By Opie Hughes
hughes1059@gmail.com
With the Brock Lesnar title fight out of the way and the shock waves thereafter calming, a question comes to mind. Did you all see the UFC 117 card!!?? With numbers sure to molest the record high, I understand why UFC 116 was so hyped. Heavyweights are always a money maker, and that’s a fact, but was this fight card TOO hyped?
Merging the interim heavyweight title and, the ACTUAL title is a big selling point, but what was so special about the preliminary bouts and the under card that deserved all that media attention? Don’t get me wrong, the night turned out to be full of some pretty stellar fights, but seeing the names on the card before the fight had me questioning its media hype. Yes, Stephan Bonnar shares the number 1 fight in UFC history according to the fans, SPIKE TV, and ZUFFA, but did that card seriously show the potential to be as big of a night as it turned out to be?
UFC 116 presented the fans with fighters responsible for 4 of the “UFC 100 Greatest Fights”, and half of those were listed because of the beating the “116” fighter took! Take a look and try to count the number of fights on the list that were brought to you by a UFC 117 fighter. I did, and I lost count… I tried again, and I lost count. I searched for a pen so I could tally the numbers, and after no luck resorted to counting 21 pebbles (I kid you not, I counted pebbles). TWENTY ONE fights, half responsible by a fighter on the August 7th roster.
Anderson Silva is argued by many to be the best P4P fighter in the world, and with that alone should come so much more attention. After a very disappointing performance at Abu Dhabi “The Spider” has been put into put up or shut up mode! His opponent promises to put his head to Silva’s chest and drive it to the mat, not allowing the antics reminiscent of Saturday Night Fever to take place on his watch. Chael Sonnen is not only the one man to actually call out the middleweight champion, but he is also a republican! This should mean that around half of you should LOVE seeing him take a beating! Silva or Sonnen, Democrat or Republican, I think its fairly safe to assume that this fight will not be a bore like the champs last bouts. If the fight were decided on words alone and ended today… we would have a new champion!
Not only does this card show a million times more potential for a stellar night of slobber knockers, but it also boasts one thing the Lesnar v. Carwin fight did not have… a hall of famer! Has the UFC forgotten all the amazing fights Matt Hughes has given them? I have been a follower of Hughes for 10 years easily and have been noticing more and more lately how his name is just thrown in the commercials like some has-been, or a never-was. Matt Hughes is the Gracie killer, and is still ranked amongst the top 10 welterweights by every site I’ve seen, give the man his dues!!!
Thiago Alves also makes his UFC return after having his brain super glued to take on Jon Fitch in what could easily be a fight of the year candidate. Roy Nelson attempts to continue what has been a very impressive rise to the top of the UFC heavyweight rankings in a bout against the heavy hands of Junior Dos Santos. And just to throw a few more name out there on the list of UFC superstars to make an appearance on the UFC 117 card, how bout’ Clay Guida, who never lets the fans down, the crazy knees of Ben Saunders, Thiago Alves with only 2 losses, both of which were by champions, and Chris “big hair” Brenneman, looking to extend his 6 fight win streak!
Bottom line… this card will be sick! From heavyweights, and hall of famer’s to reputation repairs, and up and comers, DO NOT MISS UFC 117!!!
