UFC 87 Seek and Destroy review

Introduction

Mixed martial arts clearly became a significant form of both mass entertainment and - as Bruce Lee put it - an expression of the human body, the latter being, no doubt, the original field of operation of these ancient traditions, now living and breathing through competitive events around the world. Though many may consider men who enter the proving grounds little more than hired human pitbulls to rip each other apart for hard cash and radical amusement, I tend to utterly reject this rudimentary view, concluding that professional level mma is the combat of highly disciplined human spirits, opposing each other for the duration of the bout, probably ending up as unified in the process as we could conceive, simply through their magnificent shared experience of being in a cage where the damage one suffers is the wit one failed to exhibit. That is how, in my opinion, the mma fighter fights against herself/himself.

Japanese people compete to gain an insight of their own current abilities through the collision process of their skills with that of other's. To me, the ultimately glorious moments of mixed martial arts are not of those of KOs and submissions. They are of those of hugging the formal rival at the end of the bout, circulating the most honest, uncompromised, pure respect each fighter deserves simply by stating themselves on the proving grounds, regardless of the results. The ensuing peace between fighters after a good collision is such a palpable, legit sensation that it never got old so far - and won't ever will.

This here is a review of the UFC event UFC 87 Seek and Destroy, time to punch that Read more button, baby!

Introductory thoughts about the more significant lineups

UFC Welterweight Champion George "Rush" St. Pierre is yet to render a successful title defense by the night, as - according to reliable sources like himself - the most fruity thing ever happened to him as a fighter was the tremendous upset he was subjected to by Matt "The Terror" Serra at UFC 69 Shootout. Though Serra caught and relentlessly destroyed the reigning title holder indeed, there was no one along the climb-back lane that could pose a robust threat to your former Champion. St. Pierre defeated Josh Koscheck, outclassed Matt Hughes's Hall of Famer sitorgan for a second time, then, having no one left to prove his readiness against, the organization gave him the opportunity to reclaim the belt at UFC 83 Serra vs St. Pierre 2.

And, OH!, that he did. Matt Serra, a fighter I truly like, looked absolutely transparent - therefore hardly looked at all - with GSP in the Octagon, this tremendous athlete - GSP - clearly proved why he is considered as the most complete fighter by former UFC Referee, now totally integral Affliction Commentator Big John McCarthy. After reclaiming the belt, St. Pierre necessarily started to reign in a position very similar to UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson "The Spider" Silva's. Here comes the question, yet, hopefully not in pair with your 19th nervous breakdown: who the hell you want to put THEM against? Or, more precisely: who the hell you want to put against THEM?

The UFC has very hard of a time to find integral answers for these questions, trust me. Take Anderson Silva, for example. By the night Affliction Banned aired, Dana White decided to counter program the debut event with an instant UFC Thrill, in which Silva could demonstrate his skills against formidable opponent James Irvin. Regardless how Silva had to prove himself in a higher weight class - that was the focal trait of the event - he destroyed Irvin in a blink of an eye. Well, long enough of a blink, but one that hardly surpassed the first minute of the bout, anyway.

What I find somewhat hilarious though, are the upcoming UFC lineups, as results of the immense potential of the organization's uppermost elite fighters. To tell you the truth, I considered GSP vs Fitch as an excuse match, - absolutely no offense here for Fitch: I hardly knew the guy, that was the main reason, I confess in a stale and loathsome manner - yet, whether my assertion is a defendable- or a false one - we will see shortly.

"You don't know him 'cause his butt is not marketed, so he can't be good, huh???"

Maybe, sometimes marketing makes all the difference between Known and the Unknown, indeed. After all, the match you will get a short video on with fighters informing you how they will kick the other's kidney off via their increased versatility and superior stamina - is likely to build anticipation factor in you. And here is the main idea: it doesn't matter if the fighter gets knocked the hell out, if he looked in an OK way and even delivered OK lines in the prefight interview, you will remember him. Just joking, of course. Mind tends to remember the winner, a conceptual pair of habits worth perfecting by remembering the loser, as well.

Well, I was pretty convinced that no matter how persistent and impressive of a winning streak Fitch is riding on to face GSP, his butt will be handed to him by the now-very mature and disciplined Champion. But we should never forget that giving opportunities for talented up-and-comers like Fitch is a very cool method to provoke upsets. In fact, this is pretty much the only one for that.

As of today, the UFC seems to be forced to rely on this method though. Check what UFC 90 will have in store for us: Patrick Cote VS Anderson Silva. Hmmmm, you think that lineup will deliver one pretty short main event? You can have my agreement, please keep it nice and clean. And how about the upcoming Liddell vs Evans match? The organization's agenda is totally evident: Liddell will destroy the "Younger"" the "Swifter!" the "More Agile!" "Contender!", because Liddell easily has ten times the octagon presence and the Heroic Ability Rashad Evans sports and could rely on, thus neither the UFC, neither a sober fan, neither I can see Liddell losing this match. Then we can have Forrest vs Chuck, which is, finally, a match we can look forward to indeed. All in all, the UFC seems to struggle coming up with matches you can't miss out on, while Affliction already conducts negotiations to deliver Fedor vs Couture. My point is: competition between organizations supposed to be a good thing, but, so far I can't see what exactly the UFC delivers to counter the tremendous attraction Fedor vs Couture will bring, just to name the one lineup that seems unavoidable to deal with.

