Stipe Miocic is on the verge of doing big things in the UFC heavyweight division.
The Cleveland-based fighter has been one of the organization’s best heavyweight prospects since making his promotional debut in 2011. The Croatian-American made a strong …
Stipe Miocic is on the verge of doing big things in the UFC heavyweight division.
The Cleveland-based fighter has been one of the organization’s best heavyweight prospects since making his promotional debut in 2011. The Croatian-American made a strong introduction by defeating veteran Joey Beltran at UFC 136 in Houston, then followed that up with back-to-back impressive stoppage victories over Phil de Fries and Shane Del Rosario.
Three wins out of the gate put Miocic on the radar in a division that was becoming increasingly competitive.
When he was matched up with Stefan Struve in the main event of UFC on Fuel TV 5, the table was set for the former baseball and wrestling standout from Cleveland State University to breakthrough into the next tier of the weight class. Unfortunately that night in Nottingham, England didn’t prove to be his night as he suffered the first setback of his professional career at the hands of the Dutch Skyscraper.
While rebounding from a loss on sport’s biggest stage is never easy, Miocic was determined to right the ship and get things back on track. He was originally slated to face returning veteran Soa Palelei at UFC 161 in Winnipeg, a shake up at the top of the card that created a huge shift in the fight line up.
When the main event bantamweight interim title bout between Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland was scrapped due to injury, and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua versus Antonio “Lil Nog” Nogueira was pulled for the same reason, the UFC was forced to find a bit more star power for the card.
As the result of the shake up, the bout between Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans was moved to the main event slot and the highly touted prospect was given a new opponent in Las Vegas-based knockout artist Roy Nelson. Big Country provided a much different challenge than what Miocic had prepared for in Palelei, but it was a test he handled impressively.
“Winning that fight was fantastic,” Miocic told Bleacher Report. “It was a fight I had to win and I went out and did it. I think it was a great game plan that my coaches put together and had me do. It worked out very well.”
The win over Nelson in June had Miocic riding the high tide of momentum, and it appeared as if he would draw another high-profile opponent before the year’s end. While there were several rumored opponents floating about, nothing materialized and he was forced to end his 2013 campaign with only one showing inside the Octagon.
“I think they were trying to find the right opponent for me and where I was at in the division,” Miocic said. “The cards just didn’t play out. Some guys I could have fought already had fights or were hurt. That’s just the way it happens some times, you know?”
Following his win over Nelson, the Ohio native once again returned to the doorstep of the next tier of the division.
While defeating the former Ultimate Fighter winner helped Miocic rebound from the Struve loss, it was still going to take him one more big victory to hit the top 10 rankings. And when the UFC called with a matchup against Gabriel Gonzaga, the opportunity he had been waiting for materialized.
The Brazilian grappling ace had experienced a rough patch, losing three out of four showings, which resulted in his release from the promotion at the end of 2010. “Napao” responded to the situation with vigor and has made the most of his return to the UFC by winning four out of his five outings since reclaiming his roster spot in 2012.
Miocic is fully aware of the caliber of fight he’ll have on his hands and he’s very much looking forward to mixing it up with the former title challenger.
“This guy is super-tough. He’s fought for a title and been there before. Now, he’s working his way back up again. He has great jiu-jitsu and he hits hard. He’s a big heavyweight just like everyone else in this division. We’ve had some good time to prepare for him and my coaches have a great game plan put together to beat him. I’ll be ready to go on Jan. 25.
“I hope a win over Gonzaga will put me up there but that’s not up to me,” Miocic added in regard to climbing the divisional ladder. “I won’t say a win in this fight is going to put me anywhere for certain, but he’s a good fighter who has accomplished a lot in this sport. I’m just enjoying working my way up the ladder and I’m working to get better everyday. I’m really looking forward to this coming year. Come on 2014!”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
On the heels of a first round dismantling of Shawn Jordan at UFC 166, it seems that the 2006 Mundials champion will be receiving a significant step up in competition for his next bout when he faces Stipe Miocic at UFC on FOX 10 in January. Miocic recently rebounded from his first career loss — a second round TKO at the hands of Stefan Struve — by treating Roy Nelson‘s face like Jenna Jameson treats secretly installed home security cameras at UFC 161 back in June. Gonzaga has struggled when facing the upper-echelon of the heavyweight division his entire career, so this fight may very well be make-or-break if he ever hopes to fight for a title again.
