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UFC on Fox 11 Roundtable: Hansen, Hyden, Norman, and Penick rate and review "Werdum vs. Browne" event
Apr 19, 2014 - 11:35:25 PM
UFC on Fox 11 Roundtable: Hansen, Hyden, Norman, and Penick rate and review "Werdum vs. Browne" event
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RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (8.0)

That was fun. Other than a few random moments here and there, the entire card was fun to watch. Add on top of that the fact that this card featured more than one fight with divisional relevance (for a change), and the night can only be considered a big win for everybody involved.

OK, so the night can't be considered a big win for Travis Browne, who laid an egg so potent that Daenerys Targaryen will use it to take control of the Iron Throne. The masses who were on Browne going into this fight, myself definitely included, fell prey to recency illusion and assumed that Browne would need less than three minutes to send Fabricio Werdum's brain into his groin. After all, Browne's last five fights lasted barely twelve minutes combined, with his four wins in that streak ending by first round finish. The last time Browne fought for more than one round was September 2011, at the UFC 135 card in Denver. Browne was gassed half way through the first, and after that he never had a chance. As a result, Fabricio Werdum, will be fighting Cain Velasquez, allegedly, for the title this fall in Mexico. And as an aside, if you think Browne gassed badly tonight, imagine him at altitude, in the smog of Mexico City. He'd be done after touching gloves.

Cerrone vs. Barboza was unreal. I thought it was a real 50/50 fight going in. Three minutes in I thought it was a 90/10 fight for Barboza. Fifteen seconds later, Barboza tapped after being dropped by a Cerrone jab. Cerrone's going to get another $50,000 to blow by Thursday, so maybe he wants to replace Bobby Green next week.

Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche was brutal.

I missed the Romero fight, so I can't comment on that.

The undercard was fine. Khabib Nermagomedov and Ben Askren are the same fighter, so why is one being pushed by Joe Rogan to fight Anthony Pettis and one being pushed by Dana White to fight in Singapore? Because Nurmagomedov is so marketable? Yeah, that's why.

And congratulations are in order for Thiago Alves, who won his first fight after a two year absence. Even had he lost, that's a damned impressive accomplishment to come back after such a long time.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (4.0)

This wasn't a very good night of fights. To be honest, it largely sucked. Yoel Romero beat Brad Tavares in a disappointing decision. The fight itself was OK, I was just expecting more from Romero here, and I thought he would finish Tavares.

Donald Cerrone got an awesome submission win over Edson Barboza. That was really slick how he dropped Barboza with that left hand then immediately took his back and made him tap. It was pretty impressive.

I was surprised that Meisha Tate got the decision win over Liz Carmouche. I had the fight scored 29-28 for Carmouche, but I'm glad that Tate won. Carmouche didn't do anything with her takedowns. I don't like seeing that. It was dull how she would just lay on top of Tate. I was expecting more from her.

The main event was pretty bad. You could tell in the second round that Fabricio Werdum was going to win the five-round decision. I give him credit for having enough cardio to last that long, unlike Travis Browne, but he didn't do anything with it. He could have finished Browne in the third or fourth round, and especially in the fifth round. Browne had absolutely nothing to offer Werdum, it never should have gone to decision. However, anyone who's watched MMA for any amount of time knew that it was going to decision, though. This basically summed up why I dislike watching heavyweights so much. They gas out too quick and then we get these dull affairs. I was impressed by Werdum's striking, though. He looked really good.


CASH NORMAN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (8.0)

Werdum vs Browne, (6): Browne had a great deal of momentum heading into the fight with Werdum and I think it clouded my judgement of how good Werdum is at striking. Werdum is not only a good striker but he has very fast hands, which he used to double and triple up his jab then follow with heavy right hands. Werdum also used the kicks early and often to take out the legs and light up the body of the Browne. Browne didn't have any answers for Werdum while they were striking and gassed out towards the end of the first round.

Tate vs Carmouche (7): I knew that Tate would have the grappling/submission advantage over Carmouche. However, I was surprised she did not come up swinging like usual. For some reason Carmouche has seemed very tentative in her last two fights, as if she's fighting not to lose rather than fighting to win. Carmouche did not implement any of the ground and pound she's known for even though she took Tate down several times.

Cerrone vs Barboza (10): This was the fight I was truly excited about and it did not disappoint. Barboza is a monster, he came out early and tagged Cerrone with some hard combinations which hurt him. As the first round progressed, Barboza continued to pepper Cerrone with hard shots and even landed a spinning body kick. The always dangerous Cerrone only needed a small opening, though, and he hit Barboza with a jab which dropped and stunned Barboza before Cerrone transitioned like a spider monkey to his back and sunk in a rear naked choke. The submission victory over Edson Barboza is the 15th in Donald Cerrone's career.

Tavares vs Romero (9): Everytime I see Romero, I wish he wasn't 36. This guy is so ridiculously athletic and explosive it boggles my mind. However, he has glaring holes in his standup and ground game once the fight hits the mat. Romero was able to take Tavares down almost at will but did not implement much ground and pound nor did he look to secure submissions. Since he trains out of American Top Team, I am sure we'll only see him get better but once again it makes me wish he was younger.

The undercard of Fox 11 saw Khabib Nurmagomedov smother Rafael dos Anjos on his way to his 22nd consecutive victory. Nurmagomedov has an almost wild wide open style of striking and I could see him getting caught as he begins to face higher ranked competition.

We also saw the successful return of Thiago Alves, he looked good in his victory over Seth Baczynski after a two year layoff. I could tell he had some slight timing issues on his kicks but they were still good enough to hurt Baczynski and slow him down.

Guys to watch for in the future: Mirsad Bektic at featherweight (8-0), winning his UFC debut via UD over Chas Skelly, and flyweight Ray Borg (6-1), who lost his debut via split decision, a contest I thought he should have won.


JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (7.5)

This was a really good night of fights overall. The Fight Pass prelims got things off to a nice start, with Ray Borg's debut against Dustin Ortiz a thrilling back and forth fight to lead into the televised card. There were a number of entertaining fights on the Fox Sports 1 prelims, a couple of quick finishes, an inspiring return from Thiago Alves, and yet another dominant decision win for Khabib Nurmagomedov.

On the network TV portion, Yoel Romero picked up another win in what I thought was a really good performance. He's continuing to get better as he adds more wrinkles to his game, and though he's in the latter half of his 30s, he could still work to a title run with the right fights.

Donald Cerrone's win over Edson Barboza was fantastic, and absolutely everything I love about watching this sport. Barboza was doing quite well, but things shifted on a dime as he got caught by that left, and Cerrone's instincts to get right into that submission were excellent.

I'll be interested to see whether or not Liz Carmouche gets another UFC fight after Saturday night. She's 1-3 in her four appearances, and though she had an argument for that second round, she had so little offense in that fight and it wasn't one of those leaving fans clamoring for another appearance. Tate survives to fight another day, but she was listless through the first ten minutes and very much off her game.

Very much on his game was Fabricio Werdum, who looked quite good through five rounds with Travis Browne. This is a significant step back for Browne, but Werdum emerges as a legitimate test for Cain Velasquez this fall.


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EDITORS:

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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
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