Take a look back at the past seven days in Mixed Martial Arts, which included fight cards from the UFC, Bellator, One FC, and several other promotions.
Along with looking back at the fights that took place over the weekend, this week-in review includes the latest news, TV ratings, and fight announcements.
The MMA Review
1. At UFC 171, The UFC crowned it’s first welterweight champion since George St. Pierre, the former kingpin of the weight class, vacated the strap. Johny Hendricks (16-2), the last person that George St. Pierre shared the UFC octagon with, won title by slightly outpointing Robbie Lawler (22-10, 1 NC) on all three of the judges’ scorecards in a contest that will go down as one of the best championship fights in UFC history.
Aside from a late takedowns in the fourth and fifth round from Hendricks, the entire bout played out on the feet as each fighter traded captivating combination after captivating combination inside the pocket.
The decision itself was a tough one, as the fighters were so evenly matched on the feet. On all three of the judges’ scorecards, Hendricks received the maximum amount of ten points in rounds one, two and five, and Lawler won rounds three and four.
Doug Crosby, one of the judges for the main event, received some criticism for some of the intricacies of his scorecard. He gave Hendricks a 10-8 score in the third and had the fifth frame as a 10-10 draw. No round in the entire fight was even close to deserving a 10-8, and the fifth round played out clearly in Hendricks’ favor – he scored a late takedown and landed twice as many significant strikes as Lawler.
One of the themes heading into UFC 171 is that the picture of the welterweight division would become more developed and clear as five welterweight tilts, four of which featured ranked fighters, were set to take place, but the image’s only gained a small amount of clarity due to an unfortunate injury and a performance that was both impressive, yet lackluster.
In the co-main event tilt, Carlos Condit (29-8) suffered an injury to his right leg that caused a halt to the contest. After his leg was weakened by a Tyron Woodley (13-2) takedown, Condit’s injury deteriorated when he defending a kick by Woodley that caused him to buckle down to the canvas and the bout to be stopped.
Hector Lombard (34-4-1, 1 NC) absolutely dominated Jake Shields (29-7-1, 1 NC) in the first round of their fight, landing powerful shots and using his strength to control the grappling aspects of the period, but Lombard quickly became a more a passive fighter in rounds two and three by playing it safe, eventually winning a unanimous decision.
In the other two welterweight contests, Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum (8-0) impressed by showing improvements in his striking and winning a debatable split decision against Rick Story (16-8), and prospect Alex Garcia (12-1) took a home a unanimous decision against a game Sean Spencer (11-3) in a fun clash to kick off the FOX Sports 2 prelims.
The other two fights on the main card saw Myles Jury (14-0) dramatically raise his stock in the lightweight division by picking apart Diego Sanchez (24-7) on the feet to win a unanimous decision, and Ovince St. Preux (15-5) running through Nikita Krylov (16-4) in a light heavyweight bout, eliciting a tap with a Von Flue choke in the first round.
Fox Sports 2 also aired bouts in the featherweight and women’s bantamweight division. In a fight between Dennis Bermudez (13-3) and Jim Hettes (11-2), Bermudez finished Hettes in the third round with strikes after showcasing his striking and wrestling in a dominant performance. Jessica Andrade (11-3) pushed the pace and used her aggressive to edge out a split decision over Raquel Pennington (4-4).
Four fights on Fight Pass started the action in Dallas, Texas, and the biggest takeaway from the fights were the performances from a pair of prospects. 21-year-old flyweight Justin Scoggins (9-0) looked phenomenal in his second UFC outing, controlling Will Campuzano (13-6) in every aspect of the MMA game, and Sean Strickland (14-0), a late replacement for Bubba McDaniel (21-8) in a middleweight tilt, submitted McDaniel late in the first frame with a rear-naked choke.
And lastly, Francisco Trevino (12-0) out-struck Renee Forte (8-4) to win the latter two rounds and the decision of their catchweight bout, and Robert Whiteford (11-2) took home the first two frames of his featherweight fight with Daniel Pineda (18-11) to win a decision of his own.
Fight of the Night honors was deservedly given to Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler for their memorable battle, and Ovince St. Preux and Dennis Bermudez received bonuses for Performances of the Night.
2. Bellator 112 had it’s own fight of the year contender on Friday night when Pat Curran (20-5) regained his featherweight championship by forcing Daniel Straus (22-5) to submit with a rear-naked choke in the fifth round. Curran obtained the finish with only fourteen seconds left in the fight, but the dramatic finish was preceded with even more drama as the previous four rounds were highly contested, with both featherweights landed their fair share of shots on the feet and submission attempts on the ground.
Four welterweights advanced to the semifinals of the season ten tournament as Andrey Koreshkov (15-1) finished Nah-Shon Burrell (10-4, 1 NC) with a devastating body kick and a few ground strikes in the first frame, Sam Oropeza (11-2) knocked Cristiano Souza (7-1) out in the first period with a right hook, Adam McDonough (10-0) slightly got the better of Jesse Juarez (21-9) in a back-and-forth grappling match to win a unanimous decision, and Nathan Coy (14-4) won a decision after the southpaw used his reach advantage to thoroughly out-strike Paul Bradley (21-6, 1 NC) throughout the contest.
