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Arrest at home of Thiago Silva by SWAT team members after incident at jiu-jitsu school (update)

A report by the NBC affiliate in South Florida indicated an arrest of the owner of a home, with the address listed as being owned by UFC fighter Thiago Silva, after an armed suspect allegedly threatened people at the Pablo Popovitch Mixed …

NBC news in South Florida reported Thursday night that an armed suspect entered a jiu-jitsu school in Oakland Park, FL and threatened people there before the Broward Sheriff’s Office was called at about 7:45 p.m. The address listed, 777 E. Oakland Park Blvd., was of the Pablo Popovitch Mixed Martial Arts Academy.

The reported suspect left the facility and locked himself inside what was reported to be his home at 2041 Coral Heights Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale, the home owned by UFC fighter Thiago Silva.

A SWAT team set up a perimeter around the home, and at about 11:15 p.m., the person in the home, whose name was not released by police, was taken into custody.

Popovitch is the trainer of Thaysa Silva, the wife of Thiago Silva, and a high level competitive black belt in BJJ.

UFC officials released the following statement late Thursday night.

“This evening, we were made aware of a situation involving Thiago Silva. We are in the process of gathering the facts and have no further comment at this time.”

Silva, who has a 16-3 record with 2 no contests, was scheduled to face Ovince St. Preux at UFC 171 on March 15 in Dallas, Tex.

Silva’s two no contests were overturned decisions in fights he had originally won. He defeated Brandon Vera on January 1, 2011, a decision overturned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission when the urine he left for his sample in a drug test was determined to not be human urine.

A win over Stanislav Nedkov on November 10, 2012, was overturned when he tested positive for marijuana in testing conducted by the UFC at a show in Macau, China.

For more on the series of felony charges Silva faces, follow our report.

Unprecedented three MMA shows on U.S. TV on Feb. 28

In what may be unprecedented for mixed martial arts in the United States, there will be a three-way head-to-head television confrontation coming on Feb. 28.
The World Series of Fighting on Thursday announced that its Feb. 21 show from Edmo…

In what may be unprecedented for mixed martial arts in the United States, there will be a three-way head-to-head television confrontation coming on Feb. 28.

The World Series of Fighting on Thursday announced that its Feb. 21 show from Edmonton, Alberta, would be airing on the NBC Sports Network on a one-week tape delay, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time. That meant it be airing at the same time as Bellator’s season opener on Spike, and a Titan Fighting Championships show on the CBS Sports Network.

There’s little doubt Spike will “win” the confrontation, as it has the most exposure and star power, headlined by a light heavyweight tournament that features both Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “King” Mo Lawal. It is conceivable the show will be the most-watched MMA event for the month on cable, in a month where FS 1 will broadcast a live UFC event from Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil, with a Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi main event on Feb. 15, and prelims of two pay-per-view events.

WSOF Canada was the third show in the fray, announcing a show that takes place from the Expo Centre in Edmonton, headlined by Edmonton’s Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford (21-4) facing Joel Powell (7-3) of Hamilton, Ontario, in a match billed as crowning the company’s first Canadian welterweight champion.

Also announced on the show will be former wrestling standout Steve Mocco (4-0) facing Smealinho Rama (6-1), a Maximum Fighting Championships regular out of Calgary, Alberta.

Mocco, 32, who represented the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics in freestyle wrestling, was one of the country’s best heavyweight wrestlers of the past 15 years. He won junior national titles in both wrestling and judo, NCAA Division I titles in 2003 and 2005, and captured both the Junior Hodge Trophy (best high school wrestler in the nation in any weight) in 2001 and the Hodge Trophy (best collegiate wrestler regardless of weight) in 2005. Wrestling at Oklahoma State, he once won 85 matches in a row. He had five wins in wrestling over UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who at the time was also one of the country’s top collegiate wrestlers, wrestling at Arizona State.
Other main card matches announced were Michael Hill (6-2) vs. Ryan Dickson (6-1) in a welterweight battle, Josh Machan (11-4) vs. Adam Lorenz (7-3) in a featherweight match, and Brandt Dewsberry (10-3-1) vs. Mark Drummond (5-1) in a welterweight match.

