Roundtables
UFC 169 Roundtable: Moore, Hansen, Hyden, Hobaugh, and Penick rate and review "Barao vs. Faber II" event
Feb 2, 2014 - 10:00:51 PM UFC 169 Roundtable: Moore, Hansen, Hyden, Hobaugh, and Penick rate and review "Barao vs. Faber II" event

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MMATorch Staff and Contributors rate and review last night's UFC 169 event in our post-event roundtable.


DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK COLUMNIST: (6.0)

This certainly wasn't a highly anticipated fight card in my eyes, and in reflection, I know why now. The undercard really suffered from a lack of name value and the fact every fight went to decision, didn't surprise me in the slightest. Catone vs. Watson was particularly horrible, with the rest of the undercard not much better. Rashid Magomedov looked good against a competitive Tony Martin, and Al Iaquinta did just enough against a game Kevin Lee, but that was it, literally.

The main card started off with a bang and Jamie Varner vs. Abel Trujillo was easily the Fight of the Night. Rightly or wrongly, Varner stood and traded with Trujillo, but it was only a matter of time before the latter connected with a knockout blow. Great fight. Then the card went south at a rapid rate. Bagautinov did everything he should to avoid the power of Lineker, but it didn't make for an exciting contest. Can't blame him for that, tactics win fights, and the Russian did a good job.

Overeem vs. Mir would have looked so much better if the Dutchman had gotten the first round finish. It's very rare the heavyweights can produce an exciting fight for a full 15 minutes and this one certainly didn't. Overeem had the right tactic and his cardio looked good, but a win in that manner does nothing for him. Aldo was exactly the same, and it's incredibly frustrating watching him become so hesitant.

I hope Aldo does fight Anthony Pettis next because he needs a like-minded opponent to get the best out of him. Against sub-standard opponents like Lamas, he's all too comfortable point scoring, doing just enough to retain his title. Renan Barao on the other hand is an absolute beast. The stoppage was a little quick for my liking, but Faber wasn't exactly doing much, and Barao would have got the finish sooner or later. No point taking more unnecessary damage then he had to. A very disappointing night, but that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.


RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (5.0)

I didn't hate it as much as you probably did, which I think is probably damning with faint praise. I love watching Barao. I love Aldo's economy of motion and his leg kicks. I love Mir's "smug face" when there's blood on it (I say that out of love, not scorn). I love Alistair Overem's knees. I love when guys who can't make weight get tarred and feathered. I love when guys are dumb enough get sucked into firefights when all they need to do is take a step back and a deep breath (I'm looking at you, Mr. Varner). So there was in fact a lot of bits and pieces to love, here. But other than Abel Trujillo confusing Jamie Varner for the mother of his child, there was really no seminal moment on this card. It was a nice three hours (don't get me started on the 3.5 hours that led in to the PPV, please), but I won't remember much of it by this time tomorrow. As I am wont to say, mediocre UFC > pretty much anything else on television.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.0)

Jose Aldo showed once again that he's one of the best fighters in the world. Ricardo Lamas is a very tough fighter in his own right, and Aldo was able to handle him with few problems. It sounds like Anthony Pettis will defend his UFC Lightweight Championship against Aldo next. I wish this didn't mean that Aldo has to vacate his UFC Featherweight Championship, though. For one, this diminishes the belt by a guy who's not injured or anything vacating it. For two, who will fight for it? I would assume Cub Swanson would be one of the guys, but who's the other? Lamas just lost to Aldo, and before that Chan Sung Jung lose to Aldo. Chad Mendes it is.

The other title fight saw a questionable stoppage when Herb Dean stopped Renan Barao beating on Urijah Faber. The reason the stoppage is questionable to me is the timing. It's likely that Barao wins even if the fight continues, but Dean chose an odd time to step in. I didn't understand it at the time and I still don't understand it. It's unfortunate for Faber, but I wouldn't consider this an especially egregious stoppage. It was a bit deflating, though, in the timing. The rest of the card was just largely OK. It had some good moments but also some bad moments.


ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.5)

The undercard for 169 can best be described in three words. Boring. Boring. Boring.

The Jamie Varner vs. Abel Trujillo was a fast paced and awesome wild fight. It was very exciting and one of the best fights of the year. Trujillo's face skidding KO of Varner should get him stiffer competition in his next fight inside the UFC. Varner will need a better showing in his next fight or he will face being cut again from the organization.

Frank Mir vs. Alistair Overeem went pretty much as I thought I would. Overeem was too powerful and his striking was too much for Mir. This was not a fun fight to watch for Frank Mir's fans. He was battered in each of the three rounds and in the third round he was brutalized from Overeem's ground and pound. I have said it before and I will say it again, Mir needs to retire. Overeem picked up a nice decision victory over a top ten guy. It will be interesting to see who the UFC gives him next.

The Featherweight Title fight between Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas was a great scrap. Aldo proved again he has the best leg kicks in the business. He is in my opinion the best pound for pound fighter on the planet. Aldo won a well-deserved decision victory and he will be in no worry of losing his title any time soon. Lamas will be back and he should do better the next time he gets a title shot.

Renan Barao and Urijah Faber battled for the Bantamweight Title and it was over quickly. Barao earned a TKO victory 90 seconds into the first round. Faber might be done as far as title shots go, but he will be back fighting in the near future. Barao looks like he will hold his title for a very long time. Good night of fights and it was well worth the price of the PPV tonight.


JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (6.0)

This was a middle of the road show with one really exciting slug-fest, and two of the best pound for pound fighters retaining their titles. But there wasn't much more to the card than that.

Renan Barao is just excellent at 135 lbs., and the fact that he did to Faber what no one since Mike Brown in the WEC has done was fantastic. It was only brought down by the timing of the stoppage. Faber was closer to being done a minute earlier than in the moment Dean chose to step in, and it was a disservice to both fighters to have it end like that.

As for Barao's teammate Jose Aldo, he has this tendency to simply laud his superiority over some fighters without attacking for a finish as of late, and it's led to some decisions in fights perhaps he should have finished. Still, he hasn't truly been challenged by anyone at featherweight, and he's going to get a chance to get that challenge against another highly dynamic striker in Anthony Pettis this summer.

Beyond that, everything save the crazy brawl between Abel Trujillo and Jamie Varner was largely forgettable on Saturday night.