On the preliminary card of Bellator 112, NCAA Division 1 Champion wrestler Darrion Caldwell (4-0) won a fight by submission for the first time in his career, eliciting a tap from Lance Surma (2-1) with a guillotine choke after rocking him early on with a flying knee.
3. ONE FC returned with it’s fourteenth show, entitled War of Nations, and Nobutatsu Suzuki (11-1-2) used his striking arsenal and takedown defense to keep the fight on the feet and get the better of Brock Larson (37-8) in the majority of the rounds to win a unanimous decision and become the promotion’s welterweight champion.
Dae Hwan Kim (10-0-1) score his second rear-naked submission victory in a row by eliciting a tap from Kevin Belingon (12-4) in their co-main event bantamweight bout. Brazilian flyweight Adriano Moraes (10-1) earned a rear-naked choke submission victory of his own, ending former UFC fighter Yasuhiro Urushitani’s (21-7-6) night in the second frame.
Speaking of former UFC fighters, lightweight Kamal Shalorus (9-3-2) won a decision in a bout against Ariel Sexton (8-3, 1 NC).
The rest of the main card card saw Andrew Leone (7-2), who had more success than his brother Anthony did at Bellator last week, outpoint Shinichi Kojima (13-6-5) in a flyweight match-up, 36-year-old lightweight Kotestu Boku (21-9-2) ended a two fight losing stint by knocking out Arnaud Lepont (10-4), and Malaysian 155 pounder Peter Davis (8-3) winning in the second round via TKO over Waqar Umar (3-1).
4. At CES MMA 22 in Rhode Island, Luis Felix (11-7) knocked out UFC lightweight veteran Drew Fickett (42-21) in the first frame of their fight with a violent left head kick. Felix has won six of his last seven, with two of those victories coming against a TUF alumn in Marc Stevens and a current UFC fighter in Joe Proctor.
Also on the card, John Johnston (6-0), a heavyweight prospect that has finished all of his opponents in the first round with strikes, continued the streak with a first round TKO victory over Josh Hendricks (19-10, 1 NC), TUF 13 alumn, Chuck O’ Neil outpointed Roger Carroll (12-11) in a welterweight match, and eight-time Bellator fighter Brylan Van Artsdalen (8-10) was submitted by Charles Rosa (8-0), a name to watch at featherweight, with an arm-bar in the first round.
5. The Ultimate Fighter Brazil returned with the first episode of it’s third season. Coaches Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva watched as 16 of the 32 contestants in the middleweight and heavyweight brackets competed to enter the house.
In the middleweight bouts, Paulo Costa (3-0) submitted Jose Roberto (5-0, 1 NC) in the second round with a guillotine choke, Joilton Santos (9-2, 1 NC) edged out Douglas Moura (3-1) by winning a split decision, Wagner Silva (3-0) earning the victory over Cristiano Pontes (4-1) by tapping him with a rear-naked choke in the first frame, and Ricardo Abreu (4-0) scoring a second round win thanks to some ground and pound.
In the heavyweight fights, Antonio Carlos Jr. (3-0) knocked out Guilherme Viana (4-1) with an overhand right, Edgard Castaldelli (12-4) using an assortment of ground strikes to finish Felipe Dantas (5-0), Jollyson Francisco (2-0, 2 NC) implementing an arm triangle submission to force Ewerton Rocha (3-1) to tap out, and Jon Kleber (3-1) kicked off the show by finishing Goncalo Salgado (7-1) with a barrage of punches and with what looked to be an illegal head kick.
6. Ryan Roberts (19-10-1) topped MMA veteran Chase Beebe (24-12-1) by winning a decision at Victory FC 42. Roberts won the promotion’s featherweight championship, and the judges scored the fight 50-45, 49-46, and 49-46 in his favor.
The card also saw Josh Rave (20-11, 1 NC) win the flyweight championship by beating Nate Williams (22-13) via TKO in the fourth round and former UFC fighter Ryan Jensen (19-8) win his fourth in a row by putting away Ryan McClain (12-8) with strikes in the first frame.
7. German light heavyweight Stephan Puetz (10-1) was victorious against Victor Nemkov (19-5) in the main event of M-1 Challenge 46, taking home a five round decision and the promotion’s light heavyweight strap, and Latvian heavyweight Konstantin Gluhov (27-4) got back on the winning track by winning a decision against Kenny Garner (12-6), an American who has hit a rough stretch in M-1 – losing his last three in the promotion.
A group of four up-and-coming fighters were victorious on the preliminary portion of the fight, featherweight Pavel Vitruk (11-0) submitted Clayton Santos (0-1) with strikes, middleweight Anatoly Tokov (12-1) finished Albert Duraev (4-3) via TKO in the first round, welterweight Magomed Mustafaev (9-1) forced a tap from Andrei Koshkin (3-3) in the second round with an ankle lock, and featherweight Tural Ragimov (8-1) put Aliyar Sarkerov (6-3) away with strikes in the second round.
