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There was something for everyone tonight. Johnson brought lumbering violence with his 29 strike fight ending barrage against Pat Barry. Hendricks and Koscheck brought a 15 minute war that was very easy to get behind. Alan Belcher showed that he's got a real pedigree on the ground by giving a leg to Rousimar Palhares and then yanking it back. And of Nate Diaz beat a wrestler, and clearly established himself as the next worthy contender for the title at 155.
The undercard was decent, other than the awful John Cholish vs. Danny Castillo fight (which single-handedly dragged this down from a 9 to an 8). The flyweight fights were highly entertaining, Michael Johnson showed the world that he is better than we all believed, and John Hathaway slaughtered a really tough guy in Pascal Krauss. Other than John Cholish's presence, there isn't anything to bitch about on this card.
BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (8.5)
It was definitely a very exciting card that delivered what UFC needed after the much slower paced Davis-Evans card. Pat Barry showed serious heart taking the amount of damage he did and still nearly pulling off a submission before being knocked out by the dangerous and scary not to mention fast rising Lavar Johnson - that dude is dangerous. Alan Belcher probably shocked a good percentage of fans by not only taking the fight to Palhares but also avoiding his submissions and attempting a twister. Belcher gained so much with his showing tonight, he looked on point for the KO win against the rarely outmatched Rousimar Palhares. Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks delivered on what is easily the fight of the night. I had it scored 29-28 for Hendricks, but wow did those two show some incredible striking and heart to stand and bang so savagely for three rounds. Hendricks asked for Condit - and I for one would love to see that happen. Koscheck's eye looked awful post fight and hopefully it's nothing too serious. Nate F'N Diaz is a whole new kind of beast at lightweight, he absolutely picked apart Jim Miller and finished him for the first time in his career. Sure Diaz is cocky but hes extremely talented and deserves either a title shot or a fight against Anthony Pettis to see who gets the first dibs on the champ. An absolutely great main card after partially lackluster prelims.
FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (9.5)
My score is so high because this was a really good card, and the fact that it was free raises it up even higher. Nate Diaz looked great, finishing Jim Miller is an impressive feat. Nate deserves a title shot after this performance. Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks was a pretty equal fight. Now Hendricks is just a fight or two from getting a title shot, Koscheck is a good fighter.
The surprise of the night was Alan Belcher handling the ground game of Roushimar Palhares. That was damn impressive the way he was countering Palhares and beat him at his own game. The finish seemed to be inevitable once Belcher stymied Palhares. Lavar Johnson beating Pat Barry was pretty cool. It was your typical heavyweight slugfest, not very technical, but entertaining. This was a very good show.
ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (8.0)
Pat Barry vs. Lavar Johnson was a slug fest. I was sure when Barry had full mount half way through the first round, the fight was over. However, Barry let Johnson up and Johnson started landing huge shots. This was a great knockout by Johnson and he is a real threat at heavyweight. The fight was fast paced and Johnson is for real. Pat Barry might be dropped to Strikforce and Johnson is ready as a legit top ten fighter.
Rousimar Palhares vs. Alan Belcher was a short, awesome fight. When these two hit the ground and Palhares started working his submission game, it seemed like it was only a matter of time. Belcher defended beautifully, got on top, and unleashed some brutal ground and pound for the win. Great fight.
Josh Koscheck vs. Johny Hendricks turned into the standup fight I thought it would. I was a bit surprised Hendricks was able to take down Koscheck several times, but that was the difference in the fight. Hendricks deserved the split decision victory. He can now ask for and deserves a top five fighter. This was not the most exciting fight of the night.
Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller was an excellent fight. Diaz was just too much for Miller. He out struck, out wrestled, and out maneuvered him in every aspect of the fight. Diaz tapped out Miller early in the second round via guillotine choke. Miller looked like he did not belong in the octagon with Diaz. I think this victory puts Diaz one or two fights away from a title shot.
JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (8.0)
Tonight's main card on Fox went pretty much as well as the UFC could have hoped. They put together several matchups that at the least promised interesting fights, and at their best could be fantastic, and they mostly got the high end of what the fights had to offer.
Nate Diaz and Alan Belcher were the two standouts on the night, besting Jim Miller and Rousimar Palhares, respectively, in fights that were not only entertaining, but showcased the level the two of them have reached. Diaz was incredible against Jim Miller, and Belcher showed he's pretty much fearless in getting into a ground battle with Palhares. Both were immensely impressive, and showcased high level MMA to the Fox audience.
Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck had a really fun, really close fight in the welterweight division, with Hendricks scoring a split decision that, while certainly debatable, was one I felt he earned. Then Lavar Johnson and Pat Barry had a sloppy, but fun, heavyweight brawl to open the show. There was just a wide variety of action on the card, and it wound up being a great night for the UFC.
SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST: (8.0)
All in all, the UFC has got to be thrilled with tonight's main card. The prelims were mostly a big bowl of "meh," but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that the fights shown to the largest audience were spectacular. I'll be interested to see what the ratings are when they're released.
I wasn't completely sold on Nate Diaz being next in line for a title shot, and I'm still not sure whether the timing will work out or whether Diaz will have to fight again, but after what he did to Jim Miller tonight, I'm a believer. And speaking of title shots, Alan Belcher probably isn't far away from one either. During Rousimar Palhares's fight with Mike Massenzio, I remember saying to some friends (and possibly on Twitter) that you shouldn't even wait for Palhares to crank the heel hook before tapping. If he gets a hold of your leg, just tap and get it over with your limbs intact. Well Alan Belcher proved that wrong today. I don't know how many people can do what he did in escaping those leg locks, but it couldn't be a very high number. I could easily see Belcher vs. the Bisping-Boetsch winner as the next number one contender fight. And yes, it felt weird writing that Tim Boetsch could be in a number one contender fight. But that's a discussion for another day.
A few other notes: Lavar Johnson is going to have trouble with anyone who's willing to grapple, but boy, standing in front of that guy is a dangerous proposition. The flyweights are a welcome addition to the UFC - granted, there have only been four fights contested in the weight class, but they've all been good. Gaudinot-Lineker was great, and Dodson-Elliott was good too. I'd be surprised if Dodson doesn't challenge for the flyweight title sooner rather than later. Michael Johnson continues to surprise and honestly I have no idea at this point what his ceiling is.
I'll be back soon with the Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down for this card, but my first reaction is that there's a whole lot more to like than not. Almost everything on the FOX broadcast came across tremendously, and it's got to be seen as a huge win for the UFC. Hopefully the ratings will bear that out.
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/roundtables/article_13206.shtml
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