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ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (9.0)
Wow, what a night of fights. Not one fight disappointed and it delivered exactly what was advertised when this card was announced. "Cowboy" Donald Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons opened the main card in which "Cowboy" clearly dominated over Noons - who was always hyped as more than who he actually was as a fighter - and just outclassed him. Speaking of outclassed, Maynard vs. Grant showed what a hungry fighter looks like when making a statement. He completely dismantled Maynard, a top contender who now needs to look at what's next. Grant stole the show and destroyed Maynard.
Te-Huna vs Teixeira was another fine showing as Teixeira showed a great versatile game and achieved what I would perceive to be a boyhood dream, meeting Mike Tyson and having him cheer and clap for him. Teixeira clearly made another case of getting an opportunity to hopefully challenge for the light-heavyweight championship.
Dos Santos vs. Hunt did not disappoint. Great fight. They put on a striking clinic, with JDS taking it to Hunt and finishing him off with a spinning roundhouse kick and a nice, clean shot on the ground. Such a great statement made by JDS in setting up a return match to reclaim the Heavyweight Championship.
Bigfoot vs. Velasquez was quick and easy as you can have in a nights work (relatively speaking) for Cain Velasquez. Stoppage was dead on as Velasquez dropped Bigfoot and easily defended his Championship. Easily sets up JDS vs Velasquez III, and hopefully we get it before the year's end. Another solid night of fights, and so far, in my opinion, the best card (on paper and results) of the year.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (8.0)
The undercard on FX was a good set of fights and except for some puzzling judging decisions, it was well worth the watch. It was good to see Rick Story back in the Octagon and hopefully next time we see him the judges will get the decision correct. In my opinion Story won his fight against Mike Pyle.
It is sad when someone like Gray Maynard comes to the end of their career. He looked like a broken fighter after his loss to T.J. Grant. Maynard looks like he no longer has what it takes to fight at the highest level, and this KO loss should be his signal that he is at the end of his career.
UFC was all about the heavyweights and they did not disappoint. I enjoyed these two heavyweight fights as well as any in recent memory. Five words I never thought I would put together when writing an article are; Junior, spinning, back, kick, and KO. Junior dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt was an all-time great heavyweight fight. I have never seen this kind of KO by a heavyweight. Great fight and finish for JDS and this victory sets him up nicely for a title shot.
Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva was a repeat of their first meeting, with Cain destroying Bigfoot Silva in the first round. Some will say the fight was stopped too soon, but those people are wrong. Velasquez hit Silva with 11 unanswered shots and the stoppage was justified. I think if the UFC wants to put together the next great heavyweight title fight they will make the Velasquez vs. JDS III.
So many times the PPV nights are not worth the price of admission. Tonight was one of those rare nights where the card was worth every penny.
C.J. TUTTLE, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (6.0)
One of those rare times when I was able to watch a full card, Facebook fights included. There was a little bit of everything which isn't necessarily a good thing.
T.J. Grant, Khabib Nurmagomedov, JDS-Velasquez III, Mark Hunt, Glover Teixera all stand out to me as the big winners coming out of 160. Before you say: "hey, they all won," even in defeat Hunt showed his meteoric rise has been legitimate.
The score I gave suffered from some poor judging decisions and a couple snoozers, but overall I felt as if the 10$ cover charge I shelled out was money well spent.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: 8.0)
The only thing I can say about the Cain vs. Bigfoot fight is that it almost literally happened the way we all thought it would. The only surprise was Bigfoot stuffing Cain's takedown attempts twice. Other than that, it was all expected.
JDS showed that he's ready to bounce back and try to get the heavyweight title again. Normally I wouldn't be in favor of giving him a rematch against Cain so soon due to the nature of his loss in December, but I don't see anyone else that is really deserving of a shot.
T.J. Grant stopping Gray Maynard like that was impressive to see. He looked like he's ready to fight Benson Henderson, and that should be a good fight when it happens. Glover did what he was supposed to do against Te Huna and finished him. One last thing; I wasn't happy at all at the decision in the Bermudez vs. Holloway fight. How exactly did that happen?
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (7.0)
This score's for the pay-per-view card, specifically the top four fights, each featuring impressive and entertaining finishes. Though Cain Velasquez stopping Bigfoot Silva the way he did was no surprise, it was a nice, quick cap off to a violent night of fights. There's really nothing to complain about on that stoppage; maybe one of those shots hit the back of the head, the rest were going to the ear and were unanswered by Silva.
Cain's going to have to now get himself ready for a third fight against Junior dos Santos, who was in a fantastic heavyweight fight against Mark Hunt in the co-main. That was just excellent work from dos Santos throughout the fight, and the spinning heel kick? C'mon now, you don't see that in heavyweight MMA. Great work from dos Santos, and he deserves that rubber match.
Glover Teixeira looked excellent against an overmatched James Te Huna, but it was T.J. Grant with the standout performance of the night. He just demolished Gray Maynard with those flurries against the cage, and that was as big a statement as any fighter in the lightweight division has made in the last several years. He's going to make for one hell of a challenger against Ben Henderson.
All in all, the main card delivered, and when fans are plunking down money for the cards that's what the UFC has to hope for.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
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Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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