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RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (2.0)
That was legitimately not enjoyable, short of seeing Roy Nelson being re-exposed as someone who enjoys eating pizza more than he wants a massive pay increase. The event had its moments. Well, a couple moments. Well, no, not really. It didn't have any moments whatsoever. The opener had a quick KO, but it was Pat Barry who got lit up and why would I revel in that? The women had a great fight. Well, they had a great round. OK, it was a decent round. Ryan Jimmo vs. Igor Pokrajac was better than I expected it to be, and it was still one of the dullest fights I've ever seen. And Dan Henderson vs. Rashad Evans was a dull tactical fight, though it was in fact much better than I thought it would be. It still wasn't very entertaining, though. And don't get me started on Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley. As a whole, I think I enjoyed this card less than our own UK correspondent Dan Moore enjoyed Camden Yards. This was just about as bad as a UFC PPV can be.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (5.5)
Shawn Jordan had a nice stoppage win over Pat Barry. It wasn't anything great, but anytime you stop a guy that quickly it's impressive. Stipe Miocic likely ended Roy Nelson's UFC career with a lopsided decision. I couldn't believe that Nelson looked that bad; it was just a really bad showing on his part. Miocic looked pretty good, but the UFC needs to give him another upper mid-level guy to see if this was the real deal or not.
Alexis Davis and Rosi Sexton had a good fight going that kind of petered out in the third, but still delivered. Ryan Jimmo needs to not ever be on PPV again. That fight was boring as hell and, as Dana White said, it sucked.
Rashad Evans edges Dan Henderson in a fight that was basically average. It was better than I thought it would be, but I thought the fight would be horrible so that's not saying much. Rashad does deserve a chance to prove he's back to form, though, so I'd like to see him fight Gegard Mousasi or even Glover Teixiera.
A 5.5 is slightly above average, and I thought that's what this show was. It was decent, but that's about all you can say really.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (4.0)
The UFC 161 undercard on FX was not bad and was a good way to start off the night. The James Krause vs Sam Stout fight was great and Krause could be a contender in the next year or so if he continues to progress after that victory.
This card was doomed for months because of all of the injuries. I was not expecting much and I was not disappointed. This was not the best card to begin with and the fights themselves were not great.
The Stipe Miocic vs Roy 'Big Country' Nelson fight highlights how week the heavyweight division is in the UFC. Nelson looked terrible and he was a top ten fighter. He needs to move on so the UFC can start bringing along younger fighters who can actually compete for the heavyweight title. Hopefully with this loss Nelson with either drop to 205 or retire.
The main event between Evans and Hendo was boring and could not save the rest of the boring, terrible card. Evans did just enough to eek out a victory, but could do little to improve this horrible PPV. I want my money back.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (4.0)
This was a below average show for the UFC, but there were some moments to keep it from being amongst their worst events ever. The Evans-Henderson headliner was a good, close fight, and I especially liked the way Evans finally turned up his attack in the third round. It was the most confident he's been in his striking since the Tito Ortiz fight, and really secured the fight with a strong finish as Henderson faded. Outside of that, the main card was just OK. Expectations were low, and essentially met, but the only other standout of the pay-per-view event was Stipe Miocic beating up Roy Nelson for three rounds. The undercard had a couple of really nice fights, though, with James Krause putting together a really good performance and locking on a fantastic guillotine with time running out. That said, their fight shouldn't have gotten "Fight of the Night." That should have gone to the Edwin Figueroa-Roland Delorme fight, which was just a really enjoyable back and forth battle. All in all, no one was expecting anything special, and that's pretty much what was provided.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
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