How do Tom Hanks and Saturday night's UFC 78 event relate to one another? Simple. There is one scene in the movie BIG in which Tom Hanks is working at a toy company as an adult when in actuality, he's a boy who was turned into an adult by a wish to an arcade game at a carnival. We have all seen the movie. In the scene, Hanks is in a meeting with the top executives going over quarterly numbers and sales. During the lecture regarding the sales, Hanks is playing with the toy that resembles a building that turns into a robot. Hanks raises his hand and the character played by actor John Heard asks Hanks what the question is. Hanks replies, "I don't get it", in which Heard asks, "What don't you get?". Hanks replies, "I don't get it. It's a building that turns into a robot, what's the fun in that?". A very hilarious scene from a great movie. But what does that have to do with UFC 78? As soon as Evans vs. Bisping ended, I simply stated to myself... I don't get it.

What don't you get!?

Before I seemingly rip into this boring event, I will say that it was perceived by most of us in the MMA community that this card was going to be a disappointment. The laughable attempt by Dana White to hype Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans in some of the conference calls and press conferences never blinded me with visions of grandjeur about the event. With that said, what about this event didn't I get? Take a seat:

• Why was the event card so weak? There seemed to be not one single fight that stood out remarkably in my mind before the event began. I wasn't excited for one particular fight as I have been on other cards. It'd be a much different feeling if there was a fight I wanted to see, but it came up short. I understand that mixed martial arts is unpredictable, but there isn't unpredictability and excitement in a fight I could care less about. My prediction would be... I don't care.
  
  
  
  • There are many thoughts as to why the card suffered. Mainly, many of the champions are injured or coming off recent fights. The lightweight division's top tier is in gridlock due to the Sean Sherk case. The middleweight division just had a title shot. The welterweights are also in gridlock due to the taping of The Ultimate Fighter and the title defense coming out of the show between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. Quinton Jackson has a broken hand and Randy Couture is in a dispute with UFC's management, as we all know. That leaves the titles in each weight division locked up for now and unavailable for the 78 event.
  
  
  • The matchmaking abilities of Joe Silva have definitely come into question. I mean, Michael Bisping vs. Rashad Evans was terrible. I won't put the blame on matchmaking for it because I imagine Dana White had something to do with this fight coming to life when he couldn't conjure up another bout with so many divisions in lockdown (see previous point). Fisher-Edgar looked like a decent matchup to many fans, but all I thought about was Fisher's decisions and how they stacked up against Edgar's style, mainly a takedown fighter. It didn't bode well at all, and a friend thought I was nuts when I said you might as well run out and get some food while this snoozefest is on. Karo Parisyan vs. Anybody is a bad matchup. I hate to tell ya, but Karo still hasn't worked on his power enough to finish someone. He has slick ground moves, but matching Chonan up with him was disappointing. I would have rather seen Akihiro Gono switched with Chonan. Swap out these couple of fights with some undercard battles, and it would have been a bit more exciting.

Those are two biggest contributing reasons to such a poor card, and the UFC won't be able to avoid more of their events having the same problems. I can understand some of the problems, but having just an overall weak card entirely could have been avoided. There were some very good fights on the undercard that intrigued me as a hardcore fan. Gono vs. McCrory was interesting, and it ended up being a very interesting fight with an unorthodox submission victory. I didn't believe the Reinhardt hype at all, but I am a fan of Joe Lauzon. Chris Lytle vs. Thiago Alves was a matchup that I thought was particularly interesting. It seemed to be a good matchup for both competitors and it delivered. The only problem was that the cut Lytle sustained somehow caused the doctor to stop the fight. Another fight ruined by poor judgment in my opinion.

Dare I say, I thought the Joe Doerksen vs. Ed Herman fight was probably one of the most exciting fights on the card for the pure fact that it was a back and forth battle. Herman showed potential and improved strength in his abilities as a fighter. It was clear that he was stronger than Doerksen and was able to control top position easily, but the BJJ skills of Doerksen came into play during the end of the second round. Herman was saved by the bell. Herman's sloppy standup striking managed to win him a third round KO though. Definitely a back and forth battle of ups and downs.

Final Thoughts

The UFC could have done a better job with this card's main card lineup. When a fight like Herman vs. Doerksen makes a run for fight of the night, there is obviously something wrong with the top fights. Matchmaking a few decision fighters against other decision fighters isn't acceptable. Come on UFC! I understand making the casual fans happy is where it's at, but can you throw the hardcore fans a fight?