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JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (8.0)
Saturday night's Fox card was just a fantastic evening of entertainment from the UFC, with a brutal array of finishes complimenting some good to great fights throughout the night. The preliminary card - sans Francis Carmont - provided tons of action and exciting stoppages, with some brutal knockouts from a number of fighters. From Yoel Romero's flying knee to Myles Jury's one-punch KO of Ramsey Nijem (which itself came after an excellent grappling chess match in the first round), it was just enjoyable as all hell.
Then the main card continued things with an incredible brawl between Matt Brown and Jordan Mein. The young Canadian just didn't know what he got himself into, and though he nearly pulled off the finish from a body strike in the first round, the sheer volume of brutality which Brown is able to dish out was too much for him. It was massively violent, but very entertaining.
Add in the comeback performance of the last several years in Josh Thomson's destruction of Nate Diaz, Daniel Cormier's excellent and intelligent work against Frank Mir, and a solid and close main event between Ben Henderson and Gilbert Melendez, there's simply no reason to dislike anything on the card. Except Francis Carmont.
C.J. TUTTLE, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.0)
I watched UFC on Fox 7 live and decided to re watch later on in the evening. After reflecting on what I saw I am both impressed and underwhelmed. Here's some thoughts: The MMA world is buzzing about T.J. Dillashaw just as they were about Jordan Mein a few short weeks ago. Well deserved. After a short layoff and two stoppages the dude deserves the praise being given. Mein on the other hand walked into a firefight and got burned. He was brought back to earth by Matt Brown.
Frank Mir came in to the event looking like he has gotten in touch with Vitor's TRT connection, yet this didn't help him when it came to Daniel Cormier. The fight was boring but showed the superiority of Daniel Cormier's strikes. There's saying when it comes to being able to back up all the shit a fighter talks leading up to a fight. The Diaz brothers are kings of the first part, but as of late haven't been taking care of the second. At least one of the guys they train with brought it.
Gilbert Melendez came into HP Pavilion with something to prove and in my opinion he was successful. Another UFC champion was able to slide by with a decision. Frustrating for the challenger, but to become champion you need to decisively beat the incumbent. All in all I enjoyed the show, mainly because the UFC finally delivered something they haven't in quite some time. FINISHES.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.0)
My score is pretty much entirely for the first two fights on the main card. Matt Brown and Jordan Mein had a very entertaining slugfest. It was a really fun fight to watch, as Brown kept swarming Mein and wouldn't let him breathe. Mein just couldn't handle the pressure. Nate Diaz getting finished by Josh Thomson was surprising to me because I didn't think that Nate would eat another headkick after having survived two of them. It's a good win for Thomson.
I'm so utterly disappointed by Daniel Cormier's performance. He's more talented than Frank Mir, but he sure as hell didn't show it tonight. This fight sucked, there's no other way to put it. It was boring, and all too indicative of the type of boring fights most heavyweights are in. Both guys were gassed early and this lead to a horrible showing by both men. I don't know where Cormier goes from here, but he's got a long way to go before he can even think of getting a title shot in any division.
Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez was a prime example of when five-round fights are a bad thing. It took the first three rounds for either guy to even get start to get going, and even then they were still very tentative. I'm disappointed in both guys, it seemed like they were both more scared to lose than anything else.
I guess I'll give Benson credit for proposing to his girlfriend, but that was just kind of odd. I agree on it being a split decision because it was hard to pick a winner. This was just a lackluster fight.
TONY BECERRA, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (9.0)
This was one of the best cards I can remember seeing on network telivision. Beginning with the prelims, these fighters came out to fight and as a fan I loved every minute of it. All of the main card fights delivered...well except for the Cormier-Mir fight. I mean the fight was good but in my opinion it's the only one that is brining the score of the entire event down. Here's a quick recap of the main card bouts:
Brown vs Mein: Brown looked great in this fight, he just ran through Mein. Other than the body shot that put him down temporarily, he dominated and finished Mein. As for Mein, he showed a lot heart but in the end he just took some serious punishment early in the fight and never really recovered. I see Mein bouncing back and maybe a top 10 opponent for Brown next.
Thomson vs Diaz: I really expected more out of Diaz from this fight. I thought Thomson looked great in his return to the UFC and it looks like his past injuries didn't seem to make an impact in this fight.
Cormier vs Mir: When it comes to the heavyweights I am always excited to see some heavy leather thrown, but for some reason this fight was spent against the cage most of the time. I think Frank Mir has skill but is destined to become the gatekeeper of the heavyweight division if he isn't already. For Cormier, its been highly publicized that he will not fight his friend Cain Velasquez and will drop down to 205. I think if Cormier could safely drop down to 205 then I'm all for it. However, I don't think it would be wise to fight the champion in your first fight at 205, but who the hell am I.
Henderson vs Melendez: One of the best fights I've seen all year. This was a back and forth battle that I'm sure kept everyone at the edge of their seats for the entire bout. I think Melendez showed why he is one of the best in the world, he definitely brought it to Henderson but in the end the decision went to Henderson. I'm not saying it wasn't close but when a fight is THAT close you can never leave it in the judges hands. I think Melendez's corner hurt him more than they helped him, you have to go into the final round thinking that you are down in a fight with that much of a back and forth affair. I wouldn't be surprised if they had an immediate rematch, especially with Pettis being booked.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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