Oh, a little side note here of the whining character yet: don't know if you noticed, but now there are Olympic days in this here world, and, tell you what: I could bet my purse on it that UFC Commentator Joe Rogan will NOT miss the opportunity to offer his personal views and corresponding comments on how inferior he thinks the Olympic games are compared to the UFC. Surely, he did not cause disappointment. Nice job, Joe! You showed them all right! You told them all right! You forced me to account your comment! And maybe, JUST maybe there is one more person out there who made the same mistake of wasting effort, accounting it.

Hey, sorry for this BONUS series of ranting which though felt kinna' OK for me. To cut a long story shorter: it seems to me that the UFC has difficulties delivering anticipation, a circumstance that I hope will be but temporary. Except for Joe Rogan of course, steadily, eternally, peacefully telling Mike Goldberg that:

"I'll tell you what, Mike! X and Y maybe the PERFECT match for GSP's tremendous submission defense!"

but, let's face it, Joe, the world is yet to deliver something against GSP's truly tremendous submission defense, please, try and do come to terms with it at once.

Hey, let's get down to the more significant lineups! The night delivers a Championship collision, as GSP emerges to render a title defense against John Fitch who has never been defeated in the Octagon, even better: his guard never been passed before. Talented elbow utilizer Kenny Florian steps up against handsome devil Roger Huerta, a warrior with not too integral late childhood, giving him a tremendous emotional source to invoke anger from when competing in the Octagon.

The third attraction of the night is the one I am truly interested in, having decided that GSP will destroy Fitch, Kenny and Roger do whatever they please to each other, I truly couldn't care less as my personal basic stance - can be altered by quality Octagon action - but hell, Brock Lesnar is back! Za! Beast! Iz! Back!, taking on one of my personal favorites, the Texas Crazy Horse Heath Herring. I truly like both of these fighters. How could you dislike these charismatic, intelligent warriors? Herring, a super-hardened veteran of the sport despite his young age, comes off a tremendous victory over robust musclemonster Cheick Kongo, that took place and - logically - unfolded in UFC 82 Pride of a Champion. Brock Lesnar, former WWE Superstar faced off against Frank Mir in UFC 81 Breaking Point, offering a foot though for Frank which he - Frank Mir - indeed bent for the non-guaranteed direction with ruthless efficiency, claiming the tapout of Lesnar. As I noted in that particular review, Lesnar looked quite The Bad Man by the night nevertheless, the aggression and corresponding willingness to engage seemed to pair with tremendous power that could catch Frank off-balance in the early segment of the bout. Hah, as the match would have had anything else to it than an early segment.

Cheick Kongo vs Dan Evensen

Rhetorics are focal attractions and tools of staggering subtlety here. Kongo states that he is the Wolf in the Jungle, and it is very difficult to stay alive in the Jungle, where the Wolf is king. Hm. The Lion is on vacation. Hmmm. Or something like this. Dan "The Viking" Evensen states that he has little concern: he is a mean, big, ugly Viking after all, and he eats Wolf for breakfast. The acceptable verbal exchange unfolds as a rather sober collision in the Octagon: Kongo has little if any problem to keep Evensen's opposition at supermild efficiency, connecting with a strict right of evident convince power to put an end to this contest. Kongo acts quite funny in the postfight interview with Joe "ALL RIGHT I'M HERE WITH" Rogan. The huge dude does not have many intention to talk or to offer comments about the action: he states that it does not matter to him, not THIS, and not THAT: give someone to him he can rip apart, and that's about it. Kongo emerges victorious in a superbly convincing manner, though you must wonder how come The Viking ended up in the Octagon today?

Demian Maia vs Jason MacDonald

Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald is the dude who will always inform you and his consecutive opponent that he is nobody's stepping stone - especially not X and Y's stepping stone, for that matter - substitute X and Y with the name of the warrior Jason is next to step up against. MacDonald is a fighter of rock solid composure and an impressive willingness to engage, also he is a warrior who seems to lack Lady Luck's support when facing elite opposition. Take the Rich Franklin fight as an example: he was supposed to stop The Ace after Franklin had to climb back the rankings, having lost his belt to Anderson "The Spider" Silva. Though Jason informed us and Rich Franklin that he won't be anyone's stepping stone - especially not Rich Franklin's stepping stone, for that matter - he went home with the quite decently battered face AND the experience foam to think stuff over nevertheless, being Rich Franklin's stepping stone along the way, too.

Yet, there is a fruity end to this story, as well: all this caused a rather beneficiary inner transformation in MacDonald, now telling you and Demian Maia that: no matter what and how, he will not be anybody's stepping stone - especially not Demian Maia's stepping stone, for that matter. Maia, an accomplished Jiu-Jitsu practitioner puts up one decent of a fight with The Athlete whose submission resistance proves to be absolutely exceptional. Demian gets quite tight holds over MacDonald, yet the Athlete manages to escape, even proves to be able to counter these maneuvers with submission attempts on his own - though Maia is aware and dexterous enough to escape. A match characterized by brief and not too integral periods of standup, the bout comes to its conclusion via the persistent warfare taking place on the ground: one particular choke gets deep enough to claim a tapout of MacDonald, who now goes home as Demian's stepping stone. Maybe Jason should start concentrating on making HIS opponent a stepping stone, as opposed avoiding being one himself.