WSOF: Canada will air at 9 p.m. Eastern, the same start time as the Bellator show from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., featuring the first round of both light heavyweight and featherweight tournaments. The key fights are Jackson vs. former Bellator light heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu and Lawal vs. Mikhail Zayats.
The Titan Fighting Championships will air live from Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan., headlined by two battles of former UFC fighters with Jorge Gurgel vs. Mike Ricci and Michael Kuiper vs. Matthew Riddle.

Poll

Which event will you watch Feb. 28?

UFC 169 prelim television ratings strong

UFC 169 may have been a lackluster show, lacking an established drawing card on top. With four decisions in four matches, some of which were tedious, it wasn’t the recipe for the greatest in ratings for the preliminary matches.
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But that wasn’t the case. The show scored well, with 933,000 viewers, making it the most-watched show on FS 1 for the week. What makes that impressive is that the station was doing a ton of Super Bowl preview coverage all week long, and Saturday night is considered the hardest night on television to draw an audience. That made the show, headlined by Alan Patrick’s controversial decision win over John Makdessi, the 13th-most watched show since the station launched in August.

That figure was third out of the six prelims since they moved to FS 1, trailing those for UFC 167 and 168. But those were both monster shows, with UFC 167 headlined by Georges St-Pierre and 168 being UFC’s biggest pay-per-view event in years.

While it came nowhere close to the UFC 168 prelims, which did 1,554,000 viewers, it was very close to the UFC 167 numbers of 988,000. Since the move to FS 1, the other numbers were 809,000 for UFC 164 (Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis main event), 722,000 for UFC 165 (Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson main event) and 628,000 for UFC 166 (Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos main event).

There is a correlation, but it’s far from perfect, between viewership of the prelims and pay-per-view numbers. UFC 168 was a monster in both. UFC 167 was the second best of the same time period in both. But UFC 164 did below 165 and 166 on pay-per-view even though scoring considerably higher for prelim television ratings. It would be surprising if UFC 169 did pay-per-view numbers even close to UFC 165 or 166.

The pre-fight show which aired at 7 p.m. did 239,000 viewers, roughly double the 120,000 average of previous pre-fight shows on the station. It should be noted this was the biggest event they have done this type of pre-fight show for as the others were for Fight Night caliber cards.

Fortunes changed for five at UFC 169

Lost in the talk of a night of tedious decisions, and an early stoppage in the main event, is that for a few minutes Saturday night, we were able to see a guy who may very well be the best MMA fighter on the planet.

And it’s not …

And it’s not someone who has been in the forefront of recent discussions on the subject.

There is nothing more fruitless in the world than arguing pound-for-pound rankings. Unlike division rankings where, in time, a semblance of the truth and finality of the arguments can transpire, there will never be an answer to the who the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is. For years, it came down to Anderson Silva, a gifted striker with scary reflexes with a strong finishing percentage, and Georges St-Pierre, an explosive grappler who would physically dominate fights, often by beating people at their own specialties.

With both out of the sport for now, it’s largely come down in many people’s eyes, to Jon Jones, by default. But Jones has never taken apart the legitimate No. 2 guy in his division the way Renan Barao seemed in the process of doing at UFC 169 against Urijah Faber before the story became the early stoppage instead of the amazing talent shown.

Barao (34-1, 1 no contest) decked Faber twice and only Faber’s toughness allowed him to survive the first onslaught. We’ll never know if he could have survived the second barrage, past the idea that few fighters in that same position would have.

But until that point it was a scary display. Faber was coming off a 2013 that many felt he was either Fighter of the Year, or at the very least, a solid contender for that honor. He had just made Michael McDonald, the No. 3 fighter in the division, look like an inexperienced newcomer. It was no slight on Barao that there were people who felt that the fifth time was the charm, in Faber seeming never-ending or succeeding quest to regain the spot as top man in his division that he held for many years.

In the end, Barao came across like a fighter without an obvious weakness. Cain Velasquez can be hit. Jon Jones proved with Alexander Gustafsson and Vitor Belfort that he can survive tough situations, but he has also gotten into tough situations. Jose Aldo has gotten tired in five-round fights. With all due respect to Chris Weidman for beating Anderson Silva twice, he hasn’t had enough longevity in the top position to be put just yet in the same category, although he also has never been in serious trouble. Barao not only hasn’t lost in Zuffa competition, but nobody has even threatened him.

