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UFC 161 Results: Biggest Disappointments from Saturday’s Main Card

There were plenty of winners from Saturday night’s UFC 161. Rashad Evans lined himself up for another potential shot at a championship, Stipe Miocic made himself a household name, and Ryan Jimmo bounced back from a loss in impressive (albeit borin…

But MMA, like any sport, is a zero-sum endeavor. For every winner we saw on Saturday night, we saw a loser; for every career we saw launched or resurrected, we saw another get grounded or put to sleep.

A few of Saturday’s fighters turned in major disappointments—some were short, some were long, but all were fatal to their chances of winning.

Here are the three biggest ones that we witnessed.

Dan Henderson’s Third Round

I touched on this a little bit last night, but it bears repeating: Dan Henderson got whooped in the third round. Evans looked young, sharp and quick and won; Hendo looked old, tired and slow and lost. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Evans didn’t knock Henderson out, but his urgency was palpable. And that’s what’s so distressing/disturbing about Henderson’s third round: He didn’t match with any urgency of his own.

This fight was billed as a last gasp for two aging fighters: The winner may get another shot at a belt; the loser may be done for good. After fighting two very good, very even rounds, the denouement of that billing was coming to a head. Two of the sport’s all-time greats had five minutes to show that they weren’t through.

That’s precisely what Evans did and precisely what Henderson lacked. He took a fusillade of punches and backed himself timidly into the cage. There was no manic desire to prove he still belonged on the top rung of mixed martial artists, just reservation to the beating at hand.

Maybe I’m being melodramatic. After all, considering his advanced age, Henderson did impress me in the first two rounds. But that made his performance in the third all the more betraying.

Roy Nelson’s First, Second and Third Rounds

Dan Henderson looked (potentially) over the hill in the main event, which will probably steal most of the headlines. Even I’m at fault: I did lead this piece with Henderson over Nelson.

By my, oh my, oh my, let’s not let Henderson make us forget about Nelson. The former only wilted at the end of his bout, while the latter looked lost bell-to-bell.

Stipe Miocic dominated Nelson on Saturday night, making the fat-bearded fighter look more like a fat-bearded bar wench. Nelson’s poor shape is usually sort of a hustling mechanism, luring ripped foes into a sense of security before falling victim to his right hand.

But against Miocic, Nelson’s rounded waist served only as a hinderance, slowing him down while the better physical specimen—taller, faster, stronger, etc.—went to town for three rounds.

By the end of Round 2, Nelson was pleading for oxygen like Moses Malone at the end of a celebrity basketball game. When he came out for Round 3, it was only his incredible chin, the stuff of legends, that kept him from being knocked out.

Miocic was supposed to be a stepping stone for Nelson, an avenue to get back to championship-level fights. Instead, it looked more like the beginning of the end.

Pat Barry’s One Minute

Barry’s all-or-nothing approach—the refusal, win or lose, to go the distance—looks brilliant when it works. On nights like tonight, though, where it did anything but work, it makes Barry look like a buffoon.

Since winning a decision over Joey Beltran over two years ago, Barry’s following six fights have gone:

Opponent	Decision	Method
Cheick Kongo	Loss	TKO
Stefan Struve	Loss	SUB
Christian Morecraft	Win	KO
Lavar Johnson	Loss	TKO
Shane del Rosario	Win	KO
Shawn Jordan	Loss	TKO

None of those fights made it to the third round, but tonight’s was particularly discouraging. Berry had momentum to work off after his win against del Rosario—an opponent he felled in only 26 seconds.

Instead of capitalizing, though, Barry lost in just over that time, leaving himself exposed to a flurry of punches less than a minute into the fight.

At least he stayed true to form.

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UFC 161 Results: Breaking Down Dan Henderson’s Disappointing Loss

Sugar Rashad Evans beat Dan Henderson by split decision at UFC 161 Saturday night, handing the veteran fighter his second loss in as many fights and putting to rest, perhaps, any chance he has of contending for a championship in the future.The fight wa…

The fight was as even as it looked on the scorecard—all three judges scored it 29-28, two for Evans, one for Hendo—but it was hardly a controversial decision in the end. Henderson had his moments, perhaps even sustained them longer, but Evans, in my opinion at least, fought the better fight.

