Observations from My Couch: UFC 119 "Ultimate Waste"

• What a craptastic event.  Four out of five decisions on the pay-per-view?  And a few of them were bad decisions?  Who do I talk to about getting my money back?
• Melvin Guillard literally moved two to three times faster than Jeremy Stephens.  It was like watching a cartoon.
• I hate to say it, but Matt Mitrione is steadily improving and proving himself to be a force.  Please, someone defeat him soon.
• Pat Audinwood is better than that.  I blame first-time Octagon jitters.
• CB Dollaway still gets to keep his fighter job.  And with that Submission of the Night bonus, he doesn’t need to work all those extra shifts down at the Wal-Mart for at least a month.
• Mark Hunt getting subbed liked that gave me a sad.
• Sean Sherk is surprisingly still relevant.  However, no way did he win that bout.  Evan Dunham kicked his ass.
• I’m so glad Matt Serra spent all those years becoming one of the most exciting jiu-jitsu guys around.
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: same great taste as his bro with only half the calories.  And half the ability, too.
• Watching Frank Mir vs. Mirko CroCop was about as exciting as watching Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn II, KO at the end notwithstanding.

ROC 31 Postscript

Strong show.  Villi Bello looked to be highly-skilled and deadly.  Unfortunately, he was fighting a Terminator in Dave Church, and Bello simply did not have the gas tank to continue smashing Church like he did in the first round.  And Church… Jesus, that was the best version of him we've ever seen.  He took a helluva beating and just kept getting back up and swinging.  Joe Aviles and Mike Medrano looked like they were having a thoughtful fencing match in the first round of their bout, with slashing and lunging and parrying galore.  Then Round 2 begins and Aviles changes the game and blasts Medrano in the face with a shotgun.  It was that sudden.  And major props to Louis Gaudinot.  The most compelling champs aren't the ones that dominate from beginning to end.  The compelling ones are those who see a window of opportunity open for a brief moment and jump through it with everything they've got.  In other words, that flying guillotine was sweet!