Frankie Edgar pulled off one of the all-time greatest MMA upsets at UFC 112 when he defeated BJ Penn for the UFC lightweight championship. Edgar shocked the world and handed BJ Penn his first loss in the division since 2002, becoming the UFC lightweight champion. To some this was an upset, to others there was nothing surprising about the performance of Frankie Edgar.

BJ Penn walked into UFC 112 as a -700 favorite on the Vegas sports books going into his match against Frankie Edgar. In my UFC 112 preview, I wrote that I felt that the match was much closer than the betting odds indicated. While I didn’t expect Edgar to win the match, I knew it was going to be anything but an easy night for BJ Penn.

Frankie Edgar had a brilliant game plan. Edgar stuck and moved for five rounds with constant head movement which confused the champion for 30 minutes. BJ Penn was never able to corner Edgar and impose his will with strikes or ground and pound. Edgar never stopped moving and confused Penn with movements, strikes, and takedown attempts for all five rounds. Penn was obviously frustrated going into the championship rounds.

In my opinion, Penn won the first two rounds. Edgar however was able to nail some jabs on the champion and Penn had a mouse under his eye early in the fight. This definitely wasn’t an action-packed fight, but if you like MMA strategy, you’d like this fight. Edgar will never be a flashy champion in my opinion, but he is someone that should be taken much more seriously than a one-night fluke.

Up until this fight, BJ Penn had been on a tear in the division. Penn’s recent run through the division has been credited to his new strength and conditioning program. I don’t know what happened, but Penn looked really tired by the end of the fight while Edgar never stopped moving. I am really interested to see if there will be any stories coming out about BJ Penn falling back into his old habits and not taking the fight seriously. Penn hasn’t looked that tired in the championship rounds in a long time.

Frankie Edgar is going to be a tricky champion for Dana White to promote. Edgar isn’t a guy that is going to provide a lot of slug fests in UFC championship matches. Edgar is the kind of a fighter that hardcore fans will embrace, while casual fans may label as boring. I don’t think he is boring, but I don’t know how many people are going to run out to spend $44.95 to see five-rounds of Frankie Edgar vs. Kenny Florian or Frankie Edgar vs. Diego Sanchez. I think he has potential to be a better champion than people think, but not anywhere close to the star level of his fellow UFC champions.

The future of BJ Penn will get interesting fast. The obvious fight here is either against Kenny Florian or Clay Guida. The first Florian-Penn fight was very disappointing so I can’t imagine anyone being interested in a rematch. A Clay Guida fight would be real intriguing and something that the UFC can do really well with. I can’t imagine Penn losing to anyone on the road to a Frankie Edgar rematch.

As shocking as Edgar’s win was, the other shocker of the night was the performance of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva literally clowned around with Demian Maia for two and a half rounds making a sheer mockery of the UFC and the match. While most fans likely thought it was fun at first, it went from fun to appalling with  Silva heavily booed by the end of the night.

The fight between Anderson Silva and Demian Maia was a tremendous mismatch. Silva made sure that everyone knew this as soon as the match started. Silva started clowning around mocking Maia, dropping his hands, running around, and picking his shots. He hit Maia with some brutal shots in the opening round. By the middle of the second round Silva stopped running around and just looked flat out tired. He wasn’t engaging and his lackluster performance turned Maia into the most popular fighter in the stadium as the fans chanted his name hoping that he would end this disgrace of a fight and guess what? He almost did.

Maia almost pulled off the biggest upset in MMA history when he went for broke in the fourth round. Maia finally started connecting on some strikes and at one point looked to have Silva in some serious trouble. Whether it was Maia’s go-for-broke attitude, Silva’s fatigue, or a little bit of both, for a few seconds it looked like we may see the second upset of the night. By the fifth round one of Maia’s eyes had completely shut and Silva just danced around. I predicted in my UFC 112 preview that Silva would likely fight down to Maia and boy did he ever.

Dana White was reportedly furious by the end of the fight. Dana White’s post-UFC 112 comments through the week should be very interesting. It should be noted that White wouldn’t even get into the cage to strap the UFC middleweight belt around Silva’s waist. Silva said in the post-fight interview that he didn’t know what got into him and apologized. Seriously, was he kidding me?

