BJ Penn and Quentin Jackson Get Back To Winning Ways at UFC 123

UFC 123 was a blast from the past featuring four former champions Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Quentin Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

With the UFC putting on events with increasing regularity, this was the second in successive weekends, there is an increasing demand for fighters who can headline cards. These four all fall firmly into this category and a win would have propelled any one of them towards a coveted title shot.

Penn was being hailed as the most dominant champion in the history of the lightweight division when he was surprisingly beaten not once but twice by an aspiring young fighter named Frankie Edgar.

Hughes is the all American self styled country boy who ruled the welterweight roost for years, winning the title twice and defending it on seven separate occasions. He was actually handed the first loss of his UFC career by Penn back in 2004 but got his revenge two years later, winning the rematch. Now aged 37 Hughes has not held a title since 2006 but was riding a three fight win streak going into this fight.

Penn, who hails from Hawaii, is only 31 and was regarded as one of the top pound for pound fighters on the planet until the back to back decision loses to Edgar earlier this year. Since the 2006 defeat against Hughes he has been campaigning almost exclusively at lightweight but was returning to 170 lbs for the rubber match.

In the end it was the superior hand speed of the younger man which made the difference. Penn caught Hughes with a perfectly timed right hook which sent him crashing to the canvass and then landed a series of unanswered punches leaving the referee no option but to step in and stop the fight after just 21 seconds.

This win clearly demonstrated that the Hawaiian is a still a force to be reckoned with regardless of which weight class he chooses to compete in. It appears that he will remain at 170 lbs for at least one more fight and he has been penciled in to face another welterweight contender, Jon Fitch, at UFC 127.

For Hughes, who looked visibly upset after this loss, retirement probably beckons. If he does decide to fight on he will always have a home in the UFC but the former champion is unlikely to be offered many more marquee fights.

The main event of the evening featured two former light heavyweight champions whose UFC careers had followed a remarkably similar trajectory. First Jackson and then Machida were tipped to dominate the division after being fast tracked towards a successful title shot. Neither man could quite live up to the hype and they both came into this fight on the back of recent losses.

It was Jackson who ultimately emerged victorious but there was an element of controversy to his decision win. The first two rounds were relatively uneventful but Machida habitually fights on the back foot and was marginally the less effective of the two fighters.

In round three the Brazilian, who fights in an unorthodox Karate stance, made up for lost time by backing Jackson up with punches before taking him down and working unsuccessfully for a submission. It was a decisive finish but not enough to win him the fight because two of the three judges had already awarded his opponent the opening two rounds.

Like boxing MMA is scored on a 10 point must system meaning that the round winner is awarded 10 points and his opponent nine or less, although in practice it is very rarely less. The scoring does not take into consideration the margin of victory within a round and this is currently a contentious issue within the sport. Machida won the third round emphatically but Jackson probably did enough to edge the first two meaning that, under the current scoring criteria, the decision was the correct one.

The split decision win for Jackson was not a particularly satisfactory outcome for either the fighters or the fans and both men expressed a willingness to face one another again. This was not the most entertaining of fights though and the UFC matchmakers were are unlikely to have been sufficiently impressed to consider sanctioning a repeat.

With reigning champion Mauricio Rua,who handed Machida the first loss of his career at UFC 113, still out of commission after undergoing knee surgery the light heavyweight landscape is a little unclear. Rashad Evans, who beat Jackson at UFC 114, is expected to fight Rua sometime next year and Jackson is probably first in line for a shot at the winner.

Earlier in the night George Sotiropoulos secured an impressive seventh successive UFC win with a second round submission of Joe Lauzon. The Australian carries the hopes of a continent on his shoulders and will return to his homeland at UFC 127 in February to take on German kickboxer Dennis Siver.

Phil Davis enhanced his welterweight credentials by submitting Tim Boetsch and middleweight Maiquel Falcao was a awarded a decision over Gerald Harris after a lackluster three round contest. Flying the flag for England was lightweight Paul Kelly. The fighter from Liverpool bounced back from a recent defeat with a stoppage win over T.J. O’Brien on the undercard.

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