Monday, April 12, 2010

A Hero's Welcome

It seems newly-crowned UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar got a well-deserved hero's welcome upon his return to Tom's River on Sunday (link here: http://www.app.com/article/20100411/NEWS/100411047/Sirens-fanfare-as-UFC-champ-returns-home ).  This is pure awesomeness on so many levels, especially since you don't get more homegrown than Edgar.  He literally worked his way up from the UCL to Sportfighting, Reality Fighting and Ring of Combat to the UFC, and though everyone who ever sat ringside for one of his local bouts knew he was a stud, the idea that he'd be able to dethrone the legendary BJ Penn seemed like a longshot at best.  Bravo, Frankie.  Bravo.

Observations from My Couch: UFC 112 "Holy Crap Frankie Did It!"

    • How the hell did Kendall Grove lose?  He practically had Mark Munoz unconscious, bound and gagged, and set on fire with gasoline.  That bout was like watching an old Bruce Willis action flick.
    • I am unmoved by Rafael dos Anjos’ ability to submit one of the UFC’s British “B” team members.  It is the equivalent of tapping out someone on the junior varsity team.
    • Phil Davis defeated Alexander Gustafsson… and why should I care?
    • Watching Renzo lose was painful.  Watching him lose the same way Paul Varelans lost to Marco Ruas at UFC 7 back in 1995… well, that just plain-old sucked.
    • Kudos to Demian Maia for making the most of a bout where his opponent decided halfway through that he no longer wanted to be a fighter and instead wanted to be a ballerina.
    • The only time I’d want to see Anderson Silva fight again is if it’s when Vitor Belfort or Chael Sonnen are beating his head in.
    • Frankie Edgar didn’t just out-work BJ Penn, he started up a small business, hustled and grew the damn thing into a corporate empire.