Cain Velasquez’s supposed triumphant return to the Octagon hit a major speed bump. Fabricio Werdum dumped the interim tag from his title and became the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world when he submitted Velasquez via guillotine in the third round on Saturday night.
It was a virtuoso performance from the 37-year-old Brazilian in a bitter matchup against a previously dominant champion.
Bleacher Report’s Jeremy Botter was clearly surprised by the result:
Fight Hub’s Marcos Villegas puts Werdum latest victory in perspective while acknowledging the other huge win in his now legendary career:
Throughout the first two rounds, Werdum more than held his own against Velasquez during the stand-up encounters. Werdum’s boxing and balance were key as he opened up cuts on Velasquez’s face. Most expected Velasquez to push the pace and potentially wear Werdum down, but that plan backfired.
By the second round, Velasquez was dead tired. It’s hard to tell whether the fatigue was due to the high altitude in Mexico, the near two-year layoff due to injury, Werdum’s mastery or a combination of all three factors.
Whatever the case, Werdum had Velasquez on wobbly legs heading into the third round and he finished the deal in the third. Jason Floyd of MMA Report tweeted this image from UFC.com with the fight stats:
Most wouldn’t have even thought about this concept before now, but Werdum has to be considered one of the all-time greats in the sport after this win.
Even if you dispute that concept, there’s no disputing who the heavyweight champion of the world is after Saturday’s dominant win.
Alvarez Edges Melendez
In the co-featured bout, Eddie Alvarez got his first UFC win. It came in a split decision over Gilbert Melendez in a competitive and close bout.
Melendez looked to win the first round as he landed a vicious elbow that stunned Alvarez and caused serious swelling over his left eye. Alvarez was tentative the rest of the round as he tried to collect himself, but showed an excellent poker face if he was badly hurt.
In the second and third, Alvarez turned up the pressure a bit. He landed spinning elbows that proved to be the most significant strikes of the second and third rounds. He also mixed in three takedowns that helped his case with the judges.
In a difficult to score affair, two of the judges saw the fight in Alvarez’s favor. ESPN Sportscenter lauded Alvarez’s persistence:
Alvarez desperately needed to win the bout after losing his debut to Donald Cerrone in September 2014. He came to the UFC from Bellator with a good amount of hype. Beating an opponent of Melendez’s stature was validation that he belongs with the promotion.
Now, Melendez finds himself on a two-fight losing streak and in need of a win in his next fight to avoid the dreaded three-fight skid.
Here’s a look at all of the results from the evening of fights in Mexico City.
Results
Recaps and Analysis
Benitez Picks Collard Apart
With a steady diet of body shots and leg kicks, Gabriel Benitez chopped down the heavily favored Clay Collard in the opening bout of the evening. Coming in to the fight, Benitez was a 53-25 underdog, per Odds Shark.
Collard didn’t look the part of a favorite from the very beginning. Patrick Wyman of Sherdog thought Collard looked less than his best from early in the fight.
While Collard did manage to take Benitez down six times in the bout, Benitez landed 60 significant strikes to just 34 for Collard. Benitez wasn’t getting much respect as this fight approached, perhaps he’ll be more highly thought of after this win.
Collard had tons of hype—primarily as a striker—but that was significantly quieted with this performance.
Pendred Out Points Montano
In a sleepy affair, Cathal Pendred earned a unanimous-decision win over Augusto Montano. Pendred’s grappling game is his calling card, but in this one, he needed to sharpen his skills of pursuit. Montano had his running shoes on and it made for a less than thrilling bout.
Michael Carroll of FightMetric offered this comparison to add perspective to the lack of action in the fight:
With so little striking in the fight, Pendred’s four takedowns were huge.
Despite the lack of action, the result was still the eighth win in a row for Pendred. He hasn’t lost since 2010 and he’s undefeated in the UFC. His striking still looks clumsy, but with his success, there’s no question it’s time he faces a ranked opponent.
Montano’s approach in this fight drastically hurt his stock. Elusiveness and flat-out running are two different things. Montano did too much of the latter.
Case Perseveres for Unanimous-Decision Win
Johnny Case had to fight through the effects of a fairly severe eye poke to defeat Francisco Trevino. Considering he fought with one eye for the last 11 minutes of the fight, you’d have to say he did pretty well.
As you can see from the lopsided fight stats, Case landed more shots and spent more of the fight in control of the Octagon. Case’s length was a factor in stand-up exchanges and he was clearly the more fluid athlete.
