Take a look back at the past seven days in mixed martial arts, which included fight cards from the UFC and RFA.
Along with looking back at the fights over the weekend, this week’s review includes the latest news, TV ratings, and fight announcements.
The MMA Recap
1. The UFC’s latest foray on FOX was not lacking in controversy as Benson Henderson (20-3), once again, won a contested split decision against Josh Thomson (20-6).
Personally, I felt as though Thomson, who broke his right hand in the first round, was the winner in rounds one, two, and four. He was able to secure several dominant positions with his wrestling, whereas Henderson took rounds 3 and 5 on my scorecard due to him getting the better of Thomson on the feet.
Sal D’Amato scored the fight 49-46 for Henderson, Brian Puccillo had it 48-47 for the former lightweight champion, and Gabriel Sabaitas was the lone dissenter with a 47-48 verdict for Thomson.
D’Amato is getting a lot of flack for his scorecard as he gave rounds two and four to Henderson which is mind-numbing to say the least. D’Amato has built a real track record for being a questionable MMA judge. Here’s a short history of his more controversial decisions: 48-47 St. Pierre vs Hendericks – UFC 167, 30-27 Smith vs Herman – UFC on FOX 8, 29-28 Ring vs Fukuda – UFC 127, 29-28 Lentz vs Griffin – UFC 123, 29-28 Ebersole vs Head – UFC 149, 29-28 Clarke vs Kuivanen – UFC 149, 29-28 Davis vs Machida – UFC 163, Sanchez 29-28 vs Kampmann – UFC Live, 28-27 Figueroa vs Caceres – UFC 143, 29-28 Jackson vs Machida – UFC 123, Ribeiro 29-28 vs Beerbohm – Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery, and he gave Matt Hamill the first round in his fight against Thiago Silva at Fight Night 29.
It can’t be understated how much of impact these judges made in the life of Thomson. Had he won the fight, Thomson would, in all likelihood, partake in a UFC Lightweight Championship fight. Now, the 35 year-old Thomson is mulling retirement as he must once again climb back up to the top of the lightweight heap and rehab a broken hand if he wants to reach the pinnacle of his profession for one last time.
2. Fortunately, the rest of the card for UFC on FOX 10 wasn’t stained by controversy. After fending off Gabriel Gonzaga’s (16-8) attacks in the first round of the night’s co-main event, Stipe Miocic (11-1) took advantage of a tired Gonzaga (16-8) and was able to take the last two rounds as well as the decision on the judge’s scorecards. Donald Cerrone (22-6, 1 NC) provided the excitement that the FOX portion of this card needed when he knocked Adriano Martins (25-7) clean out with a head kick in the first round. As Jeremy Stephens (23-9) improved to 3-0 at featherweight, he also showcased improved takedown defense when he was able to nullify Darren Elkins’s (17-4) wrestling and win a clear unanimous decision.
The lens on the UFC’s bantamweight picture become a little more clear as the preliminary card concluded with four fights in the division taking place on Fox Sports 1.
In the night’s last encounter at 135 pounds, Alex Caceres (10-5, 1 NC) spoiled the run of Sergio Pettis (10-1) by submitting the 20 year-old with a rear-naked choke in the third around. Eddie Wineland (21-9-1) showcased both his boxing and ground control in his fight against Yves Jabouin (19-9). After dropping Jabouin with a right in the second, Wineland meticulously scored with ground and pound until the fight was called. Chico Camus (14-4) and Hugo Viana (8-1) both won rather lackluster decisions against Yaotzin Meza (20-9) and Junior Hernandez (13-6) respectively. Camus used his superior grappling to win, while Viana employed a striking attack.
Also on the prelims, Daron Cruickshank (14-4) added another clip to his highlight reel by dropping Mike Rio (9-4) with a head kick and finishing him off with punches in the second round. In a battle of welterweight prospects, George Sullivan (15-3, 1 NC) was able to squeak out a decision over Mike Rhodes (6-2). While the fight played out relatively even on the feet and the ground, Sullivan did just enough to get the win. And the card opened with fireworks as Nikita Krylov (16-3) stunned fellow heavyweight Walt Harris (5-3) with a head kick that was followed by ground strikes, until the 25 second fight concluded.
