UFC 63

[White Shogun]

There are everal intriguing match ups from a racial point of view on the card at UFC 63.

Mike Swick vs David Loiseau
Jason Lambert vs Rashad Evans
Gabe Ruediger vs Melvin Guillard

Those are just the white vs black match ups.

Then the rest of the mixed fights:

Matt Hughes vs BJ Penn
Jason Reinhardt vs Roger Huerta
David Lee vs Tyson Griffin

There are three other fights on the card in which all six are of non-European heritage.

Three black fighters on a PPV card, of which all three are scheduled to be part of the televised bouts. If you look at the six names in the white vs black fights, other than Mike Swick there is no doubt that 'stars' in those bouts are the black fighters, and Loiseau is on par with Swick as far as notoriety.

In my opinion, the UFC is already reaching out for a black star to deflect the criticism that the UFC is racist. If you follow the sport on the 'underground' message boards, you will know what I'm talking about. The fact that the UFC is dominated by whites has been pointed out by many others, and not favorably.

TUF 4 brought four black fighters into the house: Pete Spratt, Shonie Carter, Din Thomas, and Gideon Ray. Not that they have performed particularly well, but they're on the show and getting face time.

UFC 62 presented Cheick Kongo, a black man from France whom the UFC signed after dropping Paul Buentello from its heavyweight lineup.

UFC 64 features Rich Franklin vs Anderson Silva, a man who fought one fight in the UFC before 'earning' his shot at the title.

In my opinion, the UFC is desperate for a black 'star' to offset the public perception that the UFC is a racist organization. To that end, I predict that we will see more and more black fighters in televised matchups on all the UFC's shows, including Ultimate Fight Nights and the PPVs. I will also go out on a limb (haha, yeah I'm really reaching here) that many of these black fighters will be matched up against non-black fighters who are noticeably below the perceived ability and experience level of the black fighters in order to boost the popularity and increase the 'hype' of the chosen blacks.

The chief flaw in their plan will be when their chosen black fighters continue to lose to the journeymen and also-rans they pit against them.

Edited by: White Shogun

 

[dkr77]

I agree Shogun. The Guillard / Rudiger match up certainly favors Guillard since I believe this is Rudigers first UFC appearance and Guillard is a huge 155er. I believe Swick will KO Loiseau and Hughes will decisively beat Penn. The Lambert vs Rashad Evans fight is a toss up. I had also heard that Jens Pulver would be returning for this UFC but it does'nt look like it.

 

[Poacher]

Nice post. Can't wait for that Lambert/ Evans fight. Lambert has a lot of experience and Evans has one notable win (Stephan Bonner) and that by decision. I think Evans tastes his first loss here.

Hughes will defeat Penn and avenge that loss.

Anderson Silva is a good fighter I hope Rich is on his game. Everyone thought he would lose to Louiseau but he dominated.

How do you feel about the Pride OWGP final? I'm going with Cro-cop. I think he's in the best place mentally that he's been in awhile. When you can beat someone with leg kicks you're ready. Damn, I just realized that I've seen Cro-cop defeat opponents with low kicks, mid-kicks and high kicks. Awesome.

 

[White Shogun]

I had also heard that Jens Pulver would be returning for this UFC but it does'nt look like it.

Pulver is on the undercard, facing Joe Lauzon.

How do you feel about the Pride OWGP final?

Josh Barnett or Cro-Cop.

All kidding aside, I like both of these guys and would like to see either of them take it. But I think I am going with Barnett in this one.

Have you guys seen any of these four fight:
Jason Reinhardt vs Roger Huerta
David Lee vs Tyson Griffin

 

[Poacher]

Hughes beats Penn
Swick beats Louiseau
Evans beats Lambert
Guillard beats Ruediger

We went 2-2 winning the high profile fights.

Thoughts:

Evans has improved and Guilard has no heart, if you push the pace on him he'll quit.

Swick did very well. He kind of put it on cruise control in the third which I didn't like but he won. It looks as if Louiseau hasn't recovered mentally from the beating Franklin gave him.

Hughes/ Penn fight was the fight of the night. The ground fighting in the second round was incredible probably better than Barnett/ Nog. Penn is incredibly flexible, like trying to sub a cat. Matt took care of him though. I had the fight 1 round each going into the third. Coming out you could tell from the beginning that Penn had nothing left. His arms were low and he was breathing through his mouth, you could tell that it was only a matter of time. Matt's superior cardio conditioning won the day. He took Penn down and got side mount and finished him the same way he finished Carlos Newton...by pinning Penn's arms down crucifix style and unloading on his head. Awesome.

