Lackluster UFC 89 event raises more questions than answers
Published by Staff on October 19th, 2008 in Current Events

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By Zach Arnold

For a ‘free’ MMA show on Spike TV, UFC 89 sure felt like an average show. Sure, there were some gutty performances from Chris Lytle and Marcus Davis in the midcard fights, but the majority of the fights in Birmingham, England were entirely missable.

The big question going into UFC 89 was whether or not Michael Bisping would be ready to elevate his game to the next level and face Anderson Silva in the near future. The answer coming out of his event and his fight against Chris Leben was a big fat ‘no.” Bisping had a game plan he stuck to throughout the entire fight against the perennial midcarder Leben, but it was clear that the Brit was in no mood to get into a power slugfest. Leben was a tailor-made opponent for Bisping to knockout or finish. Instead, he chose the safe route and continued his upward climb in UFC. Part of that climb includes a future coaching spot on The Ultimate Fighter reality TV show as a coach. There’s discussion that either Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson will be the opposite coach. Normally, the two TUF coaches end up fighting each other. Based on Bisping’s recent performances, if he gets in the cage against either Henderson or Franklin, he’s in a lot of trouble.

Bisping is plenty popular in the UK and is easily the face of UFC in Europe right now. The problem is that for as good of a job as UFC has done marketing him, Bisping simply is not at the same level as many of UFC’s top 185-pounders or 205-pounders. He talks a great game, has a hardcore legion of fans, but there’s a glass ceiling that the Brit needs to crack before anyone should give him serious consideration as a championship contender. A match-up between Bisping and Anderson Silva at this point would be even more lopsided than when Ricky Hatton was decimated by Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The title of this article claims that more questions than answers were raised coming out of the UFC 89 event, and one big fight on the card that underscored this theme on the show was Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera. Jardine won a split decision over Vera, whose career in the UFC is in real trouble. Vera has always talked a great game, but he just doesn’t have that killer instinct any longer to finish off opponents when he gets them in a precarious position. Jardine, meanwhile, is stuck in limbo even after this win. It was another colorless win for a fighter who clearly has talent but not a lot of marketability. The difference between Jardine and Rashad Evans, who both train with Greg Jackson in New Mexico, is that Evans gives you some flashes of brilliance and excitement in his fights. You never know if he is going to get a spectacular knockout or wear down an opponent with takedowns. Jardine, meanwhile, is a respectable fighter who simply doesn’t move the needle at this point. He lose to Wanderlei Silva, beat Chuck Liddell, and now narrowly got a win over Brandon Vera. Jardine is going to need a few impressive wins to even earn consideration for a title shot.

Marcus Davis continued his impressive streak of good fights in the UK by defeating Paul Kelly with a front neck lock for the submission in round two. Davis is another fighter who is kind of stuck in limbo, having lost decisively to Mike Swick but winning impressively against other fighters. UFC commentator Joe Rogan said that Davis is constantly improving, which is undoubtedly true. The problem is that at 170 pounds, he’s in an absolute murderer’s row of a decision. A move up to 185 pounds would provide some interesting match-ups and perhaps add some career direction for the New Englander.

However, it seems that Davis is on a collision course with another midcard 170-pound fighter in Chris Lytle, who showed a great chin against Paul Taylor and won a unanimous decision. It may have been the best fight on the televised portion of the card. How much interest is there for Davis vs. Lytle, however?

Even thought UFC 89 aired for ‘free’ on Spike TV, the event itself really didn’t build much momentum for next week’s UFC 90 card in Chicago. Anderson Silva’s retirement talk was the hot topic of conversation going into UFC 89 and his upcoming fight against Patrick Cote is the hot topic of conversation going into next week. The talk about Silva vs. Bisping should stop… right about now.

UFC 90 (10/25 Chicago) card line-up:

Welterweights: Josh Burkman vs. Pete Sell
Lightweights: Hermes Franca vs. Marcus Aurelio
Middleweights: Dan Miller vs. Matt Horwich
Lightweights: Spencer Fisher vs. Shannon Gugerty
Middleweights: Thales Leites vs. Drew McFedries
Lightweights: Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin
Heavyweights: Fabricio Werdum vs. Junior Dos Santos
Lightweights: Rich Clementi vs. Gray Maynard
Welterweights: Josh Koscheck vs. Thiago Alves
Middleweights: Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote