Declaring Martial Law – Reviewing UFC 160

by Brian Forbes

On May 25, 2013, over 11 thousand people visited the MGM Grand Garden Arena to watch UFC 160.  Millions more watched from home.  One fan used a guillotine choke to save his family from a carjacker.   All in all, it was an eventful evening.  Here’s a recap of what went down for the Main Card.

K.J. Noons vs. Donald Cerrone.

Las Vegas truly is the last remnant of the Wild Wild West and Donald Cerrone is the Cowboy. Cerrone fights exactly the way you want a UFC fighter to fight; he stays busy and dangerous on his feet and is very confident with an underrated ground game.  K.J. Noonz has heart and opened with some nice leg kicks, but the Cowboy was just way too much for him in every area. This was the fight for the bloodthirsty fans, the barnburner for the drunk guys at the bar. Cerrone opened up a world of hurt on Noons’s skull and there was blood everywhere by the time it was over. A great unanimous decision victory for Cerrone, who obviously learned a lesson from his loss to Anthony “Showtime” Pettis.

TJ Grant vs Gray Maynard

Let me just say: thank god for TJ Grant. Grey Maynard is a solid fighter… but he is the perfect example of a boring grinder.  I have to admit, I love to see an exciting fight, and I loved seeing Maynard get KTFO like that. Grant has some serious power in those hands. Maynard’s last 8 wins have been decisions (including 3 split decisions), illustrating that he is the definition of a Lay n’ Pray fighter. I can’t lie, it was very satisfying to see him beaten so decisively via TKO in round 1. I think TJ Grant deserved the “Knockout of the Night” award (thanks to none other than Mike Tyson himself for speaking up and vetoing Dana White’s decision to give it to JDS).  Do I think Grant will have much of a chance against Benson Henderson? I think it is a bit early for him to be able to come out on top in this match up because Benson simply has so many weapons and is so consistent.  Having said that,  I will be excited to watch this title fight when it happens.

Glover Teixeira vs James Te Huna

Teixeira simply outclassed Te-Huna in every area. In a good clean win, Tex was confidently in control on every level. He bested Te Huna striking, took him down, passed his guard, and then locked onto an arm-in guillotine.  After Tex earned a victory in the first round with time to spare, it was great to see him so excited to have his hero Mike Tyson come out and hug him. You can see his childlike love for fighting shine through, which is a rarity when it comes to UFC fighters.

Junior dos Santos vs Mark Hunt.

Mark Hunt is a fan favorite, and I like him mostly because he is a couple of years older than me and still kicking ass! But I gotta admit, I kind of dislike guys who have stupid hair dye jobs. Some guys can pull it off like a bad ass, but some guys just look like they are trying too hard. Some fighters end up looking like a corporate lawyer who tries to dress up as a rock star for Halloween. The whole image just echoes hollow. If the Super Samoan should go back to his natural hair color, maybe he can find his way back to the top ten and avoid a defeat like the round 3 KO dos Santos handed him.

On the other hand, I didn’t love Junior Dos Santos when he first entered the UFC, but he has been making me more and more of a fan with every fight and every interview. In the first round, just as Joe Rogan was talking about dos Santos’ relative inexperience and how Mark Hunt is such an elite striker, dos Santos shut him up by knocking Hunt onto his back with a vicious overhand right. He kept looking for that same shot the rest of the round, but came up a bit short every time.  Hunt stepped up with some decent shots in the second round, but Junior finished the round with a nice takedown, passing into side control and a split second crucifix, but was unable to finish the former PRIDE fighter.

The beautiful thing about the third round was that even though he was ahead 2 rounds to none and way ahead in strikes landed, JDS kept going in for the kill, first with a wicked left hook that staggered Hunt and then with a highlight reel spinning wheelkick that landed Hunt flat on his back and on the receiving end of a knockout punch from junior’s explosive right hand. That, ladies and gentleman, is how a former champion should fight when he has his eyes set on a rematch.

Dana White announced the rematch immediately in the post-fight press conference…Velasquez-Dos Santos III: Return of the Jedi.

Cain Velasquez vs Antonio Silva

To start, and most importantly, as a musician I hate Cain’s walk in music. It makes me think much more of the annoying mariachis on the subway than some vicious cartel violence. Of course, this has nothing to do with what he is capable of in the octagon.  It is simply a point of personal annoyance and disappointment…. although certainly it is congruent with Cain’s tremendous focus on Mexican Pride.

There ain’t much to say about this fight except that Cain is obviously the real deal. He finished Silva in a fashion that makes him look as if he doesn’t even really belong in the same octagon as him. And remember, this is the “Bigfoot” Silva who has recently beaten Fedor, Travis Browne, and dismantled and KTFO Alistai Overeem. An exceptionally impressive outing from Cain.

Silva complained about an early stoppage and that he was getting hit in the back of the head. The stoppage may have been a tiny bit early: I say if Silva wants to let Cain give him a quicker path to brain damage then let him.  The win was legit, but I do think Yamasaki should have let Silva take a few more shots before he ended the fight.

Preliminary Card Bonus: Brian Bowles vs George Roop

I like Brian Bowles…simply because he looks exactly like I would if I was a fighter. He’s 5’7 and scrappy with a school boy haircut. He almost finished Roop twice in the first round, first with an overhand right and then with an arm-in guillotine. Too bad he gassed in the second and let tall, lanky, and tattooed Roop unleash a barrage of strikes that finished with Bowles rolled up in a ball taking punches to the face. Roop takes home the win, but I wasn’t too impressed.

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