Let’s look at two things that went wrong in Henderson’s corner—two things that, in a fight this close, probably would have given him the win had he done better:

Fatigue

It doesn’t seem fair to nitpick at Dan Henderson’s fatigue. He is in pristine physical shape for a man of any age, but unfathomable shape for a man in his 40s. I’m 22, supposedly in the peak of my physical career, and I get winded just looking at a treadmill. Henderson is a freak.

But it was hard not to notice his fatigue at the end of this fight. That’s notable for two reasons: 1) It goes against most of what we know about Dan Henderson, and 2) it took place in a three-round bout.

Evans dominated the third round, not landing any signature blows, but easily got the best of the five minutes. He was sharper, quicker, faster, stronger, smarter and more willing to fight. Can you imagine what this fight might have looked like in Round 4? Would it have even made it to Round 5?

Guys like Richrd Alpert and Kahn are works of fiction. Nobody is immune to the cruel passing of time. Henderson has managed to elude its detection for longer than he had any business doing so. But even if he isn’t washed up yet, he’s starting to show signs of it. And the third round of this fight was the worst we had ever seen.

The punching power was there, but that’s a matter of physics. Henderson knows how to throw a punch, and he always will. But this could be the start of his career’s moribund portion; even if he remains a puncher, who knows how long he’ll remain a fighter?

Missed Opportunity

And yet, had Henderson not squandered a golden opportunity in Round 1, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

A swift jab from Henderson knocked Evans to his knee in the first frame, and Henderson, for whatever reason, didn’t capitalize on it. He had Evans at a clear disadvantage and let him live to tell the tale.

That’s not how you win fights—and it’s certainly not how you get a shot at Jon Jones. Rashad Evans doesn’t open the window of opportunity very often; when it’s there, you’d be smart to take it. Especially when you’re 42 years old and (as we saw later) perhaps not cut out to go the distance against a guy 10 years younger.

Henderson still has the punching power of his glory days. But too often when he and Evans were standing is when he tried to land knockouts. He was swinging for the fences against gyro-balls in the dirt instead of fastballs at his belt.

Evans gave him a shot to land an H-Bomb in Round 1, but Henderson let him recover. In a chilling bit of irony, after that moment, his chances of winning never did.

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UFC 160: Biggest Winners and Losers from MMA Main Card

It wasn’t hard to discern the winners from the losers at Saturday night’s UFC 160—the guy whose hand the ref lifted after the fight won, the guy whose hand he didn’t…well, didn’t.But not all winners are created equal, and neither are their un-v…

It wasn’t hard to discern the winners from the losers at Saturday night’s UFC 160—the guy whose hand the ref lifted after the fight won, the guy whose hand he didn’t…well, didn’t.

But not all winners are created equal, and neither are their un-victorious counterparts. UFC, like any fighting sport, is an exercise in context. Each fight sets up the next fight, and that fight the one after that.

Everybody who won on a Pay-Per-View won big, but some of them won very big. Same can be said for the losers.

So, without further ado, here are the biggest winners and losers from UFC 160:

Winner/Loser: Cain Velasquez/Antonio Silva

Hard to mention one without the other after Saturday’s beatdown. And what a beatdown it was.

Silva earned his nickname, in part, because he has vicious knockout power. But on Saturday evening, Cain Velasquez—now an undisputed heavyweight champ of nearly historic proportions—didn’t give him a single chance to attack. He ended the bout before Silva could show off his big foot, his small foot, or either of his fists.

Cain took it to Silva a couple of times early, being denied both times, before landing a left-punch straight-right combo that sent Big Foot to the mat. The fight didn’t end much later, nor much sooner than it began. Cain had retained (re-Cained?) his title for the first time…and he made it look awfully easy.