UFC on FOX 10 goes down from the at United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 25.
On the heels of a first round dismantling of Shawn Jordan at UFC 166, it seems that the 2006 Mundials champion will be receiving a significant step up in competition for his next bout when he faces Stipe Miocic at UFC on FOX 10 in January. Miocic recently rebounded from his first career loss — a second round TKO at the hands of Stefan Struve — by treating Roy Nelson‘s face like Jenna Jameson treats secretly installed home security cameras at UFC 161 back in June. Gonzaga has struggled when facing the upper-echelon of the heavyweight division his entire career, so this fight may very well be make-or-break if he ever hopes to fight for a title again.
UFC on FOX 10 goes down from the at United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 25.
In other fight booking news…
Less than a fortnight prior to Gonzaga and Miocic’s sure-to-be-slugfest, the seemingly unfirable Thiago Silva will square off with Ovince St. Preux at Fight Night 35, which transpires on January 15, 2014 from the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia.
Despite missing weight for his fight with Matt Hamill at Fight Night 29, putting on a piss-poor performance, and only defeating Hamill by virtue of the TUF 3 finalist being in even worse shape than he was before he retired, Silva is still tapdancing on eggshells in regards to his UFC career. That he’s receiving a top-15 opponent in St. Preux — who scored a vicious KO over Cody Donovan at Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen in August (improving his overall UFC record to 2-0) — leads us to believe that this the UFC’s way of telling Silva to finally pull his head out of his ass.
(Gerard Gordeau delivers the first head-kick TKO in UFC history against Teila Tuli back at UFC 1, which took place exactly 20 years today on November 12th, 1993.)
There are literally thousands of ways a mixed martial arts match can end, but one of the most thrilling methods is the head kick knockout.
Over the course of two decades of fights in the UFC Octagon, there have been a number of memorable knockout blows delivered via head kick, and in honor of the UFC’s 20th anniversary, I’ve put together a list of what I believe are the top 20 head kick knockouts in UFC history.
I wanted to keep the list strictly to knockouts that happened during live UFC events, but I’m going to bend the rules a bit and kick off the list with one that happened on TUF.
Of course I’m talking about Uriah Hall’s spinning hook kick KO of Adam Cella, which took place earlier this year during TUF 17. It was a devastating knockout that made UFC president Dana White’s hyperbole raise to a whole new level as he declared Hall the nastiest fighter to ever step into the TUF house (the same house that produced Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin – you know, former UFC champs), and thus the UFC embarked on a social media campaign to play the clip non-stop on every medium in existence.
It was a brutal knockout, and I literally felt sick watching it. Even though Hall never lived up to the massive expectations that were placed on him, his most well-known career highlight deserves a place at #20.
19. Pat Miletich vs. Shonie Carter, UFC 32 (6/29/01)
(Gerard Gordeau delivers the first head-kick TKO in UFC history against Teila Tuli back at UFC 1, which took place exactly 20 years today on November 12th, 1993.)
There are literally thousands of ways a mixed martial arts match can end, but one of the most thrilling methods is the head kick knockout.
Over the course of two decades of fights in the UFC Octagon, there have been a number of memorable knockout blows delivered via head kick, and in honor of the UFC’s 20th anniversary, I’ve put together a list of what I believe are the top 20 head kick knockouts in UFC history.
I wanted to keep the list strictly to knockouts that happened during live UFC events, but I’m going to bend the rules a bit and kick off the list with one that happened on TUF.
Of course I’m talking about Uriah Hall’s spinning hook kick KO of Adam Cella, which took place earlier this year during TUF 17. It was a devastating knockout that made UFC president Dana White’s hyperbole raise to a whole new level as he declared Hall the nastiest fighter to ever step into the TUF house (the same house that produced Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin – you know, former UFC champs), and thus the UFC embarked on a social media campaign to play the clip non-stop on every medium in existence.