3. On the latest episode of The Ultimate Fighter Nations, Team Canada won once again as their middleweight fighter, Elias Theodorou (8-0) used his superior wrestling to dominate Australia’s Zein Saliba (4-0) against the cage within the clinch and on the ground with takedowns. Theodorou was given the decision in the two round bout.
The fight scheduled for the next episode is a welterweight match-up between Canada’s Chad Laprise (7-0) and Australia’s Chris Indich (5-1). The winner will join Kajan Johnson in the next round of the welterweight tournament.
4. On Friday night, RFA returned to AXStv as Brian Ortega (8-0) won the promotion’s featherweight by winning a close, split decision over Keoni Koch (5-1). The fight itself was spectacular. All five rounds were filled with a high paced, back-and-forth grappling battle.
Pedro Munhoz (10-0) wasted little time in defending his RFA Bantamweight Championship. He hurt Billy Daniels (7-1) with a body kick, took advantage of a slow takedown shot, and locked on a guillotine choke. TUF alumn Kevin Casey (7-3) got a victory in the middleweight division when he took down and landed ground and pound until he was able to get a verbal submission from Eddie Mendez (7-3-1, 1 NC).
Rising women’s bantamweight Justine Kish (4-0) improved her resume for the women’s strawweight season of The Ultimate Fighter by dominating Karla Markos (3-1) in the first two rounds of their in the striking department en route to winning a unanimous decision. James Moontasri (6-1) moved up the lightweight prospect ranks by submitting Rick Reger (6-1) in the second round of their fight, and Boston Salmon (1-0) used a well-placed kick to the solar plexus to attain a TKO win over Perceu Friza (2-1) in a featherweight fight.
5. The downward spiral of Aleksander Emelianenko’s (23-7) career unfortunately continued at CFC 2 when he submitted due to strikes from Dmitriy Sosnovskiy (8-0) in the first round. On the co-main event of that card, Benjamin Brinsa, who was signed and then cut by the UFC without fighting because it was discovered that he has ties to being the neo-nazi group, lost for his second fight in a row to Eduard Vartanyan (5-1).
6. If you’re looking for future UFC fighters, one of the promotions to keep an eye on would be Ring of Combat. The promotion has been the home for several UFC fighters such as Chris Weidman, Costas Philippou, and many others.
Ring of Combat 47 took place on Friday night, and in the main event, Chris Wade (6-1) won the promotion’s lightweight championship by submitting Serra-Longo’s Pat DeFranco (4-3) in the second round. Bantamweight prospect Julio Arce (5-0) improved his perfect record by winning a unanimous decision and the bantamweight championship against Jason McLean (6-7), and in a middleweight championship fight, Keith Berish (5-0) elicited a tap from Ariel Sepulveda (6-7) in the first round.
7. TUF 13 alumn Clay Harvison (11-5) has improved his record since being released by the UFC to 2-1 with a third round TKO win against David Lindsay 6-5-1) at NFC 62.
The News
1. Mixed Martial Arts veteran Chris Leben announced his retirement from the sport on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Hour. Leben will leave the sport after losing three straight, but he will be remembered for being the backbone of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, his entertaining, zombie-like aggression, and his most recent run in 2010 that saw him submit Yoshihiro Akiyama with a triangle choke in the third round of what was an amazing fight.
2. Dave Sholler, the UFC Senior Director of Public Relations, started off the UFC on FOX 10 post-fight press conference by announcing that UFC 169 would be moved to Sunday if the Super Bowl was rescheduled for Saturday, so that the PPV would not run head to head with the biggest sporting event in the United States.
3. Alex Caceres took home $100,000 after Saturday night thanks to winning two award bonuses. His fight with Sergio Pettis earned both men fight of the night honors, and Caceres was awarded submission of the night. The knockout of the night bonus went to Donald Cerrone which was the thirteenth award Cerrone has received in his UFC/WEC career.
4. On Friday, Bellator announced that Joe Warren will face the Bellator Bantamweight Champion at Bellator 118. His opponent at this time is unknown as Eduardo Dantas is currently scheduled to defend his title against Rafael Silva at Bellator 111.