For Silva, this could mark the end of the beginning of the end. That is, now we’re just screeching toward the prime of the end. He’s now 34 years old and the loser of three of his last five fights.

He earned his fight with Cain last night, but it’s clear—and probably was even before the bout—that they aren’t in the same class of fighter. At least not any more.

Big Foot might be on the road to retirement. Either that or irrelevance.

Winner: Junior Dos Santos

JDS could have played it safe against the “Super Samoan,” using his superior technical skill and experience to wait out his opponent. Mark Hunt likes to punch, and Cigano knew for a fact that he could win if he could get the opposition impatient, or grappled him to oblivion.

But he opted to stand up and box with Hunt, a bold move given his opponent’s strengths, but a confident statement from a man coming off disgrace. JDS isn’t used to getting punked, and he isn’t content with merely winning his next fight. He needs to punk another fighter…reverse the punk polarity.

That’s exactly what he did late in the third round, when a spin kick to Mark Hunt’s face—this is a heavyweight, mind you—sent the Samoan, unconscious, down to the canvas, and forced the fight to be called.

Just how dominant dos Santos was on Saturday night is up for interpretation—after all, he did take a few square punches to the jaw. Personally, I’d give him an 8-out-of-10.

But any time you (likely) earn a title fight—especially a rematch against a man who humiliated you—its hard to be called anything but a winner.

Loser: Gray Maynard

Maynard’s eagerly anticipated return from injury didn’t quite go how he planned, ending in his second career defeat. And boy, was this one ugly.

Bigfoot wasn’t the only prestige fighter to get TKO’d in the first round last night, as T.J. Grant took it to Maynard in similarly quick fashion. “The Bully” went headhunting early, as he’s wont to do, but Grant made him pay in a big way.

He stunned Maynard with a straight right, dropped him moments later with the same punch, then took care of business with a fusillade of hammers on the ground.

Now Maynard, who was staring at another title shot, will have to work his way back up the competitive lightweight rankings.

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UFC 160 Live Stream: Complete Online Viewing Guide

UFC 160 will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand this evening, utilizing various distribution platforms to showcase some of the sport’s top fighters.The main event pits Cain Velasquez against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, the former trying to retain the Wo…

UFC 160 will be broadcast live from the MGM Grand this evening, utilizing various distribution platforms to showcase some of the sport’s top fighters.

The main event pits Cain Velasquez against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, the former trying to retain the World Heavyweight Championship against the latter. It’s Velasquez’s first title defense since dismantling Junior dos Santos, and also his first bout with Silva since issuing a TKO in Round 1 during UFC 146.

The co-main event, though not featuring a championship on the line, could be just as exciting for fans of MMA. The aforementioned Junior dos Santos—a former heavyweight champion—and challenger Mark Hunt are two of the strongest punchers in the entire sport. Their bout should be a perfect appetizer for the championship battle.

The main card, available only as a pay-per-view, follows a couple of undercards presented across two different platforms. The first three fights will be broadcast on YouTube, while the next four fights will be broadcast on FX. The final five fights—main event included—will be part of the paid spectacle.

Here’s a look at the entire schedule, including when and where to find all 11 of the evening’s fights.

YouTube Prelims—6:30 p.m. ET

Stephen Thompson vs. Nah-Shon Burrell

Brian Bowles vs. George Roop

Jeremy Stephens vs. Estevan Payan

FX Prelims—8 p.m. ET

Mike Pyle vs. Rick Story

Dennis Bermudez vs. Max Holloway

Colton Smith vs. Robert Whittaker

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Abel Trujillo

Contact your cable provider for more information on how to watch FX on your television.

UFC 160 Pay-Per-View—10 p.m. ET

Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva

Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt

Glover Teixeira vs. James Te-Huna

Gray Maynard vs. T.J. Grant

Donald Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons

Purchase the pay-per-view via the above YouTube player. Follow the link to the UFC’s official YouTube page, and pay the $44.99 fee.

