UFC 130 didn’t necessarily blow fans away, but it was a decent night of fights with a couple of wrinkles in the natural order of the welterweight and bantamweight divisions.
Rick Story picked up a huge upset win over highly ranked welterweight Thiago Alves.
Despite being in phenomenal shape, Alves wasn’t able to withstand the consistent pressure from Story’s takedowns.
For a long time, the UFC welterweight division has been topped by Georges St-Pierre, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves, and Josh Koscheck. It may be time to include Story’s name along with the upper-echelon welterweights.
In the bantamweight division, Demetrious Johnson took the biggest victory of his career with a unanimous decision win over former champion Miguel Torres. If people didn’t pay attention after his victory over Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, they are certainly paying attention now.
Johnson boasts some of the most explosive takedowns in the sport, and he should be taken seriously as a legitimate threat to Dominick Cruz’s bantamweight title.
In the main and co-main events, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Frank Mir were both victorious in lopsided affairs. While Jackson stuffed all of Matt Hamill’s takedowns and bested the exchanges for a unanimous decision, Mir earned a decision win over Roy Nelson in a lackluster heavyweight tilt.
What’s next for the winners?
Here are some interesting fights to make after UFC 130.