Travis Browne kicks Alistair Overeem on his way to a knockout win. Photo via Getty Images.

UFC Fight Night 26 was a fight card that was hyped as one of the most stacked ever, but it didn’t feel that way going into last Saturday night. The main and co-main events were fights where 75 percent of the combatants were coming off losses, so it was difficult to buy into what was being served up by the promoter.

But the tone quickly changed once the prelims started.

With seven finishes (three submissions and four knockouts), UFC Fight Night 26 lived up to the hype and changed fortunes for several competitors involved.

Chael Sonnen is still a formidable middleweight

In his post-fight interview, Chael Sonnen calls out Wanderlei Silva. Photo via Getty Images.

Yes, he talks a lot. Yes, he has a pro wrestling schtick that’s getting tiresome a lot of people. And yes, he was brutally beaten up in his previous two fights. But Chael Sonnen, a middleweight, took a fight to a guy many consider a top 10 light heavyweight and dominated him from beginning to end, submitting Shogun Rua in the first round. And it’s not as though he got lucky doing it.

Sonnen recently moved to Southern California after the gym that he had been training at in Oregon closed up shop. With the move came a new home and team in Reign Training Center, led by fellow middleweight contender Mark Munoz. More times than not, a major geographical move like that would be a distraction in preparing to feature in the main event of a UFC card. But, evidently, this wasn’t the case for the “American Gangster.”

Sonnen implemented his game plan, shooting in for a classic takedown as soon as the fight began, neutralizing any offense Rua had in mind. And once the takedown occurred, Sonnen let the former Pride Grand Prix winner have it with 58 strikes landed. That’s a steep comparison to what Rua landed with nine, according to FightMetric.com.

Shogun, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, is no slouch on the ground, so it’s perplexing to wonder why — beyond being exhausted from defending himself on the ground — the fighter would give up his head for an obvious guillotine. Regardless of why, Sonnen took full advantage and finished the fight at 4:47 of the opening frame.

Sonnen has fought at light heavyweight before, but UFC fans are used to seeing him fight one division below at 185 pounds. His recent UFC stretch at middleweight has him losing to Anderson Silva (twice), with his only other loss in the division to Demian Maia, who isn’t even a middleweight anymore. Nate Marquardt, Yushin Okami, Brian Stann and Michael Bisping all tried to top Sonnen, but none had their hands raised at the end of their matches with him. With a run like that, it’s difficult to say this man is done at 185 pounds. The Shogun win just puts the icing on the cake.

And now Sonnen wants to take care of business with Wanderlei Silva, calling out “The Axe Murderer” during his post-fight interview, as seen in the video below.

“Wanderlei Silva, in three months: you and the bad guy,” Sonnen so eloquently said.

And while a fight with Silva sounds appealing, given the history the two have that started with a car ride wherein Sonnen gets threatened to have his teeth knocked out, there’s another middleweight that wants a piece.

Vitor Belfort has shot down every fight offer the UFC has given him since beating Luke Rockhold earlier this year, but Sonnen’s performance may have woken up the “old lion.” Belfort wants Sonnen, and if you follow me on Twitter you’ll know I’m OK with this.

Sonnen is ranked No. 9 in the UFC rankings, but I don’t see a problem with a No. 1-contender fight between him and Belfort. Rankings are, after all, next to meaningless these days in UFC matchmaking involving Sonnen.

Alistair Overeem has lost his luster; beware of Travis Browne

Photo via Getty Images.

Once upon a time, Alistair Overeem was a big, scary man that anyone above 206 pounds feared when staring at him from across a ring or cage. “The Reem” toppled opponents outside of the Octagon, earning championship belts in DREAM, Strikeforce, and even a kickboxing title in K-1. Impressive.

With accolades galore and a reputation for being the most dangerous striker in the heavyweight division, Overeem came to the UFC in 2011 with a promise that he’ll add to his collection of gold belts by first decimating Brock Lesnar (which he did, to his credit) followed by then-champion Junior dos Santos. Sounds great and all, but Overeem’s talk and muscular physique were the only things big about his UFC performances.

Overeem was knocked out by Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 156, then met Travis Browne’s front kick before being knocked out last Saturday. As a result, the once-most-feared heavyweight is on a two-fight losing streak and the aura of Overeem has dwindled down from a solar flare into a faint glimmer with questionable endurance and a suspect chin.

With the loss, Overeem’s chances of collecting that coveted UFC heavyweight belt are further away than when he was beating up tomato cans in DREAM. It’s a shame, really, because the thought of Overeem being the No. 1 contender made MMA fans shake with excitement in early 2012.

