Written by Derek Moody, August 30, 2016, at 12:50 a.m. Tweet to: @DerekMoody619
There were far bigger names on UFC 200 but Conor Mcgregor may have been right about UFC 202 being the real UFC 200. UFC 202 had nine out of 12 fights that had record finishes, compared to UFC 200, which had five out of 12 fights end with a finish. UFC 202 was far more exciting and actually lived up to the hype.
Anthony “Rumble” Johnson vs Glover Teixeira
Rumble once again proved why he’s deserving of another title shot with a first round knockout over Teixeira. With Mike Tyson in the crowd, this fight ended in classic Mike Tyson fashion. If you blinked or turned your head then you missed the fight. Thirteen seconds solidified Rumble as the dominant force in the division once again. Arguably the toughest guy on the roster, Rumble continues making quick work of top 5 contenders.
Teixeira now jumps on the list of victims that have encountered Rumble’s fists. Johnson now has five performance of the night bonuses in his seven fights since returning to the UFC. All five of those fights ended in knockouts over guys ranked in the top 10. Teixeira had never been stopped in his UFC career, bouncing back from this may be difficult. He’s now 3-3 in his last six fights including a five round decision loss to Jon Jones who’s expected to face Rumble when he returns. Rumble Johnson vs Daniel Cormier part two is in the making for the time being but we’ll see if Jon Jones’ return prevents that.
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone vs Rick Story
The already stacked welterweight division was granted even more talent with the emergence of Cowboy Cerrone in 2016. Three welterweight fights resulting in three finishes within a six month period. Nobody has entered the Octagon more than Cowboy since he arrived in 2011. With four losses in twenty-two UFC fights it’s hard to imagine how great Cerrone would be if he focused all his attention on mixed martial arts. He’s notorious for doing extreme activities leading all the way up to his fight normally driving the organization crazy. Furthermore, making up who he is and why he’ll never change that.
With his 18th win, he’s now tied for third all time with Matt Hughes behind Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre. With the pace in which Cowboy books a fight and wins it, he’ll tie the record by years end and break it in early 2017 if successful in those contests. Story has been known to upset and derail hype trains (Johny Hendricks, Gunnar Nelson, Tarec Saffiedine) which many thought he might do against Cowboy. The exact opposite occurred as Cowboy reminded both of his weight classes what he’s capable of. Finally putting an end to this beating, Cowboy caught Story with a nasty four hit combo which lead to the tko stoppage.
In addition to placing his bid for a welterweight title eliminator he proceeded to call out the lightweight champ. Greg Jackson and Dana White advised against him dropping back down to lightweight but Cowboy is going to do what Cowboy wants to do. We’ll see if that fight actually happens as it appears more in favor for Conor Mcgregor at the moment.
Cody “No Love” Garbrandt vs Takeya Mizugaki
It’s hard to deny the performances Garbrandt puts on when considering title contenders. 4 of his 5 UFC fights have ended in a knock out. His last three have all been in the first round against legit opponents. Mizugaki was on track to fighting for the title before current champion Dominick Cruz demolished him. This was a big opportunity for both guys to place their bid for a title eliminator or title shot. It took No Love under one minute to knock out Mizugaki and steal the show up to that point.
Garbrandt and Cruz made it very public about how they feel about each other which will likely lead to them fighting for the title. That pairing has caused some issues for the promotion as former training partner TJ Dillashaw has made it known that if he’s not fighting for the title next he’s done. Cruz vs Dillashaw was one of the best fights to take place this year.
Everyone wants to see what adjustments they make for the 2nd fight if it ever occurs. Dillashaw and Garbrandt both want the Cruz fight but the actual fight that should occur is Dillashaw vs Garbrandt for the title eliminator. There’s plenty of history and bad blood between the two it would bring out the best of them. Cruz wouldn’t mind it because he’d gain more tape on Garbrandt and Dillashaw leading up to a fight camp.
Successful UFC 202 Debuts
Mike “Platinum” Perry entered the UFC with a lot of promise and he lived up to the hype adding to his impressive record of knockouts. Perry is currently 8-0 with all knockouts including his impressive quick first round finish of Hyun Gyu Lim. Perry has already booked another fight at UFC 204 in attempt to finish the year strong as he aims for another knockout.
Marvin Vettori made his UFC debut already known as a submission expert at the young age of 22. He fought Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, Alberto Uda. Uda is ten years his elder but actually has less mma experience than Vettori. Vettori took command of the fight instantly and didn’t waste too much time taking the fight to the ground where he submitted Uda with a guillotine choke.Expect big things from these two young fighters as their UFC careers start to take off.
Fight Card Results
- Conor Mcgregor defeats Nate Diaz by Majority Decision
- Mike Perry defeats Hyun Gyu Lim by KO/TKO
- Tim Means defeats Sabah Homasi by KO/TKO
- Raquel Pennington defeats Elizabeth Phillips by Unanimous Decision
- Artem Lobov defeats Chris Avila by Unanimous Decision
- Cortney Casey defeats Randa Markos by Submission
- Lorenz Larkin defeats Neil Magny by KO/TKO
- Colby Covington defeats Max Griffin by KO/TKO
- Marvin Vettori defeats Alberto Uda by Submission