While James Toney and Randy Couture dominated the pre-fight hype for UFC 118, Frankie Edgar stole the show when he dominated B.J. Penn to retain his lightweight championship.Edgar shocked the MMA world at UFC 112 when he got the decision victory over Penn to become the new lightweight champion and entered UFC 118 as the underdog once again.
Penn is regarded as the greatest lightweight in the history of MMA, and all the talk leading up to UFC 118 was that UFC 112 was a fluke.
Edgar came out, dominated the fight early and never looked back.
Edgar won the unanimous decision and won every round on all three judges’ scorecards.
Edgar out-boxed Penn, mixed up his punches with takedowns and kept Penn’s jiu-jitsu at bay. Nobody has ever dominated Penn at lightweight like Edgar did Saturday night.
My jaw dropped as Edgar completely dominated Penn. Every time Penn found an opportunity to win the fight, Edgar quickly regained the momentum and superior position.
Edgar’s performance against Penn is one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen in the octagon.
Edgar has silenced every critic that said UFC 112 was a fluke and has now solidified himself as the best lightweight in the world today.
Edgar will now face the only man who has been able to beat him in the octagon, in Gray Maynard, Maynard defeated Kenny Florian Saturday night to become the new number one contender.
The second fight between Edgar and Maynard should be a huge event for the UFC given the fact that Maynard is undefeated and is Edgar’s only loss in MMA.
I’d have to say the coolest part of UFC 118 was when Couture absolutely dominated Toney.
The whole MMA community got behind Couture in this MMA vs. boxing confrontation, and Couture did not disappoint.
As the fighters made their way into the ring and the fight got underway, a loud “UFC” chant reigned through the TD Garden in Boston.
Toney came out in a boxing stance and made his first mistake by standing straight up.
As soon as Couture saw Toney’s stance, he went for the takedown and put Toney on his back.
Couture then reigned down the punches and got the submission victory via arm triangle.
Couture’s victory at UFC 118 will hopefully shut the mouth of every boxer that thinks MMA is second rate to boxing.
The bottom line is that MMA is the largest combat sport in the world now, and with Couture’s victory Saturday night, he proved once again that MMA has no superior.
