Evaluating the numbers from UFC 140

The UFC 140 encounters at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Saturday night are now in the martial arts history books. As time passes it’s likely most of us will forget the circumstances of each bout and only recall who won and who lost.

Leave This Blank:Leave This Blank Too:Do Not Change This:

Your email:

 

While punch stat numbers don’t always tell the whole story, especially in the fighting sports, they can give fodder to the people who enjoy a good debate about these things. You know who I’m talking about. Those people who just love a heated argument.

FightMetric.com provided the following numbers concerning UFC 140 for you to consider:

2: Is the number of title defenses for Jon Jones, the first man to hold on to the light heavyweight belt for more than one fight since Chuck Liddell defended his belt three times in 2006.

35: More strikes landed by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira than Frank Mir on Saturday. The former Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight champion looked to have Mir in serious trouble before the Las Vegas resident applied the submission hold that ended the fight.

54: Significant strikes landed by his twin brother, Antonio Rogero Nogueira, versus Tito Ortiz, the most of his UFC career. Don’t get all depressed or go overboard feeling melancholy for Ortiz. Over his UFC career he’s landed 1,211 total strikes on his opponents.

Yves Jabouin of Montreal, Canada defeated Walel Watson of San Diego, CA via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27). In Watson’s split-decision loss, he out-landed Jabouin by 14 significant strikes. As a matter of fact, Watson connected more times than his opponent in all three rounds. The one thing Jabouin did do was score the only two takedowns in the contest. Hold-on, didn’t those takedowns almost end in choke hold submissions by Watson?

So we have one guy dishing out more punishment while the other gent apparently missed his calling. He should be playing football. There’s always going to be a certain amount of controversy spiked from the judges’ decisions when the combatants are so close talent wise. In its entirety, the point scoring for a take down or a landed strike should have less importance in the final outcome. I believe one must take into account the actual damage inflicted and level of expertise the fighter has exhibited. When all is said and done, it’s more rewarding for the fighters when there is zero controversy on a win or loss. As the youngest fight sport out there, MMA is still in its infant stages, and perhaps they’re already working on improving the judging methods.

Despite suffering a broken arm in his most recent fight, former UFC interim heavyweight and PRIDE champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will not undergo corrective surgery.

Tuesday came reports Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will now wear an adjustable plastic brace and undergo twice-daily, 20-minute sessions of ultrasound therapy as his broken right humerus heals.

According to a report furnished by UFC officials, a hopeful Los Angeles doctor stated Nogueira is expected to recover “in no more than” nine months.

That same day, MMAjunkie.com reported Nogueira’s manager, Ed Soares, told them he expects his client will continue to fight. In-house at the Black House Team Nogueira Gym, they have no idea but they’re all hoping for the best. After all, this toughest of warriors has gone through two hip operations, an ACL operation and now this, all within the last three years. The man’s resilience and tolerance for pain is incredible.

Frank Mir’s thoughts after his win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.