After the fight when Rogan was talking to Hughes GSP came into the ring and told Matt that he wasn't impressed by his performance...Matt looked pissed. They exchanged a few words. Should be a great fight.

All in all a decent night of fights.

 

[dkr77]

Hughes pounded the pineapple picker both standing and on the ground in round 3. It was a great fight and had me worried in both the 1st and 2nd round's. Ruediger, weathered the initial storm, showed alot of heart and I thought he was going to stop the negro, Guillard, at the end of round 1. But ultimately it didn't work out for him and Guillard stopped him in round 2. I was really disappointed that Pulver was KO'ed in the 1st but Lauzon spoke very well and come across as a genuinely nice guy during the post fight interview. I look forward to watching Pulver try again in a future UFC. All things considered it turned out to be a pretty good night of fights.

 

[White Shogun]

I think Ruediger gave more than they expected. The UFC is definitely pumping Guillard. I believe they are under a lot of pressure to have a black champion, or at least more blacks, fighting in the UFC. When was the last time you saw three black guys fighting on the televised portion of a pay per view undercard of a mixed martial arts event?? Cf. the recent recruitment of Cheick Kongo and Anderson Silva, who upon beating one UFC fighter immediately receives a shot at the middleweight title?

Ruediger was a setup fight for Guillard, and Guillard still almost got beat. I can't wait for them to put him in against better talent. Guillard has over 30+ fights on his record!

I thought the odds pretty good that Loiseau would beat Swick. But Swick was faster, more EXPLOSIVE, lol, and did well against Loiseau. No chance Swick will beat Franklin though, based on his performance in this fight.

Evans is looking better all the time, but he is another one who is being babied. I thought it quite telling how he demurred when asked if he thought he was ready for a title fight. He knows, and we know, Chuck would KHTFO.

I'd like to see Evans v Griffin, Evans v Tito, Gulliard v Sean Sherk (lol).

 

[JD074]

Good job, Hughes and Swick!

I thought the odds pretty good that Loiseau would beat Swick. But Swick was faster, more EXPLOSIVE, lol, and did well against Loiseau. No chance Swick will beat Franklin though, based on his performance in this fight.

I was a little skeptical of Swick because he's a little on the skinny side. Nothing wrong with that, but I thought maybe he could be physically overpowered. I love underestimating a white athlete!

I'd like to see Evans v Griffin, Evans v Tito, Gulliard v Sean Sherk (lol).

Those would be interesting. I would like to see Evans fight a physically strong opponent like Ortiz, given that strength is Evans' best asset. Of course, Liddell would also nullify him with his sprawl and superior striking, but as we know, Evans wants none of that.

As for Sherk, he'll fight Kenny Florian, apparently for the lightweight championship. I guess the UFC is finally going to have its second LW champ. So maybe Guillard will fight the winner...?

And on the same night- Franklin vs. Silva! Go Ace! Edited by: JD074

 

[JD074]

I saw the Hughes and Swick fights last night, and man oh man was that Hughes/ Penn fight wild! Penn won rounds one and two, in my opinion (you could give the second round to Hughes for "Octagon control" or whatever you call it, but Penn's submission attempt was more impressive.) And if his conditioning was better he could've beat Hughes- or was it tired legs due to the submission attempt? What takedown defense early on! And he out-striked him, too. But he had nothing left in the third round. Hughes knocked him around, pinned him down, and that was it. That pin was a thing of beauty.

As for the Swick fight, I'm disappointed. It wasn't a very good fight. Loiseau in particular was so tentative. You could tell he tried to be more aggressive at the beginning of the second round, but Swick hit him a couple of times and that stopped him in his tracks. But in the third round he finally got going, landing some excellent leg kicks, taking down Swick, and landing some hard elbows and punches. Swick should stop screwing around in the ring and take it a little more seriously. Loiseau was so unimpressive that Swick should've dominated him for all three rounds. And check those leg kicks!

At any rate, it was good to see Loiseau stink it up. Sorry UFC, he's not your black savior! You'll have to look elsewhere (Silva, Evans, Guillard) for that!

What really sucked is how all three commentators were clearly rooting for Loiseau. They were waiting, waiting, waiting for Loiseau to win the fight. In the third round Goldberg exclaimed, "It's Crow Time!"

Even Couture seemed to be rooting for Loiseau, which was a personal disappointment for me, given that he was the reason I started watching MMA. Edited by: JD074