Now, it will likely never happen. What a letdown.

If there’s anything else that can be taken away from UFC Fight Night’s co-main event, it’s that Browne deserves all the credit in the world for surviving an early first-round onslaught that could have been stopped by the referee in any other fight. For a moment, it looked as though Overeem was about to get a technical-knockout win by landing several knees to Browne’s body and hammering down punches while the fighter crouched over, covering his head.

To the surprise of many, Browne got up. And sure enough, Overeem gassed out.

Browne then applied several front kicks before landing one square on his opponent’s chin, sending the mammoth Overeem to the canvas for the last time in the fight. Two hammer fists later, it was all over.

The win brings Browne to a 6-1-1 record in the UFC, the only loss being a TKO at the hands of “Bigfoot.” One has to ask: If Browne hadn’t injured his knee during the Silva fight, would the outcome be the same? It’ll be interesting to see what would happen if the two are pitted in a rematch with a healthy Travis Browne and a “Bigfoot” needing a win to avoid two losses in a row. Surely, a win for Browne would put him right up there into talk of title contention, while a loss for Silva could possibly mean a trip to Bellator.

After last Saturday, maybe Silva would meet Overeem there.

Conor McGregor is featherweight’s cash cow

Conor McGregor gets massive greeting from fans during his UFC Fight Night 26 walkout. Photo via Getty Images.

So this Conor McGregor kid is pretty good, huh?

With his win over Max Holloway, McGregor further set his place in the UFC’s 145-pound division — as if being a prelim fighter getting his own pre-fight media workout wasn’t enough of an indication. The Irishman displayed an array of striking techniques for people to marvel at, outpointing Holloway for the duration of three rounds, even earning a 10-8 score on one of the judges’ scorecards.

Saturday was nothing less than a dominant performance for McGregor, and as great as it was it panned out to be the first decision win of his career. While some might scoff at the win, complaining that anything less than a knockout or submission is a disappointment, few take into consideration that McGregor went 15 minutes without looking like he was running low on energy.

The guy has stamina, no question.

If the new kid on the block keeps making hits like he did in Boston (yes, that was a NKOTB reference for those wondering) on Saturday, he’ll soon find himself in consideration for a shot at division champ Jose Aldo. There’s no doubt that a striking exchange between the two would be fun to watch. If McGregor’s stamina can last him for five rounds, there’s a good chance he can lay more shots on a weary Aldo, whose championship-round stamina has been questioned in the past.

After two fights in the UFC, McGregor is a shooting star that doesn’t look like it’s burning out any time soon. Skills, confidence and a huge following are all things that McGregor possesses and can help the UFC’s 145-pound division gain some steam against their heavier colleagues.

More Irishman, please.

*****

“The Guard Past” is a post-fight column by GRACIEMAG Assistant Editor Erik Fontanez.

Phil Davis is announced the winner in a fight that many believe should have been in favor of Lyoto Machida. Photo via UFC Facebook.

Lyoto Machida got robbed. Plain and simple.

It’s not every day that a column of mine starts off with frustration about a bad call. After all, this is MMA and bad decisions happen from time to time. But this one at UFC 163 was way too bad.

The culprits in this fiasco were judges Sal D’Amato, Chris Watts and Rick Winter. These people, for whatever reason they felt they needed to, scored a fight for Davis when it was clearly won by Machida.

“I don’t know what they are judging,” Machida said.

I don’t think they know what they’re judging either, Lyoto.

FightMetric.com, the industry standard for measuring fight statistics, published a comprehensive breakdown of the Machida-Davis bout. Sure enough, the breakdown concluded that Machida was the more accurate striker and landed more significant blows than his opposition, and scored the bout 30-27 for Machida. Yes, 30-27.

The factor, we all assume, that the judges were looking at were the two takedowns that Davis secured at the end of the first and second rounds. The former Penn State wrestler successfully got Machida to the ground and kept him there, opening up the opportunity to rain strikes from top position.

From the outside looking in, though, the majority of strikes that Davis successfully landed were in his second takedown, whereafter he landed knees and elbows that scored him the lion’s share of his points.

Official UFC 163 scorecard for Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis. Image courtesy of UFC.

The first takedown was followed by striking attempts — but that’s about it, mostly just attempts. The definition of effective striking was used too loosely by two of three  judges (D’Amato and Winter) when they scored the first and second rounds.

Apart from the lack of effective striking after the takedowns, there’s the success rate of said takedowns. Davis got Machida down to the mat twice, but those two successful shots took him 10 times to accomplish. That’s a 2-for-10 performance for a 20 percent success rate. With that fact I ask you this: In what world is that considered a satisfactory ratio?

