...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (3.0)
This was a fairly meaningless card coming in, and it absolutely delivered. If the main event underdog defeated the favorite, then he'd keep the title shot he was holding. If the favorite of the main event won, he wouldn't get a title shot because he's 0-2 against the champion. For some reason, the UFC didn't bother to put any of that on their poster, though.
That said, the main event between Benson Henderson and Josh Thomson with no P was somewhat entertaining during the moments Thomson with no P was controlling the action. He controlled the action enough to get his hand raised, but it was a Ben Henderson fight, so we all know how that played out. Personally, I scored the fight 48-47 Henderson, giving the former champ rounds 2, 3, and 5. I can easily see how 2 and 5 could be handed to Thomson though, so I would've been fine with 48-47 either way, or 49-46 Thomson. I also scored the fight as a whole for Josh Thomson, and it really kind of sucks that he lost. I'm fairly ambivalent on this one, which is a lot more than I can say about the rest of the card.
In the co-main event, Stipe Miocic comes out of his exceedingly disappointing decision victory over Gabriel Gozaga lessened in victory. Miocic looked terrible, but at least he was able to breathe at the end of the fight. Unlike Gonzaga. If that fight was at altitude, everyone in the United Center would have suffocated from Gonzaga sucking every last bit of air out of the building, heaving to hold on to sweet, sweet life. Never once since Miocic defeated Roy Nelson in June 2013 did I think Miocic was a top 10 fighter in the heavyweight division, and at this moment I'll have to seriously evaluate if he's even top 15.
Donald Cerrone beat the living hell out of Adriano's neck with what may have been the most perfect head kick you're ever going to see. Drop the Kid Rock, and you've got a fan in me. Until then... I damn you to a fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov or Edson Barboza next time out.
Jeremy Stephens looked good against Darren Elkins, but if you think I'm going to pay any positive attention to Jeremy Stephens...
KALE HAVERVOLD, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.5)
Overall I would say this was a great card. The Miocic-Gonzaga left a lot to be desired, but this card was full of exciting and great finishes such as Daron Cruickshank's KO, Donald Cerrone's KO and my personal favorite stoppage of the night, which was when "Bruce Leroy" pulled off the come from behind submission victory over the 20 year old phenom Sergio Pettis!
The main event was fairly back and forth but with Josh Thomson breaking his hand in the fight, sort of foreshadowed the outcome of the fight. Overall I would say it was a fun card with its fair shares of stoppages.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (6.5)
Any time a free UFC is on I am a happy guy. This card on paper was not great, but actually wasn't a horrible event.
Darren Elkins vs. Jeremy Stephens was a decent way to start off the main card on Fox. Stephens looked good in his decision win over Elkins. Elkins is still too one dimensional a fighter. He is still young, so he has time to be more than a wrestler with good striking. If he wants to stay in the UFC he will need to do a much better job than he did tonight. Jeremy Stephens recently dropped to 145 and he looks great at that weight. He was a great striker at 155, but at featherweight he is a real force to be reckoned with. With this victory he should be one or two fights away from a title shot.
When the UFC announced Donald Cerrone vs. Adriano Martins I was a bit surprised. Cerrone has not only fought the better competition, but is clearly the better fighter. I think that Cerrone should have been given a better opponent because he is not that far from a title shot. The result was not surprising, but was rather shocking. Cerrone landed one of the best head kick knockouts in recent memory. He needs one win against a top five fighter to be considered for a title shot. Adriano Martins needs more seasoning before he is given another top-ten fighter.
Stipe Miocic vs. Gabriel Gonzaga was an interesting fight on paper between two top 15 heavyweights. In reality it was slow and boring because Gonzaga's cardio is horrible. He lost a decision victory to a better fighter tonight. I totally agree with Joe Rogan that Gonzaga needs to change camps if he wants to make another title run. Miocic looked average, but at heavyweight average still keeps him in the mix.
Benson Henderson vs. Josh Thomson was the only fight on the card with immediate title implications. I picked Henderson to win, but was immediately impressed with Thomson in this fight. Thomson looked great everywhere and even with a broken hand he matched Bendo move for move. This was a great back and forth fight with neither man having a clear advantage at any point in the fight. On my card it was dead even going into the fifth round and in my opinion the fifth round was the closest round of the fight. Many will argue that the decision for Henderson was incorrect, but it was too close to call and no one should be upset with this decision because it was such a close fight. Thomson is now two fights away from a title shot, but I do feel like he has a chance to win his way into a title shot. Henderson is also two fights away because how he lost his title last year. One of these fighters will be fighting for a title early in.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (6.0)
This wasn't a great night of nights. Jeremy Stephens should have put Darren Elkins away. It should have never gone to a decision. For one, Stephens tore up the leg of Elkins with those kicks. You could see him limping around. And then Stephens had him wobbled and let him recover. If he had pushed forward or thrown some combos he could have put him away.
Donald Cerrone's headkick KO over Andriano Martins was the highlight of the night. Great job by Cerrone. I always love seeing the slow-mo replays of these kinds of shots, they're always freaky.
Stipe Miocic's boring decision win over Gabriel Gonzaga perfectly encapsulates everything I hate about the heavyweight division. Gonzaga gassed like crazy towards the end of the first round. The first round. That's just not good at all. And then, even though Gonzaga wasn't putting up much resistance, Miocic was content to just ride out the decision win. His cardio was better than Gonzaga's but that's just barely better than nothing.
Benson Henderson won a fairly good decision over Josh Thomson. It wasn't the greatest fight I've ever seen, but at least both guys were trying hard. One thing that does bother me about the decision is that one judge gave three rounds to Thomson, another gave him two rounds, and the third only gave him one round. How does that happen? That's very odd. The fight itself was more interesting than anything else. It was a nice chess match between the fighters. I'd be really tempted to go with Thomson winning, though, because of the takedowns he got. He was also able to get good position several times. As the adage says, though, never leave it to the judges.
TONY BECERRA, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (8.0)
Great night of free fights, prelims through the main card had all exciting matchups that delivered. Sergio Pettis will bounce back, Stephens and Cerrone had great outings and are looking to move up in the ranks.
Gonzaga looked good in the beginning executing the legs kicks early on. Miocic responded with kicks of his own and some powerful jabs. Round two saw the pace pick up Miocic and slow down for Gonzaga. In the end, another notable victory for Miocic on his quest for heavyweight supremacy.
Thomson looked good early in the first round controlling Henderson, escaping a choke and ending the round with a nice takedown. Really nice back and forth battle through two rounds. Early in the third a suspected broken hand seemed to slow down Thomson. It didn't stop him however from throwing the right and going for the takedown. In the end it just wasn't enough as Henderson takes the hard fought split decision victory.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (6.0)
This card featured one excellent fight on the undercard between Alex Caceres and Sergio Pettis, and a massive highlight-reel head kick KO from Donald Cerrone. Because of that, it's a slight thumbs up for the card overall, because at the very least those two fights deserve attention.
That said, there's certainly negatives out of this card as well. The controversy out of the main event is justified, and Benson Henderson comes out with probably the most questionable and unjustified victory of his entire MMA career. Then there was the awful Miocic-Gonzaga co-main event, which just died after the first round as Gonzaga gassed badly and Miocic failed to do anything with that.
The rest of the card just didn't leave much of an impression at all. There were some OK fights and some decent performances, but nothing stood out beyond the Caceres-Pettis bout and Cerrone's head kick win, save maybe Daron Cruickshank's spinning wheel kick on Mike Rio.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
