, two knockouts, one submission and one “I quit.” Now that’s how you differentiate yourself from boxing.

- Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin didn’t fight much for the three minutes and two seconds they were in the Octagon together, but the one exchange they did engage in saw Belfort clip Franklin in the temple and knockout his opponent. The sudden knockout capped off a night of great finishes almost as if it were the cherry on top of delicious MMA sundae.

- A big theme around WKR this week was how under-appreciated Rich Franklin was. It seems that the trend will now continue.

- Rich Franklin is probably done as a pay-per view headliner.

- Just to recap the bizarre events required to have the Belfort vs. Franklin fight. Rich was suppose to fight Dan Henderson at 103 though the UFC changed their minds after the fans collectively said, “this is a borrible idea.” So Franklin was without an opponent for the main event of UFC 103. As luck would have it in steps Josh Barnett and his positive steroid test that just so happened to kill Affliction: Trilogy. Which in turn kills Affliction as a fight promotion. Suddenly Belfort is a free agent and in swoops the UFC. Belfort is signed and suddenly we have a main event for UFC 103. Really, without Josh Barnett and steroids this never would have happened.

- I knew I was going to have to write this tonight and I wasn’t looking forward to it. The sun has set on “Cro Cop” though not in the good way like in the movie Shane. This is far more depressing as I, and many others, watch a once great fighter go out there and stink it up to high heaven. I never got to see Johny Unitas in a Chargers uniform but I am assuming it looked an awful lot like “Cro Cop” in the UFC.

- By the way, Mirko Filipovic gave up/quite/threw in the towel verbally submitted to Junior dos Santos in the third round.

- It just doesn’t seem right to call Mirko “Cro Cop” anymore. That name officially died when Filipovic quit last night.

- Kampmann was TKO’d though he was still standing. [insert angry comment here].

- With Martin Kampmann’s loss the welterweight division is officially fucked. Josh Koscheck vs. Mike Swick could decided a contender though…oh wait….their on the same team. Damn you American Kickboxing Academy!

- Did Martin Kampmann pull a St. Pierre vs. Serra? Kampmann’s marquee win is over former WEC welterweight champion, Carlos Condit. Though Condit’s slow start against Ellenberger, an unheralded UFC newcomer, at Fight Night 19 may have been an indicator that Kampmann (and Condit  by extension) were over valued.

- So…..whose going to fight Georges St. Pierre now?

- What about Josh Koscheck. Koscheck KO’d Frank Trigg in a little over a minute (though Mark Cuban appeared stung by the stoppage). Josh proceeded to call out Matt Hughes, very 2005.

- Stick a fork in Frank Trigg, he’s old.

- Hermes Franca came in four pounds overweight for his fight with Tyson Griffin. Luckily they agreed to have the bout at a catch-weight of 159lbs. No word on a penalty for Franca missing weight but I think it is safe to assume he paid $300,000 per pound. Then again, maybe not….

- Tyson Griffin scored his first TKO victory in the UFC. Since Griffin has joined the UFC he has been a part of seven decisions (won five), one submission (his first UFC fight) and one TKO (which just happened). Which part seemed like the anomaly in that sentence.

- Rough night for Xtreme Couture fighters. Kampmann was upset and TKO’d and Frank Trigg was knocked out. Only Tyson Griffin did the Vegas gym proud.

- One of the main story lines going in to tonight was how UFC 103′s PPV number would compare to Mayweather vs. Marquez’s PPV numbers. If Google trends and Twitter’s trending topics are a leading indicator (and there is no evidence they are) then UFC 103 may be in trouble.

Star-divide

- Efrain Escudero may have looked a little doughy walking in to the Octagon (Escudero had trouble making weight on Friday) but that didn’t stop the TUF 8 winner from knocking Cole Miller out.

- Kudos to the UFC for getting four fights on the Spike prelim card though seeing the Steve Lopez injury was a bit anti-climatic. Impressive first round for eventual winner Jim Miller though.

- Goldie’s “play-by-play” during the Spike portion was more akin to someone reading the Time Warner channel directory.

- “That choke was in the esophagus” ~ Joe Rogan.

- Drew McFedries is fool’s gold. Every time you think he is going to do well he gases out in fifteen seconds and gets submitted, which is exactly what Tomasz Drwal did to Drew. Seriously, is there something in McFedries DNA that prevents him from being able to sustain a heart rate over 100b/m after he wins his previous fight?

- The Halo: ODST commercial was the best part of the Spike preliminary card.

- Wait a second! I thought this prelim-Spike thing was suppose to be commercial free. You lied to me Dana White!

- Spike and the UFC had some issues with the live prelim fights. Fans were treated to the first four seconds of the McFedries-Drwal about fifteen times as the feed was stuck in a loop. Also the English broadcast had a weird Spanish echo.

- I may be going out on a limb here but I think that the message on Spike was this, “Buy the PPV! Buy the PPV! Buy the PPV!”

- The novelty of seeing UFC events on Twitter’s Trending Topic is over. That being said it was weird seeing Marquez being higher than Mayweather who was higher than UFC 103. Maybe I am just bitter…

- Brian Foster vs. Rick Story was the shot of adrenaline that McFedries forgot to take before his bout. Story submitted Foster with an arm triangle choke from Foster’s guard! That is not suppose to happen. That’s like an option working the NFL. Weird but strangely satisfying.

- Rick Story has one of the best nicknames in MMA. Rick “The Horror” Story. His entrance music should be to Little Shop of Horrors.

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