Chris Lytle ends career with a bang, Former WEC fighters impressive—UFC superfight on horizon

Author: Aaron Lisker

Dan Hardy and Chris Lytle spent almost the entire three rounds of their fight trading  some kicks and throwing some major bombs.  Their fight’s end during the last minute  through a guillotine choke came as a surprise.

Lytle announced at the weigh-in, prior to the fight, that this would be his last career fight. He was 41-18-4 over the course of his MMA career and 13-1 as a boxer.  All the more impressive, Lytle is a full time Indianapolis fireman, in addition to being a very seasoned professional fighter.  This is something I don’t think Denis Leary could have worked into Rescue Me.

This marks the fourth straight loss for the Mohawk sporting, punk rock Englishmen, Dan Hardy.  He connected on a lot of punches, but he didn’t count on Lytle’s chin.  However, prior to shooting on Lytle toward the end, where he was choked out, Hardy might have otherwise been ahead on the judges’ scorecards.

Hardy shot in Lytle about halfway through the second round and nearly was choked out by guillotine.  This was the only time the fight went to the ground prior to the end.  He might have chose to take the fight to the ground a second time knowing he couldn’t knock out the Lytle.

When I learned a tough guy like Lytle is an Indianapolis fire fighter, it put my mind at ease because I live three miles or so outside the Indianapolis border in Carmel, Indiana. Sometimes, the Indianapolis Fire Department is called in to help the Carmel Fire Department.  Lytle says he wants to run for state representative in 2012. I might be hearing more of him in the future.

The WEC completely merged with the UFC last December, which allowed many WEC fighters to compete in the UFC for the first time.  Thought to be a lesser promotion, the stigma was proven wrong Sunday night in UFC on Versus.  Former WEC fighters Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone both won their fights impressively.

Cerrone TKOed Charles Oliveira, who was 14-1 coming into the fight.  Ben Henderson won by unanimous decision over Jim Miler, who was 20-2 overall and 8-2 in the UFC, while riding a seven fight winning streak coming into the fight.

Henderson was able to counter Miller’s Jiu-Jitsu—some by wrestling, but most impressively by punching at Miller, who was using both his arms and all of his energy trying to submit Henderson, leaving him defenseless to Henderson’s punches.

Last week at UFC, Rashad Evans TKOed veteran, Tito Oritz, to setup a superfight at UFC 135 for the light heavyweight title at 205lbs against Jon “Bones” Jones.  Other than maybe Anderson Silva vs. George St. Pierre, I can’t think of a fight MMA fans rather see more than Jones vs. Evans.  It might be so good that it would need a trilogy like Ali vs. Frazier.