UFC 146 is in the books and the big take away is that the heavyweights delivered. It was the most entertaining MMA card of the month and showcased just how far the UFC’s heavyweight division has come since the days of Arlovski and Sylvia.
Junior dos Santos retained his heavyweight title with an absolute mauling of Frank Mir in the main event of the night in Las Vegas, Nev. In the co-main event, Cain Velasquez put a beating on Antonio Silva in the center of the Octagon. Even Roy Nelson impressed with a one-punch knockout win over Dave Herman.
As we do with every card, let’s grade the performances of all the main card fighters.
A+
Junior dos Santos: Junior dos Santos put on the best performance of his career against a very game opponent in Frank Mir. There was a bit of a scare early in the first when Frank grabbed an ankle and fell to the ground but outside of that one moment, Junior dominated the entire fight. He’s improved with every outing and whoever he meets next will be in for a world of hurt if they can’t get the fight to the ground. With the title defense Junior had the performance of the night.
Cain Velasquez: If Junior dos Santos had the performance of the night, he just barely edged out Cain Velasquez. I don’t believe that Antonio Silva did anything offensively at all besides bleed out a ton of blood. Seriously, it was spraying. Cain definitely sent a message that he wants the next shot at, and a rematch with, Junior dos Santos
A
Roy Nelson: He probably should be an A+ performer as well but you know…super quick knockout. He didn’t show much but he definitely reconfirmed the fact that he has ridiculously heavy hands. This win also means that he’s survived to fight another day.
B+
Stefan Struve: Stefan Struve will always be the fighter I get annoyed at for never fighting tall. He has an 84.5″ reach and refuses to fight on the outside. He was clipped early on by Lavar but once he got the fight to the ground he ended it quickly with an armbar. Solid performance and hopefully we can see Struve continue to improve his fight IQ.
B-
Stipe Miocic: Tonight’s performance was far from perfect. In fact, he was rocked several times in the first round and was likely close to getting finished at some points. He fought his fight in the second round and completely dominated Shane Del Rosario on the ground. Nice win and hopefully this will show him that he can’t abandon his wrestling against strikers.
C
Shane Del Rosario: I’m unsure how much we can truly take away from this fight due to the obvious ring rust. Shane likely needed a tune-up fight before making his UFC pay-per-view debut but that’s the breaks. He looked great in the first round but once he gassed out he was like a turtle on his back. I hope that the next time we see Shane in the UFC, he’s in better shape and walks away with a W.
C-
Frank Mir: Frank Mir avoids getting a D or F because of the little offense that he connected on. He kept his wits about him and stayed competitive up until the finish. He also had that one moment in the first when he had Junior’s ankle locked up but couldn’t complete his control of the leg. This is also likely the last time that we’ll ever see Frank in the title fight. I’m sure wanted to have a better performance.
D+
Lavar Johnson: Lavar escapes getting an F because of the first punch he landed. That’s really it. I know you’ll see a bunch of writers say that he needs to focus on the ground game. I’m not gonna say that. Instead, I’ll say that he should be used against other stand up fighters in entertaining fights to open PPV cards or close out the FX broadcast.
F
Dave Herman: Terrible. Awful. Probably not gonna be in the UFC anymore. Maybe that’s who is sent over to Strikeforce to fight Cormier or Barnett? Or maybe he fights Cole Konrad in Bellator.
Antonio Silva: The most impressive part of Antonio Silva’s performance was the amount of blood that literally sprayed out of his head. He did absolutely nothing except throw one leg kick and he was mauled immediately afterwards. This is the guy who mangled Fedor? Terrible.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com