UFC 145 Thoughts

• I know some people gave Evans the first one, count me in as one of those people. But Jones dominated for most of the fight and easily controlled it. It was intriguing and interesting for some portions, although I think it did get a bit dull and dry by the end. The highlights were any brutal elbows that Jones landed on Evans. The one that rocked Evans was awesome. I was still a bit disappointed overall, but maybe it’s cause the Jones-Machida fight felt more mind blowing.
• Che Mills did not belong there with Rory MacDonald, and it showed big time. Totally outclassed, this felt like one of those PRIDE fights where they throw Alexander Otsuka in as a sacrificial lamb to a high level fighter. It was exactly like that. MacDonald has a win over Nate Diaz and almost beat Carlos Condit, Che Mills wasn’t going to challenge him. Still, MacDonald looked awesome in there. I want to see MacDonald fight Johny Hendricks (if Hendricks beats Koscheck) and the winner of Ellenberger-Kampmann. Maybe even Mike Pierce.
• I was down on Rothwell’s performances lately. I respected him from his IFL days and I remember thinking he was going to beat up Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 110 to rebound from the Velasquez trashing. That fight fell through so he later fought Gilbert Yvel and he didn’t look good there. He also looked terrible when he fought Mark Hunt. This fight proved two things: 1. Schaub’s chin is always going to be an issue. 2. Schaub isn’t very smart. Rothwell is a tough man, he took Schaub’s best shots and he dished one out at the perfect time to knock Schaub into internet meme land. Good for Rothwell, very happy for him.
• My friend Rupert was in Las Vegas and he was ready to place a bet on Michael McDonald. I was like,”No way, Torres is going to beat him by decision”. I apologized to Rupert on facebook afterwards. McDonald has serious power and Torres abandoned his safe style and went to war. Played right into McDonald’s hands and Torres was brutally knocked out. I still think Torres is a top ten fighter, I thought he beat Mighty Mouse last year, but it’s clear that he’ll never fight for a title again.
• Yagin vs Hominick was so interesting to watch. Hominick’s striking is so beautiful and precise, but Yagin has so much power, and that was the deciding factor. I thought it was the most exciting fight of the night and the biggest upset I’ve seen in a while. I feel bad for Hominick, a three fight losing streak is tough.
• Mark Bocek has only lost to Edgar, Danzig, Miller and Henderson in his UFC career. I think he would beat Danzig now, and continue to beat a lot of guys in the lightweight division. He is underrated, he’ll never be a title challenger but he’ll be a great gatekeeper for title challengers. Alessio did good, got some good strikes, but Bocek’s game is suffocating. Solid win for Bocek, I would like to see him fight the winner of Volkmann-Sass.
• Browne’s flying knee and arm triangle was fun to watch, Griggs just wasn’t at his level.
• Brown-Thompson was a war, crazy fight. But Thompson really needs to work on his takedown defense if he wants to hang in the UFC. He looked so tired in the 2nd, he was go gassed that Matt Brown was oustriking him. Very entertaining, it even contained a calf-slicer, but Thompson has a lot of work to do.
• Njokuani just dominated Makdessi, nasty leg kicks and great muay thai was on display. Njokuani has improved so much in the UFC, even in his losses against Barboza and Castillo, he was still impressive. He’s a dangerous fighter, I would like to see him fight Donald Cerrone (if Cerrone beats Stephens) down the line.
• Danzig beat Escudero in an okay fight that had one neat scramble and that I’ve mostly forgotten about.
• There was a terrible ref stand up in the Wisniewski-Clements fight, just awful in so many ways. Sloppy brawl but entertaining for what it was. Clements won but both guys are clearly not UFC caliber.
• Brimage showed up and had a great surprise for everyone as he soundly beat Blanco in an excellent competitive fight. Very fun fight and a good job by Brimage.

UFC 145 Results

UFC Light Heavyweight Championship – Jon Jones defeated Rashad Evans via unanimous decision.
Rory MacDonald defeated Che Mills via TKO at 2:20 of Round 2.
Ben Rothwell defeated Brendan Schaub via KO at 1:10 of Round 1.
Michael McDonald defeated Miguel Angel Torres via KO at 3:18 of Round 1.
Eddie Yagin defeated Mark Hominick via split decision.
Mark Bocek defeated John Alessio via unanimous decision.
Travis Browne defeated Chad Griggs via arm-triangle submission at 2:29 of Round 1.
Matt Brown defeated Stephen Thompson via unanimous decision.
Anthony Njokuani defeated John Makdessi via unanimous decision.
Mac Danzig defeated Efrain Escudero via unanimous decision.
Chris Clements defeated Keith Wisniewski via split decision.
Marcus Brimage defeated Maximo Blanco via split decision.