In the wake of UFC on Versus 4: "Kongo vs. Barry" last night (June 26, 2011) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Octagon boss Dana White had some glowing words of praise for the event.
In fact, he went so far as to say it was one of the best shows his promotion has ever put together.
Whether or not you agree, the very fact that he can even make such a claim is an amazing feat. That's because the entire fight card was ravaged by injuries, not to mention one very high profile suspension.
If was as though a dark cloud had descended on "Steel City" and made its home just over the Consol Energy Center, bringing bad juju, crappy karma and an overall sense of unease.
And, just as quick as it had seemingly come, that cloud disappeared and some of the lesser known stars of the UFC shined on through.
Here's what White had to say about the event at the post-fight press conference:
"I think this is one of the best cards we've ever done. From top to bottom, great fights. It was a great night. The fights were awesome. These guys came in and delivered. I say this all the time: we're very lucky in the UFC that we've got guys like Rick Story, Brenneman, all these guys that step up when bad things happen. These guys step up and put on a show like the show you saw tonight. From the first prelim to the main event, they killed it tonight. It was awesome. ... I think this is one of the best cards we've ever had."
With UFC now routinely offering full fight cards for fans viewing pleasure, via Facebook, YouTube, Spike, Versus and pay-per-view, entire cards can now be taken into account when judging an event.
So is White just ramping up the hyperbole? Let's take a look at some of the pros and the cons of last night's show:
Pros:
- Six of the 11 fights on the card featured some form of finish; four knockouts to go with two submissions.
- The main event featured a thrilling come from behind knockout that will likely go down as one of the greatest comebacks in UFC history.
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Matt Mitrione backed up his big talk from the weigh-ins when he told Christian Morecraft he was "f*cked." He then proceeded to knock Morecraft out and smoothly walk out, getting his pimp strut on in the process.
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Joe Lauzon absolutely tore through Curt Warburton, twisting him up like a pretzel in under two minutes.
- Charlie Brenneman took a fight against Rick Story on one day's notice and pulled off the upset as a 5 to 1 underdog.
- An Ultimate Fighter (TUF) prospect shined in his first fight since losing out on the TUF crown when Michael Johnson performed wonderfully in a knockout win over Edward Faaloloto.
- Did I mention Cheick Kongo's insane come from behind knockout win over Pat Barry? In the headlining fight when it was widely panned as not worthy of main event status, no less.
Cons:
- A great fight between Charles Oliveira and Nik Lentz, which ended with "do Bronx" forcing a tap from "The Carney" via rear-naked choke submission, was marred by Oliveira landing an illegal knee just before sinking in the winning choke.
- Five of the 11 fights went the distance and not in the "Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar at The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale" kind of way.
- Like it or not, the event was lessened by the turmoil surrounding Nate Marquardt, who stole the lions share of the attention in the lead-up to the show.
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Joe Stevenson put in his fourth consecutive poor performance, which will likely lead to his imminent dismissal from the organization.
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Tyson Griffin, who was making his featherweight debut, looked rather pedestrian and certainly didn't inspire confidence in an extended run in the 145-pound division.
With the good comes the bad and you could feasibly break every event down to its very minute details but Dana White doesn't proclaim every event as "one of the best we've ever done."
After looking at the good and bad of this particular show, would you agree with his sentiments?