UFC 170 Review: Rousey and Cormier remain unbeaten

Kingdom MMA Review of UFC 170

by Sam Heard @SamHeard_

Another UFC event is in the books and – it must be said – compared to the lacklustre events fans have witnessed so far in 2014, this one was actually very enjoyable. With several notable attendees there to experience a night at the fights including Will Smith with family and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the event certainly delivered overall. While the main card was generally outstanding, this was primarily thanks to the fights outside the main and co-main events (which were on both counts painfully one sided).

RONDA ROUSEY (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) VS. SARA MCMANN (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC)

For a long time now Sara McMann has been slated as the woman to eventually dethrone Rousey, utilising her Olympic-level wrestling to neutralise the champion’s judo. Despite this lofty praise, when this fight was announced back in December, many believed that McMann had been given the title shot too soon and she would be far better off amassing more MMA experience.

These fears were confirmed yesterday when Rousey picked up the TKO win over McMann coming via a wicked knee to the liver. The stoppage resulted in a chorus of boos from the fans in attendance, who believed Herb Dean stepped in prematurely – Herb seems to be on bad form of late … It’s unfortunate as until that point McMann and Ronda had been throwing bombs at each other in a highly entertaining first minute.

It was believed that the chink in McMann’s armour would be her striking and – whether you dispute the stoppage or not – this was confirmed last night. McMann did show flashes of promise though; she managed to stuff the hip toss of Ronda which was so dominant in her last match.

Next in line to face Ronda will likely be Alexis Davis who picked up a huge win on the undercard, though Cyborg’s recent announcement that she will be dropping to 135-lbs could throw a spanner in the works.

Result: Ronda Rousey def. Sara McMann via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:06

DANIEL CORMIER (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) VS. PATRICK CUMMINS (4-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC)

This one went exactly according to the script as DC made his Light Heavyweight debut with a bulldozing victory over UFC debutant Patrick Cummins. DC was as high as a 1/16 favourite with UK bookmakers and, as the odds suggest, he made short work of Rashad Evan’s late replacement.

The former Olympic wrestler barely utilised any of his wrestling skills as he quickly rocked the newcomer with a vicious uppercut from the clinch. This visibly stunned Cummins triggering DC’s killer instinct to swarm him with punches till the then-unbeaten Light Heavyweight collapsed under the relentless pressure, making it an easy call for Mario Yamasaki to step in.

I was never a fan of this fight. Props to Patrick Cummins for stepping up, but making your UFC debut in the co-main event of a PPV against a guy like Cormier does not make for good viewing. Though I expect the UFC to use this win to hype DC fighting at 205-lbs, realistically it proves absolutely nothing. Here’s hoping that we’ll see that DC vs Rashad fight in the not-too-distant future.

Result: Daniel Cormier def. Patrick Cummins via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:19

RORY MACDONALD (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) VS. DEMIAN MAIA (18-6 MMA, 12-6 UFC)

In what would receive ‘Fight of the Night’ honours, we saw the clash of two top Welterweight fighters coming off loses looking to put their names back in the title mix. It would pit the awesome BJJ skills of Demian Maia against the more well-rounded Rory Macdonald, or in other words the timeless grappler vs striker matchup.

In the first round Maia scored a quick takedown and – for what remained of the five minute – displayed his amazing BJJ to dominate Macdonald on the ground. Every time Rory attempted an escape of a sweep Demian would be two moves ahead in a highly compelling chess match taking place on the ground. To his credit, Macdonald managed to survive the round and took the fight to Maia in the second, using his rangy attacks to bloody-up and rock the former Middleweight title contender on the feet.

Going into the third round it was unquestionably one round apiece. Macdonald had inflicted the more damage but if Maia could somehow take Rory back down to his world he could steal the win. Though Maia was able to get the quick takedown, Macdonald displayed grappling skills of his own to stand-up and continue the fight on the feet. He then continued to win the final round on the feet, easily stuffing the remainder of the Brazilian’s takedown attempts.

