KELLER: UFC 129's Top Five Moments topped by Lyoto Machida's front kick knockout

By: Wade Keller, MMATorch Supervising Editor

(1) LOYOTO MACHIDA'S FRONT KICK KO'ING RANDY COUTURE AND ENDING HIS CAREER

If Couture wanted the last five seconds of his career to be a YouTube moment for the ages, it happened. I'm old enough that I was going to karate classes back when the original Karate Kid movie came out, and I remember the black belts (well, everyone, actually) mocking the crane kick that won Ralph Macchio's fight. Who's laughing now?! (Actually, back then some of the teenage and twenty-something brown and black belts would use it to try to score points on outmatched students during sparring to humiliate them). I would have never thought it would be the final blow for the career of one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. People would have booed if that were the final scene of a scripted movie for being too cheesy. And what's with the return of karate in general in MMA? It was basically a discredited style within the confines of MMA rules in the 2000s, and suddenly in the 2010s it's being re-legitimized. Maurice Smith had his moments in the 1990s, but between Machida in general and now Anderson Silva and Machida ending fights with front kicks, karate is back! All of those karate schools that changed their name by switching out "Karate" and putting "MMA" in its place might want to switch back.

(2) "I CAN'T SEE OUT OF MY LEFT EYE"

This was a show with many stand-out moments, but arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter seeming genuinely shaken and scared by the fact that he couldn't see out of his left eye, during the fight and after, is a big deal. It may not be serious, and let's hope not, but that is the cloud over this show, which GSP so hoped would be a shining moment in front of the 55,000 fans at the former SkyDome. It affected his performance, although I do think even accounting for that, Jake Shields quieted a lot of his critics by hanging for five rounds even with a one-eyed version of GSP.

(3) THAT HUGE HEMOTOMA

I would have been more scared for Mark Hominick, but my two year old son slipped on ice and hit his head on a park bench and had a similar hemotoma on his head last month and he turned out to be just fine (see picture). But boy was that nasty looking. I'm no expert, but I think Joe Rogan was a little more worried about it breaking open than he needed to be. The skin was intact, and it was just a lot of swelling and totally superficial. Obviously the ref was right to have the doc check on it, but I'm glad that didn't end the fight. I loved that the crowd "ohhed" every time the camera caught a glimpse of it. If you're a fighter and you hear that during your fight and you don't know what they're reacting to, that has to be disconcerting. Your imagination could run wild.

(4) THREE SUPLEXES IN ONE ROUND

Rory MacDonald's three suplexes of Nate Diaz would have made the late Eddie Guerrero and Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle proud. Has that ever happened before in UFC? Not only is karate making a comeback in MMA, but so is pro wrestling! What's next, someone finishing a fight with a figure-four leglock or legdrop?

(5) THE PACKED SKYDOME

It'll always be SkyDome to me (not "The SkyDome," just "SkyDome," as they insisted back when it was opened in the late 1980s). That was a major statement by UFC to fill that arena like that. What a scene. I've been covering UFC since the first PPV (for the Torch Newsletter back before there was an Internet) and I remember those shows in Dothan, Ala. I just wish Rogan and Goldberg wouldn't talk with a sense of derision about Dothan whenever they bring it up. Without Alabama supporting UFC when many states wouldn't allow them to run events, where would they be today? I live in the opposite of Alabama (Minnesota) so that's not me being a homer. I'm just saying a little shoutout to those early supporters in those crowds of 2,000 would be in order rather than making it seem like they'd "never go back to that small-time hell-hole." SkyDome was well lit and the wide shots were just amazing to see. UFC - and MMA in general - has come so far. It was the first time UFC gave Pride a run for its money in terms of looking like a huge show. I was half-expecting that crazy-good albeit over-the-top female announcer Lenne Hardt and the grand stage entrances like Pride.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Randy Couture's walk through the tunnel after his fight for the final time and then later embracing his wife backstage... Vladimir Matyushenko's blitz KO of Jason Brilz... 21 year old Rory MacDonald giving 26 year old Nate Diaz a piece of his own scrappy medicine in a Statement Win. There's a new young elusive unorthodox Energizer Bunny in the Welterweight Division... Ivan Menjivar breaking the nose of Charlie Valencia with an elbow... John Makdessi's spinning back fist KO of Kyle Watson, which could have been no. 1 on a lesser show. Wow!... The tooth flying out of Randy Couture's mouth after the Machida kick deserves a separate mention from the kick itself; in slo-mo in high-def, that was pretty cool...

OTHER THOUGHTS:

I like UFC Central with former WEC announcer Todd Harris staying on board to host the post-show wrap-up (which looks a lot like ESPN's MMA Live)... Mike Goldberg said "class act" or "classy" just twice during the entire show, by my count, keeping his streak alive, but not overdoing it... Now if we can get Goldberg to remember to include the person he's talking about at the start of his sentences. I mean, "Dangling his subject at the end of his subjects, Goldberg does." How hard is it to remember to name the person you're talking about the start of your sentence instead of having to insert it awkwardly at the end, such as "One of the best pound-for-pound fighters, is Jose Aldo"... Another announcing critique. They use too many pronouns where most viewers aren't necessarily going to know which fighter they're talking about. "He's got a great ground game" or "Look at the position of his left foot." I mean, just say their name every time and avoid all ambiguity for the viewers... Quote of the Night is Dana White telling Randy Couture, after he mentioned he lost a tooth when Machida kicked him, "We'll buy you a better one"... Did I miss anything big? Email me at kellerwade@gmail.com or post it in the Reader Comments area on our website (App Users: Don't forget to visit us on the web, too, at www.MMATorch.com for mirror content of the MMATorch App along with working polls and our UFC video features as part of our partnership with USAToday's UFC Group)...

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Keller_s_Take_33/article_9206.shtml

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