UFC 93:
Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin
Dan Henderson wins a split decision to gain the dubious honor of coaching The Ultimate Fighter and then dropping to 185 to fight Michael Bisping. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua does little to prove he is the superior fighter against Mark “The Hammer” Coleman. Marcus Davis defeats Chris Lytle by split decision
(Round 3 – 5:00; Welterweight)
UFC fans and owners alike had high expectations heading into this fight, which can sometimes be an ill omen. Mike Goldberg couldn’t shut up about what a great match this was supposed to be before poor Marcus and Chris could get going. Thankfully, it turned out to be a fun stand-up war. We didn’t see a finish but only the worst cynic could find it a disappointment. Marcus Davis executed a Mark DellaGrotte-approved game plan very reminiscent of Patrick Cote. He got in his strikes when he felt safe and never forgot to move away when things got heavy. Credit should be given to Chris Lytle for not chasing after Marcus Davis. Chris Lytle’s newfound composure was what helped him stay active until the final bell. Unfortunately for him, Marcus Davis was the better, which is why he won the decision. Even though Davis can put on a hell of a show with a mid-level fighter it’s time once again for him to take on (and quite possibly lose against) another top 10 fighter. Alan Belcher submits Denis Kang by guillotine choke
(Round 2 – 4:37; Middleweight)
Damn, this was a real piss-off. Here’s Denis Kang, a man with tons of experience finally making his UFC debut. He’s a well-known fighter, at least to hardcore MMA fans. He provides the perfect “fresh face” to challenge Anderson Silva. My apologies to all the diehard Thales Lietes fans out there. Luckily for all the Alan Belcher fans out there (both of you) they get to see their man and his tasseled shorts move up the middleweight rankings…sigh. Denis Kang was winning the fight up until the point he decided to dive into the open arms of his opponent. Don’t send anyone to the Denis Kang School of takedowns. If he hadn’t made that rookie mistake he could have coasted to win the fight. A man with tons of overseas experience shouldn’t be making rookie mistakes. On the plus side, Denis Kang is still a much better British Columbia representative than Kalib Starnes. Of course that’s not much of a compliment. As for Alan Belcher, he still doesn’t look like he’s ready to fight Rich Franklin or Dan Henderson but he’s at least earned the opportunity to do so. The UFC needs new contenders for Anderson Silva, regardless of how badly they’ll be defeated. Rousimar Palhares defeats Jeremy Horn by unanimous decision
(Round 3 – 5:00; Middleweight)
Jeremy Horn may be in over his head in his latest UFC run but he is damn hard to put away. The best moment of the fight was when he was speaking directly to Mike and Joe while he was in a bad spot. He just wanted to remind us that he was doing the best he could. We do appreciate the sentiment. Rousimar Palhares on the other hand was probably frustrated he couldn’t finish the fight. He did get pretty close to submitting Horn a couple of times. Jeremy Horn’s one hundred plus fights of experience saved him from being completely demolished. Rousimar Palhares showed his composure and never took any risks he couldn’t recover from. In the end he was able to walk away with a convincing decision victory. It should be noted that he has very little in the way of stand-up skills. It’s a damn good thing he’s able to use his strength to take people down. He may be unequalled on the ground in the middleweight division. However if Jeremy Horn can survive on the ground then Anderson Silva probably could too. While Rousimar Palhares may not be ready for a title shot he could at least get Alan Belcher out of the way! John Hathaway defeats Tom Egan by technical knockout
(Round 1 – 4:36; Welterweight)
Tom Egan the Irish-native was getting a GSP-like reaction from the crowd throughout the whole fight. They didn’t air the walk-in but it must have been wild. Unfortunately the hometown crowd didn’t have much to cheer for as Egan was a step behind the entire fight. John Hathaway was very aggressive. Tom Egan didn’t seem quite ready to fight on the big stage. One can only imagine the massive adrenaline dump (read: Joe Rogan’s “octagon shock”) he experienced before the fight began. The crowd was nice enough to give Egan encouragement for every bit of progress he made during the fight. For his sake the UFC should probably wait until the UFC comes back to Ireland before giving him another shot. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua defeats Mark Coleman by technical knockout
