UFC 149 Recap/Results/Meds/Bonuses/Salaries/Gate

Wow, what a night. Who would have ever expect the main card to suck so bad? We certainly didn’t. We gotta say, the Prelims were spectacular, starting with Anton and Mitch, what a back and forth war. They battled standing, wrestling and traded submission attempts, it was a thing of beauty, Antnio Carvalho followed that fight up by KO’ing Daniel Pineda in the first minute or so of the first round. His stand up was crisp and greatly improved from his last outing. We are really looking forward to him facing a top 5 guy next. It was a hard loss for Pineda, we hope he rebounds and gets back in the win column cause he has a ton of potential. Byran Caraway and Mitch Gagnon put on another great war, with Bryan Caraway getting the short end of the stick until he sunk in a RNC in the beginning of the third, showing his resilience and experience. Ryan Jimmo delivered big, real BIG. He not only KO’d Anthony Perosh, he did it in 7 seconds tying Chris Lytle’s record! We didn’t call it a KO when it happened, we called it Murder. Anthony Perosh may never be the same after that KO. Francisco Rivera and Roland Delorme started strong, with Francisco dominating the striking game, then Roland started to find his range and looked like he might give Francisco a run, until Francisco saw his opening and leveled Delorme with a staggering short left. Francisco Rivera is getting better and better each and every time we see him, don’t be surprised if he’s fighting for the BW belt before long. Nick Ring and Court McGee put on a fight that saw Court beat Ring for 2.5 solid rounds only to end up on the losing side of a hometown decision. Regardless of the decision, the fight was a real battle that the crowd enjoyed. The main card started out great with Matthew Riddle putting Chris Clements in a amazing arm triangle in the 3rd to win the fight and the Submission bonus. You gotta see the highlight video to really appreciate the beauty of this submission. The same goes for Ryan Jimmo’s KO.

From Riddle/Clements on the card went downhill. Head and Ebersole put on a very stale bout, followed by an even staler bout by Kongo and Jordan. Jordan seemed a bit out of place against the likes of Kongo and the Ref was all but useless, letting them tie up against the cage for the better part of 15 minutes. The fight everyone was sure would steal the show was Hector Lombard vs. Tim Boetsch, everyone was wrong, completely wrong. Lombard was uncharacteristically passive, stalking Boetsch and counter striking more than we’ve seen before. Boetsch danced while landing his shots then getting out quickly, doing just barely more than Lombard and taking the decision. There was a winner in the Octagon™, Boetsch, but the fans lost in that one. We can’t say the Main event sucked, because it was 5 round battle of wills and technical abilities. Renan Barao was able to take Urijah out of his game (he also broke his rib in the 1st round, Urijah is a warrior) to win by unanimous decision. We, like the fans in attendance, were hoping for a fast paced battle that saw either fighter emerge as the dominant force in the 135 lb division, wwhat we got was two of the best showing exactly why they are the best for 5 rounds. Barao won, no doubt, but will he be able to excite the fans in his first title defense? Or against Cruz?

We were left with more questions than answers after this card. Who is the #1 contender at 185, what is the next move for Lombard, Urijah and Boetsch for that matter? We saw a LW, FW and BW set themselves apart from the crowd, but how much was the UFC brass paying attention? What did you think?

Gate: $4.1 million

$65,000 bonuses

• Fight of the Night:  Bryan Caraway vs.  Mitch Gagnon
• Knockout of the Night:  Ryan Jimmo
• Submission of the Night:  Matthew Riddle

Main Card (PPV)

Bantamweight  Renan Barao def.  Urijah Faber – Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 50-45, 49-46)

Middleweight  Tim Boetsch def.  Hector Lombard – Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28)

 Heavyweight  Cheick Kongo def.  Shawn Jordan – Decision (unanimous) (30–28, 30–27, 30–27)

 Welterweight  James Head def.  Brian Ebersole – Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)

 Welterweight  Matthew Riddle def.  Chris Clements – Submission (arm-triangle choke) Rd. 3 2:02 

Preliminary Card (FX)

Middleweight  Nick Ring def.  Court McGee – Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)

Bantamweight  Francisco Rivera def.  Roland Delorme – KO (punches) Rd. 1 4:19 

Light Heavyweight  Ryan Jimmo def.  Anthony Perosh – KO (punch) Rd.1 0:07

Bantamweight  Bryan Caraway def.  Mitch Gagnon – Submission (rear-naked choke) Rd. 3 1:39 

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

Featherweight  Antonio Carvalho def.  Daniel Pineda – KO (punches) Rd. 1 1:11 

Lightweight  Anton Kuivanen def.  Mitch Clarke – Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)