UFC 109's Nightmare Aftermath

UFC 109 was last night and after the fights, they have to leave the UFC reeling a little bit. While the Main Event fight pretty much went as expected, the co-main event and one under card fight had to have had a ripple effect for upcoming UFC cards.

The ageless Randy Couture took on an equally ancient Mark Coleman last night in the main event and the fight really went about as expected. The more athletic Couture rammed Coleman up against the cage for most of the 1st round. The 2nd started the same before Couture got the take-down and eventually worked to Coleman's back before sinking in a rear-naked choke to put Coleman to sleep, literally. In fact the only time when Coleman actually fought back was after Tito Ortiz was talking trash, walking past the Octagon as Coleman was doing a post-fight interview. Coleman started getting animated and called Tito a 'douchebag' and challenged him to fight that won't ever happen, at least not in the UFC.

Everything before that fight is what may cause the UFC some issues. Coming into the Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen fight, Dana White said that the winner was in line for a title shot. Now, Sonnen was on a two fight win streak during the second go around in his UFC career thus far, but other than Yushin Okami, no big fights. The proclamation was more for Marquardt, since Marquardt vs Dan Henderson was the fight the UFC really wanted. But Henderson left because he wanted the next shot, not another fight before he got his shot. So the UFC scheduled Sonnen as a tune-up for Marquardt. A funny thing happened on the way through the tune-up and unfortunately for the UFC and Marquardt, Sonnen won a three round unanimous decision victory. It wasn't in dominate fashion and Sonnen doesn't really have the pedigree to earn a title shot at this point, but with Henderson gone and Marquardt losing, after Vitor Belfort challenges Anderson Silva, the UFC really doesn't have anyone else in the Middleweight division worthy of a shot at this point.

The other fight that causes some issues in their title picture future was the Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago fight. Originally scheduled as a rematch of Josh Koscheck vs Paulo Thiago, the UFC viewed the fight as a way for Koscheck to avenge his most recent loss Thiago and put himself in line for a rematch with Georges St. Pierre, this time with a title on the line. Koscheck got hurt and Swick filled in for him, trying to rebound from a #1 contender match vs Dan Hardy, presumably to get back on the right track towards a title shot of his own. Swick was no match for Thiago and succumbed to a Brabo choke in the 2nd round of the matchup. With a second loss in a row, Swick falls further out of title contention and now needs to rebound in his next fight before he finds himself out of a UFC contract. Meanwhile, Thiago still isn't ready for a title shot and as of now, the UFC has no one else ready to step in once St. Pierre defeats Dan Hardy in March. Will the UFC let Koscheck get his title shot without facing Thiago?