The UFC took their talents to the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas Saturday night for UFC 166, putting together what UFC President Dana White called “the best card we’ve ever done.”
This event had everything fight fans could hope for: devastating knockouts, a picturesque submission, the end to a brutal rivalry and a clear-cut “Fight of the Year” candidate.
Check out what you missed from this extremely memorable pay-per-view event.
BIGGEST WINNER
Cain Velasquez - The heavyweight champion utterly dominated ex-titleholder Junior dos Santos, the only person to defeat the American Kickboxing Academy staple.
JDS hurt his foe on several occasions, but he had nothing to offer the former Arizona State Sun Devil whenever the fight went to the ground.
Velasquez put an explanation point on this rivalry by finally stopping the fight in the fifth round. Werdum is the only challenger that makes sense right now and there are few contenders left for Cain if he wins that bout.
WINNER(S)
Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez – As color commentator Joe Rogan pointed out, sometimes matchups look great on paper and then fall flat when it comes time to square off in the cage.
Melendez vs. Sanchez was the exact opposite of that. The two Mexican-American warriors slugged it out for the better part of three rounds, with Sanchez nearly pulling off a stunning comeback when he dropped “El Nino” with an uppercut in the third round.
The non-stop action, as well as the pint of blood Sanchez spilled, makes this bout an easy frontrunner for “Fight of the Year.” Sanchez may have lost in the record books, but there are no real losers after a matchup like this one.
WINNER
Hector Lombard – The former Bellator middleweight champion decided to test the waters at welterweight after going just 1-2 in the UFC’s 185-pound division and it looks like the decision paid big dividends.
“Lightning” basically embarrassed ex-Strikeforce champ Nate Marquardt, knocking him out cold in less than two minutes. Guess that answers the question if he’ll still have his punching power at welterweight.
WINNER
John Dodson – “The Magician” has now won seven of his past eight bouts following an impressive knockout over Darrell Montague this Saturday, with his only loss coming in a close bout with champion Demetrious Johnson.
Dodson is a top three talent at flyweight and could be already knocking on the door of another title shot with one more decisive victory at 125 pounds.
BIGGEST LOSER
Junior dos Santos – It’s a crying shame to call a competitor with as much heart and skill as JDS a loser, but after this weekend, he gave us little reason to believe his November 2011 win over Cain Velasquez wasn’t a fluke.
JDS had few answers for the constant pressure, takedowns and ground and pound of Velasquez. “Cigano’s” heart was scary, taking an insane amount of punishment in the third, fourth and fifth rounds before referee Herb Dean finally waved the fight off.
The Brazilian knockout artist can likely still roll through anyone in the division not named Velasquez, so facing the winner of Alistair Overeem vs. Frank Mir is an intriguing possibility, though that bout doesn’t take place until February.
LOSER
Roy Nelson – “Big Country” is a highly-entertaining fighter that is talented in every fact of the sport, but he has proven time and time again he is not an elite competitor.
Nelson was outclassed by Daniel Cormier for 15 minutes and his excuse that his opponent refused to engage was preposterous. The fan friendly heavyweight has now lost back-to-back bouts and is 3-3 in his past six fights.
LOSER
George Sotiropoulos - It seems like it was a lifetime ago when Australian-born Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt won eight in a row, since his loss to KJ Noons marked his fourth in a row.
Sotiropoulos is lucky the UFC gave him a leash this long, but he did nothing in this fight to convince his employer he deserves one more chance.
LOSER
Nate Marquardt – “The Great” has been anything but since losing a title eliminator bout to Chael Sonnen in February 2010, posting a paltry 3-5 mark in his last eight fights.
More importantly, the former King of Pancrase has now lost three in a row, including back-to-back knockouts, so it seems to be a forgone conclusion that Marquardt is getting his walking papers following this loss to Lombard.