Speed is King in Washington
UFC Live 6 made history for the UFC as it featured the first title fight on a free fight card ever as the Bantamweight title was up for grabs. The Bantamweight title is a fairly new title for the UFC that came about from the merger of the WEC into the UFC. The merger brought in a number of smaller fighters forcing the UFC to create two new weight classes and will bring a third new weight class in the near future. These new weight classes were the 145 Featherweights and the 135 Bantamweights and both saw new champions. Jose Aldo took the Featherweight crown while Dominick Cruz took the Bantamweight title. Cruz was on display in Washington, DC at UFC Live 6 as he faced one of his biggest challenges yet. Cruz had defended his title once so far against a very good Urijah Faber but Cruz was able to use his speed to his advantage and win. At UFC Live 6 Cruz could not use his speed to his advantage as he faced one of the fastest fighters in the UFC that could easily match his speed and pace. Demetrious Johnson has fought his way to the title fight beating some of the best fighters in the new bantamweight title by using his quickness to take fighters down and outwrestle them. The title fight promised to be a very fast one with two of the most creative and fastest fighters in the UFC. The first round showed exactly what everyone was saying as the fight started with both fighters moving around constantly until Cruz landed a good shot. Cruz continued to keep the smaller Johnson at a safe distance with strikes. Cruz stuffed a takedown attempt and got his on as he began to outpower Johnson on the ground. The round then continued on the feet with a feverish pace that saw more takedowns by each fighter and a slugfest at the end of the first round. The second round began with Johnson coming out strong with his striking but Cruz recovering from the attack and earning the takedown again. Both fighters finished the round with takedowns but Cruz finished on top of Johnson winning another round. The fight slowed slightly in the third round as Cruz seemed to begin to run out of gas but that didn’t deter him from getting Johnson’s back and taking him down with a suplex. While on the ground Cruz tried to finish the fight by sinking in a rear naked choke. Johnson would not give up and escaped the choke and stand up again. Cruz took him down again near the end of the round and continued to control the fight as the round ended on the feet. In the fourth round the fight continued as the rest of the fight except Cruz seemed to be finally wearing down taking a few deep breaths but did not stop the takedowns and the dominance on the ground against Johnson. The fourth ended with both fighters swinging it out on the feet but with Cruz winning the round. The final round saw what looked like a tired Champion come out against a challenger with a lot of energy. Johnson came out strong in the last round as he knew he would need to end the fight if he wanted to win. Johnson’s aggressiveness led to another suplex and the majority of the round saw Cruz on top of Johnson and in control. The fight went all 5 rounds with Cruz winning all of the rounds and defending his championship for the second time. Johnson lost his shot and will now go far down the division as there is a massive road block to challenge for the belt. Cruz will now move on to face any number of great challengers that are lining up for their shot. The next challenger could be any one of challengers including Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez, Scott Jorgensen, or any of the other fighters lining up. Either way Cruz looks to be on his way to creating a legacy as the first Bantamweight Champion and will be a tough champion to beat.
In a night of opposites the Bantamweights came into the ring after two very big heavyweight fighters. Stefan Struve and Pat Barry lined up at the weigh in and everyone saw what the big deal was as the two fighters had the biggest height differential in the history of the modern UFC. With two extremely different body types the stocky Pat Barry, 5’11”, faced off against the lanky Stefan Struve, 6’11”. This was a major challenge for Barry as his height prevented him from reaching Struve’s chin for a knockout. Instead the plan for Barry was to chop the Skyscraper down with vicious leg kicks. Meanwhile Struve would use his long limbs to keep Barry at a distance. The fight started out like Barry wanted as he continued to kick the legs of Struve but it went downhill from there. After a late round flying knee attempt by Barry that almost sent him out of the octagon the second round saw Struve take Barry down and use his long limbs to get in a lot of submission situations. With Barry in trouble he lifted Struve off the canvas and slammed him in an attempt to stop the submission attempt. Struve did not let the slam phase him as he locked in a triangle choke that was slightly modified into an Armbar as well. Barry was forced to tap as Struve recovered from his loss and begun to climb the heavyweight ladder again. Barry is still one of the most explosive fighters and will hope that his next fight does not pit him against another fight that is a whole foot taller than him.
The Bonuses for UFC Live totaled $65,000 for every fighter involved in the best fights and performances of the night. The “Knockout of the Night” went to Anthony “Rumble” Johnson who made his return to the octagon with a vicious head kick that ended a controversial fight were Charlie Brenneman was still aware but would have been in trouble if the fight continued. The “Submission of the Night” went to Stefan Struve for his unique Triangle Choke/Armbar submission win over Pat Barry. The “Fight of the Night” went to Mac Danzig and Matt Wiman for their slugfest that ended with matt Wiman taking the win in the rematch.
Fight Results:
Dominick “The Domin8er” Cruz def. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson
(Unanimous Decision)
Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve def. Pat “HD” Barry
(Submission; Triangle Choke, Rd. 2)
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson def. Charlie “The Spaniard” Brenneman
(TKO; Rd. 1)
“Handsome” Matt Wiman def. Mac Danzig
(Unanimous Decision)
Yves Edwards def. Rafaello “Tractor” Oliveira
(TKO; Rd. 1)
Paul Sass def. Michael “The Menace” Johnson
(Submission; Heel Hook, Rd. 1)
Mike “The Hulk” Easton def. Byron Bloodworth
(TKO; Rd. 2)
TJ Grant def. Shane Roller
(Submission; Armbar Rd. 2)
Josh “The Dentist” Neer def. Keith Wisniewski
(Doctor’s Stoppage; Rd. 2)
Walel “The Gazelle” Watson def. Joseph Sandoval
(TKO; Rd. 1)
Upcoming Events:
UFC 139: Edgar vs. Maynard III (Oct. 5th; 9:00 pm)
– Houston, Texas (Toyota Center)
– Main Event: Frankie “The Answer” Edgar vs. Gray “The Bully” Maynard [Lightweight Title]
– Co-Main Event: Jose “Junior” Aldo vs. Kenny “Kenflo” Florian [Featherweight Title]
– Notable: Chael Sonnen vs. Brian “All-American” Stann
UFC 137: St. Pierre vs. Condit (Oct. 29th; 9:00 pm)
– Las Vegas, Nevada (Mandalay Bay Event Center)
– Main Event: Georges “Rush” St. Pierre vs. Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit [Welterweight Title]
– Notable: “The Prodigy” BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz
– Notable: Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione
UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz (Nov. 5th; 9:00 pm)
– Tape Delay on Sportsnet/Spike TV
– Birmingham, England (LG Arena)
– Main Event: Chris “The Crippler” Leben vs. Mark “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Munoz
– Notable: Brad “One Punch” Pickett vs. Renan Barao
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