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UFC president Dana White announced the winners of $70,000 (US) UFC 138 bonuses, and several of the hometown heroes were named. Gloucester’s Che Mills won Knockout of the Night for his 40-second demolition of Chris Cope. Liverpool’s Terry Etim scored Submission of the Night for his 17-second finish of Edward Faaloloto.

Fight of the Night honors went to London’s Brad Pickett and Brazilian Renan Barao, who put on a back-and-forth battle for the ages during their single round of combat. Barao ultimately tapped out Pickett via rear-naked-choke at 4:09 of the first.

In attendance were winners Mark Munoz, Barao, Thiago Alves, Etim, John Maguire and Mills. English fighters Pickett and Jason Young were also at the dais.

Click to view video highlights from the following fighters:
Mark Munoz
Thiago Alves and Terry Etim
Brad Pickett and Jason Young

MIDDLEWEIGHT – CHRIS LEBEN VS. MARK MUNOZ

BIRMINGHAM – At the end of round one of the UFC 138 main event at the LG Arena Saturday night, Chris Leben had to be stopped by the referee from hammer fisting Mark Munoz’s head. Moments prior he had walked through some massive bombs, taken square on his chin, to deliver a crashing left hand of his own to Munoz. That prompted Munoz to look for a takedown but ended up with him crouched against the fence taking shots. See post-fight interview

He was probably wondering what we all were – what do you have to do to actually stop Chris Leben? Anderson Silva managed it once, only one fighter (Brian Stann) has since. Like a broken bone, Leben’s chin seems to have calcified and become stronger following Anderson’s assault on it.

Unfortunately his skin hasn’t, so when Munoz had Leben down in the second round he was able to open a nasty cut over his eye that had blood pouring into it with wild abandon. The fight was stopped briefly to allow the doctor to take a look but he let the clash proceed. Fans went wild, chanting Leben’s name deliriously as he staggered back into the fray.

But the cut got worse and blood kept coming. At the end of the round, Leben’s corner felt the cut was too bad to allow their man to wade back into battle. He might have a heart twice the size of the average man but still he cannot fight with one eye.

It was a shame the fight ended on a cut; before the stoppage it had been a glorious clash. Munoz did what he said he was going to do – take Leben down and throw ‘Donkey Kong’ punches – while Leben does what he always does, wading through bomb blasts to swing huge left hands with stopping power in each one.

After the first round, Munoz looked like he wasn’t enjoying the exchanges, while Leben was in his element. But Munoz’s conditioning seemed to be holding up better, and as he got to work with his wrestling, Leben looked to be tiring, which would have been interesting to see had it played out over three rounds.

After the fight, Munoz called for a title shot against Anderson Silva. The crowd noise was non-committal, suggesting he isn’t quite there yet. Leben is the biggest win of his career but cuts are not conclusive and he will need a solid win over another name opponent to edge into that title picture.

BANTAMWEIGHT – RENAN BARAO VS. BRAD PICKETT

What a fight! A description doesn’t even do this clash justice – you simply have to watch it. If you can watch this fight and stay sat down, you must be made of ice. Remember when Paul Kelly and Paul Taylor threw down at UFC 80?? The first 30 seconds of that fight are already part of UFC legend for their pace and ferocity – this fight was the same, except for its entire duration. See post-fight interview

The pair absolutely battered each other from the opening bell, furiously exchanging punches and both landing frequently. Renan Barao had the better of some exchanges, Pickett’s intensity allowing perhaps more openings in the guard than Barao was. But it was very even until Barao landed a nuclear right knee on Brad Pickett’s jaw out of nowhere – Pickett wasn’t even bent forward at the time.

That staggered him and Barao was all over him, punching him until he hit the floor and then following with a ground and pound barrage of such a high workrate it contained more punches than the rest of the evening’s card put together. Pickett rolled away, but gave up his back. Barao was on him in a flash and working for the rear naked choke. Pickett tried to gut it out for the remaining minute but he could be seen fading into unconsciousness and had to tap.

Watch this fight as soon as you can. If you are a fight fan you owe it to yourself. The bout was an easy choice for Fight of the Night, and both men received $70,000 bonuses for their performances.