Short answer: there isn’t one.

But let’s forget about FightMetric’s statistics for a bit. How about we look at the fight for face value? In the third round, Machida looked fresh and ready to go another two rounds, stuffing every takedown attempt, while Davis looked frustrated and puzzled. Davis went 0 for 4 in takedowns during the last frame.

Shortly after the decision, when Twitter’s site traffic blew up to nuclear proportions, some began to say things, like “Never leave it in the hands of the judges.” That’s a cop out. Fighters shouldn’t have to worry about incompetence. But they do because judges are incredibly lost in a fight world that heavily depends on them having direction.

This isn’t Davis’ fault. He’s unfortunately involved in a controversial decision that pits him the winner of a fight that he fought hard in and trained hard for. Good on him.

The problem here — and this will be a problem until stupidity is erased from existence — is officials failed us. Again.

Jose Aldo got the job done. Who should he fight next? 

At UFC 163, Jose Aldo did what he does best: win.

It was nothing spectacular or mind boggling that would have made you jump out of your bar stool or off your couch, depending on where you were watching the pay-per-view. He just got the job done and capitalized when the time was right.

Before Chan Sung Jung separated his shoulder and Aldo swarmed in on him like a hungry predatory animal, questions about the champ’s cardio were asked during the main event’s broadcast. The questions, however, were unnecessary because Jung, at no point, showed any explosive flurries where Aldo had trouble keeping up.

At 23-1 and on a 16-fight win streak, Aldo is appearing to be more and more unstoppable as time goes on. And it’s not as though he has peaked and is nearing his decline any time soon. Scary thought for featherweights.

The UFC isn’t making an official announcement about Aldo’s next fight yet, but names like Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes are being thrown around the internet as the next in line. Swanson, in fact, already started a Twitter campaign to get his shot. Observe:

Photo via Cub Swanson’s Twitter page.

Despite Swanson’s hopes through the social media pool, Lamas is currently the most deserving challenger to the featherweight crown. With all due respect to Swanson, Aldo has already beaten him — an eight-second knockout at WEC 41 in 2009. He also lost to Lamas at the inaugural UFC on Fox event in November 2011, so it’s tough to justify Swanson getting a title shot in front of him.

Lamas, at the very least, will provide a never-before-seen challenge to Aldo. And with four wins in row in the UFC, there’s little room to boast someone else as the new challenger, regardless of Chad Mendes’ status in the official UFC rankings as No. 1 contender.

Having Aldo fight anyone beyond Lamas the next time out would be a waste of time in developing the featherweight division into a pay-per-view powerhouse.

But when he’s paid his dues, Conor McGregor’s laser precision and incredible speed will make for an entertaining night of 145-pound action against Aldo. Imagine the striking exchange in that tilt. Oh boy.

Now we just have to wait for the champ’s broken foot to heal. I guess that’s what happens when you fight a “Zombie.”

See you in 2014, featherweight title fight.

Dememtrious Johnson (right) applies the armbar to beat John Moraga at UFC on Fox 8. Photo via Getty Images.

He’s quick, effective, strong and a well-rounded mixed martial artist. These are the reasons why Demetrious Johnson holds the UFC’s 125-pound (flyweight) title.

His only problem, it seems, is that he’s 125 pounds, fighting in a weight division that is still developing and yet to be a proven draw.

But what’s the reason behind the lack of drawing power? Well, there’s the idea that fans observe the Octagon, gazing upon fighters half their size, then say something along the lines of, “I’m twice as big as that dude. I can take him!”

But who beyond keyboard warriors will say that kind of thing? Likely few, and certainly not anyone with half a brain.

Whatever the reason for the lack of flyweight fever, the overnight ratings, according to tvbythenumbers.com, show that UFC on Fox 8 had the lowest ratings of any fight card on “big Fox” since the promotor and television station signed their landmark partnership in 2011. The average of 2.04 million viewers and .9 rating in the 18-49 age demographic are a far cry from the first UFC on Fox, which did a 5.7 million average with a 3.1 rating.

That’s the textbook definition of downslope, folks.

But, as is the usual following UFCs on Fox, now begins the wait to hear what UFC President Dana White will say in response to “dummies” and “morons” who know nothing of ratings and how they work.

Admittedly, I’m one of those alleged morons because I pay little attention to ratings. I watch the fights for fight purposes, and that’s all. But when the numbers are right there in front of my face, I can’t ignore them, regardless of how moronic I may or may not be. So they get, at the very least, a mention. Besides, that seemed to be the only thing people were talking about on Sunday morning.