Rory may now be in a position where he is next in line to challenge the winner of the Hendricks vs Lawler match-up as he showed the aggression many believed he’d been lacking in his more recent fights.

Result: Rory MacDonald def. Demain Maia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

MIKE PYLE (26-9-1 MMA, 9-4 UFC) VS. T.J. WALDBURGER (16-9 MMA, 4-4 UFC)

Experience triumphed over youth in this Welterweight clash as veteran Mike Pyle was able to get the late TKO stoppage over Waldburger.

Waldburger has built a name for himself for being an all-or-nothing style fighter – either he’ll pick up a flashy submission victory or he’ll be unconscious on the mat. Who needs judges, eh? True to form, this one didn’t hit the scorecards as a late flurry from Pyle which started with a spinning back fist rocked Waldburger, forcing him to shoot for a half-hearted takedown. Pyle reversed the attempt and found himself on top of Waldburger, raining down some of the heaviest elbows you’re ever likely to see in MMA. It was clear that Waldburger – who is known for his suspect chin – was out but still referee Herb dean didn’t jump in, making for some highly uncomfortable viewing. It was only after several more nasty looking shots landed that the fight was stopped. It’s really not been your year, has it Herb?

Result: Mike Pyle def. T.J. Waldburger via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 4:03

STEPHEN THOMPSON (9-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) VS. ROBERT WHITTAKER (11-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC)

This was always going to be one of those blink-and-it’ll-be-over type matchups as these two strikers met in the Octagon; Stephen Thompson’s unpredictable karate style would take on the more powerful boxing of Aussie Robert Whittaker.

Though the fight was over quickly, Thompson was able to display some beautiful karate techniques. Using a traditional karate stance and his reach advantage he was able to keep Whittaker on the outside while landing plentiful front kicks, body kicks and leg kicks. Though Thompson kept his hands low throughout, Whittaker’s well-documented power was nullified by this ranged assault. Frustration set in on the Australian TUF Smashes winner as he began to rush in, eventually resulting in him being clipped with a crisp straight right which rocked him and allowed Thompson to pounce for the finish.

With a big win over a tough opponent, Wonderboy is likely going to be in a position to push for a top ten 170-lb opponent.

Result: Stephen Thompson def. Robert Whittaker via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:43

ufc 170 Results: Alexis Davis potentially puts herself next in line for the 135lb title fight

UFC 170 Results: Davis defeats Eye by Split Decision

by Ben Heather @benheather

This battle between two of the best 135lb women in the UFC could decide who will be the next contender for the women's bantamweight title which will be contested later tonight. Only time will tell who will be the champion later but if Ronda Rousey wins I see the winner from this fight being the next in line.

Round 1
Davis starts the round with some leg kicks always targeting the left leg of Jessica Eye. It doesn't take long before Davis locks in a nice Thai clinch and lands a couple of knees to the body and thighs in the clinch.
Just over a minute in to the fight Davis is mixing up her kicks and lands a front kick to the head but then the fight gets clinched against the cage where it stays until the ref steps in to break the women up. Davis goes back to working the left leg before moving up to the body. The fight returns to being clinched against the cage and this time it is Eye who has her back against the cage. The fight returns to the middle and Davis gets the takedown with ease and has 30 seconds left to work on the floor in half guard but can't find any space to lock in a submission as the round ends. A very close round which I believe Davis may have stolen with the late takedown.

Round 2
Round 2 starts the same way as the first as Davis comes out with some leg kicks, still targeting the left leg of Jessica Eye. Just after the minute mark of the round Davis catches a kick and takes Eye down landing in half guard. Davis is controlling the fight on the ground doing enough to keep the fight down without doing any real damage. However, with 90 seconds left it looks like Eye was giving up her back to prevent the body attacks from Davis but Davis keeps her in half guard. With 20 seconds left Davis lands some big hammer fists to the head and Eye clearly had no answer for Davis on the ground. The first round may have been close but the second was very one sided with Davis controlling 4 minutes of the round on the floor.

