(via Getty)
Well, that was a hell of a fight.
If it sounds like I’m underselling the UFC 192 main event that pitted newly-crowned light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier against former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson, it’s only because the five round affair was a fight that simply needs to be seen to be appreciated. I could tack on any number of adjectives to the fight, I could call it a “grinder” or a “war” or a “blood-soaked battle of wills,” but the truth is, Cormier vs. Gustafsson was simply an example of championship-level MMA at its finest.
That DC vs. Lusty Gusty came at the tail end of a main card that saw all five of its fights go the distance is a testament to its greatness, so check out all the highlights from the action-packed main event (and the rest of the card as well), courtesy of UFC on FOX.
Really, this highlight does little justice for what was easily one of the best fights of the year, and Gustafsson’s second brilliant-but-just-shy-of-winning performance against one of the greatest fighters in the sport today. If only he didn’t have to look like his face had been run through a meat grinder after each one of these performances.
In the co-main event of the evening, the evolution of Ryan Bader continued via a hard-fought, if one-sided decision win over former champ Rashad Evans. While “Suga” looked far fresher than you would expect for a guy who has spent the past two years on the shelf battling various injuries, he was simply a step behind “Darth” on Saturday. The TUF 8 winner was able to land first, utilizing a newfound and deadly accurate jab, and even outwrestle the TUF 1 winner consistently, and while I don’t think the win was enough to convince anyone that Bader stands a chance against Cormier or Jon Jones, it was an impressive performance nonetheless.
The unfortunate removal of Johny Hendricks from UFC 192 bumped a flyweight tilt between former title challengers Joseph Benavidez and Ali Bagautinov up to the main card, and they…more or less did not take advantage of it. In a smart, technical performance from the Team Alpha Male veteran that was routinely booed by the crowd, Benavidez utilized a slight speed advantage to keep the Dagestani consistently off balance and chasing en route to a unanimous decision win. Not much else to say about this one, what with both guys chances of receiving another shot at Mighty Mouse falling in the “Slim to none” category.
The full results for UFC 192 are below.
Main card
Daniel Cormier def. Alexander Gustafsson via split decision
Ryan Bader def. Rashad Evans via unanimous decision
Ruslan Magomedov def. Shawn Jordan via unanimous decision
Joseph Benavidez def. Ali Bagautinov via unanimous decision
Julianna Pena def. Jessica Eye via unanimous decision
Undercard
Yair Rodriguez def. Dan Hooker via unanimous decision
Albert Tumenov def. Alan Jouban via first-round KO
Adriano Martins def. Islam Makhachev via first-round KO
Rose Namajunas def. Angela Hill via sub (rear-naked choke)
Sage Northcutt def. Francisco Trevino via first-round TKO
Sergio Pettis def. Chris Cariaso via unanimous decision
Derrick Lewis def. Viktor Pesta via third-round TKO
The post UFC 192 Highlights/Results: Cormier and Gustafsson Put On a Show for the Ages, Bader Dominates Evans, + More appeared first on Cagepotato.