There is no greater spectacle in all of combat sports than when two heavyweight juggernauts step in to settle their business.
This rings especially true when one of those combatants is the standing champion who has looked like a bulldozer since regaining his crown. But when Cain Velasquez injured his knee in the weeks leading up to UFC 180, the organization was let with some very big shoes to fill.
While there was going to be no way to replace the regional appeal Velasquez brought to its first journey into Mexico, the promotion decided to go the underdog route: It tapped resurgent knockout artist Mark Hunt to step in against Fabricio Werdum in the main event of the card. The “Super Samoan” had found ways to settle the opposition in spectacular fashion throughout his entire career—and appeasing the pleas of fight fans who wanted to see Hunt get a shot at championship gold became the new route to travel.
With three weeks to cut over 40 pounds to make the 265-pound limit and no time to prepare for the savvy Brazilian grappler, the long shot from New Zealand was going to have to fight uphill more than he’d ever done in the past. That said, he was stepping in to face a fighter who had earned his title opportunity on the strength of an impressive four-fight winning streak and had been flawless since returning to the UFC in 2012.
The stage was set for either something incredible to happen, or something completely one-sided. And when the cage door closed behind Hunt and Werdum on Saturday night, the resurgent heavyweight proved he belonged in the fight. Hunt dropped “Vai Cavalo” with a big right hand, then threw elbows from top position inside the Kings MMA representative’s dangerous guard to take the opening round.
Nevertheless, it was a five-round fight, and the better-conditioned Werdum was coiled in wait for the perfect opportunity, which came in the form of a devastating flying knee that snapped Hunt’s head back and put him flat on the canvas. Werdum wasted no time pouncing to hammer out the finish and put away Hunt midway through the second round to become the interim heavyweight champion.
While there wasn’t a title on the line in the co-main event between Jake Ellenberger and Kelvin Gastelum, there wasn’t any shortage of drama surrounding the tilt. The 23-year-old Arizona native came into the bout on the cusp of breaking into the deep waters of the stacked welterweight division, while “The Juggernaut” needed to snap a recent two-fight skid in order to keep his place in the divisional elite.
Both fighters knew what was at stake on Saturday night, but it was Gastelum who rose to the occasion. The Ultimate Fighter season 17 winner applied forward pressure until he got Ellenberger in a position where he let his foot off the gas. With his opponent stalled, Gastelum swung around to take Ellenberger‘s back and locked in the rear-naked choke shortly after to pick up another impressive victory inside the Octagon.
Let’s take a look at the good, bad and strange from UFC 180.
The Good
On Saturday night at UFC 180, Fabricio Werdum became the interim champion of the UFC heavyweight division. And for a man who was cut from the promotion back in 2008, that has to be an amazing feeling.
While “Vai Cavalo” was bounced from the sport’s biggest stage following his loss to then-prospect Junior dos Santos, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace has spent the six years since putting together an incredible body of work. The 37-year-old Kings MMA representative won three of his four showings outside of the Octagon and has strung together a brilliant five-fight winning streak since returning to the promotion in 2012.
Along the way, he’s notched victories over top-ranked talents like Roy Nelson and Antonio “Big Nog” Nogueira. He then put the MMA universe on notice when he battered rangy striker Travis Browne for five rounds at UFC on Fox 11. Suddenly, Werdum was no longer a fighter whose only route to victory was getting his opponents on the canvas. Now, he was a fighter who could finish fights in whatever realm they took place.
When Werdum stepped into the Octagon with Hunt, it was the “Super Samoan” who was figured to be the knockout threat inside the cage. Yet, after weathering a rough first round, Werdum picked the perfect moment to smash the New Zealand native with a brutal knee to spark the ending of the fight. It was a highlight-reel finish by any measure, and one that further shows Werdum’s ever-improving striking skills.
With the victory, Werdum becomes the official interim titleholder and will have the opportunity to get another bout with champion Cain Velasquez in 2015. And if the current titleholder can’t return from injury in March, the UFC is set to make the Rafael Cordeiro-trained fighter the official undisputed champion of the heavyweight division.
That’s a pretty drastic turn for a man who wasn’t good enough to keep. And there’s no doubt Werdum’s confidence is riding much higher than the elevation in Mexico City with that win.
That said, it’s impossible not to give a tremendous amount of props to Hunt as well. The one-shot knockout artist has also turned his fate around on the sport’s biggest stage, as he’s gone from the fighter the UFC wanted to pay to go away to the man they call to step in for a title shot. While his signature power nearly got the job done and put an unbelievable cap on his underdog run, a Werdum knee put the storybook ending on pause for the time being as Hunt was folded in the second round.