Round 3
Again as every round has started Davis lands more leg kicks but now Eye begins to catch the kicks but cant find any counters. With 3 minutes of the fight left Eye catches Davis with a left hook when Davis was going for more leg strikes. At the half way point Davis lands a big body shot but nothing more comes from it. As both women exchange on the feet its Eye who is landing the harder strikes with 90 seconds left. Now Eye is trying to give Davis a taste of her own medicine by working her legs. The remainder of the fight sees both women picking there punches but no hard punches are landed. I think Eye won the last and certainly by keeping the fight standing had a much better round but it was too little to late in my opinion.

The judges agree and score the fight 29-28 Eye, 29-28 Davis and 29-28 Davis. It goes in to the books as a split decision victory for Alexis Davis and the crowd react with some boos which I don't understand as to me it was clearly 29-28 to Davis.

Davis could have just booked herself a date with the winner of the main event tonight, only time will tell but if not she is doing a good job at clearing out some of the other contenders to the belt.

UFC 170 Results: Raphael Assuncao Beats Pedro Munhoz 30-27 to go 6-0 in The UFC Bantamweight Division

UFC 170 Results: Raphael Assuncao Beats Pedro Munhoz 30-27 to go 6-0 in The UFC Bantamweight Division
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

The stakes were high for number 3 ranked Raphael Assuncao going in the the bout with undefeated Pedro Munhoz with a title shot against Renan Barao likely next for the Brazilian with an impressive victory. While Assuncao came through to win the bout 30-27, the former RFA Bantamweight champion Munhoz proved to be a tougher opponent for Assuncao then some may have expect, and showed he why his has been tipped to be a future star in the UFCs Bantamweight Division

Assuncao started the bout landing a couple of hard leg kicks which Munhoz following up with some nice leg kicks of his own. Assuncao connected with a couple a jabs and an overhand right, but the majority of Assuncao's offense is being blocked by Munhoz. looking confident with his striking Assuncao continued to throw punches, with Munhoz only really offering a descent low kick. Assuncao attempted a spinning back kick the mid-section of Munhoz which lands on the fighters arms, and Munhoz attempts a trip but is unsuccessful. KingdomMMA.co.uk scores the round 10-9 Assuncao

The second starts with Munhoz looking to land the leg kick again, which is starting to cause noticeable damage to Assuncao and causes the fighter to switch stance. Assuncao catches a kick from Munhoz who he pushes to the ground. The highly decorated BJJ belt Munhoz immediately attacks the leg of Assuncao looking for a heel-hook but Assuncao is able to spin out to end up on top. Assuncao starts raining down some huge ground and pound on Munhoz but the defeated prospect is able to get back to his feet to the applause of the crowd, which is now starting to fill up nicely since the opening bout. Munhoz press the action but Assuncao is able to get another take down where he pounds away on Munhoz until the bell. KingdomMMA.co.uk scores the round 10-9 Assuncao putting the fighter 20-18 up.

After a lively 2nd round we go into the 3rd, with Assuncao looking to assert control over the fight. Munhoz continued to press forward in the 3rd and is by far the aggressor in this fight, but his striking just isn't on the level of Assuncao. Both men trade for the majority of the round with Assuncao getting the better of the exchanges. The round finishes with Assuncao securing a takedown which should was enough to take the bout 30-27 on all 3 judges score cards.

Raphael Accuncao improves to 6-0 in the bantamweight division which should be enough to set up an all Brazilian title fight with Renao Barao.

UFC 170 Results: Aljamain Sterling out points Cody Gibson

UFC 170: Aljamain Sterling vs Cody Gibson

by Ben Heather @benheather

Aljamain Sterling came in to the fight at UFC 170 with a lot of hype and why not after all he was coming in undefeated and from one of the best camps in MMA. The Serra Longo fighter certainly lived up to the hype during the fight. Cody Gibson did his best throughout the fight and made it a real dog fight.