8. On the second XFC International show, Flavio Alvaro (46-10) won a decision in a battle of lightweight veterans against Adson Nascimento (37-10-2) in the main event. In the co-main event, Kalindra Falia (13-3-1) took home a decision over Aline Serio (7-5) in a women’s strawweight bout.
The welterweight tournament kicked off with Pedro Junior (8-0), Cairo Rocha (10-3, 1 NC), Will Galvao (3-1), and Kevin Medinilla (4-0) beating Erick Montano (4-3), Maurilio Alava (4-1-1), Elton Brown (5-5), and Alessandro Gambulino (3-1), respectively, to advance to the semi-finals, and in the featherweight tournament, Bruno Canetti (4-3), Felipe Douglas (9-1), Alejandro Villalobos (15-3), and Alex Kaspary (6-0) beat Luan Gazetta (4-1), Rodolfo Rubio (10-6), Missael Silva (9-3), and Cesar Balanta (2-3), respectively, to advance to the semi-finals of that tournament.
The News
1. It was announced on Tuesday that Bellator’s inaugural PPV on May 17th will take place at the Landers Center in Southhaven, Mississippi and that the co-main event will be the season ten light heavyweight tournament final between Quinton Jackson and Muhammed Lawal.
2. Even though his fight with Pat Curran was a spectacular contest and highly contested, Daniel Straus will have to wait until after Curran takes on season nine tournament winner Patricio Freire to get a title shot, per Bjorn Rebney at the Bellator 112 post-fight press conference.
3. Doug Marshall was unable to receive his license from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, so he was forced to withdraw from his April 4th middleweight tournament bout with Dan Cramer.
4. Terry Etim was forced to withdraw from his lightweight tournament bout at Bellator 113 due to an ACL injury, so Tim Welch will replace him and take on Derek Campos this Friday.
5. The line-up for UFC Fight Night 40, which takes place in Cincinnati on May 10th, was announced. The main event for the Fox Sports 1 card will be a welterweight bout Erick Silva and Matt Brown. Joining Silva and Brown on the main card will be tilts between Lorenz Larkin and Costas Philippou, Erik Koch and Daron Cruickshank, William Patolino and Neil Magny, Soa Palelei and Ruan Potts, and Chris Cariaso and Louis Smolka.
Fight Announcements
Bellator 113 – March 21
LW Tourney Bout: Tim Welch (10-4) vs Derek Campos (13-3)
Bellator 115 – April 4
MW Bout: Mikkel Parlo (11-2) vs Johnny Cisneros (8-2)
RFA 14 – April 11
FLW Title: Leandro Higo (13-2) vs Matt Manzares (6-2)
UFC Fight Night 40 – May 10
WW Bout: Albert Tumenov (12-2) vs Anthony Lapsley (22-6, 2 NC)
Bellator – Alvarez vs Chandler III – May 17
LHW Tourney Final: Quinton Jackson (34-11) vs Muhammed Lawal (12-3, 1 NC)
Ratings Report
The ratings used in this section are the non-DVR preliminary viewership averages according to Nielsen sources.
Bellator 111: 653,000
Quick Results
UFC 171
WW Title: Johny Hendricks (16-2) def. Robbie Lawler (22-10, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
WW Bout: Tyron Woodley (13-2) def. Carlos Condit (29-8) via TKO (injury) – Round 2, 2:00
LW Bout: Myles Jury (14-0) def. Diego Sanchez (24-7) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
WW Bout: Hector Lombard (34-4-1, 1 NC) def. Jake Shields (29-7-1, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
LHW Bout: Ovince St. Preux (15-5) def. Nikita Krylov (16-4) via submission (Von Flue choke) – Round 1, 1:29
WW Bout: Kelvin Gastelum (8-0) def. Rick Story (16-8) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
W BW Bout: Jessica Andrade (11-3) def. Raquel Pennington (4-4) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
FW Bout: Dennis Bermudez (13-3) def. Jim Hettes (11-2) via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 2:57
WW Bout: Alex Garcia (12-1) def. Sean Spencer (11-3) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
CW Bout: Francisco Trevino (12-0) def. Renee Forte (8-4) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
FLW Bout: Justin Scoggins (9-0) def. Will Campuzano (13-6) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
MW Bout: Sean Strickland (14-0) def. Bubba McDaniel (21-8) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:33
FW Bout: Robert Whiteford (11-2) def. Daniel Pineda (18-11) via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Bellator 112
FW Title: Pat Curran (20-5) def. Daniel Straus (22-5) via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 5, 4:46
WW Tourney: Andrey Koreshkov (15-1) def. Nah-Shon Burrell (10-4, 1 NC) via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, :41
WW Tourney: Sam Oropeza (11-2) def. Cristiano Souza (7-1) via KO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:07
WW Tourney: Adam McDonough (10-0) def. Jesse Juarez (21-9) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
WW Tourney: Nathan Coy (14-4) def. Paul Bradley (21-6, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
FW Bout: Darrion Caldwell (4-0) def. Lance Surma (2-1) via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, :50