UFC 104 took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and was headlined by the light heavyweight champion Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida attempting to make his first title defense against a man who was at one point widely regarded as the #1 light heavyweight in the world, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. The other featured bout had the undefeated heavyweight Cain Velasquez taking on former IFL standout Ben Rothwell. With no major events in the past few week, this was a highly anticipated event that unfortunately ended up mired in controversy and addled with mostly uneventful fights.
As was the case with UFC 103, three of the preliminary bouts were broadcast on Spike TV prior to the pay-per-view event.
Preliminary card (Spike TV)
Patrick Barry vs. Antoni Hardonk (HW)
Round 1: The two former professional kickboxers and training partners start the fight off trading on the feet as expected. Barry seems to have quicker and more powerful hands, and lands a solid combination but Hardonk has a significant reach advantage and keeps Barry at bay with a variety of kicks. Hardonk accidentally pokes Barry in the eye with a pawing jab, halting the action briefly. Hardonk slips throwing a kick and Barry quickly follows him to the ground. Barry lands some good shots from half guard; eventually Hardonk gets back to his feet. Hardonk is landing multiple leg and body kicks, and Barry’s legs are starting to show the effects of them by the end of the round. Round 10-9 Hardonk
Round 2: Hardonk is throwing kicks again but Barry counters with a combination that rocks Antoni. Hardonk attacks again and gets hit with the same combination, this time knocked down momentarily. Hardonk shoots for a half-hearted takedown, Barry easily defends and drops Hardonk with a punch to the side of the head. Barry follows up with a huge right hand and raises his arms in victory before the referee officially stops the bout.
Aftermath: With a solid knockout, Pat Barry recovers nicely from the submission loss to Tim Hague in his previous bout. Stefan Struve or Chris Tuchsherer would be the next logical matchups for Barry. Barry received the official ‘Knockout of the Night’ and ‘Fight of the Night’ awards for his performance, adding a cool $120,000 to his fight purse.
Antoni Hardonk once again demonstrates that he is a one-trick pony, with nothing to back up his impressive arsenal of kicks. Though Hardonk is 4-4 in the UFC, he has lost to strikers as well as grapplers, and struggled with even journeymen fighters. With very little upside for Hardonk in the division, it may be time for the UFC to let him go – or possibly use him as fodder for the graduating class of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ heavyweights.
Fight Grade: 3/5