UFC 110 and Torch Passing

Rather than weeping over the defeat of Minotauro at the hands of rising superstar Cain Velasquez, I'm going to focus on the great performance by Australian jiu jitsu black belt and TUF veteran (!) George Sotiropoulos in his decision victory over Joe Stephenson.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Herbertson of Sherdog.com

Let the record reflect that I was stunned that so many of the MMA analysts I respect most (including the incomparable Jordan Breen of Sherdog) picked Stephenson to win fairly handily. I had only seen Sotiropoulos in his fight against George Roop. But I have seen plenty of Joe Stephenson. And I can't for the life of me understand how Joe Daddy was such a big favorite.

Having just watched a bootleg of the fight, I see that the match turned out exactly as I suspected with Sotiropoulos putting on a jiu jitsu clinic over Joe Daddy. To me, Stephenson is another example of a guy who would have done very well in the UFC of 8 or 9 years ago, but is simply outclassed by the calibre of mixed martial artist entering the sport in 2010.

Arugably, it's the same story of Nog and Velasquez, only on a smaller scale insofar as Joe Daddy is no Minotauro. But the idea of insurgent newcomers who are more and more likely to take out some of the sport's veterans is definitely an idea whose time has come circa UFC 110.