Barao wins by RNC R1 4:09

WELTERWEIGHT – THIAGO ALVES VS. PAPY ABEDI

Papy Abedi was aggressive at the start of the fight, ploughing forward with a flurry of punches, but there was a scrappy nature to it that suggested he was nervous and maybe rushing his work a little bit. At the same time, Thiago Alves was able to deploy a precise Muay Thai striking style, landing numerous clean shots on his Swedish opponent. See post-fight interview

But as Abedi relaxed he became more effective and the fight became even, with good exchanges and damage done by both sides. Alves landed a huge right kick to the body on two occasions while Abedi was able to land an Anderson Silva-style front upkick to the jaw that Alves later admitted had rocked him solidly.

But he became perhaps too loose; Alves noticed Abedi was dropping his left hand and so he fired off a crunching right which staggered him. A left hook followed and down Abedi went. Alves followed him and the referee was about to step in, until Abedi turned turtle. But that did not save him – Alves circled his neck with a bulging arm and put the squeeze on him to get the first submission win of his UFC career.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT – ANTHONY PEROSH VS. CYRILLE DIABATE

At 39, Anthony Perosh is one of the oldest fighters on the UFC books and to be brutally honest, he looked it during the first round against his striking stylist opponent. Cyrille Diabate was picking Perosh off with strikes pretty much at will and Perosh’s response was either to backpedal or shoot a bad double-leg which Diabate saw coming a mile off. See post-fight interview

It looked like Diabate was going to cruise to an easy win, maybe even a stoppage, until Perosh ended up on the floor and he went with him to try and pound the Australian out. Perosh swept him, mounted him and suddenly was able to use the jiu-jitsu skills that make him such a world-class grappler. Diabate was at a loss to defend himself as Perosh methodically set up a rear naked choke to end the fight just over three minutes into the second round. He is now 2-0 in his last two outings while Diabate goes 1-1 and 2-2 in his last four.

LIGHTWEIGHT – TERRY ETIM VS. EDWARD FAALOLOTO

Two stiff jabs and a savage leg kick from Terry Etim prompted Edward Faaloloto to step back onto the cage. Etim launched a huge spinning back kick to Faaloloto’s body, but Faaloloto caught his foot and transitioned to a body lock. He lifted Etim high into the air to slam him – but Etim pulled guard and locked on a tight guillotine, something he is infamous for in his own gym. Faaloloto sank to the floor, resisted briefly and then tapped – the whole thing took seventeen seconds. Writing this report took far longer than the actual fight. See post-fight interview

Now returned from his long layoff, Etim is looking to get busy and his next bout will undoubtedly be a tougher proposition. At the post-fight press conference, after awarding Etim the $70,000 Submission of the Night award, UFC president Dana White said that matchmaker Joe Silva had already chosen Etim’s next opponent and that fans could expect to see him fight again “right away.”

WELTERWEIGHT – JOHN MAGUIRE VS. JUSTIN EDWARDS

John Maguire’s UFC debut got off to a shaky start as he took a groin shot not long into the first round and had to have a timeout. But from the restart it was all action. Justin Edwards came forward, timed Maguire’s jab and landed a huge spinning back-kick underneath it, square on the liver. He followed that with a right hand to the jaw that dropped Maguire hard. See post-fight interview

Maguire’s fans got a scare but all it did was light a fire under him.

From that point on he was all over Edwards with clinches, takedowns and jiu-jitsu. Maguire classes himself a wrestler and wants to prove that the British can grapple as well as anyone. Smooth single-leg efforts and transitions between submission efforts suggest he can back his point up.

The third round was superb, featuring two spinning heel kicks from Edwards (one to the liver, one to the head) and a leglock fight on the floor that had the crowd on their edge of their seats. Ultimately though, Maguire’s wrestling and jiu-jitsu was too much and he was able to spend much of the final round on Edwards’ back with a body triangle locked in. The submission finish eluded him but Maguire’s conditioning was excellent and at the end of the fight he looked as if he could have gone one or even two more rounds at the same pace.

Maguire wins a unanimous decision 30-27

HEAVYWEIGHT – ROB BROUGHTON VS. PHIL DEFRIES

Phil DeFries looked to be a bundle of nerves before his UFC debut against the more experienced Rob Broughton, while Broughton was unusually placid. Perhaps that explains why it took three minutes for anything of consequence to happen. DeFries had been searching for a takedown, finally scored it, and briefly had Broughton on his back. See post-fight interview

Broughton managed to roll through to his knees and at that point he could have attacked DeFries’ legs – he wasn’t sprawling out – but instead he stayed put as DeFries casually wandered around him to take his back. That prompted Broughton to roll back into bottom side control, DeFries to return to top-side control. Broughton would then roll back to his knees and DeFries would wander round to take his back again before the pattern repeated itself.