It was a brutal knockout, and I literally felt sick watching it. Even though Hall never lived up to the massive expectations that were placed on him, his most well-known career highlight deserves a place at #20.
19. Pat Miletich vs. Shonie Carter, UFC 32 (6/29/01)
I couldn’t do a best-of MMA list without sneaking Pat Miletich and Shonie Carter in it, and thankfully they were both involved in the same fight so I get to kill two birds with one stone here.
At UFC 32 in 2001, Miletich fought Carter in a matchup between two of my personal old-school fan favorites. Miletich was coming off a defeat to Carlos Newton where he lost the UFC welterweight championship, while Carter was coming off an amazing spinning backfist KO of Matt Serra, meaning this fight had serious title implications at the time.
But while many predicted a close matchup on paper, the outcome belonged to “The Croatian Sensation” as he hit “Mr. International” with a head kick so hard it knocked Carter out cold, one of the very rare head kick KOs that took place in the first decade of the Octagon’s existence.
I saw this one on a tape I borrowed from a friend a long time ago and I’ve always wanted to see it again but haven’t had the opportunity to. Fortunately I’ve found a GIF for all of us to enjoy, but if you can track down the entire fight I highly recommend it.
One of the most awesome head kick knockouts in UFC history took place at UFC 126, and no, I’m not talking about the one you’re already thinking of (that will come later). I’m actually talking about the head kick KO that Brit Paul Taylor delivered on Gabe Ruediger, one of the most underrated finishes in UFC history in my opinion and one that I don’t think enough people have seen.
On any other night, Taylor would have claimed a nice $50,000 bonus check for KOTN, but as we all know there was another very good head kick KO that same night. Still, we can give him some props for scoring a classic knockout in what turned out to be his final appearance in the Octagon; Taylor recently announced his retirement from the sport due to a variety of nagging injuries. At least we have this sweet finish to remember him by. (Watch the GIF here.)
Back in 2006, Georges St-Pierre was seen as the future of the UFC welterweight division and at UFC 65 he was able to get his revenge on Matt Hughes (who had earlier submitted St-Pierre with an armbar at UFC 50) when he kicked the Miletich Fighting Systems product in the head and then followed it up with a series of punches on the ground to capture the UFC welterweight title for the fist time in his career.
This head kick is the only part of the fight I really remembered, and I was going to place it higher on the list originally, but since St-Pierre needed the follow-up punches to finish off the job I decided to stick it at #17. Either way, a job well-done by St-Pierre in this fight, and arguably the best finish of his storied career to date. (Watch the GIF here.)
One of my favorite fights of all time took place at UFC FUEL TV 4, an unheralded middleweight bout between Andrew Craig and Rafael Natal. I was actually the reporter who first broke news of this fight back when I worked for theScore.com, and so it always holds a special place in my heart for that. But I’ve broken other fight announcements before, and rarely do the final products turn out to be as good as Craig vs. Natal ended up being.
In the fight, Natal was absolutely beating the crap out of Craig and looking like he was going to cruise to a stoppage win, but at the end of the second round, Craig – who was down big on points – threw a booming head kick out of desperation and caught Natal square on the chin, knocking him out cold.
An absolutely insane fight, and an even crazier knockout. Wow. (Watch the GIF here.)
15. Chuck Liddell vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral, UFC 40 (11/22/02)
Back in his prime, Chuck Liddell was an absolute killer, and at UFC 40 he showed that he wasn’t just a power puncher as he head-kicked Renato “Babalu” Sobral into oblivion to earn a shot at the light heavyweight title.
Despite coming from a karate background, this remains one of only two head kick knockouts in Liddell’s storied MMA career (and his only one in the UFC), so let’s savor it since we’ll never get another one of these from “The Iceman” now that he’s happily retired. (Watch the GIF here.)
Mark Hunt is considered by many to have one of the best chins in the history of combat sports, but at UFC 160 Junior dos Santos showed that Hunt is a human being like the rest of us when Cigano spinning wheel kicked Hunt in the temple to knock him to the ground, and then followed it up with a massive punch to put “The Super Samoan” completely out cold.
