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RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (8.0)
8.0 if grading just the PPV. 5.0 if grading the entire 10 fight card.
The PPV was great. Jimy Hettes proved that he's a relentless pitbull. But before we go crowning him like Dennis Green, let's remember that his UFC wins are over Bruce Leroy (Jenkins) and Nam Phan. And yes, Phan is 5-8 in his last 13 fights. I'd like to see Hettes fight against another grappler, to see either how good his grappling really is, or to see him in a standing fight if the grappling becomes a stalemate.
In the other decision of the night, Nate Diaz proved me dead ass wrong. I remembered his fight with Rory MacDonald and figured we'd see a rinse and repeat of that fight. Oops. Diaz got into Cerrone's head and Cerrone flat out admitted that after the night was over. Diaz is the better fighter, and is stronger mentally, than Donald Cerrone. He might not be Nick Diaz, but that's an unfair comparison. Let's just say that when he fights Anthony Pettis this summer (tell me you don't wanna see that fight), I'll be in the building.
Johny Hendricks landed a great punch, but you can't take more out of it than that. Of course, Fitch getting KO'd probably made Dana White extremely happy, since he won't have to deal with the thought of giving the charisma-pit a title fight anytime this decade.
Alexander Gustafsson did exactly what everyone thought he would do. The only question was when, and he did it in the first. Had he fought that fight against a standup fighter though, he would have been unconscious. Hopefully "The Mauler's" camp will see the massive deficiencies in his boxing defense and tighten it up before he faces someone like Rogerio Nogueira.
And in the main event, Alistair Overeem sent Brock Lesnar into retirement. I just can't expand on that. Just, wow.
MATT PELKEY, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (7.0)
The score gets a bump up for the strong main card and the obviously newsworthy main event, but the tedious prelims started it in the hole for entertainment value. We didn't learn anything new in the main event (Lesnar doesn't react well to being hit, Overeem hits hard and accurately. This was bound to happen.), but we did afterwards with Lesnar's retirement announcement. I, for one, will miss him, but not as much as the wallets of Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Frank Fertitta (not to mention some royal dudes in the middle east). Overeem will be Junior dos Santos' toughest match-up to date. I picked both Nate Diaz and Johny Hendricks to pull off upsets, so I'm looking pretty smart right now, but even I didn't see such a masterful performance (Diaz) or definitive finish (Hendricks). I love fresh contenders. Speaking of fresh contenders, enter Alexander Gustafsson into the Light Heavyweight Title mix. He's clearly behind the Evans-Davis winner and Dan Henderson in the pecking order right now, but win two more fights and the Swede might be Johnny "Bones" Jones' final meal of 2012. Jim Hettes looked fantastic in dismantling Nam Phan. I want to say let's temper our expectations, but it was so one-sided against such a tough, well-rounded opponent that its hard to not get a little excited. He's only 24 and undefeated at 10-0. Nothing that came before the pay-per-view stands out as worth mentioning. It was like the tale of two cards.
ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (6.5)
I would say that without the retirement speech, it was a decent card. Lesnar retiring makes it a bigger fight or more than it is. Diaz and Cerrone had a good fight, but that was overshadowed by the immediate retirement of Brock Lesnar. We'll see how that goes from here but either way, that was a decent card, but not great.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.0)
UFC 141 was a solid card with decent fights. The undercard fights were not the best fights I have ever seen nor were they the worst.
The co-main event in Cerrone vs. Diaz was a solid and exciting fight from start to finish. I was surprised Diaz was so dominant for the entire fight, as I thought Cerrone would have dominated. Diaz is now a legit threat to any top ten lightweight. Good fight.
The Lesnar vs. Overeem fight was exciting with an awesome finish. Lesnar was dominated by the best kick boxer in the heavyweight division. I loved the finish and the fight went the way I predicted. I was surprised and happy when Lesnar announced his retirement from MMA. Great fight.
JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (8.0)
The pay-per-view portion of this card was fantastic for the most part. Jimy Hettes really showed the world that he's a featherweight to keep an eye on, Alexander Gustaffson continued his winning ways, Johny Hendricks knocked out Jon Fitch and Nate Diaz ruined Donald Cerrone's 2011 campaign.
However, the main event was awful. Brock Lesnar brings a ton of interest going in to fights, but when he loses it's incredibly deflating. Lesnar is just so outmatched at the elite level that his fights are almost an embarrassment after the fact.
As weird as it sounds, a two minute destruction in a pay-per-view main event really brings down the quality of this card as a whole. Lesnar folding up shop and retiring actually makes the fight memorable for that reason, but the story of the fight had more to do with Lesnar's ineptitude as a fighter than Overeem's skills, despite the "Demolition Man" being possibly the most lethal heavyweight fighter in the world.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (8.5)
The big news is the retirement of Brock Lesnar. I thought Brock would be able to weather the early storm of Alistair Overeem, but he fell victim to his biggest weakness: not being able to defend strikes. This is a big blow to the UFC as they lose their biggest draw. Brock can walk straight into a big money WWE deal if he wants as they'll work around any health issues he might have. Brock did what he does best, create news wherever he goes. Overeem vs. Junior dos Santos should be a great fight.
