I saw the PPV last night at BW3's, place was PACKED, and was going nuts throughout the evening. It is great to see because I have gone to it for the last 10 or so PPVs other than 100 and it has definitely been getting more and more people. That is good for MMA, IMO.
That being said, here are my quick thoughts:
- I was terrible picking the first 4 fights. I pick a guy and he loses. Neer, Grove, Sadollah, and Nelson... all beaten to shit in their fights.
- The Sadollah TKO seemed rushed. He definitely wasn't knocked out at any point. I only got to see the replays they showed on the PPV airing, but unless I am missing something, he was taking a beating, but definitely wasn't out of it. The fight should have gone on.
- The three decisions were very bland, except for the Neer/Pellegrino fight, IMO. Neer/Pellegrino put on a good show with Neer at least fighting back and making it relatively even at points, but Pellegrino always seemed to get the takedowns and rack up the points. The Nelson/Riley fight seemed very bland mainly because Nelson did nothing. I have to watch it again to see how he won a round, but I was very unimpressed. The Grove/Almeida fight had some nice points, but Almeida dominated Grove against the cage and on the ground. Grove has zero strength and really needs to fine tune his game because all of his fights are ending up with him on the losing end of being pressed against the cage.
- Anderson Silva is a beast. I predicted before the fight that he would win when Griffin would try to go toe to toe with him and I lucked out. Considering I was 0-4 in predictions up to that point, it was a welcome victory. Silva dominated in every fashion and showed the KO power that many people were bashing him for not having anymore. He purposefully allowed Griffin to get back into the fight, only to destroy him even more. He could have ended it a minute earlier, but wanted to put on a show. I have always put him as #1 P4P on my list and this seals it. To be able to dominate across 2 weight classes is very impressive. And no, I'm not hating on Fedor or GSP, but I always view P4P rankings more as "What have you done for me lately?" like Power Rankings. Silva since entering the UFC has been the most dominant force in MMA, IMO.
- For all the people blasting Griffin for quitting and running off, you have never had a jaw dislocated. It is vicious. Everything kills, every slight movement of the head is excruciating. He knew his limit and got out. I'll fault him for getting destroyed, but I won't fault him for hurrying to get medical attention.
- Penn came out very, very fast. I was surprised. Hopefully, he sticks with this trainer because he looked untouchable last night. He was fast, strong, and deadly with his strikes. I'm surprised he didn't get a KO sooner, but by the 4th round, it was clear that Florian wasn't about to take him down and Penn was dominating the standup game.