Nevertheless, what an amazing run it was for Hunt. There is tremendous validation in the sense that he’s now championship material.
Now, let’s move a few notches down the weight class scale to the welterweight division.
The prospect tag can be a heavy label for a fighter to wear, due to the amount of expectation that is put on his shoulders. That said, Kelvin Gastelum is not only wearing it well—he’s actually thriving on the biggest stage in the sport.
The Ultimate Fighter season 17 winner immediately put himself on the map by pulling a huge upset over heavy favorite Uriah Hall in the tournament finale. He then carried that momentum into his run up the welterweight ranks. The 23-year-old Arizona native came into his tilt with Jake Ellenberger at UFC 180 seeking passage into the next level of the divisional hierarchy at 170-pounds, and he used his signature forward-pressure to accomplish that task.
Although “The Juggernaut” landed some nasty power shots in the early going, Gastelum stayed on his game plan and continued to press the action. After Ellenberger let up after slamming him to the canvas, Gastelum slickly swung around and took his opponent’s back. Once he took the dominant position, he locked in the fight-ending rear-naked choke to pick up the biggest victory of his young career.
By defeating Ellenberger, the TUF winner not only kept his undefeated record intact, but he also guaranteed his next opponent will come from the welterweight divisional elite.
*** The title hunt in the UFC featherweight division is absolutely bonkers, and the tilt between Ricardo Lamas and Dennis Bermudez held heavy implications for a future championship opportunity. While “The Bully” had recently had his four-fight winning streak snapped by Jose Aldo, he came into Mexico City looking to derail the seven-fight roll “The Menace” had been on coming into UFC 180. Both are notoriously scrappy fighters, but it was Lamas who remained patient and found his window of opportunity to pounce.
After Bermudez attempted to grind him against the cage, the Chicago native stuck the surging contender with a jab that put him on the canvas, then wasted zero time jumping on the guillotine that ended the fight. Despite Lamas’ great performance on Saturday night, he’ll likely have to get another big win before earning another crack at featherweight gold. That said, with the energy he brought into the cage on Saturday night, it’s doubtful he’ll mind having to put in another night of work.
*** Jessica Eye has been patiently waiting to get back in the mix of the women’s bantamweight division. After a loss to recent title challenger Alexis Davis back in February brought her eight-fight unbeaten streak to an end, “Evil” was eager to come back in impressive fashion. The Ohio native certainly accomplished this task in her all-out battering of Leslie Smith in what was ultimately her best performance to date inside the Octagon.
While Smith was willing to engage at every turn, Eye was the much quicker fighter as she scored with powerful combinations on the regular. While the bout would end via doctor stoppage in the second round due to Smith’s left ear dangling off the side of her head, Eye’s impressive showing on Saturday night will certainly go a long way toward earning her a high profile opponent in her next outing.
*** Winning The Ultimate Fighter is a guaranteed key to the doors of the UFC, and Alejandro Perez and Alberto Quinonez fought like men who understood what was on the line. With both fighters competing on Team Velasquez during the tournament, there was plenty of time for them to become familiar with one another. Once the cage door closed on Saturday night, both fighters gave their all throughout the 15-minute affair. That said, Perez landed the heavier shots during the tilt and took the unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards to become the The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America bantamweight winner.
*** There were two TUF titles on the line at UFC 180, with Yair Rodriguez and Leonardo Morales stepping into the Octagon to determine the winner of the featherweight tournament. While the fight was an exciting scrap, the majority of the enjoyment came from Rodriguez’s willingness to let wild kicks fly at every turn. Yet, in addition to his acrobatics against Morales, he also controlled the action to pick up the unanimous decision victory and the six-figure contract from the UFC.
*** Augusto “Dodger” Montano—the fighter who easily had the best nickname on the entire card at UFC 180—put in some slick work to go with his catchy moniker as he scored a impressive knockout victory over Chris Heatherly. The Illinois native certainly showed up to mix it up, but he was over-matched by the resilient Mexican welterweight. Once Montano had Heatherly hurt against the fence, he unloaded a buffet of brutal knees that forced the referee to step in to stop to the fight. With the victory, Montano not only picks up his first official UFC win, but also notches his fifth consecutive successful outing in the process.
*** Hector Urbina picked up his first victory inside the Octagon when he defeated Edgar Garcia via submission to kick off the pay-per-view portion of the card at UFC 180. While Garcia took his back and had him in a bad position, Urbina showed some savvy as he escaped and locked on a choke of his own that brought the fight to an end.