It was a beautiful, dominant performance by Dos Santos up until the KO, and the finish was just a cherry on top. I still can’t believe that Hunt was finished in this fashion, but then again dos Santos is one of the most powerful punchers the Octagon has ever seen – and, one of the hardest kickers as well, clearly. (Watch the GIF here.)
13. Rory Markham vs. Brodie Farber, UFC Fight Night 14 (7/19/08)
Another knockout that doesn’t get as much love as it should was Rory Markham’s massive head kick KO of Brodie Farber at UFC Fight Night 14. Just watch the GIF and tell me how awesome this is.
It’s too bad that Markham has had so many issues out side of the cage, because when he was in the Octagon he was an absolute killer. But at least he was able to give us this beauty before he rode off into the sunset, and for that we have to give him props.
12. Tim Sylvia vs. Tra Telligman, UFC 54 (8/20/05)
I know Tim Sylvia gets a bad rap from fans these days, but don’t forget that he gave us one of the best head kick knockouts ever witnessed inside the Octagon.
It took place at UFC 54, when Sylvia took on Tracy “Tra” Telligman. Sylvia was coming off a loss to Andrei Arlovski at UFC 51 that cost him a chance to capture the UFC heavyweight title, but after taking Telligman’s head off, Sylvia gained the confidence to make a run up the ladder and eventually capture the belt.
Sylvia has had an underappreciated career and this finish of Telligman is my favorite moment from it. It’s also one of the very few knockouts in UFC history that’s occurred at the 4:59 mark of round one, making it extra special.
11. Alan Belcher vs. Jorge Santiago, UFC Fight Night 7 (12/13/06)
One of my favorite all-time knockouts of any kind took place at UFC Fight Night 7, when a young Alan Belcher took on Jorge Santiago and delivered one of the most damaging head kick finishes in the history of the sport.
I don’t think Santiago was ever the same after this KO, which is a shame because he is a skilled fighter — although he was never able to prove that in the Octagon. As for Belcher, he has had a solid career but there’s no doubt in my mind this is his ultimate career highlight, and it’s for good reason. (Watch the GIF here.)
Ready for the Top 10? Hit that “next page” link and read on…
Now that we’ve all come down from the meth-like high that UFC 166 provided, let’s get down to some business, shall we? Fans and pundits of the sport alike have previously hailed our armchair matchmakers as “The most sagacious, in-depth and intellectually gratifying reading experiences in all of mixed martial arts reporting,” so let’s hope we can work our magic for Saturday’s biggest winners. Besides, AMC FearFest starts soon and we will be checking out for the rest of this month once that gets underway.
Daniel Cormier: To hell with who Cormier should be matched up with next, I want to be matched up with Cormier’s kickboxing coach and learn the art of the turning side check kick, STAT. In all seriousness, we’d like to see the former Olympian matched up with fellow grappling stud Phil Davis next. Davis is fresh off a split decision over Lyoto Machida at UFC 163, and if Cormier is as insistent on cutting to LHW as he seems, Davis would make for a perfect litmus test.
Now that we’ve all come down from the meth-like high that UFC 166 provided, let’s get down to some business, shall we? Fans and pundits of the sport alike have previously hailed our armchair matchmakers as “The most sagacious, in-depth and intellectually gratifying reading experiences in all of mixed martial arts reporting,” so let’s hope we can work our magic for Saturday’s biggest winners. Besides, AMC FearFest starts soon and we will be checking out for the rest of this month once that gets underway.
Daniel Cormier: To hell with who Cormier should be matched up with next, I want to be matched up with Cormier’s kickboxing coach and learn the art of the turning side check kick, STAT. In all seriousness, we’d like to see the former Olympian matched up with fellow grappling stud Phil Davis next. Davis is fresh off a split decision over Lyoto Machida at UFC 163, and if Cormier is as insistent on cutting to LHW as he seems, Davis would make for a perfect litmus test.
Gilbert Melendez: Either T.J. Grant or Khabib Nurmagomedov. Grant’s already injured his way out of a title shot, and with Josh Thomson taking on Anthony Pettis next, a fight between Melendez (who lost a razor-thin split decision to former champ Ben Henderson in his previous fight) and Grant would make for a sure-to-be slugfest that would help determine the true #1 contender in an already stacked division. Now that we’ve seen how Melendez deals with an extrovert-lunatic like Sanchez, it will be interesting to see how he handles an introverted, Ed Gein-esque lunatic like Grant. Because you just know that Grant has robbed a grave or two in his day. He’s got that look in his eyes.