With Barao, his striking is aggressive, and effective. He’s got speed, power and accuracy, as well as creativity. Unlike Aldo, who is more basic and with few holes, Barao has a wider variety of offensive weapons. His takedown defense is superb. He fights with a high output and never gets tired. And he’s got 14 wins via submission, so even if it winds up on the ground, he’s dangerous there as well. Barao is a few weeks from his 27th birthday, so he should be hitting his prime years, and is unbeaten in his last 35 fights after losing a decision in his debut as an 18-year-old.

Barao said after his win that he’s not interested in moving up from 135 pounds. There will always be bodies that can be put in front of him, although right now there are no obvious top contenders. Right now, it’s hard to even visualize anyone on the scene giving him trouble, let alone beating him.

In comparing the top four UFC fighters when it comes to division dominance, this is what we’ve got:

*Cain Velasquez – 11-1 in Zuffa competition with nine finishes. Aside from a knockout in his first fight with Junior Dos Santos, which he then avenged twice, he has not even lost a round. As far as all-out dominance, if you take away that knockout loss, it would be hard to argue against him.

*Jon Jones – 13-1 in Zuffa competition with ten finishes. The first thing that should be noted with Jones is you have to throw out that loss. It was a disqualification in a fight he dominated, brutally, from start-to-finish. He did lose rounds to Stephan Bonnar and Lyoto Machida, and depending on your point of view, anywhere from one to three of the five rounds with Alexander Gustafsson.

*Jose Aldo – 14-0 in Zuffa competition and with eight straight featherweight title defenses, he’s trailing only St-Pierre and Silva. He may not get to beat that record if he vacates his title and moves up to 155. If he does move up a weight class and wins the lightweight title, he’ll have done something that nobody else has done. B.J. Penn and Randy Couture have held titles in two weight classes, but they came down for their second title, not moved up. You could argue Penn started as a lightweight, even though he never won the title in that division, before beating Matt Hughes to win the welterweight belt. Also, he has dropped rounds to Mark Hominick, Ricardo Lamas, Frankie Edgar and Kenny Florian, often late in the fights.

*Renan Barao – 9-0 in Zuffa competition with six finishes. In that time, he lost one round to Faber in their first fight which he largely dominated and one round to Eddie Wineland before finishing him in the second. Saturday was his third defense, so he still has a ways to go to catch up to Jones and Aldo for longevity, but he’s looked less vulnerable than either against the top competition.

Let’s look at how Fortunes Changed for Five in Newark, N.J.

RENAN BARAO – Barao finds himself in a weird position. Because of the stoppage controversy, he’s not getting the credit he deserves. Plus, a win over Faber in the manner he did it, combined with his style, should make him a must-see fighter.

But that’s not the case. Perhaps it’s the size. Perhaps it’s the language barrier. But nobody was expecting UFC 169 to do a big pay-per-view number, even with two title matches. Barao has one obvious fight on the horizon, which would be with former champion Dominick Cruz. But after 28 months and counting out of action, it would probably be wise for Cruz to do at least one tune-up fight. For now, there are three names out there on the horizon, none of which will be fights that could headline a successful pay-per-view event.

Raphael Assuncao (21-4) faces Francisco Rivera (10-2) in three weeks in Las Vegas, and if Assuncao wins, he has the best argument for a title shot, since he holds a win over T.J. Dillashaw via close decision. Faber, immediately after losing, nominated teammate Dillashaw (9-2) for the next title shot. And the dark horse is Takeya Mizugaki (19-7-2), who has a four-fight winning streak and has hovered near the top for years.

JOSE ALDO – Aldo (24-1), did what was expected of him in taking an obvious decision from Lamas, winning the first four rounds. The talk after the fight was of a rare battle of champions, against lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.

At the post-fight press conference, Dana White talked of a scenario where Aldo would vacate the featherweight title, and challenge Pettis for the lightweight title. It appeared verbal agreements were all but worked out. That would take

Aldo out from trying to match Silva’s records and end a four-plus year title reign.

This opens up the division, where Chad Mendes (16-1) and Cub Swanson (20-5) would seem the most likely to be picked to fill the vacancy, with Frankie Edgar (16-4-1) also in contention. If Aldo doesn’t beat Pettis, he could come back to challenge the new champion. The problem is getting the featherweight title without beating Aldo almost seems like backdooring into it.

URIJAH FABER – Going into Saturday’s fight, it appeared that after going 0-5 in his most recent title matches dating back losing the WEC featherweight title to Mike Brown more than five years ago, that this was his do-or-die. There are extenuating circumstances, in the sense he had a short camp, claimed he was injured and was doing the company a big favor taking the fight when Cruz suffered a torn groin.

