All the pre-fight Heath Herring (26-12) hype contributed to his loss to Jake O'Brien (10-0) last night at UFC Fight Night 8, according to an interview on UFC.com.
Ring rust, new rules, nerves and a torn MCL also doomed the debut of the "Texas Crazy Horse," as well as scrapped the UFC's plan to build him into a legitimate heavyweight contender out of the gate.
Herring is an accomplished fighter, performing well in PRIDE and K-1 prior to signing with the UFC. He's good ... and there are many reasons to have such high hopes for him.
More than 700 unique UFCmania.com readers responded to our poll question , "Who will steal the show at UFC Fight Night 8?," prior to the event.
The results were balanced, with 29 percent of pollsters feeling that Herring was destined to shine.
On the contrary, last night's loss to O'Brien was ugly. The entire fight was a total abortion. In fact, I think it'll go down as one of the worst fights of the year.
O'Brien, a former Purdue University wrestler, took Herring down at will. Herring could not defend the takedown whatsoever, which is disturbing when you consider his extensive background.
I counted at least five different times O'Brien took Herring's back, and not once did he attempt a submission or try to do something from the position. He was content to just hug Herring until the referee stood them up or Herring escaped.
In short, both of these guys didn't look good for different reasons.
It just goes to show that the UFC heavyweight division is still a huge work in progress.
But, at least we can count on Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic to perform. He makes me happy.
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