BJ Penn loses lightweight title

(pic from here)

Reading the blogosphere about the UFC this past weekend, it looks like I was somewhat right and somewhat wrong in my predictions.  I correctly predicted Matt Hughes would win, though I wish it had been otherwise.  From what I’m reading (I didn’t see and I won’t bother seeing the fight), Silva could have beaten Maia in the first round, but instead spent time clowning around and disgracing the sport.  So I’ll consider my Silva prediction somewhat correct.  The shocker, however, was the fight between Penn and Edgar, which Edgar won by unanimous decision.  I was certain Penn was going to completely dominate.  Oi.  We now have one less Asian American MMA champion!

After seeing the fight, I thought the judges should have given it to Penn, although I can see how it could go either way.  Penn easily won round one.  I thought he narrowly won round two.  Round three could have gone in either direction, although I think Penn was slightly ahead.  Round four was probably Edgar’s, and round five definitely belonged to Edgar.  By the end of the fight, Penn’s face was bruised and damaged, while Edgar still looked fresh.

There is some good commentary here that compares Penn/Edgar to Machida/Rua.  I agree with the commentator: people are not protesting this one as much because fans remember the ending more than the earlier rounds, and Penn and Machida both lost their respective fifth rounds.  If you watch the Penn/Edgar fight in its entirety, BJ probably won three rounds to two, but it was close.  In either case, Penn wasn’t exactly stepping it up from Round 3 onward.

I’m not sure what happened.  Penn may have thought he was ahead and therefore declined to seriously engage his opponent.  Or maybe he was gassed out.  Or maybe he was bored.  His strategy clearly wasn’t working towards the end of round 3.

In either case, he should’ve stepped up.  He should’ve tried something new–what ever happened to his legendary BJJ skills?  I know Edgar is a wrestler, but BJ should have tried to something new and different after the striking game started to go south.

I’ve read some commentary about how Edgar’s win brings new excitement to the lightweight division.  I couldn’t agree less.  How excited can you get over a “champion” who wins all of his MMA fights by outpointing his opponent with light punches?  People may compare him to early Machida fights, but it’s quite different–Machida hardly ever got hit, and even though his early matches often didn’t end with a knockout, it was clear that he was inflicting damage in an artistic way.  Edgar is more of an endurance fighter who wins close decisions.  He won’t liven up the lightweight division.  It’s more likely that he’ll bore us to death.  Hopefully they’ll give Penn a rematch soon.  I’d prefer not to have to sit through five rounds of point sparring every time we see a lightweight title defense.

I want to end with some commentary on Silva.  I didn’t see the fight, but I’ve seen similar antics before.  While I agree with Dana White’s anger, I think Dana ought to do something to bring better fighters to the UFC for Anderson to fight.  Think about this: Silva has managed to hold his belt over the years without fighting Cung Le or Frank Shamrock.  It may be a bit late as both are now past their prime, but I’m sure there are people who could provide him with a serious challenge.  It’s just a matter of paying them right and bringing them in.

Related posts:

1. bigWOWO's Predictions for UFC 112
2. BJ Penn and Anderson Silva Win
3. Lyoto Machida Gets Title Shot!
4. Pacquiao Beats De La Hoya by TKO
5. Envy and Condemnation