I’m not going to sit here and say that UFC 155 was an event for the ages. I think you know that isn’t true, and to pretend otherwise would be a bit silly.
As a matter of fact, the pay-per-view portion of UFC 155 was well on its way to “worst of the year” lists around the world, but that was all before Jim Miller and Joe Lauzon stepped in the cage.
Miller and Lauzon saved the show, but the atmosphere they created carried over into the main event, which displayed a unique culture vs. culture sensibility; it was unique in that we essentially witnessed Brazil vs. Mexico despite Velasquez being born and raised in California. That indicates that the UFC’s marketing machine is working and that Velasquez could be catching on as a superstar draw south of the border.
Whatever the case may be, the main event was electric even if the actual fighting in the cage was not. Chants of “Cigano,” “you’re going to die” (in Portugese, of course) and “Mexico” rang out through the arena, lending the heavyweight clash a significant big-fight feel that UFC main events in 2012 lacked for the most part.
And now that the fighting is done, and now that I have escaped the Las Vegas strip New Year’s celebration before it even started—and believe me, you could never understand how terrible a Las Vegas New Year’s is, unless you’ve actually experienced it—it’s time to look forward and figure out what’s next for some of the competitors on the UFC 155 card.
Let’s get this started.