In Part I of my UFC 81 review and recap, I gave you my overall event analysis. Now it's time for me to talk about the fights, the fighters, and where everyone and everything goes from here.

1. Tyson Griffin over Gleison Tibau via unanimous decision - I really enjoyed this fight. It wasn't non-stop action but it was very good, and even excellent at times. Tibau looked simply huge for a lightweight. Once again, I was impressed by Griffin's boxing. He did pretty well considering he was giving up a lot of reach. I saw some excellent work with the body shots from him.

I think the biggest key right now for Griffin is to become a better finisher. I realize he's working on it and took some chances with his punching in trying to end the match early, but he needs to stop letting so many of his fights go to the judges in order for him to take the next step.

Griffin's win here really made me resent the April matchmaking of some of the lightweights. Frank Edgar vs. Gray Maynard and Joe Lauzon vs. Kenny Florian have the potential to be very good fights, but I feel like they are steps backward for Edgar and Florian. Why not Florian vs. Griffin or Edgar vs. Griffin II? I guess we'll have to wait.

2. Ricardo Almeida submitted Rob Yundt via choke in round 1 - It's really hard to evaluate Almeida in such a short fight against an opponent that wasn't ready for him. But Almeida looked to be in great shape and his timing looked strong.

Was it just me or did Goldberg and Rogan completely undersell the ending sequence where Yundt tried to dislodge Almeida by slamming him only to see Almeida roll it into a flip and come out of it in better position? That's one of the coolest things I've seen in a fight in a long time and was kind of underwhelmed by Goldberg's fight call on that one. I know I wasn't alone in thinking that move was amazing because the crowd popped for it during the replay.

I'd love to see Almeida vs. Marquardt next but it wouldn't surprise me if they just re-scheduled Almeida vs. Alan Belcher for May or June.

3. Nathan Marquardt submits Jeremy Horn via standing guillotine choke in round 2 - I realize Marquardt is not easy to market but he's just a great fighter and he looked solid in this fight. It's a shame he didn't turn in a better showing vs. Anderson Silva because I believe he's one of the top middleweights in the world. This win puts him back in my personal top ten.

But what's the deal with Horn? He gets submitted in back-to-back fights after not having been subbed since 2001 at UFC 30? And he got choked as a result of a rookie mistake by leaving his neck out too far to the side of Marquardt's body during a takedown attempt. Horn knows better.

Horn also has his own school in Salt Lake City and I can't help but wonder if he's spending too much time training others as opposed to focusing on himself. I mean, how else do you explain a basic mistake from a guy who has over 100 fights to his credit and has a reputation for being tough to submit?

To be honest, at first I wasn't even sure Horn wanted to be out there. He has never been the most expressive fighter in the world but he really looked listless in that first round; as if he didn't even want to be there. But Horn fought out of trouble often enough that I realized I was reading too much into things. There were several times in last night's fight in which he could have taken the easy way out and didn't.

It's hard to get down on Horn for his performance because he had little time to prepare. The rumor is that he has a four fight contract with the UFC so I believe we'll see him again.

* Tim Boetsch over David Heath via TKO in round 1 (strikes) - This was a very nice fight. However, someone needs to help Goldberg out. I realize he's taking Muay Thai now and he's fallen in love with the teep (a.k.a push kick) but there's a difference between a straight heel kick and a teep.

A teep is a jab kick specific to Muay Thai. What Boetsch was throwing last night was not a jab kick. It was a straight heel kick and it likely comes from his Jeet Kune Do training. I realize both kicks look similar but there are some noticeable differences and the purposes of both kicks are different.

Rogan also mentioned that teeps are underutilized and they are underutilized for a reason; they can be easily caught if you time them properly and can put someone on their back. Teeps are not meant to do a lot of damage (although they can if your abdominal muscles are not conditioned properly) so the reward of throwing one in MMA isn't worth the risk.

Overall, I thought Boetsch looked strong! He was much more aggressive than the two times I saw him in person over the summer. Good score by Joe Silva.