Immediately after losing, Faber began pushing the idea of another run at the title. Few would argue that even with his prior losses, that Faber hadn’t earned his way to the top this time. But he becomes difficult to book at this point. The division doesn’t have any killer contenders to begin with. Faber already has wins over Assuncao, Eddie Wineland and Michael McDonald, while Dillashaw is his teammate that he’s not going to likely fight. He could face Cruz, a rubber match with each beating the other once, but that would risk knocking Cruz out of a title match with no upside. Past that, since Faber said he wasn’t interested in moving back to 145, where he’s be giving up significant size to most, he’s got rematches of the aforementioned three, or guys who simply aren’t seen at his level, like Wilson Reis, Alex Caceres or Bryan Caraway.

ALISTAIR OVEREEM – Even though Overeem (37-13, 1 no contest) won all three rounds from Frank Mir, it wasn’t the performance many expected. Most figured Overeem vs. Mir as a sure stoppage one way or the other instead of Overeem escaping with a careful decision.

Overeem still has the look and demeanor that says “star,” even if it’s been two years now since his signature win over Brock Lesnar. When asked after the fight about a potential opponent, he mentioned Lesnar, who is not even under contract to UFC, and whose World Wrestling Entertainment contract that prohibits him from fighting in MMA doesn’t expire until April of 2015.

For a lot of reasons, the obvious fight is with Junior dos Santos. And for all the negatives of Overeem’s recent performances, an impressive win over Dos Santos could very likely get him a title fight due to the lack of depth in the heavyweight division.

ALI BAGAUTINOV – Bagautinov survived a tough second round to win a decision of John Lineker. With Demetrious Johnson having beaten virtually every other top contender in the UFC flyweight division, Bagautinov (13-2) looks to be the favorite to get the next title shot. It’s another title match that doesn’t appear very marketable.

The 28-year-old native of Dagestan has won championships in Pankration, Combat Sambo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Russia. He’s only been doing MMA for four years and is 3-0 in the UFC. He didn’t put on a performance that would convince many he could take Johnson,but there don’t appear to be any obvious better alternatives as challengers. .

Ricardo Lamas gets his fighting spirit from his outspoken father

Ricardo Lamas, who faces Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight tile in Saturday’s UFC 169 show, is the son of a man who was involved in the Cuban revolution that helped put Fidel Castro in power, but then rallied against Castro, barel…

There’s no secret where Ricardo Lamas got his fighting spirit from. It’s hereditary, on his father’s side.

Lamas, the son of an outspoken Cuban underground freedom fighter turned American television executive, challenges UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo at Saturday’s UFC 169. It’s a title shot he’s waited a year for, with a lot of that period being very frustrating. But in hindsight, he thinks it has all worked out for the best.

Ricardo, known by his family as Ricky, seems calm going into the biggest fight of his life. But his father, Jose, who has been through real life-and-death situations, is far more nervous.

More Coverage: UFC 169 Results | UFC news
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“I was running around doing things, putting together the banner, the torch, and I was shaking,” Jose Lamas said on Wednesday night, before getting ready to leave Chicago for the fight. “I took two bites of my sandwich and I couldn’t eat. I’m nervous about him going into any fight. I think he has a great chance to win this fight. I think he’s going to win this fight, but it makes me very tense. It’s like a war inside my body.”

Jose Lamas was a teenage college student in the 1950s. At the time of the Cuban revolution, he fought for and backed Fidel Castro, thinking he would bring democracy to their country after the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. But he felt double-crossed when Castro instead went with a communistic government. Jose Lamas helped start an underground movement against Castro, using the code name of Bonifacio.

“I had strong feelings about the situation under Batista,” he said. “I participated, in 1958, in a strike against the regime of Batista. In 1959, Castro took over. I became a teacher. I realized that the revolution was to create a communist state. We opposed Batista for the lack of freedom. I felt betrayed. For the same reason, I opposed Batista, I joined forces with a group of high school students and university students and we founded a revolutionary movement. I joined farmers, professionals, workers and students. I was in the students sector. I was the national head of the students revolutionary movement.

