UFC 91, A Night To Remember

So holy crap. If you haven’t heard the news anywhere else than you obviously were not interested in the outcome of the fights that took place Saturday night. I honestly should have posted something about this yesterday but I have a bit of a cold. So lets see what went on.

Starting with the main event. Brock Lesnar came out hungry and proved that he’s not just a hyped up former WWE cash draw. While I like Randy Couture I just had a feeling that Brock’s size and (real) wrestling background was going to be an issue. When you pit two wrestlers up against each other and one weights about 40 more pounds than the other size is certainly going to be a factor. Brock defended Coutrure’s take downs well and Randy’s in ring stand up experience worked well to keep Lesnar at bay. All it took was a big right from Lesnar in the second round that stunned randy very briefly and sent him to the ground. Brock capitalized on this and made quick to jump on the downed Couture and start hammering away with fast, short and powerful hammer fists and punches. Couture tried hard to cover up and defend himself but the fists were coming in too fast for him to break away and make an attempt on a good defensive maneuver. The ref stopped the fight and Lesnar became the UFC Heavyweight Champion in only his 3rd fight in the UFC. This win doesn’t come without conversation of people arguing that Lesnar should have earned his spot for the title shot like so many others before him as opposed to being tossed in because it would be a huge crowd and money draw. Either way, there is nothing you can do now besides see what happens next. He may lose in his first defense of the title and have to work his way back up that way.

UFC.com said that Lesnar’s first title defense will take place early next year against the winner of the Mir/ Nogueira fight next month. Bot of these fighters have great Jiu-Jitsu skills and Brock lost to Mir in his UFC debut. I think Lesnar was looking for and expecting a quick win in that fight but Frank Mir played it just right and caught him in a submission. I don’t think Lesnar will let that stupid mistake happen again. Nogueira is no newcomer to fighting big guys either but his speed is slower than Lesnar and I think that will play a key roll if that fight takes place.

Kenny Florian proved to be an underestimated fighter and a skillful combatant with his win over Joe Stevenson with a rear naked choke. I honestly think that Stevenson was so not intimidated by him and was a bit overconfident. Kenny actually made it look very easy.

Gabriel Gonzaga made short work of Josh Hendricks with a big right that sent Hendricks to the matt. Gonzaga jumped in and went to work throwing punches to the face of a face-down Hendricks who after the first punch thrown by Gonza was tapping.

Demian Maia made quick work of Nate Quarry with his amazing Jiu-Jistu in the first round and Matt Brown looked exhausted after his win over Ryan Thomas, which he took on very short notice.

The fights were moving fast and they showed some under-card fights to kill time, even after the main event. Dustin Hazlett beat Tamdan McCrory with a great submission by an interesting straight arm-bar. Jeremy Stephens took Rafael dos Anjos out in the second round with a monster uppercut that looked like he threw from behind his knee and caught Dos Anjos square on the jaw.

Image Source: Newscom.com