UFC 139 will always be a night that I will remember because I didn’t see it live. A close friend’s 40th birthday celebration was that night, so I had the fights PVR’d, ready for me when I got home. I had my wife screen my text messages, Facebook and Twitter so no one could spoil the results. At 8:36pm, it started. My phone was buzzing consistently for what felt like 6 minutes straight from all the text messages, and Twitter and Facebook updates. I had that pit in my stomach that I was missing something historic, so I eventually caved and spoiled the results for myself. I was in shock and awe to see what I was missing. Afterward, as we walked downtown following the celebration, and passed a couple venues that were showing the fights, I could see the excitement on people’s faces, because of the event they had just witnessed as they talked about their favorite moments of the fight.
The aura of UFC 139 felt like no other event that I could remember. I wasn’t even watching it live and I could feel that something special was happening in that octagon. Shogun Rua and Dan Henderson put themselves on the line to give us what possibly could be the greatest fight in history. The fights leading up to the main event played a pivotal roll in making this fight as impactful as it was. It felt like each fight on the main card, starting with the Bonnar/Kingsbury fight, perfectly ramped up the hunger for the next fight. Each fight had been more exciting than the previous one. By the time Wanderlei and Cung had finished their fight of the night performance, everyone was primed for Rua and Henderson to explode. Not bad for a fight card that was in fear of being overshadowed by the UFC on FOX debut.
Dan Henderson Defeated Maurico “Shogun” Rua via Unanimous Decision
The technical breakdown for the fight by Fight Metric, that can be found here at MMAsucka.com, proves that both men can take a punch. With Henderson scoring 2 knockdowns, and Shogun having 96 significant strikes it’s amazing that this fight went to the judges. Judging this back and forth fight was a tough task especially the fifth and deciding round as Shogun clearly dominated it. Did he do enough to warrant a score of 10-8. Many including Dana White believed he did, and that the fight should have been a draw, but like he says, “Who am I?” to make those decisions.
Up next for Henderson is possibly a title shot, but against who? Both Anderson Silva and Jon Jones are headed for fights with Silva most likely fighting Chael Sonnen and Jones fighting Lyoto Machida in December, with Rashad waiting for the winner. If Henderson does decide to take a fight before a title shot, I could see him wanting to fight only big money opponents. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fits the bill as he is a decent draw and Henderson would want the rematch from a fighter who defeated him at UFC 75, in 2007.
Other than Rampage, Shogun would be another exciting rematch. The first match was close enough to justify it, and Shogun would most likely like to even the score.
Wanderlei Silva Defeats Cung Le via TKO, Round 2
It was nice to see Wanderlei win this fight in true Axe Murderer fashion with the Thai clinch knees and vicious ground and pound. We also were treated to a new kind of Wandy with a conservative game plan, which he was forced to do partly because being KO’d again would further Dana White’s case to have Silva retire, and if you rush a dynamic striker like Cung, you probably will get KO’d.
Although Silva had won, I still believe that Dana may ask him to step away from fighting. It would be great to see Silva leave on an impressive win. He has a successful school, and had won championships, and will always have his legacy as one of the most loved fighters of the sport and has nothing left to prove.
Cung had a great showing in the first round. It’s beautiful to see traditional martial arts stylist throw their techniques effectively. He threw his sidekick to Silva’s body like it was a boxer’s jab, just with a lot more power. The UFC will probably keep Cung fighting in stylistically interesting matches at middleweight. Maybe Chris Leben as he will be more than willing to stand, bang and absorb multiple axe kicks, side kicks, spinning heel kicks…
Urijah Faber Defeats Brian Bowles via Submission, round 2
Urijah Faber keeps 2 losses in a row away from his record as he bounces back from his title challenge loss to Dominick Cruz. Brian Bowles was not able to keep up with the speed of Faber’s striking as he fell behind in the first round. In the second round, Faber capitalized on Bowles exposed neck during a single leg attempt. Faber takes a guilotine submission win and another crack at a championship.
A fight lined up with Dominick Cruz gives Faber his 4th chance at a title since losing the WEC featherweight championship to Mike Brown in November 2008. Urijah has earned the right to complete the trilogy between him and Cruz, as he has defeated the other biggest threat to the title in Bowles.
Up next for Bowles, a fight against Renan Barao may be what the UFC is looking for. It give Barao a chance to solidify the hype he riding after a solid defeat against a very game Brad Pickett, and it also give Bowles a chance to prove he is a veteran that still belongs in the upper rankings of the class.
Quick Hits:
– Although Urijah Faber took home the submission of the night with his bread and butter guillotine choke, many believe that the slick D’arce choke Chris Weidman caught on Tom Lawlor deserved the honors or at least the co-honors (With the UFC’s deep pockets, if they give 2 fight of the nights, they should have given 2 submissions of the night too!).
– Lawlor deserved a bonus too, partly for not tapping, and more so for coming out to “Let’s Get Physical” by Olivia Newton John, the most epic entrance song ever!
-Michael McDonald is one scary bantamweight. He put out Alex Soto out like they were fighting at heavyweight. Can’t wait to see this youngster (20 years old) fight again!
-Don’t ever dare to miss weight when you fight against Danny Castillo. Shamar Bailey had to learn this the hard way as he was rag dolled, taken down, then pounded to a TKO as Danny felt extremely disrespected, especially since Bailey didn’t even try to utilize the extra hour given to him to lose the extra 2 pounds.