“In the beginning of the revolution, Castro put on the front that he was going to create a democracy,” said Ricardo Lamas. “A lot of Cubans helped in the revolution but found out they were brainwashed or tricked. When my dad realized what was going on, and Castro showed his true colors, my Dad switched sides. He founded a group of students. They started an underground movement against Fidel Castro and the revolution. They started doing their thing, speaking out against the government. They handed out newspapers, tried to take over radio stations and broadcast their message to the people. That’s extremely dangerous to do in Cuba.”

After participating in an event in 1962, he realized that his life was in jeopardy.

“At the time, the Cuban government had infiltrated my dad’s group of underground people,” said Ricardo Lamas. “My dad got out and his second in command took over. His second in command was caught, tried, sentenced and executed in the span of 23 days.”

Through a connection, Jose Lamas obtained refuge at the Brazilian embassy in Cuba. There were only a few embassies in the country because very few countries still had diplomatic relations with Castro. After getting refuge, he left Brazil for Chicago and started a family of six boys, Ricardo being the youngest.

“Isn’t it funny that my son is fighting a Brazilian?”, said Jose Lamas. “They saved my life. Even though the government of Brazil was friendly with Castro, they gave me protection and allowed me to leave Cuba.”

His father, who at first didn’t like wrestling, and later didn’t really like MMA, is proudest of the fact that his son never quits.

“He has a great heart,” said Jose Lamas. “Ricardo is very courageous, very creative, and doesn’t give up. He has never been submitted. He has never lost a fight by decision. He doesn’t talk trash and he doesn’t like losing at all. If you want to beat him, you have to take out his heart. He’s not going to ever surrender. He’s not going to ever give up. He will face Aldo anywhere Aldo wants, and he will take advantage of anything that happens.”

After Jose Lamas came to Chicago, he started working in Spanish language radio in 1967, and moved to television in 1974. When Ch. 44 in Chicago became the city’s first full-time Spanish language station, he was hired first as General Sales Manager in 1985. Two years later he was the General Manger of the station. He had a reputation for always saying what he thought and fighting for his beliefs. When Telemundo bought the station in 1997, a series of disputes he said made it very easy for him to leave after a few months.

“Growing up, I saw my dad get into plenty of altercations,” said Ricardo Lamas. “He’s a guy who is never going to be disrespected. He’s never going to be talked down to. If he’s got a problem with you, he’ll tell you to your face. You have to respect a guy like that. They say what they mean and they mean what they say.”

That includes in MMA. He’s mad at what he feels is Dana White talking about doing an Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis battle of champions.

“That’s ridiculous to talk about before my son fights Aldo,” said Jose Lamas. “He’s assuming Ricardo is going to lose. It’s a mistake. He should wait to see what happens, and then he can ask Pettis to come down and fight Ricardo.”

The elder Lamas has worked up some emotion for that fight, with the feeling Pettis talked his way into a title shot (which Pettis ended up pulling out of due to a knee injury) that his son earned. He also remembered that months earlier, Pettis got the knockout of the night bonus on the Jan. 26, 2013, FOX show over his son.

“He knocked (Donald) Cerrone out with a kick to the liver,” said Jose Lamas. “Ten seconds later, Cerrone was standing up. They had to take about five minutes to get Erik Koch (who Lamas beat in a title eliminator) in shape to leave the ring. And he didn’t get the knockout of the night. He was shortchanged, the same way he was shortchanged for a year-and-a-half by not having the opportunity to fight Aldo. Ricardo decided to wait and not complain. I’m the one who complains. I’m his father and I think I have the right to say what I think.”

Ricardo Lamas also has first-hand experience of his father standing up for his family through his actions as well.

“One of my earliest memories, is when my brother and my dad were playing tennis,” said Ricardo Lamas. “I was the ball boy. A group of other guys were playing tennis there also. I was getting in the way of their game and they yelled at me. My dad got into a fight with four other guys. My brother got cracked in the head with a tennis racket.

“Another time, we were at my grandmother’s house, and she lives in a pretty bad neighborhood. There were a lot of gang members, a lot of gangs. We want to a taco joint that we always went to when we were there. We parked. A couple of gang bangers pulled up and yelled at my dad to pull out of what they said was their spot. I remember looking out the back window worried about my dad. My dad goes over to their car, puts half of his body into the car, pulls their gears into reverse and they left. I don’t know anyone else who would have the balls to do that. They could have had guns.”