Dana White was not shy about his dislike for Anderson Silva and his performance in the post UFC 112 presser. “I don’t think I’ve been more embarrassed in the 10 years of being in this business,” said White. “It’s the first I’ve ever walked out on a main event, given the belt to the guy’s manager and told him to put it on him.”

White also claimed he would make it up to the fans who “bought this s**t tonight.” I hope so because when I spend $44.95 to watch a fight I expect a fight, not a parody.

Anderson Silva’s next fight is no joke. Anderson Silva is scheduled to move down to 170 to face Georges St. Pierre. This is the Super Fight that fans have been talking about for two years. As of now it is scheduled to happen, but who knows how Dana White will react once the dust settles. I was begging GSP to re-cut his classic promo and tell Anderson Silva that “He wasn’t impressed with his performance” but no such luck.

In the other notable match of the night, Matt Hughes destroyed Renzo Gracie. The former UFC welterweight champion won via TKO at the 4:40 mark of Round 3. This fight was also an embarrassment, most notably Renzo Gracie. For someone who is so well respected, he sure put on a lame performance. Hughes battered Gracie with leg kicks throughout the fight until Gracie couldn’t stand up. Gracie just kept falling down in the final round until Hughes finally put the nail in the coffin and obliterated Gracie with strikes.

The best fight of the night was the UFC 112 pay-per-view opener between Kendall Grove and Mark Munoz. Grove dominated Munoz for the first round and came close to putting him away a few times. Munoz came back in the second round with some strikes. Grove went for a takedown, Munoz escaped, and then blasted him with some vicious ground and pound until the referee stopped the match. This was a great fight with Munoz on the verge of losing in the first round pulling a crazy comeback in the second round. Yes, on a UFC show with Anderson Silva, Matt Hughes, and BJ Penn, Mark Munoz had the fight of the night and the knockout of the night.

To me, that says it all about UFC 112.

UFC Undisputed 2010 hits the shelves May 25. EA Sports MMA video game hits the shelves, well your guess is as good as mine.

Pre-order the UFC Undisputed 2010 video game for all consoles.

Order the discounted UFC Undisputed 2009 video game for all consoles.

Pre-order the EA Sports: MMA Video Game featuring Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko by clicking here.

UFC 2009 Undisputed Official Strategy Guide

Register for GameFly™

New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

The UFC returns this weekend with UFC 112: Invincible. UFC 112 will feature two championship matches, the return of a UFC legend, and the debut of an MMA legend. Anderson Silva and BJ Penn co-headline an event that has the potential to be one of the most exciting UFC shows of the year.

UFC 112 features the return to middleweight of “the Spider” Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva will defend his UFC middleweight championship for the first time in almost a year against Demian Maia. The fight is a far cry from the blockbuster match originally announced between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort. Belfort had to pull out of the fight due to injury, so Demian Maia is the lucky or unlucky fighter who will steal his title shot.

This fight screams of a depleted UFC middleweight division. Belfort was really not worthy of being a number-one contender to Anderson Silva. The rightful contender here should have been Dan Henderson. Politics and money got in the way of that one and Henderson is no longer in the UFC. Nate Marquardt would have been another suitable replacement until he got destroyed by Chael Sonnen. So in order to keep Anderson Silva on the card and give the UFC fans a UFC middleweight title, Demian Maia was picked to be the sacrificial lamb.

The UFC has been hyping Maia as a master Brazilian Jiu Jitsu technician. The UFC would like you to believe that Anderson Silva is facing his toughest ground challenge in the UFC. As great as Maia is on the ground, his striking is nowhere near the class of Anderson Silva. As a matter of a fact, Maia was knocked out just two fights ago against Nate Marquardt at UFC 102. Again, for some reason one win is all it takes to make you a top contender in the UFC middleweight division.

The bottom line here is that Maia is just a filler for lack of a better opponent. This is probably the most lopsided matchup Anderson Silva has had since the James Irwin fight. Anderson Silva should knock Maia out here in the first round. However, Silva has had a tendency over his career to fight down to opponents. Silva is at his best against top competition, and at his worst against lower competition. Silva’s five-round snoozer against Thales Leites earned arguably the best fighter in all of MMA a standing serenade of boos in Montreal. Sadly, I see this fight going the same way.