Kenny Florian vs Roger Huerta

Huerta is known for being an emotional fighter, meaning the more hits he eats in, the more passionate he grows. Some claim Huerta has a bigger reputation/notoriety built up around him artificially than he would soberly deserve - a statement that seems to have merits to it, considering Huerta's performance against Clay Guida: Huerta was getting steadily owned by the long haired competitor, though eventually he found, exploited and capitalized on an opening Guida offered via unleashing aggression - rampant.

Though Huerta thinks that the same kind of warfare might earn him both the victory and an almost-immaculate record from now on, Kenny Florian proves to be quite capable to cause some unpleasant surprises for El Matador: maintaining persistent initiative and the role of sober aggressor, Florian essentially grinds Huerta down without making any of them looking particularly good or bad, though Kenny delivers some rather effective shots during the late portions of the collision, even causing Huerta to get "offended" and to spit on the ground. What a laugh! The spit did not cause a knockout, either. Unanimous decision goes for Kenny, there could be absolutely no doubt about that one, once the match reached the time limit. In my opinion, Kenny Florian looked the more serious and more dedicated fighter herein - on the other hand, I think Huerta needs to get his BEEP! together, as the inputs he offered in the prefight interview are definitely not of THIS Earth. He stated that: "No offense Kenny - but this is a cakewalk." Oh my God, calling Florian a cakewalk is an evident mis-conceptualization regarding basic proportions. Let us hope that Roger Huerta realizes this now.

Brock Lesnar vs Heath Herring

The story of this particular match is a Beast made of Granite: remaining faithful to the nice traditions he introduced to the Octagon so far, Lesnar comes forward relentlessly, and The Texas Crazy Horse has a similarly hard time stopping him as Frank Mir had: Brock connects with a huge right hand, sending Herring to the ground - the territory on which The Beast looks utterly dominant and pretty much - unstoppable. As much as I like Heath Herring - which I surely do, believe you me - we must admit that he could not demonstrate the tools to put against Lesnar - not this time. Dana White stated that Brock Lesnar is a psychotic competitor, and, no matter how he advised Brock to go and learn to fight first, he rejected the proposal and wanted the deep waters immediately. Never forget that he was a National Wrestling Champion, and now it seems safe to say that he had a superfluent transition to mma. What it's ultimately boiling down to is Lesnar's body buildup of "Hulkian" proportions, which he handles with surprising speed, dexterity and a staggering degree of confidence in his abilities. This dudette comes to play a game of testing his- and his opponent's abilities, and, let us notice that his physical and mental aptitudes are of exceptional qualities: if Lesnar continues along this path, then it is safe to say that Lesnar is The Heavyweight Thing. Some still say that he would have no chance against Minotauro Nogueira. I totally and completely disagree. Remember that Heath Herring sent Minotauro to the ground with a kick - putting up a decent fight against him all night long. He looked way more convincing against Minotauro than against Lesnar - and no, I don't think Heath would have ended up a worse fighter with time. In fact, quite the contrary: I have the impressions that Herring will be a better fighter even with this here loss handed to him by Brock. Absolutely superb, rigorous performance by Lesnar, I particularly liked the postfight interview, The Beast takes the mic away from Joe, asking:

"DO! YOU! SEE! ME! NOW!?"

Hell yeah, me see you , Brock!

George St. Pierre vs John Fitch

GSP's marketing line for this particular match goes like this: "Yes, John Fitch is a definite problem, but I am the solution for this problem." What you got to admire in St. Pierre is his ability to solidify his out-of-octagon statements on the proving grounds: what you got to admire in Fitch though, is his ability to stand against GSP for the entire length of the match, regardless the steady, decent beating he gets administered by the reigning Welterweight Champion. Truly not much else to add to this: credit goes for Fitch for remaining integral as a fighter during the bout, yet he would be the first to admit that, as of today, GSP plays the mma game on a totally higher frequency than he does. By the night of UFC 87, GSP's skill set is likely matched only by elites like BJ Penn or Anderson Silva - the dudes you want to see colliding against Georges St. Pierre. Chances are integral that we will see these events indeed, especially as far as the BJ Penn vs GSP match goes: none other than the Little Buddha approaches the Octagon after the bout, insisting to pretty much everyone he finds to let's do the match. GSP vs BJ Penn: YES! That is what you want to see. Then let The Spider have anyone who either emerges victorious or walks away as defeated. Truly, I can not decide which one I would prefer: GSP vs Silva, or BJ vs Silva. I prefer ALL. And the UFC will find ways to deliver, I think.

Of the remaining bouts I had not bear much interest, therefore I wrap this up, having the definite focal points of the night accounted on. Hope you had a fine evening and found the review useful - thank you for reading it, and see you next time.

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