This one lacked action as well, but Case gets a pass because of the eye poke. Trevino looked clearly outclassed in almost every aspect. He has some serious limitations athletically that might lead to issues against any upper-echelon lightweight in the UFC.
The 23-Second Assassin
If the Mexican crowd was hungry for action, Patrick Williams delivered. It took just 23 seconds for Williams to lock in a guillotine that led to the technical-submission victory over Alejandro Perez. Perez passed out under the vice grip of Williams’ submission maneuver.
Per Mike Johnston of Sportsnet, the win was the fastest submission victory in 135-pound history:
Fans were booing Williams after he submitted the hometown favorite, but as Jeff Wagenheim of Sports Illustrated says, the winner’s bilingual talents helped to quiet the hissing:
Williams looks like a real prospect. He’s chiseled out of granite and clearly a well-trained submission artist. He’s one to watch moving forward in the bantamweight division.
Another Guillotine
Efrain Escudero was determined not to allow Williams to show him up. He took advantage of Drew Dober losing his balance in the opening seconds of the first round. Escudero almost immediately locked on the guillotine and Dober chose to tap before being put to sleep.
It was a huge win for Escudero in front of the adoring Mexican fans. Kountermove jokingly discusses Williams and Escudero’s quick and efficient work.
The winner of Season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter continues to impress with his biggest win yet. Dober truly caught a bad break. He’s better than he displayed, but that’s the nature of mixed martial arts. One slip can lead to the end of the bout.
Cejudo Works Hard to Decision Camus
Henry Cejudo was expected to blow through Chico Camus on Saturday night. He won, but it was hardly a walk in the park. Camus stuffed 14 of the 15 takedowns the former Olympic gold medalist attempted and did some solid work on his feet.
Even with those positives, Cejudo controlled the pace and kept Camus against the cage for a good amount of the time in the fight. Cejudo also secured a takedown in the final minute of the third round that punctuated his win.
During the post-fight interview, Cejudo talked about feeling the effects of a “bad taco” he’d eaten during fight week. You don’t want to take anything away from Camus, who was strong, but Cejudo didn’t look himself.
Per Floyd, Cejudo was not happy with the way he fought:
There was talk that Cejudo might be next in line for flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Fox Sports UFC isn’t sure he’s next in line, but you can’t argue with Cejudo’s success:
He’s won three in a row, but he’s still yet to finish an opponent in the UFC. He may need an impressive win in that vein to get fans more excited about him.
Torres Wins Another Snoozer
Tecia Torres defeated Angela Hill, but she didn’t win a ton of fans in the process. In one of the worst fights of the night, the two women showed off little skill as the altitude in Mexico seemed to get the better of both of them.
Torres had great success taking Hill down, but she wasn’t able to do much from top position. Hill was able to hip escape a few times, but not able to stand up. It was pretty frustrating to watch.
When the final horn sounded, Torres and those of us forced to watch the bout were the winners. MMA writer Chris Nelson throws a sarcastic dart at Torres and Hill:
Rodriguez Beats Up Rosa and Throws Up
On the strength of a strong first and second round, Yair Rodriguez scored a split-decision win over Charles Rosa. The scoring seemed to come down to what style the judges preferred. Rosa’s wrestling was effective as evidenced by his five takedowns, but Rodriguez’s striking advantage proved to be the difference.
After the fight was over, Rodriguez must have been exhausted, sick on the stomach or both. He vomited in the Octagon and that was well…nasty. Fox Sports’ Damon Martin talked about the rare occurrence:
At just 22 years old, Rodriguez has a bright future in the featherweight division. If he can continue to win and maybe take an antacid, he’ll be an exciting fighter to watch moving forward.
Gastelum Smashes Marquardt
Kelvin Gastelum is beginning to live up to his hype. In the most impressive performance of his career, the Ultimate Fighter winner destroyed veteran Nate Marquardt. The end came between the second and third rounds.
As you can see from the fight stats, this one wasn’t even close.
After being battered for the first 10 minutes of action, Marquardt thought better of coming out for the final round. Bleacher Report MMA noticed Marquardt’s limited resistance against a clearly superior fighter:
Gastelum has to be under serious consideration for a title fight in the near future. After battling weight issues in the past, he looks totally locked in now.
Up and Down Night for Local Fans
Obviously, the Velasquez loss will be what most remember from this card, but fan favorites Esudero, Cejudo, Benitez and Gastelum did win their bouts. All in all, it was an entertaining and eventful night of fights in Mexico City.
Floyd tweets are images from UFC.com
All stats per UFC.com unless otherwise noted.
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