One-sided fights dominated Ultimate Fighting Championship 103, but it created new challenges for most divisions. Vitor Belfort and Rich Franklin headlined the event at a catch weight of 195 pounds in a fight of two former champions attempting to become champion again. The bout didn’t last long. Belfort stopped Franklin at 3:02 in the opening round. Franklin looked like he wasn’t ready to fight. Franklin acted like he rushed back in the octagon after fighting Wanderlei Silva in a three-round war four months ago at UFC 99. Belfort dropped Franklin with a hook and finished him quickly.
Belfort’s victory puts him in line, along with Nate Marquardt and Dan Henderson, to challenge Anderson Silva for the Middleweight Championship.
The first fight of the night was between Tyson Griffin and Hermes Franca. With high audience anticipation, this fight was expected to have fireworks. The two spent the first round getting a feel for each other but picked up pace in the second round.
Griffin caught Franca with a straight cross, dropped him and rained down punches, knocking out Franca at 3:26 in the second round. Griffin became the first man to knock out Franca.
Griffin looked good with his win and is now a contender for the gold in the lightweight division. I would like to see Griffin take on Gray Maynard to decide the next number one contender, but there are so many great fighters at that weight. UFC has many options for new challengers for BJ Penn.
The second fight featured the return of Frank Trigg who found himself against the young, cocky Josh Koscheck. Koscheck beat Trigg by TKO at 1:25 in the first round. Koscheck looked impressive, and it’s good to see him get a win after losing two of his last three fights.
Up next was Martin Kampmann taking on Paul Daley. I was disappointed because it was originally scheduled to be Kampmann vs. Mike Swick in what seemed to be a fight-of-the-night candidate.
Swick was concussed and couldn’t fight at the Pay-Per-View, so they brought in Daley to fight Kampmann. I thought this was the fight-of-the-night because the two immediately started fighting. I was impressed with Daley’s striking, and he beat Kampmann by TKO at 2:31 in the first round. Daley made a name for himself in the UFC and could challenge Swick for the number one contendership in the future.
The co-main event was Junior Dos Santos taking on the legendary Mirko Cro Cop. Dos Santos mixed combinations and punished Cro Cop with strikes to the body. Dos Santos won by verbal submission at 2:00 in the third round. Cro Cop’s vision blurred, and the referee had to stop the fight.
Dos Santos’ victory makes the heavyweight division better and him a contender for the title.
I saw growth of the middleweight and heavyweight divisions in this PPV. I remember when those divisions were the weakest and most boring divisions in UFC; it’s safe to say that isn’t the case anymore.
The best fighter, Anderson Silva, finally has some competition in the middleweight with three big challengers. Dan Henderson, Nate Marquardt and now Belfort will all be contenders to take on the middleweight champion.
I hope Brock Lesnar’s days as Heavyweight Champion are numbered. I think Lesnar will win his next fight against Shane Carwin, but the true tests lie with upcoming contenders Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and possibly Frank Mir.
UFC is hitting on all cylinders with its weight divisions. The UFC was stacked in lightweight, welterweight and light heavyweight but is now stacked in all divisions. The weakest division is the welterweights. I don’t see anybody threatening George St. Pierre’s title soon.
This PPV had too many one-sided fights. There was one dominating winner in every fight, and there was no back-and-forth action. While the PPV did provide excitement with knockdowns and knock outs, I could have gone for a good three-round war.
That’s my nit picking for UFC 103. Overall it was a pretty good show. I give this a 7 out of 10 ranking.
UFC’s next event is Oct. 24 when Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua headline UFC 104 in Los Angeles, Calif. I wonder if the Machida era will continue or if Shogun will spoil Machida’s first title defense.