(Round 3 – 4:36; Light Heavyweight)
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was able to damage Mark Coleman early on in the fight. Coleman was also able to take Rua down whenever he wanted to. It quickly seemed that Coleman would be too damaged and fatigued to last beyond the second round. Joe Rogan theorized that Mark’s first MMA weight cut had drained him a lot. It’s also possible that men in their mid-40s have a limited gas tank in this kind of situation. That darn Randy Couture has skewed our vision for what middle-aged fighters are capable of. So, by the second round Mark Coleman was looking like a nice Irish ale would be enough to put him away. However Shogun couldn’t muster enough energy to do anything about it. Mark Coleman, having realized his opponent was as effective as a scarecrow, decided to take him down some more. This strategy lead to the fight getting deep into the third round before Shogun remembered he was supposed to win the freaking fight. When he finally threw that rudimentary punch combo it sent Mark Coleman crashing to the mat, which is exactly what everyone watching was expecting to happen in the first round! It should be noted that time was in slow motion while this fight took place. A “stud” (I use quotation marks justifiably) like Mauricio Rua should not have to struggle so much in a fight like this. Credit should be given to Mark Coleman for putting up the best fight he could. However it’s fairly clear that he’s not up for the young guns at 205. After all, he got beat by Shogun. Yes, that’s now a diss MMA fans can use from here on out. Shogun is 27 years old. There’s no reason he should be dead tired mid way through a fight like this. The Shogun who lost to Forrest Griffin looked more inspired than this one who beat Mark Coleman. There’s nothing more that UFC fans would like to see than Shogun tearing it up in the octagon. He’s young enough that he can still make that happen. The UFC has tons of shows they want to put on, but there are hundreds of fighters that want his spot right now. He’s going to have to fight a lot harder than this if he wants to keep it. Dan Henderson defeats Rich Franklin by split decision
(Round 3 – 5:00; Light Heavyweight)
There was a lot less drama in this fight compared to the one that preceded it. The only story here was two great fighters going at to see who was the best. I predicted a close victory for Rich Franklin and I guess I was half-right. It was a very evenly fought contest but it was Dan Henderson that received the judges’ favor. Rich got a few more strikes in on the feet but spent too much time on his back. Dan Henderson did exactly what he needed to in that he didn’t start throwing those wild haymakers he’s known for. He stayed busy on the feet and used his wrestling whenever he saw an opening to do so. Franklin’s takedown defense still needs work. An inadvertent eye-poke by Dan Henderson was the only thing that marred this fight. It happened near the end of the fight so it didn’t change the course of the fight by any means. Rich Franklin did lose the momentum he was gaining at that point but Dan Henderson was not close to being finished. Now Dan Henderson gets to coach opposite Michael Bisping on the next season of the Ultimate Fighter. Dan Henderson must have been booked to win this fight because Rich Franklin had little interest in being a return coach. Now, we’ll get to see two new coaches, one being a former contestant. Dan Henderson will find that creating interest in a new season of a tired reality show is even harder than fighting Rich Franklin. The good news is that Michael Bisping finally has to deal with a middleweight opponent that can cause him a lot of problems. Dan Henderson better hope the fight isn’t in England! So, this show managed to justify its price tag, albeit not by much. It would have been nice to see a finish in the Dan Henderson/Rich Franklin fight. There’s not much more to say about the Shogun/Coleman fight other than it had a lot of perverse entertainment value. Everything else was generally fun to watch. Wonder how the new Affliction show will compare given how much money they’re spending over there. There’s a reason why the UFC can put on two shows a month while they can only put on two a year.
Click here to go back in time and read my predictions for UFC 93:
Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin
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