Lamas was a big wrestling and Bruce Lee fan growing up. He remembers watching Bruce Lee movies on a daily basis. He did Tae Kwon Do early and competed in wrestling in high school and college, placing sixth in the Division III nationals while wrestling for Elmhurt College in Elmhurst, Ill., in 2005. One day, his older brother came home with a tape of UFC 3 or 4.

“It was the first thing I saw and I loved it,” Ricardo Lamas said. “I watched those tapes every night, wanting to learn more and be a UFC fighter. When I graduated college, I had a wanted to compete and decided to give MMA a try.”
He noted that his brothers were fans, but his father wasn’t.

“He didn’t really understand the sport. He saw it as human cockfighting. I told him I was going to do it whether he liked it or not. He went to my first amateur fight, and he’s been to every fight since. Now he’s a big UFC fan. He watches it whenever it’s on TV. He’s even gone to the bar, by himself, to watch the pay-per-views.”

“I wasn’t against it really,” Jose Lamas said. “He consulted with me, and I was okay with it. I thought it was much different than the sport he had been practicing in high school and college. I wasn’t really familiar with mixed martial arts as a sport and I was kind of confused about it. But I never opposed it. I told him whatever he wanted to do he would have my support. But now I’ very much enjoy the UFC. I learned it’s not just about being tough, you have to be an artist, a well-rounded fighter. It’s not just punches and kicks.

“In the case of wrestling, when Ricardo was in high school and college, I fell in love with the sport. But it made me very nervous watching him. When he was in high school, I was nervous. When he was wrestling in college, I was a little more nervous because he was going against tougher competition.”

Ricardo Lamas is stepping into the cage as a 5-to-1 underdog against Aldo (23-1). With the title loss this past year of Anderson Silva, and the leave of absence and vacating the title of Georges St-Pierre, Aldo, at four years and two plus months, is the longest reigning champion in the UFC. He first won the WEC featherweight title from Mike Brown on Nov. 18, 2009. He’s defended the title, which became the UFC championship when the WEC was shut down at the end of 2010, seven times. Between WEC and UFC competition, he’s 13-0, the best record of any fighter in the history of the company.

“The guy is a champion for a reason,” said Ricardo Lamas. “He’s been champion for so long for a reason. He’s a great fighter. I think people get caught up in the pound-for-pound thing. I just look at him as another opponent. I’m not going to be intimidated by the name or the record.

“He doesn’t have many weaknesses,” Ricardo Lamas noted. “He’s a very strong fighter. He’s a very strong guy. I’m just excited for the challenge of taking on a fighter of his caliber. I’m always up for a challenge. You tell me I can’t do something and I’m going to say, ‘Hold on, and I’ll do it right now’.”

Fortunes changed for five at UFC on FOX 10

You couldn’t help but feel for Josh Thomson on Saturday night as he fought back from a broken thumb, and was crushed far more by the judges than anything the former UFC lightweight champion could do to him.
The post-fight reaction S…

The post-fight reaction Saturday night after the Benson Henderson vs. Josh Thomson at the United Center in Chicago, was predictable, probably even before the scores were read.

Whenever there is a close fight, and make no mistake about it, that was a close fight, all the dissenters bombard social media with talks of robbery and horrible judging. Like with Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks in November, if you look as objectively as possible at each round, and understanding the nature of how the current scoring system is in place, this was a fight that either man could have won.

When the fight ended, I had Thomson up 48-47, and figured it came down to how round two would be scored. I even had a hunch Henderson would get the decision, based on moving forward. I was ready for 48-47, in either direction, the likelihood of a split decision, and a night of outage at judges.

The first two scores were read. Exactly as figured. Then Sal D’Amato’s 49-46 was read. Some people apparently thought for sure that meant Thomson, and were shocked when it was for Henderson.

While this was an entirely different fight than St-Pierre vs. Hendricks, and certainly than Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva, a close fight that nearly everyone was happy ended up as a draw, to look at the judging, you have to look at the key rounds and not the overall fight, because that is how a fight is judged.

The GSP vs. Hendricks judging, for all the criticism, was solid. It was clear who won rounds two through five in that fight. Nearly everyone agreed, as did all three judges. The question was a close round one. After the initial outrage died down, a lot of people recognized that fight came down to the first round, which was close enough to go either way. The respective facial damage comparisons, which had to do with later rounds, didn’t matter given the scoring system as it’s currently used.

And this fight appeared to be the same, although in a grappling heavy fight with cautious striking, there was none of the facial damage to further inflame fans.

