UFC 161 was destined to be a dud once the interim bantamweight title bout between current champ Renan Barao and top contender Eddie Wineland fell apart.
To make things even worse, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira had to pull out of his fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua due to a nagging back injury. Chael Sonnen stepped up to replace Nogueira, but visa issues nixed that possibility. Now Sonnen will face “Shogun” in the main event of the inaugural UFC on Fox Sports 1 card.
There were a number of other fighter changes, leaving UFC 161 as little more than a shell of its former self. The card was further plagued with questionable decisions, several lackluster bouts and only two finishes.
However, there were a few bright spots—even on a card as dreadful as UFC 161. These are the fighters who had the most impressive performances in Winnipeg.
All statistics were obtained via FightMetric.