Spare a thought for the fighters who were left on the mat at UFC 160?
If there was any doubt Cain Velasquez was the best heavyweight fighter in UFC, he made sure to erase any questions following his first-round win over Antonio Silva.
Velasquez was one of the biggest winners of the night, but what about the losers?
Plenty of guys elevated their UFC careers, but there were just as many—if not more—whose careers were hurt after Saturday night.
Here are three fighters who received the biggest hit after UFC 160.
Gray Maynard
Gray Maynard came into the night ranked No. 3 in UFC’s lightweight rankings. The premise was pretty simple in his fight with T.J. Grant. If Maynard won, he’d be looking at a meeting with lightweight champion Benson Henderson. A loss would mean a tumble down the pecking order.
Unfortunately for Maynard, he suffered a first-round knockout, and as a result, it’s Grant getting the shot against Henderson (h/t Mike Johnston of Sportsnet.ca):
This is the second loss in three fights for Maynard and follows up what was a less-than-stellar outing against Clay Guida back in June.
Maynard could have used this fight as a major stepping stone. Instead, he’s taken a big step back and has a lot of work to do in order to establish himself as a title contender again.
Antonio Silva
Silva is an intimidating presence in the Octagon, but when the fight actually begins, he’s exposed in a big way. When he knocked out Alistair Overeem, Bigfoot made himself into a title contender. On Saturday night, Silva made fans remember the difference between the guy who’s next in line for a shot and the guy who can legitimately challenge the champion.
Two fights in a row Velasquez has made quick work of Silva, who had very little to offer in the way of offense (h/t Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting.com):
When you combine the time of their two fights, you don’t even get a full round of action. It took Velasquez 3:36 at UFC 146 and 1:21 at UFC 160.
As long as either Velasquez or Junior dos Santos is on top in the heavyweight division, it’s hard to take Silva as a serious threat. He can be fun to watch and has some name recognition, but his limitations were on display at UFC 160.
Alistair Overeem
Poor Overeem. He didn’t even fight and yet he took a huge hit on Saturday night. The more you thought about Silva’s knockout, the more you kept thinking back to when Overeem was felled by Bigfoot at UFC 156.
Overeem was the heavy favorite going into the fight and was ahead before being knocked out in the third round.
Saturday night could have been when Overeem took on dos Santos to re-establish himself as a heavyweight title contender. Instead, he backed out and is now looking at a bout with Travis Browne in August.
Overeem has a lot to prove. The loss to Silva could be nothing more than a fluke, but he wasn’t helped by the way Bigfoot was outclassed by Velasquez.
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