Last night was not one of the best cards that the UFC has put on in recent years. It was a night that went to many decisions and didn't really leave me impressed. As an avid fight fan and blogger it is mandatory that I watch the fight, but I had determined that I wasn't going to watch the fight at all because I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be pleasing. I'll be completely honest and say that I am not a fan whatsoever of the UFC's Bantamweight division and had no interest in watching Faber fight and come up short for the third time for the belt. Contrary to how I felt about the event, I felt obligated to watch anyways as I haven't missed a PPV fight that I was home for in quite some time.
Let's begin with the Fox Sports 1 Prelims:
The first bout on the Fox Sports 1 card was perhaps one of my favorite fights on the card as it had two young guns in the UFC's Lightweight Division squaring off against one another. The two young men went toe to toe with each other with great technical striking. Al Iaquinta was almost submitted with a tight choke from Lee, but managed to escape and win a close, but obvious unanimous decision victory.
The only other fight that stood out on the card was another Lightweight bout between Tristar Gym's John Makdessi and Brazilian Alan Patrick. It was a fight that pitted a lengthy grappler in Patrick and a stout striker in Makdessi. It was a bout that saw Makdessi get work his way through Patrick's reach and close the distance. It was a fight in which you could give the first round to Patrick, but the last two rounds were definitely Makdessi's rounds. After the fight went the distance, somehow the judges gave probably the worst decision since Phil Davis being granted the decision win over Lyoto Machida at UFC 163. It was TERRIBLE judging of a clear-cut decision that really should have went to Makdessi.
The final results for the prelims are as follows:
Alan Patrick def. John Makdessi via unanimous decision
Chris Cariaso def. Danny Martinez via unanimous decision
Nick Catone def. Tom Watson via split decision
Al Iaquinta def. Kevin Lee via unanimous decision
Clint Hester def. Andy Enz via unanimous decision
Rashid Magomedov def. Tony Martin via unanimous decision
Neil Magny def. Gasan Umalatov via unanimous decision
And now to the Main Card:
The main card started off with a classic rising contender vs. seasoned vet scenario as Abel Trujillo took on Jamie Varner in the opening fight. It was a fight in which Varner controlled round one by out-striking Abel Trujillo and rocking him before the round ended. In the second round, we saw what became Silva vs. Stann II as Varner and and Trujillo swung for the fences and threw caution to the wind. Just as Varner was even closer to finishing the fight, he gets countered brilliantly by Trujillo.
The next fight was one that I was looking forward to the most on the card as Ali Bagautinov is quickly becoming one of my favorite fighters in the UFC's lower weight classes. Bagautinov faced the new Anthony "Rumble" Johnson in the form of weigh-in delinquent, John Lineker. It was a decent fight in which Bagautinov won the first round. Lineker gained a little momentum in round two as he out-struck Bagautinov. In the final round, Bagautinov took back the fight that had belonged to him in the first round. He out-classed Lineker everywhere that the fight went in the third round and earned a unanimous decision.
Before I even talk about what happened in the next fight, I will just give you some stats and let you put the rest together.
Fighter A had a 3 significant strikes w/ a total of 5 strikes landed altogether. Fighter B landed 62 significant strikes and a total of 139 strikes landed. Fighter A spent most of the fight backed against the cage or on his back on the mat. Fighter B controlled where the fight went and took advantage of every position. This fight is a fight between former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Alistair Overeem. If you couldn't match the numbers with the athlete that they represent then I will go ahead and let you know who they are. Fighter A is Frank Mir and Fighter B is Alistair Overeem. What happened in that match is exactly what I expected to happen and that my folks was a one-sided beatdown by Overeem. Overeem looked great in his return to the win column as he demolished Mir with out gassing. He faught very methodically as he picked apart Mir standing and on the ground. Overeem won a unanimous decision in a fight that was not his most exciting fight, but the fight showed his ability to control his cardio and pace himself successfully.
The next fight was the first of the two title fights scheduled for the night. Jose Aldo was slated to compete against Ricardo Lamas for the UFC Featherweight Championship. Aldo did what he does best. He brilliantly counter-struck Lamas for five rounds. It's that simple and doesn't really require much of an elaborate paragraph on what occurred. It won't be a fight that most people remember as the next Melendez-Sanchez, but if you enjoy watching a champion take no damage and outclass an opponent like I do, then this was your kind of fight. Aldo destroyed Lamas with the leg kicks that he was unable to deliver to Korean Zombie due to the broken foot he sustained in the first round of his fight at UFC 163. As a huge fan of Jose Aldo's leg kick's I was pleased with his performance. His approach to the fight was cautious, but still interesting. Aldo used all of his skills to avoid many takedowns and didn't give up a single round. Hopefully Dana White puts together the fight between Aldo and Pettis that he had hinted at not long ago.
The main event was very anti climactic as former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber and UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao. The fight only lasted for one round and was stopped prematurely by referee Herb Dean. The fight was stopped after Faber had been rocked by a beautiful punch thrown by Barao sent Faber to the mat. Barao rushed in to put the nail in the coffin for the victory, but Faber was able to grab a hold of Barao's leg with his right hand and defend punches with his left hand. Faber also threw up a thumbs up to show that he was okay. It is hard to determine whether or not Dean could see the thumbs up. As a man who is tired of watching Urijah Faber fall short in title fights since losing his WEC crown to Brown (see WEC 41, WEC 48, UFC 132 and UFC 149) I can honestly say that Faber didn't truly lose this fight. Herb Dean is an excellent referee, but he stopped the fight too early. Even though I don't want to see Faber fight the belt again in a way I feel that a rematch could be justified.
Thoughts?