Who won the fight overall is a different subject than who got the decision based on round-by-round scoring. And it was very clear there were no 10-8 rounds here.

Having watched the fight a few times, I felt four rounds were obvious, one and four for Thomson, three and five for Henderson. Round two was close at first, and on repeat viewings, remained close. I still think Thomson won it, but it was not conclusive and I couldn’t argue it being scored evenly or for Henderson.

A post show poll taken on the Wrestlingobserver.com web site had it 51 percent for Thomson, 39 percent for Henderson and 10 percent even. That’s a close fight that could go either way, not a robbery.

And then I saw the scorecards. D’Amato gave rounds two through five to Henderson. He got most of the criticism, but his round two score was acceptable. Round four was the only problem.

Thomson had the early edge with the takedown, but Henderson struck with elbows from his back, and had tied Thomson up from the bottom at one point. Thomson did break free and do some damage from the top. The stand-up was close enough, and I had it very close until Thomson’s takedown and back control as the round ended. But throwing in how the round ended, I thought it was really hard to see that round for Henderson.

Yet, both D’Amato and judge Brian Puccillo had it for the former UFC lightweight champion. Puccillo gave Thomson the close second round, to come to his 48-47 score.

Even the 48-47 for Thomson from judge Gabriel Sabaitis was bothersome. That card gave Henderson the close second, but gave Thomson round five. Even though I had an identical final score, I felt round five was pretty clear for Henderson.

You can’t have a heart if you didn’t feel for Thomson while watching him talk retirement after the fight. He went through the frustration of training far too hard, for far too long. His fight was moved back six weeks. He signed for a title shot, then had it changed to a different style fighter.

And he is 35, and he’d seen all the guys that grew up with him in the sport either retire, move off, and fall off from the top. His body has a lot of mileage. He’s had long periods of time where he’s had to sit out due to recurring injuries during his career. Given how early he started and his injuries, he would not seem the best bet to be a fighter who was still a top title contender at his age.

But he clearly is. And then minutes into the fight, his thumb was broken bad enough that the commission asked if he wanted to stop it. Corner man Javier Mendez considered throwing in the towel.

The vast majority thought a healthy Thomson would probably fight a close, action-packed fight, but likely lose a decision to Henderson. His less than opportune camp situation and fighting without an almost useless right hand, with punching power and gripping power limited, he would figure to have very little chance.

In some ways, maybe it would have been less disappointing if he couldn’t overcome the disadvantage. That would

have made the decision easier to swallow.

As a television viewer, the way the show ended probably also left a bad taste.

With a five-round main event, they were 23 minutes past the scheduled 10 p.m. ending when the score was read. Given that FOX stations around the country had already delayed their nightly newscast, they rushed off the air a minute later.

With such a close score, this desperately needed analysis. Much of the audience thought the wrong guy won. Because of the sympathy factor in the fight story, Thomson surviving and fighting evenly with the broken hand, I’d surmise that vast majority of viewers were hoping he would get the decision. Certainly, for better or worse, they wanted to hear what he had to say, and have the analysts give their opinions.

“My opinion doesn’t matter, as you can tell,” he said backstage at the press conference when asked about his thoughts on the decision. “I lost. That’s the opinion. The only ones that matter are the (opinions of) the three people around the cage.”

As he went through the frustrations of his last four months, and even more, of his last four rounds, he said, “This might be it.”

“The Gilbert fight (a split decision loss to Melendez in a Strikeforce title mach on May 19, 2012), that was a close fight, but I can see it,” he said. “I think I beat the former UFC champion with one hand. That’s what I can’t stomach. I’m a better fighter. That’s what p***es me off.”

FOX has to serve a number of masters and decisions are made on the fly, They wanted to get out as soon as they could, but with two more minutes viewers could have been given more of the story of what they saw. Instead, it felt like, instead of the show being a big deal, it was something they were rushing to get away from, even though the final score was the biggest story of the night.

Here’s a look at how Fortunes changed for five:

JOSH THOMSON – Thomson (20-6, 1 no contest), came out of the show as the biggest star. The fact is, he was considering retirement before the fight. Even if he won, he said after that it wasn’t a lock he’d take the title shot with Pettis. Now, with the loss, in theory, there is no title shot in reach.

