UFC 68 The Uprising

[jltimm]

Anyone watch? Randy Couture is now the Heavyweight champ after beating Tim Sylvia. Other winners are Rich Franklin,Matt Hughes,Matt Hamill,Jon Fitch,and Jason Lambert to name some.It's awesome to see Couture take out Sylvia, as Sylvia was kind of a boring champ.Matt Hughes fought Chris Lytle and won a three round decision. Rich Franklin stopped a tough Jason Macdonald after Macdonald's corner had seen enough in 2 rounds.Now who will Couture,Franklin, and Hughes fight next?

[hanson]

I remember after Sylvia fought Monson, I said I'd never watch another Sylvia fight. But... I tuned in to watch Couture kick his a$$!

If you didn't watch it, Couture put on a clinic and absolutely dominated Sylvia. I don't think Sylvia landed a single punch all 5 rounds. Sylvia has a 14" reach advantage and couldn't touch Couture, while Couture is landing combos on Sylvia at will. Very first right hand from Randy in the 1st round put Sylvia to the mat!!

Besides putting on a boxing clinic, Randy could basically take the 6'-8", 265+lb Sylvia down at will. And then proceeded to grapple and get side control & full mount whenever he wanted. It did appear that Randy struggled to get good shots in from the ground but after the first 3 rounds were scored Randy's direction, I think he went into survival mode.

After the fight, Sylvia then tells the crowd he had an injury that he didn't think would affect him but probably shouldn't have taken the fight. What? Why would you say that? It took Randy all of 3 seconds to put you to the mat with a big right, that was the result of an injury right?

All night long, all Joe Rogan was talking about was how these former champs would regroup after big losses; Hughes to St. Pierre, Franklin to Silva, and Couture to Liddell. Now how is Sylvia going to respond to losing his championship belt? I don't know... He did not show any aggressiveness at all in his fight with Randy. He didn't push the action, it looked like he didn't want to be there.

There was speculation that Randy might be fighting Mirko Kro Kop next.

[Pantherburn]

Cro-cop is facing Arlovsky in England. I am not sure of the date but it has been announced. Great match-up.

Couture looked awesome last night. Total domination. I think the scoring could have been even more lopsided in Couture's favor. That first round he dropped Silvia in the first five seconds and had his back the entire five minutes. 10-8 round guys. But who cares, he swept 'em anyways.

Hughes played it real safe. Good win but not overly impressive.

Franklin looked real, real sharp. Nice comeback fight. All facets of his game were clicking.

I have to say that Jason Lambert really suprised me. He lit up Bobalu...and it wasn't even close.

All in all, great card. Can't wait for April 7th.

[The Grebe]

Wow? I thought Randy was done? I don't mean just retired, I mean done? I was certain that like most of the other MMA fighters that are in their mid forties, his time had come and gone?

The last couple of times out, I thought he looked slow and mechanical and as UFC fighters go, I thought he got winded pretty easy...I thought for sure that Sylvia would eat Randy Coutures lunch, knocking him stiff with that big reach advantage....I guess I better stop thinking!

[jltimm]

Arlovsky and Cro Cop! That will be an excellent fight I think! How about the upcoming fight of Diego Sanchez vs Josh Koschek?

[Pantherburn]

The Sanchez-Koschek match-up makes me nervous. I really like Diego and have followed him since his stint on the first TUF. He won a close match the first time against Koschek. I am hoping for an encore, only more impressive. Koschek has improved a ton since the TUF 1 season as has Diego. I feel Koschek has been somewhat babied along thus far. He faced one 'legit' opponent in Drew Fickett and dominated until the final minute of the fight where he shot and caught a knee to the mush and ultimately got choked out.....rear-naked stylee. Despite leading convincingly to that point, he lost. Such is life in the UFC.

Diego on the other hand had a fight that ranks as one of the best I have seen. The Parisian fight was awesome. They put on a clinic in nearly every facet of MMA. Diego knocked out Diesel Riggs to further show that his skill set is ever evolving. I feel that Diego is on the doorstep and don't believe he needs to fight Koschek again. If the winner of TUF wasn't guaranteed a title shot, I would think that Diego is due a shot. If not, I would have loved to see him against Hughes last night instead of Lydle. I think he is ready for a shot. I hope he gets past Koschek but like I stated earlier, it makes me nervous.

[jltimm]

I don't like Koschek or Diego, but I think they are both excellent fighters with Diego being better. They have both improved bigtime from their beginning. I thought when Diego fought Nick Diaz that was the best fight I've ever seen! Joe Riggs is lousy at best.If Hughes doesn't get St. Pierre for his next fight, he should fight the winner of the Koschek vs Diego fight. It's very interesting right now in the UFC!