As far as Heath is concerned, I will repeat my belief that both he and Jason Lambert should be transferred to the WEC, which is in desperate need of some light heavyweight depth.

4. Frank Mir submitted Brock Lesnar due to a leg lock in round 1 - Somewhere in Greenwich, Connecticut, Vince McMahon was ranting and raving telling a bunch of people, "See, I told you it's next to impossible to build stars in MMA!" The reality is that Frank Feritta, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White, and Joe Silva have nothing to worry about. Lesnar lost but everyone got to see that he is for real.

Mir won the fight and deserves credit but which fighter looked more impressive to you? You can say whatever you want but the bottom line is that Lesnar steamrolled Mir for the vast majority of that match. That initial takedown was beautiful and I would even go so far as to say that Lesnar had the advantage on the feet. Hell, he nearly knocked Mir out standing! Lesnar also looked extremely light on his feet for a man of his size, just like Pat Miletich had said in the past.

Lesnar is going to be a force to be reckoned with. In fact, I think that in a year and a half we'll be talking about him as the number one heavyweight in the world. He has a lot to work on but it's obvious that he's committed to the sport and is willing to pay the price in the gym. The man is just a physical freak and possesses so many attributes that you cannot teach.

The obvious area of weakness for Lesnar is submission defense. I know he worked hard on it in anticipation of Mir but technique retention is a big part of fighting. You're not going to see many cases where 100 percent of a fighter's technique transfers over from the gym to an actual fight. Emotion has a funny way of making technique disappear. Even before the leg lock it looked like Lesnar was in danger of being caught in several submissions. He was so shaky at one point I yelled out, "Let him up! Let him stand!" I immediately remembered that simply isn't Lesnar's game. Not yet anyway.

It just seemed like Lesnar was so anxious to finish Mir that he was leaving too many things open. I'm sure he was told a 1,000 times to be careful but until you actually experience something in a fight, you don't understand the true value of the message. There are just some lessons that have to be learned in the actual fight. I really don't think you'll ever see Lesnar lose to a leg lock again.

The UFC did a marvelous job of promoting Lesnar. They will now have to take a step back before they can take two steps forward. Lesnar will need to be matched up with a lesser opponent than Mir and the interest-level for his second fight will be much less than what it was for last night. A lot of pro wrestling fans who made the conversion last night were no doubt disappointed when their guy didn't walk away the winner. Then again, there are a lot of wrestling fans who hate Lesnar for walking out on the WWE. Regardless, I think a lot of first-time viewers got to see that MMA is a lot different than wrestling and some will be okay with that and others won't.

Interest level will be down now that the novelty of Lesnar's first UFC fight has worn off. However, so long as he steamrolls his next opponent and earns a victory, he will regain a lot of momentum. Mark my words, Lesnar will become a cash cow for the UFC. He just needs more experience and the right opponents. I think he could become a Tyson-like performer in that he just destroys his competition. Don't agree? Did you already forget how he rag dolled Mir with that one throwdown?

For Lesnar's next opponent, the UFC should put him in with another wrestler, who is just not as good. Sam Cupitt mentioned Carmelo Marrero in an article on FiveOuncesOfPain.com and I think that would be the perfect opponent. Marrero is not under UFC contract right now but all it takes is one phone call. Now that people have seen Lesnar lose, I believe a lot of people will want to see him win. Having Lesnar become a megastar is in the best long-term interest of the sport.

Brock also received a ton of boos during introductions, which isn't surprising. A lot of people travel to Vegas to watch the UFC. Buying a ticket to a UFC event and staying at a half-decent hotel on fight weekend is not cheap. The fans who go to UFC shows in Vegas are loyalists. They are essentially the UFC's season-ticket base and they probably perceive Lesnar as an outsider. However, once he proves himself in their minds, they will get behind him the same way they do Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture (and even how they used to get behind Tito Ortiz coming off the first win over Ken Shamrock).

