Kingdom MMA review of UFC 169

UFC 169: Barao vs Faber II

by Sam Heard @SamHeard_

Boasting two title fights with a brace of the UFC’s most dominant champions topping off a stacked card, UFC 169 certainly promised a lot and in many ways failed to live up to this lofty expectation. Not only were UFC records broken for the most fights to go to decision – ten of the twelve fights would hit the judge’s scorecards – but the night ended in an unsatisfactory manner with a questionable referee stoppage. The disappointing nature of the night is reflected in the distribution of the bonuses with one fight taking all the honours. The Trujillo/Varner matchup would pick up not only the Knockout of the Night bonus for Trujillo but also an augmented Fight of the Night bonus as a result of the lack of a ‘Submission of the Night’ – a whopping $125,000 in bonuses for Abel Trujillo.

Renan Barao (32-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) VS. Urijah Faber (30-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC)

The UFC’s marketing of this fight was such that Faber had a 50% chance of toppling the newly crowned undisputed Bantamweight champion. Not only did Joe Rogan explicitly say this in the promo but they were also very shady about revealing the fact that the two had fought before and that Barao in his decision victory Barao had outscored Faber 50-45 on one judge’s scorecard.

In their second match-up it was all too clear that since they last met in the Octagon, Barao is the more improved of the two fighters. The first two or so minutes of the fight saw some fairly even striking exchanges between the two fighters with Faber’s tutelage under Duane Ludwig clearly giving him the confidence to kick-box with the dangerous Brazilian fighter. However, standing with Barao proved to be a mistake as a solid straight right connected directly with Faber’s jaw, dropping him and allowing Barao to swarm all over him. Somehow Faber was able to get to his feet but the Brazilian blitz continued, a typhoon of knees, uppercuts and body shots. The relentless pressure from Barao paid off as he once again dropped the dazed Alpha Male captain. Faber clung to Barao’s leg and was guarding the Brazilian’s rapid hammerfists but Herb Dean had seen enough, despite Faber having given him the thumbs up. In fairness to Faber, he did seem like he was able to continue and after the fight was stopped he was immediately up challenging the controversial decision.

This ending was undesirable to both Bantamweights – Faber was denied the opportunity to continue in the fight while Barao, who had looked amazing in the fight, couldn’t get the definitive stoppage he may have needed to get his name right up the p4p rankings.

Result: Renan Barao def. Urijah Faber via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:42

Jose Aldo (24-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) VS. Ricardo Lamas (13-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC)

Some have expressed disappointment in Jose Aldo for not picking up a victory in the distance. I am not one of these people. While he failed to stop Lamas, Aldo looked completely dominant in his unanimous decision victory and showed some of the most technically appealing combinations of strikes I’ve ever seen.

Aldo chained together long, accurate combinations throughout the fight which nearly always finished with one of his renowned thunderous leg kicks. The Brazilian champ also displayed exceptional takedown defence to ruin Lamas’ strategy to outwrestle him. Lamas was mostly unable to threaten Aldo – the only round he won on the judges’ scorecards was the fifth where he was fortunate enough to find himself on top of Aldo in a scramble. Even in this position he didn’t really trouble Aldo who was clearly content to remain on his back and let the judges give him his sixth consecutive UFC win. Critics of Aldo will attribute his losing the fifth round to his tendency to fade towards the end of fights. I tend to disagree with this as he hadn’t slowed down at all until being taken down.

At the post-fight press conference it was revealed that now Aldo has defeated all the top featherweight contenders he would be interested in moving up to 155-lbs to fight Pettis for his Lightweight belt.

Result: Jose Aldo def. Ricardo Lamas (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)

Frank Mir (16-9 MMA, 14-9 UFC) VS. Alistair Overeem (37-13 MMA, 2-2 UFC)

In what was probably the most disappointing fight on the main card we saw one of the least competitive heavyweight fights in recent memory. Most expected Overeem to come out, rock the shaky chin of Mir immediately and finish him for a quick return to the dressing room. We saw domination of a very different, far more boring kind, however. Clearly in fear of getting tagged as he has been in his past two fights, Overeem fought ultra-conservatively despite having several openings to easily finish Mir. Instead, he lay on top of Mir for large sections of the fight landing just enough ground-and-pound for the ref to not stand it back up. What could have been one of the most exciting fights on the card turned out to be boring and highly uncompetitive. Bad match-making on the part of the UFC.

Result: Alistair Overeem def. Frank Mir via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Ali Bagautinov (13-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) VS. John Lineker (23-7 MMA, 4-2 UFC)

This clash of two rising flyweights certainly seemed to be a fight for the number 1 contender spot, pitching the world-class sambo of Bagautinov against the brute power of John Lineker.

The fight was extremely back-and-forth throughout: Bagautinov, as we had seen in his last fight, was comfortable enough on his feet to throw combos at the Brazilian while mixing in takedowns while Lineker was able to cause some visible pain to the Russian, particularly with body shots in the second. Despite this, it was an easy fight to score in the end with Bagautinov’s domination on the mat able to comfortably win the first and third rounds while Lineker’s power shots in the second frame won him a round back. Bagautinov certainly seems like a worthy challenger to take on Mighty Mouse next – he was able to make a man who has been knocking out talented flyweights left, right and centre look slow, plodding and one dimensional.

Result: Ali Bagautinov def. John Lineker via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Abel Trujillo (12-5 MMA, 3-1 UFC) VS. Jamie Varner (21-9-1 MMA, 3-4 UFC)

This fight was easily the most entertaining on the whole card and there really isn’t much which can be said about it other than that you should watch it as soon as you get chance.

Imagine two Wanderlei Silva clones slugging it out in the Octagon if you want the best description of this bout. The two had each other hurt on multiple occasions and indeed it seemed Varner had all but beaten Trujillo until he got caught by a massive counter-right which sent him down immediately like a felled tree.

Once again, if you haven’t watched this fight yet, watch it.

Result: Abel Trujillo def. Jamie Varner via knockout (punch) – Round 2, 2:32