On Saturday night the UFC hit the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas for UFC 160, which was headlined by a rematch between heavyweight kingpin Cain Velasquez and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. In the co-main event, former champion Junior Dos Santos faced New Zealand’s own Mark Hunt. Memorial Day Weekend cards have a tendency to be enjoyable, and Saturday night’s card was no exception. Here are the highs and lows for UFC 160:
The Highs
In the Facebook Preliminary portion of the night, former WEC bantamweight champion Brian Bowles faced George Roop. Prior to the the fight I gave Bowles the striking edge, but boy was I wrong. In the first, Bowles did mount a decent offense, rocking Roop and coming close with his signature guillotine choke, but the ever-improving Roop survived it and put on a dazzling striking display in the second, finishing Bowles.
Roop has always been known as a solid but inconsistent fighter, but we definitely saw him at his best on Saturday night. His striking was pinpoint, and he looked as sharp as he did when he famously zombified Chan Sung Jung with a head kick at WEC 51.
A pair of “The Ultimate Fighter” winners were pitted together on the FX portion of the card, as Australia’s Robert Whittaker faced military vet Colton Smith. Smith is known for a relentless grinding style, but inexplicably he sought to put on a standup show for the fans on Saturday, instead of initiating the clinch, which of course is his forte. This was a decision that had a detrimental effect on his performance. However, Whittaker looked like a fighter on a mission, as he utilised great movement throughout and implemented a punch-centric style reminiscent of his namesake Pernell, before finishing the fight with a TKO in the third.
The main card featured the highly-anticipated fight to determine the #1 contender at 155 pounds, between Gray Maynard and TJ Grant. Grant started the fight tentatively and got clipped by Maynard early, but the Canadian recovered and began to find his range. After landing hard with combos to the head, Grant let loose a onslaught of brutal shots that rendered the ever-dangerous Maynard unconscious in the first round.
Next for Grant is obviously a match up with the champ Benson Henderson, and on paper Grant matches up really well with Henderson. Henderson’s main strengths are his size and movement, and in my opinion Grant could prove to be his kryptonite. Grant is as big as Henderson, but he carries more power in his punch, and is far more aggressive.
In the co-main event of the night, former UFC champion Junior Dos Santos faced former K-1 champion “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt, and from the get-go, this fight lived up to its billing. Hunt was known from the beginning of his career for his looping right hand, but throughout his evolution as a fighter, his lead left hook has become the most devastating weapon in his arsenal, and he landed it at will early in the first. That was before JDS landed an overhand right that would’ve knocked out many a lesser man, but Hunt remarkably recovered and fought on.
In the second round, JDS began to find his rhythm, and both landed from the outside at will and took down JDS, securing himself the round. In the third, JDS continued a safe approach from the outside and seemed destined to ride out a decision, but landed a highlight reel wheel kick to render the iron-chinned Samoan unconscious.
Next for Junior Dos Santos will most likely be a rematch with the champion Velasquez.
The Lows
One thing in particular really annoyed me on Saturday night, and that was the antics of Abel Trujillo in the third round of his fight with combat sambo world champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. After being outgrappled throughout, Trujillo simply gave up defending takedowns, and gave up on mounting any real offense. At one point mid-takedown he flailed his arms to the referee, as if to say “he’s not doing anything.” Well, only one person in the Octagon Saturday night wasn’t performing, and that was him. I was really disappointed, because following his fight with Marcus LeVesseur, I was in awe at his raw talent, but as we often see in MMA, raw talent is often not enough, and like his former teammate Melvin Guillard, he is weak where it matters most, his mind.
In the main event we were treated to the rematch that nobody asked for, and after being gifted a fight against the champion, Antonio Silva suffered the same fate as last time, and was dominated en route to a first round stoppage. Post-fight Silva had the gall to imply that his downfall had come directly as a result of a mistake by referee Mario Yamasaki, and this to me was a very unclassy move. I believe he should have given more credit to Velasquez, who for a second time proved he was the far superior fighter.
**********
UFC 160: Velasquez vs. Bigfoot II took place on May 25, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC 160 was.