One thing that caught my attention was that the announcers did almost nothing to validate Lesnar's performance after the fight. Lesnar proved he was for real but for some reason I don't recall Goldberg, Rogan, or Mir stating that. With the amount that the UFC is paying Lesnar per fight, you'd think that Goldberg and Rogan would have been prompted to put the guy's performance over. It almost felt like they perceived the loss to mean that Lesnar is a momentous bust and they wanted to steer clear of it. But outside of one rookie mistake, Lesnar has nothing to be ashamed of.

I guess you can't blame Mir for not putting Lesnar over in his post-fight interview, as it was his victory. However, Mir did very little to impress me last night other than to show he can be a whiz working off his back and that he can retain his composure while taking a beating. Despite being unimpressed, I believe he deserves a heavyweight title shot before Fabricio Werdum does. This was Mir's second consecutive win, and it came in a big spot. He's also a former champion. Not to mention, Mir vs. Nogueira has a lot more box office potential than Nogueira vs. Werdum.

If we see Nogueira vs. Werdum next, does that mean we'll also see Mir vs. Tim Sylvia II? That's the feeling I get. So far it's nothing more than a feeling.

5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira submitted Tim Sylvia due to guillotine choke in round 3 - This was similar to the Mir vs. Lesnar fight in that the guy who was being dominated was able to pull out a victory with a Hail Mary pass. Up until the moment Nogueira got that takedown, I felt for most of the fight he was just seconds away from being finished.

But I should have known better because watching Nogueira in PRIDE I saw him take plenty of beatings that he came back from (i.e. vs. Bob Sapp). The man's ability to fight through adversity is remarkable. He's always reminded me of Dusty Rhodes in that he takes big time beatings but usually finds a way to pull out the victory. Shoot, sorry for all the wrestling references. I guess I'm still shook up by seeing the Undertaker, Kurt Angle, and Steve Austin on the broadcast last night.

People are once again calling Nogueira's eyes into question. Apparently there were rumors that Nogueira had an eye infection heading into last night's fight. Well, he's had issues with his eye for years now. In fact, a year ago at this time there were rumors that his vision was so impaired that he might never fight again.

The concerns over his eye ceased after he was licensed in California for the Heath Herring fight this past July but the eye looked swollen before he even got in the ring last night. After the fight it looked like both eyes were swollen shut. I'm not saying Nogueira fought blind at the end but to be able to finish someone with such impaired vision is remarkable. His instincts took over on that last takedown.

And what's with so many writers out there saying Nogueira is going to be tough to market as a star? Perhaps they are correct, however, why is shear excellence not enough to make a fighter a star in MMA?

Also, why didn't they identify Rogerio Nogueira, Big 'Nog's twin brother? He was victorious on a Hardcore Championship Fighting card on Friday night and obviously hauled ass to Vegas to see his brother fight. The UFC needs to sign Minotoro up! Steve Cofield on Fox Sports Radio in Vegas was talking about how the UFC doesn't know what to do with Jardine. Well, I have an idea; how about Rogerio vs. Jardine in June in the UK?

Nogueira showed some moxy in calling Couture out after the fight but Minotauro isn't enough to bring "Handy" back to the UFC (Minotauro calling Couture "Handy" is like an American saying Royce Gracie with an "R" instead of the "H"). If Nogueira enough, Couture wouldn't have left in the first place. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble.

Personally, I'd love to see Nogueira vs. Couture but I just don't think it's a matchup that's going to get casual fans anywhere near as excited as hardcore fans. Outside of Fedor, I think the only thing that could bring Randy back to the UFC would have been a 2-0 Brock Lesnar.

As for Tim Sylvia, I thought he fought an excellent fight. He has become a good, tactical fighter but doesn't get enough credit for that because, well, because he's Tim Sylvia. One piece of unsolicited advice for Big Tim; stop being so conscious of the fans! You're trying too hard. You mention them in almost every interview. Just relax and fight your fight. Treat people with respect and come off a little more secure in yourself and more people will come around.

Finally, did anyone else notice that Pat Miletich wasn't in Sylvia's corner? I know there are a lot of fighters in the MFS stable and Miletich can't be in two places at once. But it seemed odd that he wasn't there to corner Tim in a heavyweight title match.