Round 1
Sterling comes out wanting to make an impression in his UFC debut landing a couple of head kicks including a front kick within the first minute. Gibson then decides that he will not be shown up and both men attempt but miss some flashy kicks. Gibson attempts a takedown but can't complete it and lets go of the clinch but it doesn't take long for him to complete the takedown as he gets Sterling down a couple of seconds later. Again, Sterling isn't kept down for long and gets back up to his feet. This time Sterling drags Cody down and rolls in to full guard from the back of Gibson where he works the body and head while down. Gibson gets back up and they exchange on the feet before Sterling drags the fight to the cage wall where he is working his knees. Mixing up the placement between the body and the legs of Gibson.
Sterling 10-9

Round 2
The second round starts and Gibson catches a kick from Sterling and lands a punch. The fight goes back to clinching against the cage and its Sterling again trying to land the knees but Gibson is working the legs looking to take Sterling down. Two minutes in to the round he finally gets the trip. Again, like the first Sterling gets straight back up before being dumped back down on the floor. This time as Sterling attempts to get back up Gibson keeps hold of his back but nothing comes from it and they are back on the fence clinching. With 1:20 of the round left they finally come away from the cage and its not long before Gibson goes for another takedown. Both men then scramble to get position and Sterling goes for a double leg with 25 seconds left but gets caught in a guillotine by Gibson. The choke is not tight enough and Sterling gets out and makes it to the end of the round. Gibson evens the fight as it goes to the third round.

Round 3
The first real action of the third is when Sterling picks up and slams Gibson down 30 seconds in to the round. Sterling is doing just enough to keep the fight down and with 90 seconds gone Sterling attempts to lock in a D'arce choke. Sterling isn't able to complete the choke and lets go before he burns out his arms. Cody then tries to lock in a guillotine and tries to drag Sterling down but loses his grip and ends up on the bottom with Sterling in full guard. Sterling moves to half guard and works the body of Gibson from the bottom some of the shots seem to hurt Cody and he gives up his back to try and get out of the position with 90 secs left. With 45 seconds left Sterling locks the body triangle in and with 30 seconds left he is looking to finish the fight and locks in a Rear Naked Choke but again can't complete it. Sterling ends the fight on the back of Gibson throwing and landing bombs.

This was a great fight and Sterling takes the win 29-28 on all of the judges score cards. He also looks to be a real talent and the hype was well deserved for this fighter. I look forward to seeing him back in the Octagon in the near future.

UFC 170 Results: Zach Makovsky Downs Josh Sampo by Unanimous Decision

UFC 170 Results: Zach Makovsky Downs Josh Sampo by Unanimous Decision
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Zak Makovsky staked his claim as a force to be reckoned with in the UFC flyweight division at UFC 170 downing fellow contender Josh Sampo in dominating fashion.

The former Bellator bantamweigh showed fantastic, well timed take downs to simply out classed his Mike Rogers' gym opponent on route to a clear cut unanimous decision victory. 

Sampo opened the bout with a switch leg kick which landed nicely on Makovsky before Makovsky shot in for a takedown which saw Makovsky pick Sampo up and slam his opponent down down to put Sampo on his back. Sampo showed some great offense from his back showing an active submission game before letting off some close call up-kicks, which narrowly missed and allowed Sampo to get to his feet. Sampo landed some pretty descent shots in the clinch once the bout returned to a standing position with Makovsky returing with a knee to the body to finish out the round. Makovsky takes this round 10-9.

Round 2 started with a big headkick from Makovsky which was partially blocked, before getting a takedown which Sampo was able to quickly bounced back up from. After trading a few jabs, Makovsky was able to land a couple more takedowns which although Sampo was able to get up from, they will have scored points on the judges score card. Sampo attempted a Kimura at the end of the 2nd but ran out of time. Makovsky takes round 2, to go 20-18 up.

