The Morning After Drill: Mega MMA Weekend

Contributor: Ben Kohn

Sorry for the delay my combat sports loving friends, I was busy Sunday engaging in firing paintballs at my closest friends and some random people. Anyway, let’s recap what happened over the weekend. 

• In the main event of the UFC 180 card, the interim title was won by Fabricio Werdum, who blasted Mark Hunt with a gorgeous flying knee to put the Samoan out cold. Despite looking excellent in the 1^st round, landing big shots on Werdum and surviving for an extended period in his guard, Hunt just couldn’t get the gold. However, he acquitted himself very well and once again has proven he’s become a real top HW fighter at age 40. Werdum is set to fight Cain, tentatively set for March and despite many counting him out, I think he definitely can beat Cain.
• Kelvin Gastelum is for real, people. I thought Ellenberger would be too much for him and boy did he prove me wrong. Jake looked to be in excellent shape, appeared to have trimmed some of his excess muscle, and landed big shots on the young prospect. But Gastelum took it like a champ, reversed a big takedown/slam by Ellenberger and slipped on a RNC like a fucking ninja. That go-to submission for him is so damn lovely to watch him apply. Gastelum is sure to have another step up in competition and I can’t wait to see him fight again.
• Welp, Ricardo Lamas put an end to the win streak and a momentary derailing of the hype train of Dennis Bermudez. Lamas looked fantastic in the short fight, dropping Dennis with a really hard jab and finishing with tight guillotine choke. This fight firmly entrenches Lamas in the top 5 and it will be interesting to see what the UFC does with him. He was dominated by the champ so Lamas is kind of in no-man’s land right now. For Bermudez, this is a big disappointment and he will need to win at least three fights imo for him to get back to title contention consideration.
• Augusto Montano big-brothered Chris Heatherly and basically murdered him with knees until the referee decided to have mercy. It was a weird fight and Montano won’t do much in the UFC, too awkward it seemed. Heatherly is definitely gone too.
• Hector Urbina defeated Edgar Garcia by guillotine choke in the 1^st round, that’s all I remember.
• Yair Rodriguez beat Leonardo Morales for the Featherweight Latin America TUF championship. His grappling was the key and though he was being outstruck, he was able to control enough of the fight on the ground to take the victory by UD.
• Alejandro Perez won the Bantamweight Latin America TUF championship despite getting his ass whipped for the majority of the fight. His opponent, Jose Quinonez was deducted two points for an illegal headbutt and lost the fight for that very reason. Pretty hilarious watching Perez celebrate like he really won the fight after being announced the winner though.
• Jessica Eye exploded Leslie Smith’s ear. It was gross, gruesome, disgusting, and pretty crazy to say the least. Smith was tough as nails and tried to push through but Herb Dean wisely stopped the bout after consulting with the doctors. Eye also looked pretty good in victory although her lack of power may hurt her on her rise up the ranks.
• Gabriel Benitez clearly was the better fighter in his fight with Humberto Brown and looks like he has some real skills. However, the real story wasn’t him putting Brown unconscious in the 3^rd with a guillotine choke. Rather, it was the poopy pants of Brown (lol) who shit himself in the second round. Really fun stuff.

Alright, so now it’s time to discuss the Bellator main card, I’m excited, are you guys? Of course you are. Because I’m awesome at telling you what happened. 

• In the main event, old Tito Ortiz fought against old Stephan Bonnar and his saggy man boobs. Despite their oldness, both fighters put on a decent fight in a fun little brawl with Ortiz pulling out a split decision that should have been a clear win for Ortiz. Bonnar gassed hard and fast while Ortiz seems to have had the tank to last into the third before gassing. It was a better fight than expected and Ortiz is on a two fight winning streak in 2014. Wow, kind of crazy huh?
• Will Brooks won virtually every second of his rematch with Chandler before finishing him in the 4^th round. The TKO was one of the oddest things I’ve seen in a while, with Chandler waving the fight off glassy eyed and Brooks just blasting him with unanswered blows before the ref finally stepped in. Brooks stuffed Chandler’s takedowns and outlanded him on the feet. Brooks is a really good fighter and I look forward to watching him fight again. Chandler though, I really hope he takes a break as he’s been through some serious wars and that finish worries me about his long term health.
• Mike Richman destroyed Nam Phan in under a minute. This doesn’t bode well for Phan as he’s really only good at taking punishment, if he loses that ability though, he’s done as a fighter.
• King Mo destroyed Joe Vedepo in a fight that went on far longer than it should have. Lawal gained a few brownie points with me for being genuinely concerned for Vedepo after the ref finally stopped it. Than lost them by celebrating once he made sure Joe was ok by swimming on the canvas. Dude, you finished a career MW who isn’t very good and took 3 rounds to do it. Calm yo nipple pierced titties.

Ahhh my friends, we come to the last event being discussed, the WSOF 15 event. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

• David Branch defeated Yushin Okami for the vacant WSOF MW title by TKO in the 4^th round. It’s a big win for Branch and huge loss for Okami. Many felt Okami is still top 10 after being released from the UFC and this is a severe blow to his standing at MW and basically ruined any chance he had of making it back to the UFC.
• Justin Gaethje and Melvin Guillard had a non-title fight due to Guillard missing weight and it wasn’t the best look for either of them. Guillard lost in a B-level promotion, which makes his A-level fighter claims look shaky at best. Gaethje won by split decision and I’m curious to see if they try and rematch them for the title.

That’s all for this weekend’s fights my friends, hope to see you again next fight card on Undercard Superstar.

-Ben can be reached at [email protected] or @agentbenten on Twitter.