Several major MMA events took place in the past week: Bellator FC kicked off a new season with the first round of a welterweight tournament, and a new broadcast partner in MTV2. Strikeforce lightheavyweight and women’s bantamweight titles were put on the line, and UFC checked in with a third installment in the “UFC Live on Versus” series. I will also briefly cover UFC 127, the results of which were reflected in the previous ranking update.
Controversy on Versus
In the main event of ‘UFC Live 3’, a bloodied and swollen Diego Sanchez had his hand raised in a questionable unanimous decision win over Martin Kampmann. All three judges scored the bout 29-28 Sanchez, apparently choosing Diego’s relentless aggression over Martin’s effective counter-striking and takedown defense. Sanchez rises three spots to #9 WW, while Kampmann falls to #10.
In the middleweight division, UFC newcomer Chris Weidman made his debut on two weeks notice and with only 4 MMA bouts under his belt, and performed admirably in his decision win over Alessio Sakara. Weidman makes a huge jump in the rankings – 101 spots up to #22 MW, while Sakara falls to #30. In other middleweight bouts, Mark Munoz and Rousimar Palhares enter the Top 20: Munoz with a first-round TKO of C.B. Dollaway, and Palhares with a trademark heel hook submission over David Branch in an untelevised bout. Dollaway and Branch fall to #44 and #47, respectively.
WEC lightweights Shane Roller and Danny Castillo made a splash in their UFC debut and earned a Top 50 ranking, as Roller knocked out Thiago Tavares and Castillo outworked Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson to a unanimous decision. In both cases, the loser’s spot on the UFC roster may be in jeopardy: this marks the third consecutive loss for the Ultimate Fighter 2 welterweight winner Stevenson, and Tavares has been very inconsistent and plagued by injuries throughout his UFC career; a tough spot to be in for the ultra-competitive lightweight division.
Notable
Nearly a year after losing the WEC bantamweight title to Dominic Cruz in his very first defense, former champion [#4] Brian Bowles returned to action in a rematch with [#64] Damacio Page, putting Page to sleep with a guillotine choke at 3:30 of the first round – an outcome identical to their previous bout, down to the second. Both fighters’ rankings remain unchanged.
Bellator welterweight tourney
Jay Hieron, Brent Weedman, Rick Hawn, and Lyman Good all won their opening bouts in the annual Bellator welterweight tournament, rising in rankings and moving on to the next round. Hieron’s fight also had some controversy when the referee stopped the bout as Anthony Lapsley was stuck in a rear naked choke; Lapsley did not tap and claims he did not lose consciousness, but the ref’s decision stands.
Here’s what the semi-final matchups look like:
[#13] Jay Hieron vs [#27] Brent Weedman
[#54] Lyman Good vs [#60] Rick Hawn
Another title for Henderson’s collection
At 40 years young, Dan Henderson is not ready to hang up the gloves just yet. With a third round knockout of Rafael Cavalcante, Henderson captured the Strikeforce light heavyweight title, and moved up a spot to #6 in the rankings. Cavalcante fell out of the Top 10, to #16 LHW.
On the same card, the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Marlos Coenen retained her title and her #1 ranking with a fourth-round submission of Liz Carmouche, who fell three spots to #7 with the loss. Coenen also rises a spot to #1 on the women’s Division Dominance list.
UFC 127
In his 20th UFC bout, the former lightweight and welterweight champion [#4 WW] BJ Penn battled to a draw with the perennial welterweight contender [#3] Jon Fitch. The draw solidified Penn’s standing in the welterweight Top 5 and once again dashed Fitch’s hopes of another title shot. Should George St. Pierre defend his title against Jake Shields and move up in weight as promised, we will likely see Penn and Fitch rematch for the vacant title.
Other notable bouts on the card included Denis Siver ending the win streak of George Sotiropoulos with a unanimous decision, and the former K-1 kickboxing champion Mark Hunt returning to the heavyweight Top 100 at #78 with a knockout of Chris Tuchscherer – the first win for Hunt in 7 fights and almost 5 years.