*** The ability to dig and persevere is an excellent trait in a fighter, and Enrique “Henry” Briones proved he has some moxie inside his chest. After his opponent Guido Cannetti battered him throughout the opening frame, the scrappy Mexican fighter wowed his countrymen in attendance by battling back to get the second-round submission finish. Briones caught Cannetti with a perfectly timed uppercut, then sealed the deal on the canvas with a rear-naked choke to pick up his first official victory under the UFC banner.
*** A fighter’s UFC debut is a great chance to make a statement on the sport’s biggest stage, and The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America alums Marco Beltran and Marlon Vera came out looking to do just that. While the opening round was highlighted by an ill-placed axe kick from Vera to his opponents groin, the following two rounds were action-packed, as both fighters battled for control and positioning. Yet, while the Greg Jackson-trained Vera had two opportunities to close out the fight via rear-naked choke in the second round, Beltran wasn’t to be bested on Saturday night. The Team Velasquez fighter won the unanimous decision victory as he solidified a successful first showing inside the Octagon.
The Bad
Jake Ellenberger has held status as one of the top welterweight fighters in the world for the past four years. Unfortunately for “The Juggernaut,” his time in the upper tier of the 170-pound fold may have come to an end on Saturday night.
The former Marine turned mixed martial artist suffered his third consecutive loss at the hands of talented young upstart Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 180. While Ellenberger appeared to be hanging in with the rising prospect, the 23-year-old prospect hit a slick transition and took his back once the action hit the canvas. Once Gastelum had his back, all Ellenberger could do was tap once his opponent locked on the rear-naked choke.
While taking a third consecutive loss is never a good thing under the UFC banner, it doesn’t seem likely that Ellenberger will lose his roster spot. Outside of his setback against Gastelum, his two prior losses came at the hands of soon to be two-time title challenger Robbie Lawler and fellow contender Rory MacDonald, respectively. With that taken into account, it is clear that Ellenberger isn’t competing at the caliber the upper echelon of the welterweight fold requires. Yet, the 29-year-old Omaha native has racked up enough quality victories to likely get one more opportunity to turn things around.
*** Despite the two fights that comprised The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America finally being hard-fought scraps, there was a disconnect from the MMA community once those fights hit the television. With the inaugural season of TUF: Latin America only airing on the UFC’s digital network Fight Pass, a large percentage of fight fans had no idea who the four men in those fights were. With the UFC’s global push—and TUF being one of the vehicles the company uses to farm unknown talent—there are going to be plenty of seasons and fighters from those tournaments who fall through the cracks with the viewing public.
That said, both the bantamweight and featherweight finals were exciting tilts, with the biggest problem being people not knowing who they were watching.
The Strange
This category is reserved for curious happenings in and around the Octagon on fight night, and I typically prefer to keep things on the lighter side. That said, for a sport where anything can happen (and usually does), there are going to be some visuals you simply can’t turn away from.
In the bout between Gabriel Benitez and Humberto Brown that kicked off the Fox Sports 1 portion of the card, the Team Velasquez fighter spent almost the entire first round with his opponent in some form of a guillotine choke. Yet, despite being in deep trouble multiple times, Brown battled his way out and imposed some offense of his own. Being down a round on the cards, the Team Werdum representative attempted to battle back strong, but apparently had some digestive issues along the way.
Brown came out for the third round with some obvious issues plaguing his lower half, but he pressed on regardless. Nevertheless, Benitez would find yet another choke early in the final frame, but this time he would finish Brown off and leave him sleeping on the canvas.
Again, normally I wouldn’t throw any mention to something of this nature, but there are few reasons for grown men over the age of three to encounter these problems. That said, fighting is serious business, and strange things can happen when the human body is pushed to the max in a cage sitting north of 8,000 ft. elevation.
Keeping in the realm of explosions, Jessica Eye made Leslie Smith’s left ear explode in the first round of their action-packed tilt. The Cleveland native poured it on from the opening bell and dotted the El Nino Training Center representative with combination after combination. While Smith attempted to answer back with flurries of her own, a right hand from Eye landed on her left ear, causing Smith’s cauliflower-ridden lobe to literally explode upon contact.
A gush of blood shot into the air, but Smith gritted it out to survive the round. In fact, she answered the bell for the second round, but the action was brought to a halt shortly into the round due to Smith’s ear literally hanging off the side of her head. It was certainly a gruesome sight to behold, but it showed just how tough of a customer Smith is inside the cage.
All in all, it was a violent night in Mexico City, as none of the five main card fights made it to the judges’ scorecards. Furthermore, Fabricio Werdum knocked out Mark Hunt rather than taking him down and submitting the New Zealand native (as many assumed he would). If that’s not a strange turn, then I don’t know what is.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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