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RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (9.5)
We were a great fight away from this being a 10. There was no classic back and forth dramatic war on the card, so that knocks it down slightly. Stout vs. Tavares was supposed to be that fight, but it didn't really deliver any excitement. With that out of the way, there's nothing more you could ask from from a UFC PPV. If you were to strip away the name value and just look at the fights, this fight had "violence" written all over it, and damned if it didn't deliver.
There were a couple of good moments on the FX prelims (gonna take time to get used to saying that). Mike Pyle did what he was supposed to do by overwhelming an overmatched Ricardo Funch. Fortunately he finished the fight in entertaining style as opposed to grinding out a dull 15 minute dominant decision. Gabriel Gonzaga made a triumphant return to the UFC after his 42nd retirement. While the fight was nothing to remember, against an overrated opponent who built his record by crushing cans, it was still pleasant to see a good guy that we all know return with a win.
On to the PPV, there was nothing but violence, violence, and more violence. Five fights, five finishes, four of those finishes in the first round, and the fifth finish was one of the great KOs of all time. Official bell time of all five PPV fights was 21:23, which may be a record for brevity.
Starting with the opening fight, Edson Barboza spent exactly 12 minutes proving his superiority over Terry Etim, and then spent the last two seconds knocking Etim unconscious with a spinning wheel kick that had Etim sleeping before you could yell TIMBER! The spectacular finish was punctuated with Barboza's Mark Hunt-esque walk off. Majir style points there. This is a huge win for Barboza, because it's his first finish in the UFC. This is the highlight reel moment that he needed to put himself into the metaphorical mix.
Erick Silva dominated Carlo Prater en route to a 29 second loss to the overmatched Carlo Prater? Wait, what? Yeah, it turns out that landing 42 punches to the back of the head is, in fact, illegal. Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight, and it was widely assumed that Silva won by TKO. In fact, Yamasaki decided that the fight would be a DQ victory for Prater. A triumphant debut for the Brazilian, YAY! Look, there were a ton of blows to the back of the head there, whether you use the mohawk definition or the headphones definition. But tons of fights have been ended by the same manner, and it's exceedingly rare to see a DQ. This reminded me a lot of the Jones vs. Hamill fight from a couple years back. Technically what Yamasaki did was correct, or at least within his rights. But since the rule is applied so inconsistently, I wound up feeling more than a little squishy about the whole thing.
Fortunately, there was plenty of controversy-free violence remaining. Rousimar Palhares pulled guard and removed Mike Massenzio's leg in 63 seconds. Had I run a book, I would have had the line on Palhares by heel hook set at minus-infinity.
Vitor Belfort choked out Anthony Johnson at 4:50 of round one. Johnson came out aggressive as all hell, and remained aggressive throughout the entire round, likely because he knew he had exactly four minutes of gas in his tank tonight. Twice during the fight Johnson was on top of Belfort only to have Dan Miragliotta stand them up within 15 seconds. In between those standups, big Dan split them apart while Johnson had Belfort pressed against the cage. That tainted the fight as much as Johnson's weight issues.
In the main event, Jose Aldo gave fans a moment they will not soon forget. Not the out-of-nowhere KO of Chad Mendes at 4:59 of round one, rather his racing straight into the crowd of rabid Brazilians and being mobbed. This was the most emotional celebration I've seen, at least since Tito Ortiz defeated Ryan Bader last year. Scratch that, Tito didn't even come close. Aldo disappeared into the throng of Brazilians, and the overhead shot of the fans swarming Aldo looked precisely how I would have imagined it would look had Anthony Johnson defeated Vitor and then talked 42 pounds of Chael Sonnen shit.
JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (9.0)
If not for the awful officiating that led to Vitor Belfort's submission of Anthony Johnson or the awful call that led to Eric Silva getting disqualified, I would give this card a perfect 10.
In terms of action and atmosphere, you can't say enough good things about UFC 142. Jose Aldo proved to be on a totally different level for the umpteenth time tonight, but this time - unlike his last two outings - ended in one of the more brutal knockouts you'll ever see.
Speaking of knockouts, Edson Barboza just might have secured knockout of the year two weeks into January, because there isn't going to be anything more wild than a spinning hook kick knock out in front of a raucous Brazilian crowd.
Rousimar Palhares probably opened a lot of people's eyes to the quickness in which he can close the show. He is a submission expert of the highest order and perhaps the greatest leg lock specialist in UFC history. There isn't a man in the middleweight division that Palhares couldn't leg lock and he's a fighter that absolutely must be seen.
UFC 142 was the type of card that you can sit down and watch over and over and I recommend that people order replays, search out DVDs and do just that.
BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (9.0)
In terms of the main card itself, a solid 9, edging towards a 9.5. The matchups were well picked, as long as you ignore Anthony Johnson's huge size advantage over Vitor. The endings were largely exciting and you know even with the projected low PPV buy rate, the chatter is going garner some encore purchases. Vitor's submission took me back, literally. His win is overshadowed by Rumble's weight issues, but it was a great throwback to see him get a tap. Aldo, what can I say that can possibly explain the imagery of his crowd surfing, aside from epic?
