UFC on FOX in Retrospect

The program was 60 minutes and the fight was 60 seconds. It is probably the only thing that could have gone “wrong” for the UFC in their debut on FOX. Dana White isn’t shook though and neither are MMA fans. This is par for the course, the sport has quick finishes and the sport has snoozers right along with the epic battles and mind-blowing knockouts. Unlike most other sports, time is not structurally built into the contest. Even boxing’s use of larger gloves systemically inclines fights to be longer. But MMA has never been built on the premises of long epic bottles alone. Sure they pop up here and there and are strategically important to the sport but in the importance of the sport’s growth long fights fall somewhere behind bloodlust, international diversity, and fighter personalities on why exactly the sport is where it is today. Critics were chomping at the bit for a moment like this and they have it, but it doesn’t make any difference. UFC and FOX still have a seven-year contract. The company will continue to make money and the sport will continue to grow. Besides, for anyone who was truly interested in seeing longer fights and not just interested in having flashy lights in their face for an hour or only interested in names, there were nine fights on facebook previous to the FOX card, one of which was for a title shot and many of which were highly entertaining. In five years Junior Dos Santos vs Cain Velasquez will be remembered more for showing just how good Dos Santos is than it will for disappointing fans.

Which brings us to the cage. In the most highly anticipated fight in recent memory the competition came up short but the ramifications did not. Junior Dos Santos, despite his 7-0 run in the UFC previous to Saturday, was a relatively unknown. UFC on FOX was his big chance to shine and man did he shine. He looked like a killer, a special kind of puncher that scares people. He was fighting a previously unbeaten champion that had run through strikers, wrestlers, grapplers, and every hybrid in between and he decimated him in a minute. Oh, and as it turns out he did the whole thing with a torn meniscus, spending a lot of time on crutches the week before the fight. I feared that no matter what the injury these two would fight given the gravity of the event, but JDS didn’t seem to feel the effects much in his short time in the cage. The pressure is on Junior Dos Santos now to keep his belt and build its prestige. Personally, the unpredictability of MMA may be well documented, but I don’t see too many threats in the immediate future for the young man. The stage is set, JDS has emerged from the deadlock, and now the heavyweight division has a new target.

The heavyweight division might have a new hunt but the lightweight division has a new lead hunter. Benson Henderson defeated Clay Guida on his way to a February title shot against Frankie Edgar. Henderson won what some were calling a close decision but it appeared that Clay Guida had nothing to offer Henderson except a few stiff shots in punching frenzies, none of which put the number one contender in real trouble. Bendo however looked unstoppable and will provide a real threat to the champion in Japan. Hindsight is of course 20/20 and it would have been ideal to have this fight on FOX but the choices that were made were made strategically. I highly recommending finding this fight and watching it all the same. You won’t be disappointed and you will exactly what to expect come February.