That was essentially the story of the fight as a whole – this happened multiple times in each round, and for protracted periods – apart from a period in the second round where Broughton had top position and was able to spend half a round looking for a straight armlock while in top-crucifix. Other than that it was not a good performance from Broughton and DeFries’ win owed as much to Broughton’s passivity as to his own efforts.

DeFries earned a unanimous decision win 29-28

FEATHERWEIGHT – MICHIHIRO OMIGAWA VS. JASON YOUNG

Coming off a highly controversial loss in his last outing against Darren Elkins, Michihiro Omigawa was probably by no means sure of a win as he waited for the judge’s decision following three rounds against Jason Young, despite having solidly dominated almost the entire 15 minutes. See post-fight interview

His first punch of the fight was a massive left hook with extremely bad intentions, but Young met that force with force of his own. The striking was a decoy though – Omigawa wanted to be in the clinch and had no intention of standing with Young any longer than absolutely necessary. When they did strike it out, Young had some success – particularly with head kicks and jump knees – but Omigawa was straight into the clinch every time an opportunity presented itself.

As soon as that happened, it was mere moments before Young was off-balance and on his way to the floor. Omigawa calls it ‘new judo’ and Young had no answer for it. Tiny effortless foot-sweeps robbed him of equilibrium, which was followed by Omigawa’s fluid top game, resembling a bag of water in the way it flows from position to position and defies attempts to be caught hold of.

Omigawa was on the receiving end of boos as he worked methodically from the top, and while he was not hitting a lot from there, he did enough to put a mouse over Young’s eye that caused the doctor to take a look at it. At the start of round three, Young knew he needed the knockout and he launched a barrage at Omigawa again, with his right uppercut finding a home several times.

But Omigawa was canny enough to sit off and bide his time for the right opening – which again came by way of a footsweep into a trip. A heel-hook effort came close but did not succeed, so Omigawa had to content himself with riding out the rest of the round in top position before earning a 29-28 unanimous decision win and snapping a two-fight losing streak. Young is now 0-2 in the Octagon, but looked good standing; the UFC should give him a stand-up war with someone next. He could be a featherweight Pat Barry.

WELTERWEIGHT – CHRIS COPE VS. CHE MILLS

Che Mills has waited a long time to debut for the UFC. He tried out for season nine of The Ultimate Fighter and was expected to breeze into the house with no problems – only to lose the tryout match and return to the regional leagues. See post-fight interview

But all things happen for a reason, some say, and Mills will surely be wondering about that now after dispatching Chris Cope in just 40 seconds. Cope tried to play the striking game with Mills to start with but his aggression was matched and returned with interest. Mills’ precision striking sailed past Cope’s loose defence and a left hook / right hand combination staggered him.

That was followed by a thunderous knee to the jaw that dropped Cope flat. Referee Marc Goddard was taking a close look but he allowed the action to continue as Cope was struggling to his feet. He had not shifted Mills’ hand from the back of his head though and he took another huge knee to the jaw as he rose up, causing him to fall face-first to the canvas, unconscious at the 40 second mark. He drops to 6-2 while Mills rises to 14-4. Mills also received a $70,000 bonus after the event for Knockout of the Night.

BANTAMWEIGHT – CHRIS CARIASO VS. VAUGHAN LEE

Chris Cariaso took a round to warm up in the opening fight of the evening. He spent most of the first round pressed against the cage or on his back as hometown hero Vaughan Lee got busy with his clinch game. Lee used a ‘trapdoor’ takedown twice in the first to put Cariaso on his back, but was unable to capitalise or do much with the position. See post-fight interview

Carisao looked frustrated at the end of the round, but he had been given some cause for optimism by Lee’s lack of head movement. He started the second round aggressively and was not finding Lee hard to hit. After tagging him repeatedly he was able to get a takedown, pass to mount and secure the position for the remainder of the round.

Even on the scorecards at this point, round three was everything to play for. Again, Lee’s double-cover, straight line movement and lack of head movement meant that Cariaso was able to dig big uppercuts in with little resistance. Lee countered with a single-leg effort but was reversed and ended up being single-legged himself. Cariaso spent the rest of the round alternately landing elbows and looking for the RNC when Lee would briefly give up his back.

He finished the round in the RNC position and was literally sinking in the choke as the fight ended. The judges gave him a split-decision win, 29-28 on two cards. The other judge had it 29-28 for Lee, which was unusual in light of the preceding two rounds.