The Ultimate Fighting Championship have always enjoyed taking the trip north of the border with Toronto remaining one of their key hotbeds since they invaded the largest city in Canada.
The Torontonians in attendance certainly got their money’s worth tonight with two pieces of championship gold on the line as Jon Jones obliterates Vitor Belfort and Demetrious Johnson gets crowned the first 125-pound king after a 25 minute classic.
It’s been a while since I’ve done this because, well, the UFC haven’t been a part of our lives in a while but I’ll put on my matchmaking cap and play fantasy matchmaker in my alternate universe where the injury bug doesn’t put my plans through the paper shredder.
Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson-Lyoto Machida winner
Heading into the evening’s main event eight underdogs had had their hand raised and the magic tally almost ticked over to nine early on with Belfort locking in a strong armbar that probably gave every fight fan that mocked this title fight a near-heart attack.
The Brazilian had what they would call a ‘hope spot’ in the professional rasslin’ playbook but after that the dominate champion took over, bloodying and beating the former dual-division UFC titlist before submitting him.
At this stage, after defeating every active fighter to hold the 205-pound crown there isn’t a smorgasbord of challengers. UFC President Dana White has indicated that Dan Henderson & Lyoto Machida are expected to be paired up later this year, the winner of that fight would have a real claim at meeting the top light-heavyweight in the world.
Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson-Jussier da Silva winner
Demetrious Johnson was deemed the underdog by most heading into this fight, in fact, nobody on the MMASucka staff picked him to exit the Air Canada Centre ten-pounds heavier but he did exactly that as he snatched a Split Decision.
Right now, the 125-pound class is still fleshing out so a fight with the winner of the John Dodson vs. Jussier da Silva scrap on October 5 would be the right fight to set up at the moment with the key stars of the division all suffering recent setbacks.
Joseph Benavidez vs. Chris Cariaso
Joseph Benavidez, for the third time in his career failed to get the job done when all the marbles were on the line. The Team Alpha Male star took the fight to Johnson for the full five rounds, even coming close to submitting him with his famed guillotine at one stage but it wasn’t enough to get his hand raised.
Benavidez obviously wants to earn another date with Matt Hume’s top fighter so pairing him up with Chris Cariaso, a recent flyweight debutant would be a good step in the right direction.
Michael Bisping vs. Chris Weidman
Michael Bisping continued his campaign to UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva with a dominate win over Brian Stann. Despite being put on wobbly legs by the American early on Bisping used superior footwork, boxing, cardio and wrestling to out-work Stann to earn a decision.
With Silva stepping up to mercy kill Stephan Bonnar for the enjoyment of a pack of bloodthirsty Brazilians he might not be back to defend his throne for a while so pairing Bisping up with Chris Weidman, the consensus top-contender would set up the right opponent to welcome the champ home.
Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver-Eddie Yagin winner
When the featherweights joined the UFC ranks I expected a lot of fighters north of 155-pounds to impress, but Cub Swanson wasn’t one of them. Well, shame on me. The Greg Jackson-trained featherweight got his third straight UFC win tonight, and third straight stoppage.
Swanson is quickly climbing the ladder, hoping to redeem himself against Jose Aldo but he needs a lot of fights before that. A tilt with the winner of Dennis Siver vs. Eddie Yagin that takes place on December 8 would be a great way to begin his 2013 campaign.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Follow @justinfauxmma on Twitter and keep up with the latest news by following @MMASucka on Twitter and on Facebook