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Cain Velasquez to Face Antonio Silva in Rematch at UFC 160

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced the main event of its Memorial Day Weekend extravaganza, and to be perfectly frank, it’s hard to picture a more fun matchup.Per the UFC Tonight twitter account, Cain Velasquez will headline UFC 160 by defe…

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced the main event of its Memorial Day Weekend extravaganza, and to be perfectly frank, it’s hard to picture a more fun matchup.

Per the UFC Tonight twitter account, Cain Velasquez will headline UFC 160 by defending his heavyweight title against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva:

Velasquez made quick work of Silva in the pair’s first meeting, beating his face to bloody smithereens with a vicious ground-and-pound assault in Round 1. The referee was forced to intervene and call a stoppage after just 3.5 minutes.

The UFC 160 announcement comes less than two months after Velasquez regained his heavyweight title from Junior Dos Santos. In a rematch of UFC on Fox 1, where Dos Santos knocked him out in just over a minute, Velasquez won with a dominant unanimous decision.

Alistair Overeem was long considered the likely competition for Velasquez at UFC 160, but he lost to Silva two Saturdays ago at UFC 156. After getting tossed around like a rag doll for the first two rounds, Bigfoot hit his cocky opponent with a huge right to the back of the ear for a KO.

Now Silva gets a chance to avenge the only loss of his UFC career against Velasquez. He’s only been active since migrating over from Strikeforce in May of last year, but still, that sole blemish will ring true as motivation.

That and a shot at the prestiged heavyweight title.

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UFC 155 Predictions: Main-Card Fighters Who Will Win by Knockout or Submission

UFC 155, headlined by Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez II, will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this Saturday.The sport of mixed martial arts continues to burgeon, especially with the younger crowd, and with that growth comes extra respect…

UFC 155, headlined by Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez II, will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas this Saturday.

The sport of mixed martial arts continues to burgeon, especially with the younger crowd, and with that growth comes extra respect.

The more people watch, the more they recognize and appreciate the technical aspects of the sport. This isn’t just a bunch of oversized goons kicking the crap out of each other. There’s an art to it, a subtlety.

That being said, nothing gets the crowd going quite like a vicious knockout or match-ending tap-out. That’s just the way it is.

Here are three guys that will set Saturday night on fire with knockouts or submission:

Junior Dos Santos

Opponent: Cain Velasquez

Dos Santos vs. Velasquez part deux, the battle for the UFC heavyweight title, will close the night. It’ll also end the same way as part one.

There was nothing junior about the way Dos Santos treated Velasquez in the first fight. With his mythical punching power, he was able to fell his opponent at the 1:04 mark of Round 1

Cain Velasquez has earned his rematch, though. Especially considering the way he dominated Antonio Silva back in March.

Look for Velasquez to try his hardest to get Dos Santos on the floor. He’ll use the best tai moves to get him there, but Dos Santos and his underrated grappling skills should be able to cast him aside.

After that, it becomes a matter of when, not if, Dos Santos drops Cain for the second time. My money is in the early second round.

Dos Santos. TKO. Boom.

Joe Lauzon

Opponent: Jim Miller

Lauzon and Miller are two of the scrappiest lightweights in the sport. They’ll fight what’s sure to be one of the more entertaining bouts of the night.

Miller is reeling from a bad loss to Nate Diaz. He’s always all business when he enters the cage, but he could overreach in this one.

A wrestler by trade, he’ll be tempted to bring Lauzon onto the floor. Which is probably a bad idea.

Look for Lauzon to excel on the ground, eventually defeating Miller by submission.

Chris Leben

Opponent: Derek Brunson

The waxes and wanes of Chris “The Crippler” Leben‘s career are well-documented. Not only aren’t we sure if he’ll win the fight, we’re not sure he’ll even show up.

But the talent disparity here—should Leben fight up to his potential, that is—it too steep to ignore. Brunson has charisma and modicums of skill, but not the kind Leben possesses.

Whenever the MMA world is ready to cast “The Crippler” aside, he seems to rise from the ashes by doing something remarkable.

That trend won’t change here: Leben by TKO.

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