Last night was definitely a night of thrills that truly entertained. From the the prelims to the main event there was not a single dull moment. Lots of stars rose to the occassion at UFC 164 which was headlined by UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson taking on charismatic challenger Anthony Pettis.
The main card was kicked off with a phenomenal featherweight fight between two of the sport's youngest rising stars and Top 10 contenders. In a fight in which Erik Koch was the favorite over Dustin Poirier, Poirier came out into that fight showing a very skilled grappling game to go along with his impressive standup striking skills. Early in the fight Koch snapped in a tight triangle that looked like it would quickly end the fight but Poirier endured and was one step ahead of Koch for the remainder of the fight. Poirier earned a much deserved unanimous decision.
The next fight featured the heavyweight return of Branden Vera in a tough match with longtime MMA fan favorite."Big" Ben Rothwell. Vera was relatively large in his fight last night opposed to his recent fights at 205. Vera did a good job at staying on the outside and throwing kicks from the outside and avoiding damage. Vera was able to land clean shots for the entire first two rounds. In the third round, Rothwell came into the third round knowing that he needed to go for broke and so...he did. "Big Ben" came out like a hyped up wildman out for revenge. Rothwell swung to the fences and put Vera on the mat to earn the tko victory.
Chad Mendes faced off with Clay Guida in another exciting Featherweight fight that was a long time coming. After injuries.had.postponed this fight for months, this fight finally happened. Clay Guida fought in his usual style of dancing around to throw off his opponent. For the most part it seemed to be working but Mendes still managed to put off some great shots on Guida. The fight was stopped in the third round when Chad put together a series of strikes that were able to stun Guida and stop him by strikes for the first time in his career in the third round.
Frank Mir and Josh Barnett were the co-mainevent fight of the evening. Frank Mir showed up in the best shape that he appeared to be in in years. Frank Mir and Barnett clinched early in the fight with Barnett getting Mir backed into the cage with Barnett controlling Mir while they were both striking in tight quarters. Barnett was definitely getting the better of the exchanges in the clinch. Within two minutes of the fight, Barnett landed a clean knee to the face that put Mir into enough trouble for the referee to stop the match.
Finally the event that we all were looking to see was the Pettis vs. Henderson. Henderson came out strong controlling Pettis against the cage using a unique calf kick to help stifle Pettis' offense. Pettis was able to break away from the cage and attack Henderson with a series of kicks to the body. Henderson took Pettis to the ground which proved to be a mistake when Pettis was able to catch Henderson in an armbar which forced Benson Henderson to verbally submit. Henderson admitted to his arm snapping during the fight. Anthony Pettis became the new UFC Lightweight Champion.
Anthony Pettis def. Benson Henderson via verbal submission (armbar) - Round 1, 4:31
Josh Barnett def. Frank Mir via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 1:56
Chad Mendes def. Clay Guida TKO (punches) - Round 3, 0:30
Ben Rothwell def. Brandon Vera via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 1:54
Dustin Poirier def. Erik Koch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Gleison Tibau def. Jamie Varner via split decision (29-28, 27-29, 29-28)
Tim Elliott def. Louis Gaudinot via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-26)
Hyun Gyu Lim def. Pascal Krauss via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 3:58
Chico Camus def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Soa Palelei def. Nikita Krylov via TKO (punches) - Round 3, 1:34
Al Iaquinta def. Ryan Couture via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Magnus Cedenblad def. Jared Hamman via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 0:57
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