Junior Dos Santos earned a questionable decision over Stipe Miocic at UFC on Fox 13. The fight main-evented one of the more “stacked” (please forgive the cliche) Fox cards in recent memory.
In addition to JDS vs Miocic, the card featured Rafael dos Anjos vs. Nate Diaz, Alistair Overeem vs. Stefan Struve, and Matt Mitrione vs. Gabe Gonzaga.
How did these matches play out? Check out the video highlight packages below and see for yourself.
In the opening bout, Matt Mitrione out-hustled a plodding Gabe Gonzaga, scoring an early TKO. Mitrione even did a bit of meta-gaming by backing off when Herb Dean moved closer to Gonzaga would think the fight was stopped. Once Gonzaga rose to his feet, defenseless, Mitrione pounced in and unloaded with even more punches. A shrewd move.
Alistair Overeem took on Stefan Struve in the next fight. The contest was as one-sided as people thought it would be, though it did feature more takedowns than anyone expected. Overeem dragged Struve to the mat, and proceeded to bash his head in Gregor Clegane style until “Big” John McCarthy stopped the fight.
Nate Diaz and Rafael Dos Anjos fought in the night’s co-main event. Diaz looked flat and uninterested. Meanwhile, Dos Anjos looked more fierce than the raptors in that Gatorade Fierce commercial from 1999. This proved to be a recipe for an extremely one-sided affair. Dos Anjos battered a hobbling Diaz with leg kicks. Dos Anjos likely could’ve finished Diaz with leg kicks but instead he opted for the tired MMA trope of taking your opponent down and smothering them when they’re in danger of being TKOd. Dos Anjos won a unanimous decision victory. Diaz blamed his loss (and failure to make weight for the fight) on an injury.
And, as we stated above, JDS and Stipe Miocic faced off in the main event. JDS didn’t look like himself. About 1,000 people on Twitter claimed Cain Velasquez had taken his soul, and while it’s a cliched expression, it looked pretty accurate last night. JDS ate lots of punches, wasn’t as accurate as he has been in the past, and was slower. The JDS of 2-3 years ago would’ve knocked out Stipe Miocic in a round. Today’s JDS couldn’t even finish him.
The entire fight card’s results are below:
Main Card
Junior Dos Santos def. Stipe Miocic via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46).
Rafael dos Anjos def. Nate Diaz via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27).
Alistair Overeem def. Stefan Struve via knockout (punches) (R1, 4:13).
Matt Mitrione def. Gabriel Gonzaga via TKO (punches) (R1, 1:59).
Preliminary Card
Joanna Jerdzejczyk def. Claudia Gadelha via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
John Moraga def. Willie Gates via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 4:06).
Ben Saunders def. Joe Riggs via submission (injury tapout) (1, 0:57).
Drew Dober def. Jamie Varner via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 1:52).
Bryan Barberena def. Joe Ellenberger via TKO (strikes) (R3, 3:24).
David Michaud def. Garret Whiteley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Henry Cejudo def. Dustin Kimura via unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Ian Entwistle def. Anthony Birchak via submission (heel hook) (R1, 1:04).