john lawrence has awesome facial hair …
UFC on Fox 7 was one of the most phenomenal free fight cards to date. Between the undercard and the main card, it tied the all time record for most knock outs on a fight card. With only twelve bouts, there was an impressive eight, count them, eight knock outs. Needless to say, it was a tremendous night for a lot of fighters.
The main event between light heavyweight champion Benson Hendersonand Gilbert Melendez was for many, the most disappointing and controversial fight of the evening. After five rounds of back and forth, the judges deemed the split decision in favor of the champion. Immediately following, there were cries by fans for a rematch; they felt Melendez was robbed. I hear this argument time and time again. Melendez was not robbed. He was given five rounds to win the belt from the current champion, and he fell short, plain and simple. There is not a fighter on the planet that has not heard the UFC president, Dana White, utter the words “Never leave it in the judge’s hands”. Melendez did and he paid the price. Will he get his rematch, sure. Does he deserve it? Absolutely. Will he make the mistake of leaving it up to the judges again. For his sake, I hope not. Henderson fought a good fight and stayed active. It was a very close call that could have went either way, but when in doubt, I err on the side of the champion. Benson Henderson is still the champion, and I for one, look forward to seeing him remain so.
Winner: Benson Henderson via Split decision
In the co-main event of the evening we got to see Strikeforce Grand Prix champion Daniel Cormier make his UFC debut against two-time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. This fight was not as exciting as many of the other bouts on the card, but we did get to see a few new tricks that Frank Mir has added to his arsenal while training in New Mexico. He threw some great high kicks to open the first round. They looked crisp and clean, but unfortunately did not hit their mark. Most of the first round was spent with Cormier holding Mir against the cage and throwing some punches or knees when the opportunity arose. Actually that sums up most of the second round too. Cormier was however able to neutralize Mir’s boxing and ground game as he never really allowed the former champ to hit his stride in the fight. In the third round, Mir was able to execute a few more high kicks and knees, but again he would inevitably end up against the cage, being held. At one point, Mir went to the ground, but Cormier wanted no part of following him down there. Despite the fact that he won, this was not a great first fight for Cormier. He will find out, as he makes his way up the heavyweight ladder, that there are other fighters in the weight class that he is not going to be able to hold down. Nevertheless, he executed his plan and pulled out the decision victory.
Winner: Daniel Cormier via unanimous decision
Now onto some more exciting stuff. In the lightweight division we welcomed Josh Thomson back to the UFC after a nine year separation from the company, as he took on Nate Diaz. (I just have to say on a side note the referee Mike Beltran has the most incredible mustache I have ever seen in my entire life. I found it distracting at times during the fight, almost hypnotic.) From the first bell of the fight, Thomson owned this fight. He was patient, which a lot of fighters are not against an aggressive fighter like Diaz. He didn’t fall prey to Diaz trying to bait him into standing and exchanging blows with him. He stayed his distance executing leg kicks and head kicks. In the corner, after the first round, we heard Nick Diaz warn his little brother to keep his hands up and watch for the head kick. He really should have heeded this warning, as about three minutes into the second round, we watched as he dropped his hands low and Thomson capitalized with a beautiful head kick. He followed it immediately with some ground and pound action, and Mr Mustache stepped in to call it a wrap.
Winner via TKO: Josh Thomson
Welterweight veteran Matt Brown took on relative newcomer Jordan Mein, who is coming off an exciting KO victory over Dan Miller. Whenever I hear that Matt Brown is fighting, I get a little excited. This is a guy who generally leaves nothing to chance. He shows up to fight and he leaves it all out there. We watched in the first round as he hunted Jordan Mein and kept him backpedaling. He eventually was able to land a big hook and clinch up with Mein. About three minuted in Mein hurt Brown with a nasty body shot, but was unable to finish the veteran off. They went to the ground, where Mein was almost submitted with a triangle choke. Round one ended with Brown showing off some great knees and elbows. Round two picked up right where one left off. It started with some great knees from Brown and he put the youngster down to the ground. Brown, who looked confused for a second that the referee had not stopped it yet, proceeded to rain down elbows on Mein’s kidneys, and finally the referee put an end to it.
Winner via TKO: Matt Brown
On the under card, Chad Mendes showed us that he is absolutely a force to be reckoned with in the Featherweight division, as he picked apart Darren Elkins in a little more than a minute. Yoel Romero also received a warm welcome to the UFC, and to the middleweight division as he knocked out Clifford Starks with a flying knee.
Remaining fight results:
Francis Carmont def. Lorenz Larkin via unanimous decision
Myles Jury def. Ramsey Nijem via KO (punch)
Joseph Benavidez def. Darren Uyenoyama via TKO (punch to the body)
Jorge Masvidal def. Tim Means via unanimous decision
T. J. Dillishaw def. Hugo Viana via TKO (punches)
Anthony Njokuani def. Roger Bowling via KO(punch)
Post fight honors:
Fight of the Night: Matt Brown vs. Jordan Mein
KO of the Night: Josh Thomson & Yoel Romero
No Submission of the night was awarded since there were no submissions
BEST MUSTACHE EVER: MIKE BELTRAN!!!!
