Seems to me like they’re grooming Velasquez for bigger and better things, as Herring is pretty much a gate keeper into the top of the division. The UFC tried to build up Herring, but he has consistently come up short against the top dogs, with a 2-3 record inside the UFC. Wrestlers also appear to be his kryptonite, as he couldn’t stuff a take down if his ever lovin’ life depended on it.

Enter Velasquez, a mountain of muscle who happens to be an NCAA wrestler, who has learned to strike very, very effectively. Should his stand-up not do the trick against Herring, his wrestling certainly will. Herring’s five fights have all gone to decision, but barring a lucky punch, this one is ending before then, in favor of Velasquez.

Oh yeah, he also wears XXXXL size fingerless gloves. The only other guy to require gloves that size is the Korean Goliath, Hong Man Choi…also known as Techno Goliath for his love of techno music and dancing. Choi stands 7’4″ and weights 367lbs. As Rampage Jackson says, “Damn!!” Anyways, credit goes to Heath Herring for not being knocked senseless after that huge shot.

UFC 87 was this past Saturday, and there were a couple of super impressive performances, notably Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar.

St. Pierre silenced (or should have at this point) his critics by systematically dismantling the top contender to his 170lb crown, Jon Fitch. Fitch never seemed to really threaten St. Pierre, and was dropped about 4-5 times in the fight from punches and knees…that can’t be good for Fitch’s noodle, but he hung in there, and he was true to his word, he’s a “blood and guts” type of guy.  He fights and claws for everything he gets.  In the end though, he was simply outclassed by a better fighter.  St. Pierre imposed his will and the only thing he couldn’t do, was put his gi on after the fight.

Now that St. Pierre has dominated the guy who dominated everyone else, who else is there?

BJ Penn.  More on that later.

Brock Lesnar showed great improvement in his second trip in the cage, dominating the very tough Heath Herring over three rounds. Unlike his spastic-like offense against Frank Mir in his debut, Lesnar paced himself and didn’t blow his wad. Next up on Lesnar’s to-do list is submissions.

Kenny Florian defeated home town boy Roger Huerta by sticking to his system and not getting caught up in an emotional brawl. Each time Kenny rocked Roger, Roger would get riled up, but unlike past opponents, Kenny found a way to suppress Huerta’s rage until it passed. Look for Kenny to get a title shot, after BJ Penn’s foray back to 170lbs.

In my near-favorite bout of the night, Rob Emerson scored a surprising TKO victory over Manny Gamburyan twelve seconds into the fight. I dislike Gamburyan for a few reasons, his attitude and his cheap shot on Jeff Cox.  Surely one of the more satisfying smashings I’ve ever seen.

In the televised opening bout, Damian Maia wore down a very game and scrappy Canadian Jason MacDonald and scored a 3rd round choke out. MacDonald came right at Maia and took him to the ground, which surely must have surprised Maia.

Oh, and Cheik Kongo won by TKO over Dan Evenson…Kongo is one scary dude, but not a great interview

All in all, an excellent night of fights.  The rest of the results are listed below.

Check out Fitch’s face!! Like he had been through a meat grinder…and the guy keeps on fighting.  I feel bad for his next opponent.

UFC 87 RESULTS:

Georges St. Pierre def. Jon Fitch by unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 50-44)
Brock Lesnar def. Heath Herring by unanimous decision (30-26 on all cards)
Rob Emerson def. Manny Gamburyan by KO at :12, R1
Kenny Florian def. Roger Huerta by unanimous decision (30-27 on all cards)
Demian Maia def. Jason MacDonald by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:44, R3
Tamdan McCrory def. Luke Cummo by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Cheick Kongo def. Dan Evensen by TKO (strikes on the ground) at 4:55, R1
Jon Jones def. Andre Gusmao by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)
Chris Wilson def. Steve Bruno by Unanimous Decision (30-27) on all judges score cards
Ben Saunders def. Ryan Thomas by submission (armbar) at 2:28, R2

But he kind of always teetered between being a success and mediocrity. He’d win one, he’d lose one, and he just sometimes struck you as a flabby guy who wasn’t particularly dedicated.

Ouch.

But he goes on to say when Herring is dedicated, like he is now, he’s a tough guy to beat for anyone.

Whew.

We’ll see how Lesnar has improved since his last fight in February, when he was dominating former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir for 87 seconds before getting caught in a knee bar, in what was truly a rookie mistake.

UFC 87 is just around the corner and I thought I’d give you a rundown of one of the two co-main events.

This will be Lesnar’s 2nd fight in the UFC, and just his third mixed martial arts fight total.  The guy is as green as it gets, but is an awesome amateur wrestler and has surrounded himself with good trainers.  Since his loss to Frank Mir in February, I’m pretty sure he has been practicing submission defence, and that doesn’t bode well for Herring.

I predict Lesnar will come out guns a-blazing, like he did against Mir.  Unlike Mir however, I don’t think Herring will be skilled enough (and Lesnar will be better at not getting caught…) to catch Lesnar in a submission.  As well, Herring doesn’t seem to be very adapt at defending the take down, which is Brock’s specialty.  I’d give Lesnar a 75% chance to win this fight.  The other 25% comes into play in the second half of the fight, if Lesnar for some reason can’t put Herring away.

There’s no way anyone, not even the best conditioned light weights, can sustain Lesnar’s fight-opening flurry.  If Herring survives that, how much will Lesnar have left?  My guess is not a whole hell of a lot.  Blowing his wad early (and often) was working well for Lesnar until Mir caught him in a knee bar.  Had Mir not done that, I doubt he would have lasted another 30 seconds.  Lesnar was absolutely mauling him from above…leaving no wads for rounds 2 & 3.

Brock Lesnar’s second fight in the UFC is also a co-headliner (who else could possibly pull this off, especially with a 1-0 record besides Lesnar?) and he will take on wily veteran, Heath Herring.

In Lesnar’s last fight against former UFC heavy weight champion Frank Mir, Lesnar dominated for 87 seconds before getting submitted in the 90 second fight. Herring’s strength is not in submissions, so Lesnar should not have to worry as much about getting caught.

Herring’s last fight was a decision win over Cheik Kongo, a noted kick boxer, and Herring admitted after the fight that he did not train his ground game whatsoever during the prep. He had better train his take down and ground and pound defense for Lesnar. During Herring’s UFC debut, he was matched up against another wrestler in Jake O’Brien, and Herring was smothered for 15 minutes because he could not defend the take down if his haircut depended on it!

Mark Coleman is known as a strong wrestler with poor striking and good ground and pound.  Lesnar is a younger, more athletic version of Mark Coleman, and it appeared the UFC was setting Lesnar up for a “sure win” in the main event.  Herring represents a younger fighter with good stand up and most importantly, more experience.  In fact, Herring had the current UFC heavy weight Champion Antonio Rodrogo Nogueira in a world of trouble with a perfectly timed head kick and inexplicably let Nogueira off of the hook.  Herring did better in his next fight, out-pointing French Striker Cheik Kongo, who had recently defeated Mirko CroCop.

I’ll say one thing for Lesnar, he isn’t being protected like Kimbo Slice or Michael Bisping; he’s jumping right in with the big boys and he has enough star/drawing power to suffer through a few losses.