Going into round 3 Sampo was easily 2 rounds down on the judges score, and needed a finish. Sampo came out aggressive throwing kicks and punches but could get much to land on the elusive Makovsky. 1 minute into the round the fighter meet throwing punches and Sampo was able to push Makovsky to the ground to land up on top near the cage.  Sampo tried to work Makovsky but couldn't manage to get anything going with Makovsky getting to his feet to land a take down of his own. The fight finshed how it started with Makovsky in top posistion with Sampo trying to get off offense from the bottom. An argument could be made for Sampo winning this round, but it wouldn't matter in the end.

After 15 minutes, the judges score the bout 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of Makovsky who improves to 18-4 and won't be far off a top 5 place in the flyweight division following this dominating victory over Josh Sampo. Sampo's record moves to 11-3. 

UFC 170 Results: Erik Koch TKOs Rafaello Oliveira in Impressive Fashion

UFC 170 Results: Erik Koch TKOs Rafaello Oliveira in Impressive fashion
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

Duke Roufus prodigy, Erik Koch returned to the 155lb division, and back to the win column with an impressive first round TKO victory over Rafaello Oliveira.

Fighting for the first time since his August loss to Dustin Poirier, Koch entered the bout hoping to bounce back with a win over BJJ black belt Rafaello Oliveira and make a name for himself in a new division. It's safe to say he did both.

The bout kicked off in surprising fashion with Oliveira coming out the aggressor, looking to land some hard, but wild shots. Oliveira went for a leaping knee which left the fghter open for a straight left from Koch which dropped the New Jersey based Brazilian lightweight. Koch followed the fight to the ground, getting in Oliveira's guard and began raining down, laser-beam accurate ground and pound which left referee Yves Lavigne with no choice but to stop the fight at the 1.24 mark, impoving Koch's record to 14-3, and earning the Cedar Rapids born fighter his 10th career stoppage.

Following the bout Koch told interviewing Joe Rogan it had become too difficult for his maturing frame to make 145lb, and fighting as a lightweight will allow him to show what his is really capable, as he did tonight.

UFC 170 Results: Ernest Chavez defeats Yosdenis Cedeno to Open Up UFC 170

UFC 170 Results Ernest Chavez defeats Yosdenis Cedeno to Open Up UFC 170
by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

ufc.tv

A welterweight match up between Ernest Chavez (6-0) and Yosdenis Cedeno (9-2), both of who were making their UFC debuts kicked off UFC 170 to a largely empty Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas. The fans who have yet to arrive at the event need not worry though, as they didn't really miss much.

Round 1 started with the bookies favourite, Cedeno throwing a couple of hard body shots and landing with a couple of decent leg kicks, while Chavez looked to close the distance. Chavez offered little offense during the first round until around the 1.30 mark where he was able to capitalise on a missed wheel kick from Cedeno and get the fight to ground where Chavez quickly showed he was far more advanced than the Cuban black belt. Cedeno was able to stand up before the bell, Chavez showed great positioning to have achieved full mount and take the back of Cedeno, and assert some domination.

Round 2 started exactly how round 1 did. Cedeno came out looking to land big shots but Chavez was able to get the take down - again off a kick from Cedeno, and proceeded to look for the submission which show the BJJ purple belt again take the back of Cedeno, however a posistioning mistake from Chavez allowed the noticable tired Cereno to get to his feet.

Going into round 3 both fighters will have felt like the bout was even after 2 rounds, with the winner of round 3 winning the bout. The first couple of minutes of round 3 saw both men trade shots, with not much action. Cerano picked up the action in the last couple of minutes throwing a a couple of headkicks and some pretty hard punches which were mainly blocked. The round ended as it started with neither man looking like they wanted to push the other in an attempt to win the fight.

The judges scored the bout 29-28 Chavez, 29-28 Cedeno, & 30-27 Chavez who remains undefeated in his mixed martial arts career, extending his win streak to 7, while Cedeno moves to 9-3.