* Chris Lytle over Kyle Bradley via TKO in round 1 (strikes) - I expected a better showing out of Bradley in this one but Lytle has shown signs of improvement over the course of his last few fights. A lot of people complained when he made my underachievers list in a column I did a while back for CBSSports.com but I've always felt that with his boxing ability and submission skills that he should have gone much further in the UFC. I'd love to see a fight between Lytle and Marcus Davis.

While Bradley didn't look good last night, he's a much better fighter than he showed. He was much sought-after when he signed with the UFC and he will be given another chance.

Click here for Fight Critic Part I. 

Click here for more UFC 81 content.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

You can click here to read Fight Critic: Part II

I really enjoyed UFC 81 and am giving it a solid A for simply being a fun show. There weren't any match of the year candidates but there weren't any clunkers either. What we did see were some amazing comebacks. I really thought Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira were done for. But seeing fighters maintain their composure through such adversity is why so many people look up to them. Wouldn't it be great if we could all hang tough like that when life is kicking our ass?

The timing of the matches was slow, as usual, but that's just how the UFC does it. It's clear to me that they intentionally want to slow the pacing of the show down between quick finishes. I don't agree, but I can understand that some people might prefer that kind of tempo. But it was a really enjoyable show and it got the bad taste out of my mouth that was left from UFC Fight Night 12 a couple of weeks back. That being said, the show was far from perfect in my eyes. What's really starting to irk me is how the UFC's politics are starting to have an adverse effect on the quality of their telecasts. I'm sorry, but there's something terribly out of place on an MMA broadcast when a fraud like Barry Bonds is identified to the TV viewing audience and Renzo Gracie is not.

Renzo was clearly visible when he was walking down with Ricardo Almeida to the cage and there was nary a mention of his presence. I'm sure he's persona non grata with the UFC because he had the audacity to earn a living by agreeing to coach an IFL team. But it is just not right. It's time the UFC didn't allow petty issues to dictate its media policies. They're bigger than that. Allowing Mike Goldberg to say something to the effect of, "And Ricardo Almeida is accompanied to the ring by Renzo Gracie of the legendary Gracie family" isn't going to effect the UFC's bottom line.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe not identifying Renzo was unintentional. After all, how many times was Michael Bisping shown on camera and not identified? Then again, maybe that was intentional too. Maybe the UFC didn't want to focus on him out of fear the crowd would boo him out of the building?

I do want to give props to Joe Rogan for identifying Gesias Calvancante (possibly the best 155 lbs. in the world) on the broadcast and for also acknowledging that there is tremendous depth at lightweight, even outside of the UFC. I just wish they'd allow Rogan to talk like that more. The guy knows a lot about the sport and he's not being allowed to display his full knowledge.

Speaking of Calvancante, how many sick matchups could they make if they signed him? With the way Rogan talked about him, I'm beginning to wonder if the upcoming fight vs. Shinya Aoki is the last fight on his FEG/K-1 deal. Perhaps the UFC did some foreshadowing last night?

Another bone I have to pick is that "Medal of Honor IV" commercial. I love that the UFC is getting sponsors and I was happy to see the game's logo on the mat. I also understand the need to sell segment sponsorship (such as "The rules of the Octagon are brought to you by..."). However, I draw the line at commercial inserts. For a second I thought I was watching a UFC Fight Night telecast? I paid $54.95 for last night's telecast; how much do I have to pay not to see a commercial? They raised the price on everyone by $5 so why are they still subjecting everyone to commercials? I realize it's a business but that's going too far.

Speaking of paying $54.95, I'm still underwhelmed by the UFC's HD broadcast. The UFC HD experience pales in comparison to what I get with other sporting events. When I watch football, it feels like the players are about to jump through my screen. It feels like I'm not getting anything more than the existing strong clarity that comes with having a new television. The only benefit I really see is the sound. I hear a sickening thud every time someone gets punched while on the ground. I think I'll be sitting the next HD telecast out in favor of the less expensive standard definition.

