5. Chris Lytle is the official gatekeeper in the welterweight division.

            This is not a knock on his career in any way. I am a huge “Lights Out” fan. He proved against Kevin Burns how much he still has left in the gas tank. He was clearly rocked by the uppercut Burns threw in the first round. He was able though to use his experience to go for the takedown, allowing him time to recover. He then came out in the final two rounds and picked apart Burns on the feet. I think he still has three or four fights left in him and I hope he continues to get tough opponents. He is the gatekeeper after all.

4. Judging still has a long way to go in the sport.

            Although the judges had a tough task in the Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez fight, they clearly botched two decisions in the prelim fights. Brad “Bad” Blackburn should not have won a split decision against Edgar Garcia. Garcia landed good shots on the feet and dropped Blackburn at the end of every round. MMA judges are known for their short memories and this should have helped Garcia get the win. Instead, Blackburn got the win and celebrated amongst an arena of boos.

            In the other prelim fight, Gleison Tibau strangely lost a split decision to Melvin Guillard. Guillard was taken down throughout the fight and pounded on by Tibau. He also landed very few shots on the feet because of the constant takedown attempts. How could he win the fight if he was on his back most of the time doing nothing? I do not know. This is a lesson for all fighters though: Do not leave the fight in the judges’ hands.

3. Something needs to change in Nate Diaz’s camp.

            I get that he wants to fight like his brother, but I am tired of seeing him lose to wrestlers like Guida and Stevenson. He is too content with going to the ground and trying to work for the submission against fighters like these. In the fight with Stevenson, he should have used his 6-inch reach advantage to pick him on the feet. Instead, he let Stevenson take him down and score points with the judges. Kit Cope stated on his twitter “once again, no one wants to ‘fight’ us.” Well, Kit it’s obvious the best way to beat Nate is to take him down for three rounds to earn a decision win. I do not blame Stevenson for implementing this strategy because he got “Sean Sherk Syndrome” in his last fight. He thought he could win a stand up battle against him and went away from his bread butter: ground and pound. Bottom line, I want to see a Nate Diaz who will stop the takedown and use his reach to pick apart opponents standing.

2. Vitor Belfort is being groomed to be a future opponent for Anderson Silva.

            When Belfort came into the UFC in 1997, he was labeled “The Phenom” by the hardcore fans. After losing the light heavyweight title to Randy Couture, his star faded in the MMA community. His impressive and brutal KO of Matt Lindland at Affliction: Day of Reckoning showed fans he still have explosive power. If Vitor is impressive against UFC vet Jorge Santiago at Affliction, we could see the return of “The Phenom” and a real challenger at 185 for Anderson Silva.

1. A rematch is necessary between Diego and Guida

            In a fight of the year candidate, Diego and Clay gave it their all in a three round war. After one of the most one sided opening rounds in recent UFC history, Clay managed to come back and win the second round by keeping Diego on his back. The third round could have been scored for either fighter. Although this fight will probably catapult Diego into title contention, a rematch is necessary somewhere down the line to settle who really the better fight between the two is. YES! YES! YES!