5. According to sources, the NBC Sports Network have reached out to Bellator about potentially airing the preliminary portion of their cards on the channel. Currently, a deal has not been made, but you can still find the preliminary fights on Spike TV’s website.
Fights Made
Bellator 110 – March 7th
LHW Bout: Quinton Jackson (33-11) vs Christian M’Pumbu (15-5-1)
LHW Bout: Muhammed Lawal (11-3, 1 NC) vs Mikhail Zayats (22-7)
FW Bout: Diego Nunes (18-5) vs Matt Bessette (12-4)
FW Bout: Mike Richman (16-3) vs Desmond Greene (9-2)
FW Bout: Daniel Weichel (31-8) vs Scott Cleve (14-3)
FW Bout: Goiti Yamauchi (16-1) vs Will Martinez (8-2)
UFC Fight Night 37 – March 8th
LW Bout: Michael Johnson (14-8) vs Melvin Guillard (31-12-2, 2 NC)
Bellator 112 – March 14th
WW Bout: Andrey Koreshkov (14-1) vs Jesse Juarez (21-8)
WW Bout: Mark Scanlon (9-2) vs Adam McDonough (9-0)
UFC 171 – March 15th
FW Bout: Daniel Pineda (18-10 vs Robert Whiteford (10-2)
Bellator 113 – March 21st
LW Bout: Tim Welch (10-4) vs Donnie Bell (8-2)
UFC Fight Night 38 – March 23rd
LHW Bout: Mauricio Rua (22-8) vs Dan Henderson (29-11)
Bellator 116 – April 11th
LHW Bout – Vladimir Matyushenko (27-7) vs Joey Beltran (14-10, 1 NC)
Bellator 117 – April 18th
WW Title: Douglas Lima (25-5) vs Rick Hawn (18-2)
UFC 172 – April 26th
WW Bout: Tarec Saffiedine (15-3) vs Jake Ellenberger (29-7)
Bellator 118 – May 2nd
BW Title: Bellator Bantamweight Champion vs Joe Warren (10-3)
Ratings Report
1. After having 371,000 viewers for the debut episode, the second edition of TUF: Nations regressed to 253,000 viewers.
2. World Series of Fighting 8 drew 212,000 viewers which is up from the 94,000 viewer total at their last event.
Note: The ratings used in this section section are the preliminary overnight Nielsen ratings.
Quick Results
UFC on FOX 10
Main Card
LW Bout: Benson Henderson def. Josh Thomson via split decision (49-46, 48-47, 47-48)
HW Bout: Stipe Miocic def. Gabe Gonzaga via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
LW Bout: Donald Cerrone def. Adriano Martins via KO (head kick) – Round 1, 4:40
FW Bout: Jeremy Stephens def. Darren Elkins via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
BW Bout: Alex Caceres def. Sergio Pettis via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 4:39
BW Bout: Eddie Wineland def. Yves Jabouin via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:16
BW Bout: Chico Camus def. Yaotzin Meza via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
BW Bout: Hugo Viana def. Junior Hernandez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
LW Bout: Daron Cruickshank def. Mike Rio via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 4:56
WW Bout: George Sullivan def. Mike Rhodes via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
HW Bout: Nikita Krylov def. Walt Harris via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, :25
RFA 12
Main Card
FW Title: Brian Ortega def. Keoni Koch via split decision (49-46, 46-49, 49-46)
BW Title: Pedro Munhoz def. Billy Daniels via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, :41
MW Bout: Kevin Casey def. Eddie Mendez via verbal submission (strikes) – Round 1, 3:38
W STR Bout: Justine Kish def. Karla Markos via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
LW Bout: James Moontasri def. Rick Reger via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, :28
FW Bout: Boston Salmon def. Perceu Friza via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:13
Preliminary Card
BW Bout: Terrion Ware def. Zac Chavez via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:58
FW Bout: Dmitry Gerasimov def. Jordan Isordia via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:04
MW Bout: John Hackleman Jr. def. Howard LaCroix via KO (punches) – Round 1, 0:11
WW Bout: Cameron Diffley def. Jeff Roman via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:13