I was also surprised to see some rookie production errors. When Goldberg tossed to Rogan to introduce the first match he was reading copy for the wrong fight. Then, it sounded as if Goldberg was doing an intro for a match taped earlier in the card and they went to the calendar of events with the Yahoo! maps. But it's live television and these things are going to happen.

One last question; Goldberg wasn't consistent in referring to the heavyweight title as the "interim heavyweight title." It seemed like more often than not they pushed the fight as being for the "heavyweight title." Are there any legal ramifications there? How can the UFC claim that Randy Couture is still their heavyweight champion when they won't even acknowledge it?

By the way, would UFC 81 last not have made a great show for CBS?

You can click here to read Fight Critic: Part II

Click here for more UFC 81 content.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

The following are the results from today's weigh in for UFC 81: Breaking Point which was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. All 18 fighters made weight.

The full results are as follows:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (237) vs. Tim Sylvia (261)
Brock Lesnar (265) vs. Frank Mir (255)
Jeremy Horn (185) vs. Nate Marquardt (185)
Ricardo Almeida (185) vs. Rob Yundt (185)
Tyson Griffin (155) vs. Gleison Tibau (156)
Kyle Bradley (170) vs. Chris Lytle (170)
Tim Boetsch (205) vs. David Heath (205)
Marvin Eastman (185) vs. Terry Martin (186)
Rob Emerson (155) vs. Keita Nakamura (155)

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Alan Belcher has been forced to withdraw from his middleweight match against Ricardo Almeida that has been scheduled for UFC 81 this Saturday, UFC.com's Thomas Gerbasi reports.

According to Gerbasi, Belcher is suffering from bronchitis.

Almeida is still scheduled to appear in his first fight following a four year absence from competitive MMA. Undefeated Alaskan Rob Yundt (7-0) has been announced as Belcher's replacement.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

Remember that MMAWeekly.com report earlier that stated Anthony Ruiz has signed on to face David Heath at UFC 81 on Feb. 2 as the replacement for Tomasz Drwal?

Well, UFC.com is reporting something completely different. Apparently Tim Boetsch, and not Ruiz, will be taking on Heath:

February 2nd's UFC 81 card in Las Vegas is back up to a full slate of nine fights after Pennsylvania light heavyweight prospect Tim Boetsch agreed to step into the Octagon to face David Heath.  Boetsch (6-1 in pro MMA) replaces Tomasz Drwal, who was forced to withdraw from the Heath bout due to injury.

No disrespect to MMAWeekly.com, but I will take the UFC's word for this one.

I think Ruiz would have been a good replacement but I like Boetsch just as much in this spot. I saw him fight twice this past summer; first at Extreme Challenge 81 in Orange, NJ on July 28 and less again less than a week later at the IFL semifinals on August 2 in East Rutherford, NJ.

Boetsch submitted Brendan Barrett with a guillotine choke at 3:00 of round 2. He then lost a unanimous decision to Vladimir Matyushenko during the IFL show but hung tough the entire time. He's a very good wrestler and I think he stands a good chance of pulling off an upset against Heath.

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

In case you missed it, Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com reported yesterday that Thales Leites will be unable to compete against Nathan Marquardt at UFC 81 on February 2 as scheduled due to an injury sustained while training:

A broken right hand suffered in training Monday has forced middleweight contender Thales Leites to withdraw from his UFC 81 bout against Nate Marquardt. Leites, winner of three in a row in the Octagon, will undergo surgery on the hand later this week.

A replacement has not been named and it isn't known for sure if Marquardt will remain on the card. 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com

The UFC is starting to officially announce fights for UFC 81 on February 2 in Las Vegas. All of the fights are bouts that have been previously reported, however, UFC.com has revealed one matchup not already reported.

According to Thomas Gerbasi, Rob Emerson, a veteran of the fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter, will be competing on the undercard vs. Keita Nakamura. 

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Sam Caplan

Lead Writer/Editor - ProElite.com

SamCaplan.ProElite.com