“The Notorious” Conor McGregor is dynamic. On Sunday night in front of an adoring Boston crowd at TD Gardens, he showed us for the 17th time. McGregor walked through Dennis Siver, stopping him in the second round in another dominant striking performance.
McGregor‘s punches and kicks seemed to find their mark with ease. His length and speed had Siver backpedaling from the very beginning of the bout. The end came when McGregor landed a crunching straight left hand on the already bloodied face of his opponent.
Siver stumbled next to the cage, and McGregor took full mount. He delivered a few unanswered shots until referee Herb Dean stopped the bout.
McGregor scored his fourth KO at 145 pounds and assured himself a shot at featherweight champion Jose Aldo. The champion was on hand, and McGregor looked as if he wasn’t willing to wait for his time in the Octagon.
After the fight was over, he hopped the cage and charged toward Aldo. Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden captured McGregor‘s brilliantly maniacal confrontation of Aldo.
He ultimately returned to the cage, but his mad dash added even more intrigue to the upcoming bout. Per Josh Gross of Sherdog, Aldo wasn’t impressed or moved by McGregor‘s performance nor his post-fight shenanigans.
McGregor is really good, and he clearly understands how to hype a fight with his skills and trash talk.
The co-main event between Benson “Smooth” Henderson and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone had almost as much intrigue as the main event. Unfortunately, the judges’ decision left a little to be desired.
To put it plainly, Henderson was robbed on Sunday night. He’s been the beneficiary of a few close and controversial decisions in his career, but he got no love from the judges against Cowboy.
Despite befuddling Cerrone with a varied striking game for three rounds, Henderson didn’t get the nod from the judges. In fact, he was further insulted by coming up on the losing end of a unanimous decision (29-28×3).
Henderson out-landed Cerrone 93-58 in total shots and 86-57 in significant strikes. Cerrone scored just one takedown, but somehow the judges thought he did enough to win.
Several folks from the MMA community took exception with the decision. UFC fighter Dhiego Lima and Fox Sports’ Karyn Bryant chimed in.
You still have to love Cerrone‘s grit. He didn’t judge the bout and, per MMA Fighting, he flashed the same everyman charm.
Here’s a look at all the results from Sunday’s action and some deeper analysis for the other bouts.
Sanchez Edges Matsuda
After an intense battle to open festivities in Boston, Sanchez was fortunate to escape with a win over Tateki Matsuda. Though it was close, the first round seemed to belong to Matsuda as he hurt Sanchez early in the frame. Sanchez came charging back and had his moments, but the most significant work looked to be put in by Matsuda.
The two men traded hard shots in the second round, but Matsuda also appeared to land the heavier strikes in that frame as well. Desperate for a strong finish finish, Sanchez was able to deliver.
Two big right hands dropped Matsuda in the third. Sanchez wasn’t able to finish, but he did enough in the eyes of two of the three judges to win. The first round could have gone either way, but it’s certainly a tough-luck loss for Matsuda.
O’Connell Pummels Van Buren
It took nearly three rounds, but Sean O’Connell delighted the large Irish contingent by stopping the tough Matt Van Buren.
Early in the fight, Van Buren was getting the best of most of the exchanges, but he seemed to lose some steam in the third. A hard body shot set up the rally that finished Van Buren. O’Connell landed two hard right hands that forced the stoppage and completed a pretty amazing comeback.
MMA Latest and Patrick Wyman of Sherdog marveled at O’Connell’s surprise victory.
Rosa’s Submission Game Too Much for Soriano
For nearly every moment of the fight, Charles Rosa relentlessly pursued a submission against Soriano. He effectively transitioned from one maneuver to another. Soriano did a great job escaping them until the final round.
Rosa scored a takedown that led to a near-miss at an arm bar. Soriano power-bombed Rosa to escape, but the sticky grappler quickly regained an advantageous position. After two D’arce chokes, Soriano was forced to tap.