The fact is that the 125-pound division is in its infancy, and casual fans still need to soak in the names, like Johnson, Benavidez and McCall, for a bit longer before getting overly excited about the flyweights. Give it time, people. After all, lightweights, who’ve been in the UFC for years now, still  to this day face an uphill ratings battle with their heavier colleagues. Just take a look at lightweight pay-per-view buys and Fox ratings in comparison to heavier main events.

So, are flyweights just mediocre fighters and that’s why they don’t draw? Of course not. Evidenced by the superb performance put on by “Mighty Mouse” in the UFC on Fox 8 main event and other fighters on previous cards, the flyweights have talent in terms of skill, speed, endurance and other characteristics. Now they just have to pay their dues and fight their way up the ladder. On thing that will help — and I write this knowing it’s easier said than done — is less decisions and more finishes.

And while we’re at it, let’s stop the “super-fight” talk. If we’re to give flyweight a chance to shine, we can’t take their title holder and have him fight a weight class higher — not just yet, anyway. It’s not as though Johnson cleared out the weight class, as there are currently 16 flyweights signed to the UFC roster. Beating four in a row, while impressive, doesn’t call for a champion versus champion showdown, especially since bantamweight has its own issues at the moment.

But that’s a whole other column.

Robbie Lawler is downright scary again at 170 pounds

Robbie Lawler (left) victorious at UFC on Fox 8. Photo via Getty Images.

Over 11 years ago, Robbie Lawler made his UFC debut, a unanimous-decision win over Aaron Riley at UFC 37. Since then, Lawler has seen his ups and downs as a mixed martial artist.

UFC on Fox 8 showed that his roller coaster career is currently on the upswing.

Upon returning to the UFC, the 12-year MMA veteran decided to drop to welterweight for the first time since 2004. The move has proven to be a positive one for him, as “Ruthless” finished two consecutive welterweight fights since dropping a weight class.

The knockout of Voelker on Saturday’s UFC on Fox broadcast, although not over a definitive top-10 fighter, showed that Lawler is approaching the upper echelon of fighters in the division, much like he was all those years ago. Without question, another win at 170 pounds will put the former middleweight in the mix with names like Demian Maia, Rory MacDonald, among others.

Two wins. Two knockouts. A featured bout, perhaps on a pay-per-view, against a top-five competitor isn’t completely out of question for Lawler.

Anyone up for a rematch against Nick Diaz?

Lawler and Diaz first faced off way back at UFC 47, a fight wherein Diaz got the best of his opposition by peppering Lawler with punches until it was too much. The knockout is one of the most impressive wins for Diaz in a lot of circles.

Book it, Dana White and Joe Silva. That is if Diaz is back from his pseudo retirement.

Rory MacDonald, Jake Ellenberger both hurt their stock

Rory MacDonald’s unanimous-decision win at UFC on Fox 8 wasn’t pretty.

For three rounds, Ellenberger wouldn’t “pull the trigger” in a fight where he conjured up a lot of trash talk leading into it.

If the Seattle crowd booing wasn’t enough to tell you, the bout was a disappointment.

“I did exactly what I was supposed to do,” MacDonald said at the post-fight press conference. “I kept up my end.”

Not so fast, according to Dana White. In the opinion of the UFC President, and most everyone else that watched the fight, MacDonald didn’t do anything to try and finish the fight.

“Rory didn’t do anything to try and … make a statement, not only to the world, but to the guys in that division,” White declared.

And he’s right. MacDonald, and to a further extent, Ellenberger, did nothing to live up to the pre-fight jargon that promoted the fight.

Luckily for MacDonald, he came out ahead on the scorecards, which means he’ll move closer to fighting for a title shot (if he ever agrees to fighting teammate Georges St-Pierre). But he didn’t earn any fans. And that might not be important to him for now, but it should be. Less fans equals less appeal. Less appeal equals pay-per-view less buys. Less buys means less leverage in contract negotiations, which isn’t good in the long run of things.

As for Ellenberger, there’s nothing worse than leaving a bad taste in your boss’ mouth. When White says you “did nothing” in a fight that weighed heavily on the 170-pound picture, things can’t be all that good going forward. The trash talk leading in was epic — Sonnen-like, if you will — but you have to deliver the goods if you’re going to make anything of it. That didn’t happen on Saturday night.

The road back to contender status is going to be a long one for Ellenberger.

“The Guard Past” is a post-fight column by GRACIEMAG Assistant Editor Erik Fontanez. Look for more of the same following more fights in the future.