Hindsight – UFC on FOX 21: Maia vs Condit in retrospect

I don’t know about you, but the I found the main card of the UFC’s most recent showing of fights to be everything it was hyped up to be. I will admit that I was hoping to see a bit more action out of the main event as Carlos Condit qualifies as a true connoisseur of violence, but watching Demian Maia do what he does best wasn’t a disappointing endeavor to behold either.

As always after every event, the tectonic plates shift, anticipated courses are altered, and we can only guess what the powers that be will do with the results of the contests. I’ll follow the format established by Zane Simon of starting with the expectations heading into the fight with the results, then discussing the participants with the winner being dissected before the loser. Let’s take a deep dive:

Jeremy Kennedy defeated Alex Ricci via unanimous decision

Expectations/Results: Ricci was a late notice replacement for Josh Emmett which is why most were favoring Kennedy. I thought Ricci would be better prepared to deal with the spotlight. I was wrong. The fight wasn’t very good as it was spent exclusively in the clinch with Kennedy looking for takedowns. He finally got them after Ricci started to tire to seal the deal in what had previously been a close contest. Kennedy: He stuck to his game plan which he deserves credit for, but I wasn’t at all impressed by this performance. He has a good gas tank, but nobody enjoys a clinch war against the cage without any major damage being delivered. He talked about 155ers being too big in his post-fight interview and mentioned Artem Lobov’s name later, so expect him to go back down to 145. Ricci: The rep on Ricci heading into the contest is that he backed himself into the cage quite often. He did just that and though he delivered some good knees, his gas tank betrayed him. At 34, he’ll probably be used to get a prospect an expected win which is pretty much what he was here. Don’t expect Ricci’s UFC stay to be very long.

Chad Laprise defeated Thibault Gouti via TKO at 1:36 of RD1

Expectations/Results: Laprise was a heavy favorite going into this one as Gouti hadn’t shown the ability to win in the UFC yet. Laprise was getting the better of the striking exchanges before landing a HARD counter to a charging Gouti. It didn’t put the Frenchman out cold, but Laprise’s follow up strikes prevented him from getting back to his feet as Gouti tried to scramble up before the ref stepped in. Laprise: That was a textbook backstep counter. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better one. The win is a bit tainted as Laprise came in three pounds heavy, but he was in dire need of a victory as he entered the fight on two consecutive losses. He indicated after the fight that he will be moving up to welterweight which sounds iffy. He was hardly a big lightweight, so I fear that he won’t find too much success fighting much bigger fighters. We’ll have to see. Gouti: I’ll admit that he landed some good shots, but he completely forgot about defense and ate the hard counter as a result. It was tweeted by Mike Bohn that he negotiated another fight after Laprise missed weight, so we may end up seeing Gouti again after not being able to pick up a win so far in three attempts. Smart dude, but I think he’s only delaying the inevitable.

Felipe Silva defeated Shane Campbell via TKO at 1:13 of RD1

Expectations/Results: Most were expecting Campbell’s experience to give him the edge. It didn’t matter at all as Silva turned up the aggression once he pushed Campbell against the cage, landing a series of hard punches that sent the Canadian to the ground clutching his gut. Impressive debut from a guy we still know very little about. Silva: It was clear that Silva had studied Campbell as he didn’t give him any room whatsoever to get off his strikes. He immediately went to the clinch, pressured Campbell to the fence, and you know how it goes from there. At 32, I can’t see him becoming anything more than an action fighter. That isn’t an insult. Think of Alan Jouban. I look forward to seeing what else he can do going forward. Campbell: The loss dropped the Canadian to 1-4 in his UFC stint which ensures that he won’t be back. Kind of a shame as I’ve always found him to be fun to watch. If he picks up a few wins on the regional scene, he could be back as the UFC has a history of bringing back Canadian veterans to maintain a quota for their Canadian shows. I know that doesn’t sound fair to US fighters, but it is truthful.

Alessio Di Chirico defeated Garreth McLellan via split decision

Expectations/Results: I couldn’t recall seeing a single prediction in favor of McLellan heading into the fight. Maybe McLellan was reading the same things as he put on his best performance to date and made it a very close fight. Both were exhausted by the end of this slop fest, marching forward and swinging punches that usually connected thanks to neither being able to avoid any potential damage coming their way. I’m sure there are some that disagree, but I felt the right man won. I admit that it was close enough that I wouldn’t have complained had McLellan got the decision. Di Chirico: I was actually disappointed in his performance. I don’t feel he was as sharp as he was in his debut against Bojan Velickovic. Maybe I’m being too rough on him based on McLellan’s improvements, but I really expected a breakthrough performance. I guess not. I still feel that he can continue to improve and become a fixture in the UFC for quite a while, but he will need to deepen his gas tank improve his takedown defense. McLellan: The loss drops the South African native to 1-3 in the UFC which is reason enough to cut him. I can’t say definitively that will happen as fellow South African Ruan Potts got three chances without a win before the UFC cut ties. McLellan at least has the one victory over Bubba Bush. I believe the UFC is trying to keep at least one representative from the country on the roster at all times. If I’m right in my assessment, we’ll see him in the cage again… and I won’t be so sure to pick against him again if he continues to improve.

Kyle Bochniak defeated Enrique Barzola via split decision

Expectations/Results: While I felt this was a …

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