What do you get when you rematch two fighters who have already fought once and seen one fighter prove a much higher quality? Well, you get Cain Velasquez drubbing Antonio Silva at UFC 160.
Bigfoot was the opponent of convenience after upsetting the order of the division by KO'ing an Alistair Overeem that appeared baffled that he was expected to have to work in the cage at all. But he wasn't ever the challenger that was likely to, well, challenge.
Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight in the world, and I suppose the only thing the UFC can do with him now is the rubber match with Junior dos Santos.
- Mark Hunt deserves credit for giving it a real go tonight against Junior dos Santos, but the reality is that the fight played out as it should have. Hunt is noticeably slower with his reflexes and that really took away the chance of him timing a haymaker and getting the win. Junior was moving and using range and looking like the better, younger fighter that he is. And seriously...that knockout!
- No, seriously...that knockout (via Esther Lin at MMA Fighting)
- Glover Teixeira looked good in submitting -- and kind of dominating -- James Te Huna, but I still just don't see him as the kind of guy who has the game to give Jon Jones trouble. I can see ways that maybe Alexander Gustafsson can trouble Jones, but not so much Glover. Has good skills though and is absolutely a nightmare for almost everyone in the division.
- TJ Grant had looked very good since dropping down to 155, but he lacked the big marquee win to be able to claim he deserved a title shot. He put a beating on Gray Maynard after it appeared that Maynard may have been "on." Grant stopping him in the first round was huge and I sincerely hope the UFC doesn't jerk him around on the title shot they said the win would earn him.
- As a long time KJ Noons fan, he just doesn't look like he "wants it" anymore. He doesn't have much on his punches a lot of the time, he doesn't really look like he is improving from fight to fight. I'm not entirely sure what is left for him in his career. Donald Cerrone just had his way with Noons, which was likely a product of just being better and having more offensive tools more than it was Noons' lack of desire. But it still just seems that the fire is gone.
- I kinda thought Mike Pyle had a legitimate claim to winning the fight against Rick Story, so that didn't really upset me. Max Holloway getting robbed against Dennis Bermudez did stick in my craw a bit. Holloway seemed to have clearly won two rounds, but that's just where we are in the sport. If it goes to a decision, you just don't know.
- Watching Abel Trujillo mentally break was probably the most difficult thing to see on the card. He just had no answer for the wrestling of Khabib Nurmagomedov and as he got taken down and controlled over and over he took to basically looking at the ref and begging him to just make Khabib stop.
- I was shocked that people were upset with George Roop's corner for acting like he won the first round against Brian Bowles. Yes, Bowles clearly won the round, but part of the corner's job is to know how fighter's respond. Some fighters need to be told they lost a round, others need their confidence kept up with little white lies. I'm not saying that's why Roop knocked out Bowles in the second round, but it may have helped him remain slightly more confident coming out of the corner.