The card might not have been stacked with the top fighters in the UFC, but why complain? It was free… and for a free card it was action-packed the whole ride! It has been my experience in watching MMA over the years, that often those events that appear to have a weak line-up end up being the best to watch. You often get young hungry guys out there who want to make a name for themselves – and they are desperate to do so. Dana White has never been discreet about his love for fighters who put on exciting fights, and many of the young guns are happy to oblige.
I liken these types of events to watching the NCAA Basketball Championships. You don’t have guys out there who are playing for the sake of playing – with a sense of entitlement. You have guys out there who want to get noticed, and show the world during their moment – potentially the only moment they will ever have in the spotlight -to show that they deserve to be there.
Usually a card like this will be headlined with a couple well-knowns. This is done as bait, to attract the less hardcore MMA fans, and get them to watch these lesser knowns and fodder their interest. In this case, Chris Leben and Mark Munoz were given top billing. Leben is a perpetual grinder, and Munoz has been on the rise for a while now. Anyone who has seen either of these guys in the cage knew they were in for a war. In this case the main card was a constant back and forth battle, with Munoz getting the better of the exchanges and the ground game – which eventually led to a between round stoppage.
Despite a great main fight, what really made this event so much fun to watch was the performance of the young stars: Terry Etim, Che Mills, Renan Pegado and Anthony Perosh. Each of these fighters put on a display that will help them to achieve their goal – stardom. The only question is, for those who do eventually reach higher teir in the organization – will they still fight for glory or a paycheque? Only time will tell.
…and that is the last word.
