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BY ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
The following are the top five highlights from UFC 140...
5. Preliminary KO's from Constantinos Philippou and Igor Pokrajac started the night out right for MMA fans with providing highlight reel (no pun intended) KO's that set the tone for the rest of the night. Both fights lasted a little under three minutes, with the Pokrajac fight lasting less than a minute. Kudos to both fighters, and hopefully we can see them move up to the main card with these performances.
4. Tito Ortiz fought Rogerio Nogueria, and soundly lost to the Brazillian via TKO. What made it special is that Ortiz still looked more than ready to fight, gave no excuses for the loss (as he often had done in the past), and - whether you like him or not - with this fight as with others, he has always faced top competition, even when younger fighters seemed to surpass the skillset of the elder Ortiz. He always brings it to the cage, no matter what.
3. Chang Jung Sung gave the world another reason to love the "Korean Zombie" as he knocked out Mark Hominick in seven seconds. It ties the UFC record set by Todd Duffee from a couple of years back, but more than anything, puts another notch in the post that is his career. Kudos to him, and hopefully a sound pay day.
2. Jon Jones defeats Lyoto Machida via standing guillotine choke. Machida pressed the pace making Jones fight his fight, but in the end Jones was able to use his wrestling and overall strength to bust Machida open with elbows, and choke the former champion out on his feet. After this fight, I wonder who is going to be able to take the fight to Jon Jones as much as he takes the fight to his opponents? Until that time, Jones will still be widely regarded as one of the best (if not THE best) fighters in the world.
1. Mir submits AND breaks Rodrigo Nogueria's arm. This fight hands down was the fight of the night. Many expected Jon Jones to win, but it was a toss up between Mir and Nogueria in who would win in their return battle from 2008. Mir won the first fight, and many people concluded that it was luck that he won due to Nogueria still reeling from a staph infection. This time, there were no excuses, and no doubt as to the skill of Mir. He took a beating from Nogueria, and came close to being submitted himself, yet was able to reverse into a kimura and make the Brazillian tap. Not only was he the first to make Nogueria tap (let alone knock him out in their first meeting), but in a strange look back to Mir's win against Tim Sylvia years ago, he also broke his arm. Looking back at the replay, you can clearly see Nogueria's arm snapping as he taps out to the submission. This will be highlight reel material for years to come for both Mir and the UFC. This puts Mir clearly back into the title picture. As my good friend Joseph texted me after the fight, Mir is "breaking arms and cashing checks."
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