As of this writing Anderson Silva is a -700 favorite on BetUs.com. The UFC should really be ashamed of themselves for portraying this as a competitive match and embarrassed to make this a title match. Sure we had Matt Serra and others pull off big upsets but it doesn’t happen often to guys of Anderson Silva’s caliber. Again, I predict an Anderson Silva victory here. There is no reason to think this should go more than one round. Maia is just nowhere near the level of Anderson Silva.

BJ Penn will attempt to continue his run of UFC light heavyweight dominance against Frankie Edgar. I happen to feel a bit different about this UFC title match as opposed to the UFC middleweight title match. While I don’t think Frankie Edgar is anyone that BJ Penn should be scared of, I do feel that Edgar is a bit underrated. Quite frankly I feel that Frankie Edgar has a better chance of beating Penn than any of his last two challengers at light heavyweight in the UFC.

Following his loss to Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn has just gone on a tear in and out of the octagon. Out of the octagon, BJ Penn has completely changed his workout habits and trains in one of the most rigorous strength and conditioning programs in all of professional sports. In the octagon Penn has become more aggressive and has really developed into one of the most dangerous strikers in all of MMA. Losses can do strange things to fighters, but for BJ Penn it looks like it was a big wakeup call.

Frankie Edgar has also been on a tear as of late in the UFC light heavyweight division. Edgar has rolled off three wins in a row, including dominating former UFC champion Sean Sherk for three rounds. I can only judge Edgar by his competition, and he picked apart Sherk for three rounds. Edgar has great striking but lacks that ability to finish opponents. Seven of his last nine fights have gone the distance. Edgar pushed a fast pace in a lot of those fights. It will be interesting to see where his conditioning is if this one goes past three rounds.

Like Anderson Silva, BJ Penn is a -700 favorite. On paper I thought this fight would be a bit closer than Anderson Silva vs. Demien Maia, but Vegas doesn’t think so. I see this fight going into the fourth round. For Frankie Edgar to have any chance against Penn, he needs to try and turn this into a standup war. Diego Sanchez tried that and got slaughtered in B. J. Penn’s last fight. I think the nerves may get to Edgar a bit and we may see a fight which resembled B. J. Penn chasing around Kenny Florian for four rounds. I think BJ Penn takes this one by knockout and officially begins his campaign for a GSP rematch.

Finally, UFC 112 will have one of the more interesting undercard fights to come along in the UFC middleweight division. Former UFC middleweight champion Matt Hughes will take on MMA icon Renzo Gracie in Gracie’s UFC debut. This won’t be the first time we have seen Hughes vs. Gracie in the UFC, but will it end the same way?

I have the utmost respect for Renzo Gracie. How can you not when the world’s most successful submission MMA fighters train under Renzo Gracie? However, Gracie has lived off of his reputation outside of the ring as a fighter for a long time. Officially, Renzo Gracie has 13 wins over the course of an 18 year MMA career. That really doesn’t impress me. Furthermore if you take a look at his wins, Renzo Gracie has never really beaten an elite fighter. He beat Maurice Smith past his prime, the win over Frank Shamrock was controversial, and he split with Carlos Newton. Renzo has losses against all of his elite opponents which include BJ Penn, Dan Henderson, and Kazushi Sakuraba. I hate to say it but I have always felt that Renzo Gracie never took the opportunity to fight in the UFC in his prime due to the competition.

Matt Hughes could either be the perfect opponent or the wrong guy for Renzo Gracie to step into a UFC octagon against. I am a big Matt Hughes fan but I also concede that Hughes is on the downside of his career. At 36 years old and 50 MMA fights into his career, how many more years can he really compete at a high level. Hughes probably saved his career with his most dominant performance in four years when he obliterated Matt Serra at UFC 98 (Can you believe Serra is still trash talking?). Even on the downside of his career, I still enjoy watching Matt Hughes so I am pretty excited to see him back in the octagon at UFC 112.

Vegas odds have Matt Hughes at a -450 for the fight. I am a bit surprised here as I expected this one to be closer on the books. I think this is the perfect fight for Matt Hughes. Hughes tends to do really well against Brazilian Jiu Jitsu guys. My only question here is whether the old Matt Hughes’ strength and reflexes are still there to counter Gracie on the ground. For someone like Renzo Gracie, I think Matt Hughes will be just fine. My prediction is a third round submission win from the former UFC middleweight champion and a one and done for Renzo Gracie in the UFC.