Anyone who has paid attention to UFC knows that a lot goes into the decisions of who get title shots. The perception of what the public wants to see plays a huge role in it. The betting line was the decision put Gilbert Melendez or TJ Grant, who has been out for months with a serious concussion, in the catbird seat as opponents for Pettis, who hopes to return in July after knee surgery. It would not be unheard of to give Thomson the shot, if the key people believe he won the fight.

It’s more likely he’d be put in a position where a win over someone, perhaps Donald Cerrone, could get him a shot. But only he can make the decision of what he’ll do next and he made need some time to make that decision.

Usually when guys want out before they take those inevitable beatings at the end, you should be happy for them. Going out on top is wonderful. Going out when you’re clearly done is another thing. But this is neither, and leaves far too many unanswered questions for a guy whose last two losses have come in title fights that came down to one judge scoring one round differently, and controversially.

BENSON HENDERSON – In theory, Henderson (20-3) should have at least moved himself up the ladder with another win on network television.

But all wins are not created equal. Henderson was already behind the eight-ball, having lost twice to champion Anthony Pettis. And while there is little questioning Henderson is overall one of the better all-around fighters in the sport, it hurts him to have people think that he was gifted wins over Frankie Edgar (in their second meeting), Thomson and perhaps Gilbert Melendez as well.

Unless there are a slew of injuries, the nature of this win, if anything, put him farther away from a title shot. Henderson has a good name, but there is no momentum for him coming off this win.

Worse, he’s getting near that Rich Franklin spot after the second Anderson Silva loss. That is, the challenger who may be able to beat almost everyone in the division, but nobody will buy him or wants to see him against the champion. As Urijah Faber showed, there is a way out of that purgatory.

The problem is, if you put Henderson against someone on the rise, whether it be Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rafael dos Anjos, Grant or Cerrone, all you can do is risk knocking off a contender who could face Pettis. He’s really going to need a Faber-like run, with a fighter of the year level performance, with decisive wins over top guys to change that perception.

DONALD CERRONE – The show’s highlight was the perfect shin-to-neck knockout kick Cerrone (22-6, 1 no contest) hit on Adriano Martins.

Cerrone has a lot of potential opponents in a lightweight division filled with depth. There was talk of a third fight with Henderson after. Their first was an all-time classic, another of those Henderson decision wins that many thought could have gone the other way, in 2009. But Henderson submitted Cerrone the next year in just 1:57 in a rematch.

Cerrone may also be the right opponent for Nurmagomedov, Thomson or Grant. Cerrone’s UFC career has told the story of being one fight from a probable title shot, and losing, whether it be to Nate Diaz, Pettis or dos Anjos. He looks to be close to being in that spot again.

STIPE MIOCIC – Miocic (11-1) took advantage of his better conditioning to stop Gabriel Gonzaga (16-8) in a heavyweight battle.

Miocic’s is 4-1 in UFC with his only loss to Stefan Struve. With the platform, on FOX, and positioning, as the No. 2 fight on the show, it was a nice win for exposure. But he didn’t turn heads either. Heavyweight isn’t the world’s deepest division, and with injuries to top guys, there aren’t a slew of potential opponents.

He’s nowhere near ready to be thought of for a title shot. Junior dos Santos does need an opponent and if he would have scored a more explosive win, perhaps he’d be thought of for that spot. Other potential opponents that could get him up the ladder are out for a while, like Mark Hunt (broken hand) and Antonio Silva (steroid suspension).

From a timing standpoint, he could face the winner of this coming Saturday’s Alistair Overeem vs. Frank Mir fight. My gut says if Overeem wins, they go directly to Overeem vs. Dos Santos. If Mir wins, given the way Dos Santos went though Mir, a Miocic vs. Mir match would be at least a decent fight on the card. Brendan Schaub is also a possibility. Although he was beaten decisively last time out, Josh Barnett is a bigger name than Miocic and really the best of the group of the likely opponents he could face as far as putting Miocic in a spotlight position.

EDDIE WINELAND – Wineland (21-9-1) rebounded from his Sept. 21 bantamweight title loss to Renan Barao, to finish Yves Jabouin via ground and pound in the second round.

His combination of good stand-up and strong takedown defense makes him a solid opponent for anyone. The timing seems to work out for a fight with T.J. Dillashaw, after his Jan. 15 win over Mike Easton. The match is a viable main card fight where a win would be a strong step. A secondary choice would be Takeya Mizugaki. Both have been around the division for years, and have been legitimate contenders the entire time, but somehow their paths have never crossed.