The fights were generally short, but the exciting endings made every second count. It was also great to see Gonzaga get back in the Octagon and take home a win; the past contender can still make his own space in the UFC. There was not a moment of this card worth missing, with great submissions and some incredible KOs - it is a must see. It definitely picked up with the hype coming off of Brock's retirement, and slammed us all with great action.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.0)
For me, the most significant thing on the undercard from UFC 142 was the successful return of Gabriel Gonzaga. It's great to see him back in the UFC with a win. He might stay around a while longer if he sticks to the bread and butter that is his BJJ. The rest of the undercard was pretty standard stuff. Nothing stood out too much. I liked the FX channel treatment and the Fox intro music was great. Good fights, but nothing I will remember in a week, except Gonzaga's return.
The pay per view started out with an amazing highlight head kick KO of Terry Etim by Edson Barboza; it was one of the best head kick finishes ever.
The welterweight bout between Erick Silva and Carlo Prater ended in controversy. Referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight and declared Prater the victor due to illegal strikes to the back of the head. During the replay, it was clear Yamasaki was incorrect in declaring Prater the victor. What was amazing was that Joe Rogan questioned Yamasaki in the ring only seconds after the fight ended. The well respected ref said he made the best decision he could during the fight. Joe then turned to the camera and said he thought it was an incorrect call. It was one of the most uncomfortable moments in the Octagon I can remember.
The Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson fight was exciting start to finish. I picked Johnson to win and I am glad I was wrong. When Johnson missed weight, I feel he disrespected Belfort, the fans, and the UFC. I will be very surprised if Anthony Johnson still has a job tomorrow with the UFC. It was a great submission victory for one of the sports all time great fighters. This victory sets up nicely the next TUF television show between Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva in Brazil.
The main event between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes went exactly like I thought it would. Aldo knocked out Mendes with a few seconds left in the first round. It was a great knockout by a great fighter. When he ran into the crowd after the fight and was carried back to the cage it was the best moment of the night.
SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST: (8.0)
If I'm rating this card on level of insanity, it gets an 11 on a scale from one to ten. From the time that Terry Etim was starched by Edson Barboza, things just went bananas. If there's ever been a UFC main card this flat-out crazy, I can't remember it. You know when Rousimar Palhares is involved that there's a chance of something nuts happening, but for it to go down in four fights is just on another plane. Palhares destroyed another knee tonight in heel hooking Mike Massenzio, Vitor Belfort punished Anthony Johnson (with the help of some liberal standups from Dan Miragliotta), and Jose Aldo celebrated among some rabid local fans after using every second of the first round but nothing more to beat Chad Mendes. You can't say that this was the most competitive card in the world, but from an entertainment standpoint, you couldn't have been more right to order the show.
Even the undercard was largely pretty good. The Alcantara-Omigawa fight showed how insanely tough Omigawa is and how good Alcantara could turn out to be. Gabriel Gonzaga actually picked up a win using his jiu jitsu. Mike Pyle won by knockout (his first in almost six years). Just some crazy, crazy things went down tonight. It's a lot to digest a half hour after the card ended, but this was - if nothing else - a newsworthy event. Here's hoping that enough people saw the main event to make Aldo into the star and the draw he deserves to be. And since that's probably a pipe dream (at least in North America), let's hope that the UFC makes this footage available to every media outlet that wants it, and even more available to the ones that don't care. Let's get some exposure for this guy. The shot of Aldo celebrating in the crowd will go down as one of the enduring images of 2012. You'll be seeing that forever. Aldo's done that before, but never in a crowd like this. If you didn't see the event, do yourself a favor and watch it now. I know I'm a little incoherent at the moment, but I'll have some more thoughts soon after I get some time to digest what went down tonight and decide what it all means.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (8.5)
It's a shame a card this exciting and highlight-worthy will go unseen by so many, but this really did provide some immensely exciting action throughout, with two moments I personally will never forget.
Edson Barboza's wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim was the type of thing you just don't see actually land in fights. It's so rare that a move that cool, looking straight out of a movie, lands flush and does the damage that strike did, but Barboza did just that.
Then, Jose Aldo attempted to one-up him (didn't quite get there, but he gave it a good shot) when he landed that knee on Chad Mendes out of nowhere. He held onto Mendes' arm to keep him in range, and threw the knee as soon as he turned around. Having it happen at the end of the round, with one second left, and then seeing him rush to the crowd, made for one immensely exciting series of events, and left the crowd in Brazil immensely happy to finish out the night.
Throw in Vitor Belfort's first UFC submission win since 1997 and Rousimar Palhares destroying another leg, the main card provided stellar action throughout. It's a shame Erick Silva's quick finish turned into a DQ, and though there were a few finishes on the prelims it wasn't that exciting, but the main card was very good, and well worth watching again, or purchasing a replay to see for the first time.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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