Of course, now that Nurmagomedov is farmboy slamming top contenders like Pat Healy and calling for title shots in his post-fight interviews, a fight with the former Strikeforce champion could be the validating fight he’s been looking for. His name still doesn’t carry the kind of power that Melendez’s does, but a win over the Russian would solidify “El Nino’s” place as a future title challenger.
Gabriel Gonzaga: While watching UFC 166 at a particularly distressing Buffalo Wild Wings in Skokie, Illinois last weekend, I overheard a man known only as “Possum” refer to Gonzaga as “a real Jekyll and Hyde” fighter. It was perhaps the most astute fighter analysis I have ever heard. Thankfully, Gonzaga has been a lot more Hyde than Jekyll in his second UFC run, putting together four stoppage wins against just one defeat. With that in mind, we think the UFC should give Gonzaga another shot at glory against an upper-echelon heavyweight and see how he fares. Although Stipe Miocic is basically the only guy who fits the above criteria and doesn’t currently have a fight booked, we think the winner of the Frank Mir/Alistair Overeem fight would make for a better matchup. Our prediction: Pain.
John Dodson: There are really only two options available for the hardest hitting flyweight in the division: You either give him the Lineker-Harris winner or the Jorgensen-McCall winner. Or you give him another title shot. Or you give him another UFC newbie to beat on and kill some time. OK, so there’s four options. But only two of them are sensible, so take your pick.
What do you think, Potato Nation? Do these matchups intrigue you in the slightest? And who would you like to see UFC 166′s losers face next?
To put it bluntly, UFC 166 was the kind of faith-restoring UFC event that effectively silenced even the most cynical of the sport’s detractors (henceforth known as “garbage-assers“). Featuring a trio of wars and a pair of brutal first round finishes on the main card alone, UFC 166 staked its claim as an early frontrunner for “Event of the Year” at this year’s Potato Awards and will likely achieve the same notoriety at awards ceremonies that actually transpire.
Thankfully, FOX Sports has compiled some highlight videos of the evening’s greatest slugfests and made them available for viewing on their Youtube page. Although these snippets won’t fill the bottomless void created in the soul of, say, your friend Dave who insisted on skipping UFC 166 to attend a Lady Gaga concert with his bitch of a girlfriend, they will give you the chance to confirm that Dave is a tiny, tin-eared man who lacks intestinal fortitude and any semblance of deductive reasoning. Fucking Dave.
We’ve placed the highlight video for Velasquez/Dos Santos III above, but join us after the jump to relive the rest of what was truly a historic night for both the UFC and MMA in general.
To put it bluntly, UFC 166 was the kind of faith-restoring UFC event that effectively silenced even the most cynical of the sport’s detractors (henceforth known as “garbage-assers“). Featuring a trio of wars and a pair of brutal first round finishes on the main card alone, UFC 166 staked its claim as an early frontrunner for “Event of the Year” at this year’s Potato Awards and will likely achieve the same notoriety at awards ceremonies that actually transpire.
Thankfully, FOX Sports has compiled some highlight videos of the evening’s greatest slugfests and made them available for viewing on their Youtube page. Although these snippets won’t fill the bottomless void created in the soul of, say, your friend Dave who insisted on skipping UFC 166 to attend a Lady Gaga concert with his bitch of a girlfriend, they will give you the chance to confirm that Dave is a tiny, tin-eared man who lacks intestinal fortitude and any semblance of deductive reasoning. Fucking Dave.
We’ve placed the highlight video for Velasquez/Dos Santos III above, but join us after the jump to relive the rest of what was truly a historic night for both the UFC and MMA in general.
