UFC 105 post event analysis

Well I was way off. Out of the five main card fights, I correctly picked all of one of them. So while it was a dreadful performance by me, it certainly wasn't by the victors who included Randy Couture, Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping.

Actually, in the case of Couture, I take back the "non-dreadful performance" remark. While it wasn't quite the "Shogun robbery" of UFC 104, I have to wonder just what Couture did to earn a unanimous decision victory over Brandon Vera. Let's see: Vera opened with a combo that was more devastating than anything Couture threw all night and finished the round withstanding every Couture takedown attempt. Next round Vera drops Couture with another wicked combo that included a kick to the body. Again all Couture does is pin Vera up against the cage. Cool. Final round, Vera yet again denies Couture's takedown attempts and is simply pressed up against the cage. As the round closes both fighters unleash a flurry of attacks but Vera visibly hurts Couture again.

All I saw Couture, 46, do this entire fight was hold his opponent against the cage. How can you win a fight by holding someone against a cage? That isn't even fighting! You should be kicked out of the promotion for a performance like that. If it was anybody else I'm sure today, they'd be a free agent right now. Hopefully, at the very least, the UFC realizes Randy Couture just isn't the same fighter he used to be.

Contrary to the main event, Dan Hardy came out fighting in his No. 1 Contender match with Mike Swick. A nice right hand buckled Swick from the get-go and Hardy took the momentum from there and never relinquished it in dominating Swick 30-27 on all three scorecards.

After the fight Hardy and Welterweight Champion Georges St.-Pierre met in the Octagon and talked about their future fight. It will be an interesting one but I guarantee you St.-Pierre won't be unable to take the Brit to the canvas.

Then there's Bisping. The Manchester native once again put on a career performance in front of his hometown crowd. And he needed it. After dropping the first round to Denis Kang, Bisping came out in the second and realized his opponent was winded. He didn't let him catch his breath. Instead he stormed Kang with an onslaught of strikes and quickly had Kang bloodied and even more tired. It wasn't long after that he got the stoppage.

It was a critical win for "The Count" who needed to show he can hang with the top middleweight fighters. Now, Kang isn't top five in the division but perhaps sits around 10th as a contender so let's not get carried away. On the other hand, Kang has now lost both fights to start his UFC career and you have to start to wonder where this leaves him.

UFC 105 was another good solid event that I'm willing to wager right now will be better than UFC 106 which is on pay-per-view. You can look forward to a breakdown of this event later in the week but I will just say right now that it is a very weak card with no real main event. The key takeaway for me from UFC 105 is that Couture is one fighter I don't want to watch fight anymore. All he's going to do is try to take guys down and if he can't get it (which he probably won't) is hold them up against the cage. I don't want to watch that.