It was a nice bounce-back bout for Rosa after losing his UFC debut to Siver.
Case Outlasts and Pounds Perez
Frankie Perez’s striking game was impressive early, but he had no real answer for Case’s takedowns. In the third round, Case was able to take Perez to the mat and transition to full mount.
A series of elbows and forearms would follow and force the stoppage. Perez simply ran out of the energy required to keep the fight standing.
Holohan Relentless Attack Engulfs Howell
To the delight of the Boston crowd, Patrick Holohan used his superior grappling to overwhelm Shane Howell. Holohan nearly submitted Howell in the first round via rear-naked choke. Somehow, Howell escaped despite being flattened out on his stomach. Unable to mount any notable offense, survival was Howell’s highest hope.
Holohan didn’t just dominate the grappling, he also out-struck Howell 114-26.
While he deserves some credit for surviving a thorough grappling lesson without being submitted, there are no moral victories for Howell in a clean sweep on the judges’ scorecards.
Holohan looked very impressive in a workman-like performance.
Wade Outclasses Lipeng
Fouls happen in mixed martial arts, but Zhang Lipeng hit Chris Wade with three blatant shots below the border. We can’t speculate on intent, but let’s just say Lipeng‘s aim is really bad. The third foul led to a lost point for Lipeng, which really only made the final judges’ tally more lopsided.
Wade was the stronger and more technically sound grappler. He scored four takedowns to none for Lipeng and had 47 significant strikes to just 28 for his opponent.
It’s no wonder the judges couldn’t find a round that Lipeng won.
Larkin Makes Explosive Welterweight Debut
After fighting as high as heavyweight in his career, Lorenz Larkin has dropped down to welterweight, and he looked fantastic in stopping John “Doomsday” Howard.
Damon Martin of Fox Sports obviously likes Larkin‘s move to 170 pounds.
Larkin‘s hand and foot speed were vastly superior to Howard’s. A sizzling right hand put Doomsday on wobbly legs. Larkin pounced and landed a litany of hard left hands that forced Dean to stop the bout.
Thankfully the veteran referee wasn’t as slow on the draw as he was at Bellator 132 when he let Bubba Jenkins get choked unconscious for about seven seconds longer than necessary.
At any rate, I digress.
Pendred Wins Controversial Decision over Spencer
In simply watching the bout without statistical perspective, it looked as if Sean Spencer deserved to win the decision. He dropped Cathal Pendred in the first round and nearly stopped him. Spencer showed himself to be the better striker throughout the fight.
However, Pendred landed three more strikes in the bout, landed only five fewer significant strikes and scored four takedowns. Still, Gareth A Davies of The Telegraph is blind to the thought process that sees Pendred as the winner.
This was a clear case of how either your eyes, the stats or both can be deceiving. However you look at it, Pendred‘s performance wasn’t encouraging. His striking was horrendous. Spencer just didn’t do what he needed to in order to take the decision out of the judges’ hands.
Tibau Too Strong and Experienced for Parke
Storming Norman Parke still has a bright future, but veteran Gleison Tibau‘s striking and wrestling proved to be a little too much to handle.
Much of the striking in this very boring fight was a stalemate, but Tibau landed two crucial takedowns that were likely the difference in the split decision. Mike Bohn of USA Today tells us how historic the takedowns were for the longtime UFC fighter.
Hall Busts Up Stallings for TKO
Stallings looked good for a guy who took such a tough fight on six days’ notice, but he ate a nasty punch from the dynamic Hall in the first round that opened up a nasty gash.
Stallings wobbled to the mat, and Hall pounced on him. He rained down more shots that caused another cut under Stallings’ left eye.
The two fighters were stood up, but Dean quickly noticed Stallings wounds and called the doctor over to examine the injuries. Despite Stallings’ protest, the fight was stopped and Hall was awarded the victory.
The dynamic Ultimate Fighter alum seems to be coming into his own and could yet be a major threat in the middleweight division.
Fight Stats per UFC.com
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