(Cain Velasquez admires his violence on the big screen. / Photo via Getty)
Suddenly, the rivalry between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos seems a little less competitive than was hoped for. Many observers were treating this fight as merely the latest engagement in a battle for the heavyweight crown that was to last for years ahead. Less a conclusion to a trilogy and more a precursor to a tetralogy or beyond, it was expected that this fight would see a more competitive affair showcasing the strengths of both men. That didn’t happen. Velasquez absolutely dominated Dos Santos, flooring him in the third before finishing him (sort of) in the fifth. It’s clear now that Cain Velasquez is the unstoppable force. Despite his unquestioned stature as the second best heavyweight in the UFC, Junior Dos Santos is not the immovable object.
Pace and pressure are amorphous terms reliant on context; it’s more difficult to conceive of these finishing a fight than something we can easily discern like a punch or kick. Yet it was the relentless forward motion and unending attack of Velasquez that led to the finish last night and the dominance that preceded it. Dos Santos had his moments; he landed a number of hard shots to open the first round, and landed a nice elbow against the cage to end the second. But other than that, it was all Cain. He didn’t dominate from bell to bell like he did in the second fight, but he wore down Dos Santos over the course of the first two rounds before capitalizing in the third. Velasquez floored Dos Santos with a counter overhand right, and almost finished the fight there; Herb Dean put his hand on Velasquez’ shoulder at one point, but reconsidered.
Things didn’t improve for Dos Santos afterwards, and in the fifth round he went for a desperation front choke. As Cain attempted successfully to escape, Dos Santos rolled, crashing his forehead on the mat. Either disoriented or utterly exhausted, Dos Santos could not continue and Velasquez secured the latest stoppage victory in UFC history. At the undisputed pinnacle of his weight class – the first heavyweight to truly claim this distinction since Fedor Emelianenko – it’s hard to imagine anyone toppling Velasquez soon. Daniel Cormier, who fought earlier in the evening, is his wrestling coach and is moving down to 205. Fabricio Werdum, his presumptive opponent, can submit anyone but will unlikely be able to take the fight to the ground against a wrestler of Cain’s caliber. A future rematch with Dos Santos is not inconceivable, but a different result is at this point. Despite his heart, his chin and his skills, it seems that Dos Santos is not destined to be the foil to Velasquez that we hoped he would be; Velasquez is the heavyweight division’s emperor.
Speaking of Daniel Cormier…
(Cain Velasquez admires his violence on the big screen. / Photo via Getty)
Suddenly, the rivalry between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos seems a little less competitive than was hoped for. Many observers were treating this fight as merely the latest engagement in a battle for the heavyweight crown that was to last for years ahead. Less a conclusion to a trilogy and more a precursor to a tetralogy or beyond, it was expected that this fight would see a more competitive affair showcasing the strengths of both men. That didn’t happen. Velasquez absolutely dominated Dos Santos, flooring him in the third before finishing him (sort of) in the fifth. It’s clear now that Cain Velasquez is the unstoppable force. Despite his unquestioned stature as the second best heavyweight in the UFC, Junior Dos Santos is not the immovable object.
Pace and pressure are amorphous terms reliant on context; it’s more difficult to conceive of these finishing a fight than something we can easily discern like a punch or kick. Yet it was the relentless forward motion and unending attack of Velasquez that led to the finish last night and the dominance that preceded it. Dos Santos had his moments; he landed a number of hard shots to open the first round, and landed a nice elbow against the cage to end the second. But other than that, it was all Cain. He didn’t dominate from bell to bell like he did in the second fight, but he wore down Dos Santos over the course of the first two rounds before capitalizing in the third. Velasquez floored Dos Santos with a counter overhand right, and almost finished the fight there; Herb Dean put his hand on Velasquez’ shoulder at one point, but reconsidered.
Things didn’t improve for Dos Santos afterwards, and in the fifth round he went for a desperation front choke. As Cain attempted successfully to escape, Dos Santos rolled, crashing his forehead on the mat. Either disoriented or utterly exhausted, Dos Santos could not continue and Velasquez secured the latest stoppage victory in UFC history. At the undisputed pinnacle of his weight class – the first heavyweight to truly claim this distinction since Fedor Emelianenko – it’s hard to imagine anyone toppling Velasquez soon. Daniel Cormier, who fought earlier in the evening, is his wrestling coach and is moving down to 205. Fabricio Werdum, his presumptive opponent, can submit anyone but will unlikely be able to take the fight to the ground against a wrestler of Cain’s caliber. A future rematch with Dos Santos is not inconceivable, but a different result is at this point. Despite his heart, his chin and his skills, it seems that Dos Santos is not destined to be the foil to Velasquez that we hoped he would be; Velasquez is the heavyweight division’s emperor.
