BRATCHER ANALYZES THE TOP TWO BOUTS OF UFC 74

Posted on | August 27, 2007 | 1 Comment

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POST-UFC THOUGHTS

By: Jack Bratcher

UFC 74 was a tremendous event. It was everything I thought it would be and better than I could have hoped. Every match was entertaining and all the fighters brought it. I want to personally talk about two of the fights; the two fights I think were most important and the ones I was most looking forward to.

First off we had the Josh Koscheck vs. George St. Pierre fight. The big question for this fight was “Which George St. Pierre was going to show up?” Would it be the GSP who dominated Matt Hughes like nobody’s business to win the Welterweight Title or would it be the GSP who almost seemed “absent-minded” in his last fight when he lost the Title to Matt Serra?

That question was answered decisively with a unanimous decision win over Josh Koscheck. George dominated Josh. I mean he took it to him and showed Josh that he had indeed stepped in to the big boy’s game. Koscheck has fought alot of guys and defeated Diego Sanchez in his last fight, but he had never faced anyone as high a caliber fighter as Geroge St. Pierre and George proved that Josh is not quite ready to make that leap in competition.

Although Josh is 3 years older than George St. Pierre, he has not been in the MMA game or the UFC as long. George has alot more experience in Mixed-Martial Arts but Josh is well on his way; he’s just not quite ready for the top competitors. George’s expereince and skill came into play as he repeatedly shot in and took Koscheck to the ground, where he exhibited great ground and pound with elbows and fists landing. Josh was looking for that knockout punch throwing the big overhand right that so many are now using, made popular by the Iceman. Josh actually reminded me of what Diego was trying to do to him in his last fight; looking for that knockout punch to the detriment of the rest of his game. George basically just overwhelmed Koscheck in every area of the fight; the standup…he outpuched and outkicked him, the takedowns, and on the ground was all GSP. The crowd was chanting GSP and Kos was getting booed. The boos I think stem from Kos’s cocky attitude and certain remarks he’d made about GSP before the fight.

Clearly without a doubt, George St. Pierre is back and I for one am very glad. He has a new training camp with Greg Jackson and he is clearly right where he needs to be. He says his last loss was the best thing for him to get him focused again. This was a significant fight for both men. It was the biggest fight of Josh Koscheck’s career and a win would have put him in as one of the top contenders in the welterweight division. A loss for St. Pierre would have been devastating; it would have been his second loss in a row and a loss to someone like a Koscheck who is relatively new to the UFC and has never held a title would have been detrimental to GSP’s stock as a top contender. A loss for GSP would have been much worse than it is for Josh Koscheck. If you get beat by GSP it’s almost like it’s not even a loss because it’s almost expected. So many great people have lost to George St. Pierre. Josh Koscheck will hopefully learn from this and use it to improve and come back better.

Now we move to the main event: Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga. Before this fight, I thought Gabriel Gonzaga would honestly win. The way he destroyed Mirko CroCop blew my mind. I was a huge CroCop fan and to see him get beat like that meant to me that Gonzaga was practically invincible. That’s how great CroCop was to me as a fighter. And the funny thing is, I know better than to ever doubt Randy Couture. Randy looked better in this fight I think than I’ve ever seen him. This guy is a complete fighter. All-around he is very dangerous. Used to be, people didn’t really have to worry about Randy Couture knocking them out…..that is no longer true.

Randy knocked Gonzaga down in the first round with a punch almost just like he did Tim Silvia. Randy landed some devastating shots to Gabriel Gonzaga, and then they got in the clinch where Randy is most dangerous from his Greco-Roman wrestling background. He then picks Gonzaga up slams him down, and Randy’s head breaks Gonzaga’s nose. From this point on blood is pouring down the inside of Gonzaga’s mouth making it very difficult to breathe. This is just the first round. Randy slams him, pounds him, gets Gonzaga against the fence jumps back bam bam on the broken nose then back to the clinch, not giving Gonzaga time to execute anything. Gonzaga is starting to look winded because of the breathing trouble.

Gonzaga landed some good punches at the beginning of the first round but Randy quickly either hit him back or got him in the clinch. Towards the end of Round 1 Gonzaga tells the Ref he can’t see…..Ref asks if he wants to stop, but he says no. The second round starts…….Gonzaga’s nose looks terrible….huge gash…..and you can tell it’s broke. After the fight Randy said he heard it crunch and break when he slammed him and his head hit it.

Randy’s landing good punches in the second round bobbing and weaving like a young pro boxer. Gonzaga is looking tired….and he’s clearly hurt. I’m wondering if he will mount anything offensive at all. At one point Gabriel gives it the best shot he has at that point and lands a full on clean high kick to Randy’s head..”smack”…..reminiscent of the kick that dropped Mirko CroCop……….but Randy doesn’t even budge…..he clinches Gonzaga and ties him up. When that shot didn’t take Randy out I knew it was over…..that was basically all he had left.

Randy got him down again and pounded him out for a TKO. Clearly the high-kick Gonzaga landed didn’t have the same power as the one that knocked out CroCop due to Gonzaga’s fatigue. I was a bit sad for Gonzaga. This was the biggest fight of his life……he’d never been in the Big One before…..main event…..Heavyweight Title match. Randy on the other hand, had been here many times. In fact, ten of his last twelve matches were title matches.

Randy Couture is 44 years old and he just dominated a 28 year old man who outweighs him by twenty-two pounds. He destroyed Gonzaga. The thing about Randy is that he is improving like a young man just learning the game. He’s only getting better. He has become a very dangerous striker…..very dangerous. I thought he was gonna knock Gonzaga out. I’m waiting for the day when he drops someone in that Octagon. Randy Couture……Captain America they call him……..The Natural they call him………..is 44 years old and the Heavyweight Champion of the World. He looks like he’s 30 and is in the best shape of his life. He’s truly an inspiration for us all. He’s the most-loved, most-respected champion in the world. Congratulations Randy!!

Here’s the rest of the results for UFC 74:

Marcus Aurelio vs. Clay Guida – winner=Clay Guida

Ryan Jensen vs. Thales Leites – winner=Thales Leites

Antoni Hardonk vs. Frank Mir – winner=Frank Mir

David Heath vs. Renato Sobral – winner=Renato Sobral

Patrick Cote vs. Kendall Grove – winner=Patrick Cote

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Joe Stevenson – winner=Joe Stevenson

Alberto Crane vs. Roger Huerta – winner=Roger Huerta

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