Jon Fitch getting knocked out by Johny Hendricks was the other big moment of the night. Fitch just got caught, it happens. The stoppage was spot-on, Fitch went stiff and it was clear he was done. The only thing Steve Mazzagatti did was save Fitch from taking more punishment. It was a great moment for Hendricks. The UFC needs to move him to the next level, perhaps a fight against a Josh Koscheck-level fighter? Throw Hendricks into deep water and see what happens.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (7.5)
The pay-per-view card itself was a highly entertaining and newsworthy five-fight card, though there wasn't much to the prelims that preceded it. The main event was definitely a disappointment, if only for the fact that Brock Lesnar had people fooled into thinking he had turned a corner after his diverticulitis surgery.
He looked a bit lost for the first minute, and as Alistair Overeem proceeded to deliver body shot after vicious body shot, it was too much for him. His battle with diverticulitis cut his career short, and it's really unfortunate because there really did seem to be a lot more to him as a fighter as he continued on.
The battle with his own mortality took something out of him mentally, and in his fights with Cain Velasquez and Friday night with Overeem that came to the surface, and it's really too bad that he's on his way out.
Outside of the main event, this was a card for rising prospects and surprising performances on the pay-per-view portion of the card. Alexander Gustafsson and Johny Hendricks made serious strides up the ladder in their respective divisions, while Jimy Hettes made it clear that he's a legitimate prospect at 145 lbs.
All three of those performances provided a lot of excitement, and then Nate Diaz came out and surprised everyone with one of his best and most complete performances to date. If he can keep himself consistently performing the way he has against Takanori Gomi and now Donald Cerrone, he's realistically got a chance to make a run in the lightweight division. But consistency is key, and he hasn't shown an ability to be that to this point.
GRIFFIN MARSH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.0)
I thought last night's UFC 141 was well above average, but short of being great by a mile. Though I thought Cerrone had more than a reasonable argument for winning, considering his multiple lockdowns to Diaz's boxing which more than lacked true punching power and only caused wounds and not devastation, Diaz won the decision and the fight of the night by far in my opinion. Without this fight I feel the level of the event drops dramatically. Both of these fighters brought a great game, dishing out - as well as taking - beatings. One cannot watch this fight without walking away with a new respect for both fighters. Then there's Johny Hendricks stout KO of Jon Fitch. This quite possibly is the most positive aspect of the event. With all levity aside, Hendricks' ability to deliver such a violent punch/KO to the lay and pray Jon Fitch definitely deserves a place in the level of greatness in this event. Though Alexander Gustafsson and Jimy Hettes had great victories, the fight most fans wanted to see was the main event. Going into the fight I picked Overeem to knock Brock Lesnar out, but had deep reserves in the pick due to Lesnar's violent style and wrestling ability. After the fight, it became clear to me and probably most people if they are honest with themselves that Lesnar is nowhere near the top of the heavyweight division. And if we continue to be honest with ourselves, one has to wonder if he was ever a true top fighter or simply a tough amazing wrestler at the right place, at the right time. I'm going to rate the event at 7. I feel it was definitely better than average but not quite at the level needed for an 8-10 score
SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST: (7.5)
The main card was definitely satisfying, while the prelims were a bit uneventful. This card, perhaps more than any other in recent memory, signaled a changing of the guard. With Hendricks taking out Fitch in devastating fashion, Gustafsson dispatching of Matyushenko, and Nate Diaz perhaps finally stepping out of his brother's shadow, three rising stars put an exclamation point on 2011 while fighters like Fitch, B.J. Penn, and the great Fedor ended the year in a different place than they are accustomed to. I'm legitimately excited for the next fight of each winner on the main card. Hettes showed some serious potential by beating up and coming close to submitting Nam Phan. While he seemed a bit limited on the feet, he was a different beast on the floor. His clinch wasn't bad either, actually.
Lesnar's retirement can't really come as a surprise if you think about it. What was left for him to do? Be a gatekeeper? He's way too high profile to fight up and comers, especially considering his drawing power and the salary that he commands. I'll have more on Lesnar in my Thumbs Up/Down piece later on, but for those saying that Lesnar was never any good and his career was a sham, you need to wake up. As for Overeem, I said in my predictions that he would go on a tear through the heavyweight division and I still think that happens. I think he's being counted out of the dos Santos fight way too quickly. He's at home against strikers, and that's what dos Santos is. And let's not forget that Overeem has chops on the ground should the fight get there.
Overall this was a solid card, even if the main event ended up feeling just a tad empty to me. It seemed like Lesnar was never really in the fight after he couldn't score the single leg takedown, and we all knew what was happening if the fight stayed standing. There's not a person alive who wouldn't crumple after taking that liver kick, and Lesnar was certainly no exception.
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