Speaking of Daniel Cormier, he took an easy decision victory over a game Roy Nelson before changing and coaching Cain Velasquez to victory. On his way down to light heavyweight – he weighed 224 for this fight – Cormier dominated Nelson in all facets of the sport. He outstruck, outwrestled, outworked and simply outfought Nelson. There isn’t much to add to this. Cormier, if he can cut the weight, might just be the best fighter at 205 right now. He’s not just a complete fighter; he’s a complete fighter with exceptional abilities in every department. With his win, the members of the 2008 Olympic wrestling team move to 33-0 in MMA, Cormier moved himself to 13-0, and Roy Nelson took sole ownership of the UFC record for most significant strikes absorbed in a career with 511. He might not contend for a title any time soon, but Nelson is still guaranteed to put on good fights at the expense of his cognitive ability.
But the best fight of the night – as well as the literal Fight of The Night – was the slobberknocker between Diego Sanchez and Gilbert Melendez. In what may be the fight of the year, both men left it all in the Octagon. Within 30 seconds of the first round, Sanchez had already managed to take Melendez’ back and things just got crazier from there. Neither man backed down throughout the fight, although Melendez generally got the better of the exchanges. He cut Sanchez in the first round and dropped him at the end of it. But Sanchez wouldn’t be discouraged. Despite being cut so badly above his left eye that the fight was halted twice to check on it, he pressed on. In the third, he caught Melendez with an uppercut in a wild exchange and dropped him, sending the crowd into a frenzy. But it wasn’t to be; tough as Sanchez was, Melendez’ own toughness prevailed. He won a deserved unanimous decision through the strength of superior combinations. This wasn’t a fight were there was a true loser though; both men left everything they had in the cage.
The first two fights on the main card were, suffice it to say, less competitive. Gabriel Gonzaga, looking like a cross between a caveman and a 70′s pornstar, flattened Shawn Jordan with a counter right hand before annihilating him with hammerfists a minute into their bout. And John Dodson knocked out Darrell Montague in the first round, hitting him so hard it took a second for Montague’s brain to register that it wasn’t working anymore. When this realization came, Montague face-planted into the mat and the fight was stopped. The amusing knockout earned Dodson the KO of the Night bonus; the Submission of the Night went to Tony Ferguson for a brabo choke on the undercard.
The sound and fury that accompanied this card have given way to silence. No one is debating whether Cain Velasquez or Junior Dos Santos is the best heavyweight. Any arguments have dissipated; dissent has ceased. Velasquez is less a fighter than a force of nature; save for an act of God – like the right hand that led to his sole loss, which is looking less consequential by the day – he can’t seem to be stopped, let alone withstood. The narrative is no longer waiting to see who can stop him; it’s simply accounting for how much damage he will do.
Results:
Main Card:
Cain Velasquez def. Junior Dos Santos via TKO, Round 5, 3:09
Daniel Cormier def. Roy Nelson via UD (30-27×3)
Gilbert Melendez def. Diego Sanchez via UD (30-27, 29-28×2)
Gabriel Gonzaga def. Shawn Jordan via KO, Round 1, 1:33
John Dodson def. Darrell Montague via KO, Round 1, 4:13
Preliminary Card:
Tim Boetsch def. CB Dollaway via SD (30-26×2, 27-29) [Author’s note: Uhhh…?]
Hector Lombard def. Nate Marquardt via KO, Round 1, 1:48
Jessica Eye def. Sarah Kaufman via SD (29-28×2, 28-29)
K.J. Noons def. George Sotiropoulos via UD (30-27, 29-28×2)
Adlan Amagov def. T.J. Waldburger via KO, Round 1, 3:00
Tony Ferguson def. Mike Rio via SUB, Round 1, 1:52
Andre Fili def. Jeremy Larsen via TKO, Round 2, 0:53
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Dustin Pague via TKO, Round 2, 3:51