The entire UFC 112: Invincible lineup…
Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia
BJ Penn vs. Frankie Edgar
United States Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie
Terry Etim vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Kendall Grove vs. Mark Munoz
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Phil Davis
Paul Taylor vs. John Gunderson
Nick Osipczak vs. Rick Story
DaMarques Johnson vs. Brad Blackburn
Paul Kelly vs. Matt Veach
Jon Madsen vs. Mostapha Al-turk

Pre-order the UFC Undisputed 2010 video game for all consoles.

Order the discounted UFC Undisputed 2009 video game for all consoles.

Pre-order the EA Sports: MMA Video Game featuring Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko by clicking here.

New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

The UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva will make his long awaited return at UFC 112. Silva is scheduled to defend the title against former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. Vitor Belfort’s management confirmed the fight this past week. The fight will be a co-headliner with a lightweight title defense by B.J. Penn and the return of a former champion on the undercard. Needless to say, UFC 112 show is shaping up to be one of the most stacked shows in UFC history.

Anderson Silva’s fight will end the longest layoff that the Spider has had since joining the UFC. Silva’s last fight was back at UFC 101 in August. Silva destroyed Forrest Griffin making the former champion look like a kid fresh off of TUF. Silva was next scheduled to defend his middleweight title against Dan Henderson. UFC called an audible and went with Vitor Belfort instead, citing that there wasn’t much fan interest in a Henderson-Silva rematch. An elbow injury subsequently forced Silva into surgery and something of a self-imposed exile from the UFC.

The fight only heightens the drama surrounding the UFC’s middleweight division. After losing to Silva in 2008, former Pride FC middleweight champion Dan Henderson rolled off three wins. After his impressive knockout win over Michael Bisping at UFC 100, Henderson was named the number-one contender. Something happened along the way that changed the UFC and Dana White’s minds. Following Belfort’s win over Rich Franklin, White started talking about a Silva-Belfort match before a Silva-Henderson match. Throw Nate Marquardt into the mix and you had more drama in this division than the Jersey Shore.

Once White said he was going with Belfort vs. Silva, Silva started talking about an elbow injury. Various rumors hit the Internet from Silva needing surgery and a lengthy leave of absence, to Silva fighting at UFC 108. Silva finally did have the surgery and the fight was put on hold. Belfort and Marquardt have both waited out the situation and neither man has fought since the number-one contender controversy arose. Marquardt will fight in the next few weeks, while Belfort has been idle. Dan Henderson turned down a fight with Marquardt during this mess which would have theoretically named a true number-one contender. All of this likely contributed to Henderson’s decision to sign with Strikeforce rather than re-sign with the UFC once his contract expired.

The Silva-Belfort fight while intriguing, is quite suspect to me. I really can’t comprehend how the UFC can deem Vitor Belfort deserving of a title shot over Marquart or Henderson. Belfort has only had one fight in the last four years in the UFC. On top of that, I can’t remember Belfort ever even fighting at middleweight in the UFC. Belfort’s last fight against Rich Franklin was at a catchweight of 195 pounds. Dana White has been fixated on this fight for quite awhile, yet Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt have valid points when questioning whether Vitor Belfort should be receiving a title shot before them or anyone else for that matter. Apparently in the end it is more about the UFC selling tickets than the integrity of the division. Could you imagine the NFL changing the Super Bowl at the last minute to replace a team with a flashier team that didn’t win their way to the championship game?

UFC 112 is shaping up to be one of the most loaded shows in the history of the UFC. The show is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates which is a pretty amazing feat in itself. In addition to Silva-Belfort, B.J. Penn announced on his website that he is scheduled to fight Frankie Edgar on the show. While not a marquee fight by any means, it definitely has the potential to provide fireworks. Additionally, former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes is scheduled to make his long awaited return to the UFC. Hughes will face the legendary Renzo Gracie who will make his UFC debut at UFC 112.

Place your UFC bets on BetUs.com by clicking here or Boddog.com by clicking here.

Wear a Star Men’s Anderson Silva UFC 101 Walkout T-Shirt by clicking here.

New Items Marked Down! Shop the UFC Sale at the UFC Store.

Grab last minute UFC tickets at StubHub.com or get 5% off the ticket purchase at PurchaseTix.com ! – Enter the Coupon Code: fiveforyou.

Pre-order the EA Sports: MMA Video Game featuring Randy Couture by clicking here..