UFC 187 this past Saturday Night from the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas was one of the most hyped cards in years, and for good reason as it was loaded from top to bottom including a double main event featuring two title matches.
The under card also delivered on the hype with several fantastic finishes. Joseph Benavidez remained red hot with another dominant victory, this time a unanimous victory over John Moraga. Benavidez is 22–4, but 10–2 in his last 12, with those only two losses coming against current flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson.
He is clearly the second-best fighter in the entire division, problem being that the top fighter is the champion who has already beaten him twice. Andrei Arlovski has been on a tear since returning to the UFC last year, and is now 3-0 since coming back to the Octagon.
He is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and after his first round thrilling knockout of gritty contender Travis Browne, the talk is that Arlovski may be back on the fast track to another shot at the title. He has moved past his very rough stint in Strikeforce (0-3) to once again become one of the top faces in the Heavyweight Division.
Donald Cerrone ran his record to 8-0 since moving to lightweight and 28-6-1 overall with a brutal KO victory against John Makdessi. Cerrone landed a kick so hard in the second round, it broke the jaw of Makdessi, forcing a stoppage to the bout. He has been on an absolute tear and all signs point to him facing the man who was last to beat him, current UFC Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos very soon.
Despite the loss for Makdessi, things aren’t all bad for him as he is the president of the MMA apparel brand Fear the Fighter, which has sponsored several MMA and UFC fighters. If anyone had any doubt that Chris Weidman is the best Middleweight fighter on the planet, and completely deserving of the title, they can stop doubting him now.
After getting stunned with an early shot, he rebounded in dominant fashion to destroy number one contender Vitor Belfort. Vitor had been waiting almost two years for this title shot, and came out flat and got soundly beat. Since returning to the UFC in 2009, Belfort is 6–3, with all 3 of his losses coming in title matches. Twice for the Middleweight title to Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman and also once for the Light Heavyweight title to Jon Jones.
Speaking of the Light Heavyweight title, the championship was vacant for the first time in a long time in the history of its lineage. The title was up for grabs when the top two contenders in the division did battle for it. Daniel Cormier survived an early storm of hard kicks and punches from Anthony Rumble Johnson to rebound and ground and pound Johnson for the majority of three rounds before finally getting Johnson to tap out 2 minutes and 39 seconds into the third round. Cormier moved his record to 16–1 and won his first UFC championship.
The expectation is for Jon Bones Jones to return from suspension and challenge Cormier for his championship that he had to vacate because of ongoing legal issues. Also, Ryan Bader crashed the post fight press conference and called out Cormier which nearly led to a brawl.
Things are heating up once again!
Until next time fight fans!