Aldo/Pettis Could Be on the Horizon

It appears that UFC President Dana White is getting closer to putting together a clash between current UFC Champions Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis.  Jose Aldo is the current Featherweight Champion (145 lbs) and Anthony Pettis is the current Lightweight Champion (155 lbs).  Earlier this week, it was revealed that both champions were not able to come to an agreement as to which weight class the fight was going to take place.  Neither man wanted to go to the other man's weight class.  Aldo's camp insisted on meeting in the middle at 150 lbs, but Aldo's camp only wanted to meet at 155lbs and if the fight couldn't happen at Lightweight, Pettis would move on.  With White's intervention it looks like the fight will be occurring at 155lbs with Aldo moving up in weight to fight Pettis.  If the fight goes through, Aldo will have to vacate his title, but if Aldo loses to Pettis he will be granted an immediate rematch against whoever picks up his vacant title.  Dana White is thinking that a match between Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes would make for the best match for the vacant title.

UFC on Fox 9 Recap

UFC on Fox 9 was a great event that featured some of the UFC's best talents at 155 lbs and under that was headlined by a title fight in the UFC's Flyweight Division between Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez.

The main card started with a lightweight fight between two hungry TUF alumni.  Joe Lauzon and Mac Danzig had a back in forth battle that definitely entertained.  Both men were unable to submit the other, but Lauzon tried a few submissions from his guard.  It was a fight that you could be scored 100% for Lauzon.  Lauzon won by unanimous decision.

The next fight was between Chad Mendes and Nik Lentz.  It was a fight in which Chad Mendes exploded in the first round stunning Lentz early in round one.  Lentz was able to recover and avoid being KO'd in the first round like Mendes' last four opponents.  Though Lentz avoided a KO he did fall victim to repeated takedown after takedown for three rounds.  While watching the fight, it was evident from Mendes' performance that there was something definitely wrong with Chad Mendes and it was later revealed that Mendes had been recovering from a sinus infection and was not 100%.  Mendes earned himself a unanimous decision.

The next bout was truly a fight of top contenders if there ever was one.  It pitted the UFC's #2 and #3 Bantamweights against each other.  Urijah Faber had the home town advantage in Sacramento as he was one of four Alpha Male fighters to grace the Octagon along with team mates Danny Castillo, Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez.  He stood across the cage from a very confident and calm Michael McDonald.  Faber was able to out-strike the more decorated striker as well as out-grapple him.  Faber earned a submission victory after rocking McDonald and then sinking in a tight guillotine in the second round.

The next fight had the biggest shocker of all time as Demetrious Johnson defended his UFC title successfully against Joseph Benavidez.  Demetrious Johnson brought the fight straight to Joseph Benavidez and did what most people thought Benavidez would do to him and knocked him out COLD!  The fight ended so suddenly with Benavidez flat on his back within the the first round.

Post Fight Bonuses:
Submission of the Night: Urijah Faber
Knockout of the Night: Demetrious Johnson
Fight of the Night: Danny Castillo and Edson Barbosa

It will be interesting to see who the UFC would have Johnson face next. What are your thoughts?

UFC on Fox 9 Results

Main Card:

Demetrious Johnson def. Joseph Benavidez via KO
Urijah Faber def. Michael McDonald via submission
Chad Mendes def. Nik Lentz via unanimous decision
Joe Lauzon def. Mac Danzig via unanimous decision

Preliminary Card:

Ryan LaFlare def. Court McGee via unanimous decision
Edson Barboza def. Danny Castillo via majority decision
Bobby Green def. Pat Healy via unanimous decision
Zach Makovsky def. Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision
Sam Stout def. Cody McKenzie via unanimous decision
Abel Trujillo def. Roger Bowling via TKO
Alptekin Ozkilic def. Darren Uyenoyama via split decision

UFC 164 Results

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