Dodson Out of December Fight with Jorgenson

After Ian McCall was removed from his UFC Flyweight fight with Scott Jorgenson, John Dodson was chosen to replace the injured fighter.  Now with the fight only a few weeks away, John Dodson has also fallen victim to injury as well.  So far the UFC has not named a new opponent for Jorgenson.

Dodson Replaces McCall in Jorgenson Bout

Not long ago it was reported that UFC Flyweight Ian McCall was forced to pull out of his bout with Scott Jorgenson at UFC on Fox 9 due to an injury.  It has now been confirmed that one of the UFC's best flyweights, John Dodson will be taking his place.  This fight will be a brawl between two of the UFC's top lighter division fighers.  This will be Scott Jorgenson's first bout at Flyweight and it will be one of his toughest challenges ever.

Fights for the Winners of UFC 166

UFC 166 was a spectacular night of thrilling finishes and dominating decisions. The first match of the main card was between John Dodson and Darrell Montague in the Flyweight division. Dodson defeated Montague in the first round via a vicious left hand that sent Montague face first into the mat. For Dodson there are two matches that I think could work. I think that a bout between Dodson and Ian McCall or a bout with Dodson and Chris Cariaso.  I think that both of these matches make sense for Dodson seeing as both men are coming off of victories in there outings. A fight with McCall would be a good main card bout seeing as both men are top names and draws for the division.  A fight with Dodson and Cariaso would be a fight between two powerful flyweights coming off of knockout victories.

Gabriel Gonzaga faced Shawn Jordan in the heavyweight division in a fight that also ended in the first round. Gabriel Gonzaga won by TKO due to strikes as knocked Jordan to the ground and then used hammer fists to finish the stunned heavyweight.  I think a great test for Gonzaga would be a match with Stipe Miocic who recently defeated Roy Nelson at UFC 161 by unanimous decision. It would be a great clash of two elite heavyweights.

After that match was perhaps one of the best fights in quite some time. A complete stand up war between Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez. Both men gave 100% in that fight, but Gilbert Melendez was the better of the two men and showed why he dominate the Lightweight division for years in Strikeforce.  There are two possible opponents that make sense right now for Gilbert Melendez.  The first one is a bout between Rafael dos Anjos, who has won his last five UFC bouts and is on his way to being in the mix for a UFC title shot and a win over Melendez would solidify his place in the top ten.  Inversely a win over dos Anjos for Melendez would mean that he can still fight off the other young, hungry challengers who aim for having his spot at the top of the heap.  It is a fight that could decide the next man to face the champion after TJ Grant's return.  Another man also on a five-fight win streak and also a 21-0 professional record and possible opponent would be Khabib Nurmagomedov.  Nurmagomedov as another top ten opponent in the division that is making his way to the top of the rankings.  I think this fight would be more challenging for Melendez and could guarantee Melendez a title shot.  The win for Nurmagomedov would get him to be 1 fight away from a title shot.

The co-main event was a heavyweight clash between Roy Nelson and Daniel Cormier.  Daniel Cormier was able to out-perform in every area of the fight.  He out-grappled, out-struck and out-did Cormier for three whole rounds.  Daniel Cormier has been preparing himself for a move to the UFC's Light Heavyweight Division to prevent having to face his AKA training partner Cain Velasquez in the future.  I think that the best match up for Daniel Cormier before he gets his hands on Jon Jones would be a match between another highly decorated wrestler in the division, Phil Davis.  Phil Davis is knocking on the door to a title shot and I think it would be interesting to see how well Cormier fairs against another ultra-talented wrestler in the form of Davis.

The main event for the evening included another savage beating being suffered by Junior dos Santos by the hands of Cain Velasquez.  Cain punished Junior for over twenty minutes before the referee finally put dos Santos out of his misery.  Now that the saga is over (for now anyways), the only man left to challenge Velasquez is Fabricio Werdum.  Werdum is riding a three fight win streak in the UFC upon his return to the organization and picking up where he left off before he was derailed by Junior dos Santos.  He is the only fighter who I feel wouldn't fear Velasquez's takedown or grappling. As a matter of fact, Werdum might welcome it.  I believe that Werdum is definitely the only man outside of dos Santos who poses a real threat to the throne of Cain Velasquez.

UFC 166 Results

Main Card:

Cain Velasquez def. Junior dos Santos via fifth-round TKO
Daniel Cormier def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision
Gilbert Melendez def. Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision
Gabriel Gonzaga def. Shawn Jordan via first-round TKO
John Dodson def. Darrell Montague via first-round KO

Preliminary Card:

Tim Boetsch def. C.B. Dollaway via split decision
Hector Lombard def. Nate Marquardt via first-round KO
Jessica Eye def. Sarah Kaufman via split decision
KJ Noons def. George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision
Adlan Amagov def. TJ Waldburger via first-round KO
Tony Ferguson def. Mike Rio via submission (D'Arce choke)
Andre Fili def. Jeremy Larsen via second-round TKO
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Dustin Pague via second-round TKO

What a night of fights tonight at UFC 166! The night began with John Dodson squaring off with UFC newcomer, Darrell Montague in the UFC Flyweight Division.  John Dodson was able to outwork Montague on the feet dropping him to the canvas before inevitably being KO'd in the first round.

The night then went from the lightest division in the UFC to the heaviest division.  Shawn Jordan and Gabriel Gonzaga met in the center of the cage to engage in a stand up war in the Heavyweight division.  The match had a feeling out process until Gonzaga connected with the hands and landed on Jordan and also earning a first round KO in his fight tonight.

The next fight was between two talented UFC Lightweights, Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez.  It was a fight in which Melendez began the first round out-classing Sanchez in a very dominate round.  In the second and third rounds of the fight, both men went into complete brawl mode with both men swinging for the fences.  The difference between the two fighters was Melendez seemed to never lose his technical edge even during the wild exchanges, Melendez was still connecting with his clean boxing and great movement. If there was one word to describe the third round of the fight, it would be fireworks!  Melendez won a unanimous decision in a classic fight in the UFC Lightweight Division. "That's the greatest fight I've ever seen in my life," were the word that came out of the mouth of Joe Rogan after the fight.

Next was a fight between to top Heavyweights as Roy Nelson would be set to fight undefeated heavyweight Daniel Cormier.  Cormier was able to out-grapple Nelson for all three rounds and even use his speed to actually beat Nelson on the feet as well.  Cormier won an obvious unanimous decision.

In the final fight of the evening we saw a battle between the perfect forms of both of the main event fighters as the clashed for the third time in the UFC.  Cain Velasquez used the same strategy that he used in their second fight.  Cain used his amazing rappling to pin Junior against the cage for over 20 minutes but showed improved striking to help aid him in taking out the documented better striker.  Dos Santos showed improved wrestling by defending most of Velasquez's takedowns.  After a grueling 20 plus minutes of battling, Velasquez was able to pull off a TKO victory due to strikes.