Fox Sports 1 Fight Night Recap

The kick hear around the world.

UFC helped Fox kick off its newest channel in style.  I hyped up this card a lot, and it delivered.  I still think this card is runner up to UFC on Fox 7: Henderson vs Melendez, but boy this was still one hell of a fight card.  Dana White is always sure to award great performances as he sees necessary, and the extra "Of the Night" bonuses showed that he was proud of his fighters on this card.

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• James Vick fought for the first time in the UFC since his stint on The Ultimate Fighter Live.  He is now 5-0 professionally after picking up a quick submission of Ramsey Nijem.  Nijem is now 1-2 against fighters from that very season.
• Ovince St. Preux, now known as OSP, showed off his raw power as he knocked Cody Donovan out from his guard.  This was a much better performance than OSP put on in his UFC debut.  Expect big things from OSP in the near future.
• At the end of the first round there was a very bizarre incident between Gamburyan and Miller.  Cole threw an elbow that hit Manny on the back of the head and left a huge gash.  This landed in an illegal spot, but I was very confused by the extra time they allotted Manny Gamburyan after the round.  Ronda Rousey showed her crazy side, dropping a few F-bombs on Facebook.  You will see more of Ronda's crazy side when she coaches TUF.  I was right in one thing, Rousey was all Jon Anik talked about during the whole fight (although I said Mike Goldberg).  Gamburyan picked up a rather unimpressive win against Cole Miller in this snoozer.

Fox Sports 1 Prelims:

• Diego Brandao and Daniel Pineda put on the first fight televised on Fox Sports 1.  They came out swinging for the fences.  Brandao looked great but tired as he usually does.  Pineda was hurt multiple times but hung in tough to make this a great fight.  It was the 3rd round takedowns by Brandao that stole the fight.  It was an extremely entertaining fight but both guys need to find another level of conditioning to become better fighters.
• Steven Siler made a HUGE statement by knocking out former WEC champ Matt Brown in less than a minute.  Brown rushed in and was caught by an uppercut then barraged with ground and pound.  Siler made a big statement and Brown vanished into obscurity.  Hopefully he at least fights 1 more time so he can retire on a positive note.
• A main event atmosphere surrounded the third FS1 preliminary bout.  That is how big of a star Conor McGregor has the chance to be.  He and Max Holloway even had their entrances into the Octagon put on TV.  McGregor looked outstanding in the 1st round then fell into a more conservative shell.  He used wrestling and ground control to win the 2nd and 3rd round.  Holloway is a tough opponent so I was not ashamed of McGregor, as he beat a top level featherweight.  Oh, then I found out he tore up a bunch of crap in his leg.  He needs surgery and will be out 10 months.  He was disappointed that he did not finish Holloway, but the sheer fact that he finished the fight on one leg is just as impressive.  Expect him to be out for a while, but around for a while as well.  This guy is a star and future contender in this division.  As for Holloway, he is still young and talented, it could all come together for him in time.
• Brad Pickett vs Michael McDonald should never ever, EVERRR belong on a preliminary card ever.  These are not only two of the most talented bantamweights, but two of the most exciting fighters in the UFC.  They were a lock to win Fight of the Night, even on this card.  McDonald looked outstanding early, picking Brad Pickett apart in the standup game.  Pickett showed why we love him by staying up and taking a ridiculous amount of damage only to survive the first round.  The tables turned in the second when Brad was able to take McDonald down and control him on the ground.  McDonald stayed patient and avoided damage for a few minutes.  Suddenly he snagged an arm of Pickett and threw up a triangle armbar.  Pickett again did not quit, waiting significantly longer than most fighters would before he ultimately had no choice but to tap.  Credit Pickett for hanging tough and being exciting.  But boy oh boy did Michael McDonald make a statement with that win.  Pickett vs Jorgensen was an amazing WEC fight and they would be a great rematch in the future.  As for McDonald, he should fight Urijah Faber in a top contender fight.  I know both of those guys have recently lost to Renan Barao, but whoever wins that fight is without a doubt the #3 bantamweight in the world.  What a stacked division 135 has become with Barao, Cruz, Faber, McDonald, Pickett, and Wineland (the guy who is fighting Barao for the interim belt).  Oh and that Faber/McDonald fight better be a 5 round main event, not some preliminary bout!!

Fox Sports 1 Main Event:

• The Boston crowd loves Joe Lauzon as much as they love Conor McGregor. Only they had much less to cheer about when Lauzon took the stage.  So often people confuse excitingness for talent.  While Lauzon is high in talent, he has holes in his game.  We love a Lauzon submission more than anything as fans of him.  But as fans of fighting, we love Lauzon taking beatings just as much.  Lauzon did not take this fight to the ground at any point.  He took a beating from Michael Johnson on his way to a 30-27 decision loss.  I was ok with this because now we have another talented lightweight in Michael Johnson emerging out of nowhere.  Lauzon will be back, and will be as exciting as ever.
• Switch Brad Pickett and Michael McDonald with this fight on the card and things would be much more in order.  Dana White put the fight (if you can call it that) between John Howard and Uriah Hall on the main card due to the hype around Hall.  The dude was a killer on TUF, but has shown little since his two devastating KO's.  Hall was too busy telling Howard he loved him and giving him hugs and high 5's to actually fight him.  He needs to find that warrior spirit if he wants to be a legit middleweight.  I suggest sports psychology is next up for Hall.  As for Howard, he made anyone who bet on him some easy money.  He was the biggest underdog on the card and had the softest opponent.  I do not know if this guy is actually good or not.  Stay tuned on the diagnosis of "Doomsday."
• Matt Brown made it 6 in a row with his 30 second KO of Mike Pyle.  Give this guy a real opponent for Christ's sake!  He needs to fight a proven submission specialist to earn a title shot in my opinion.  While I think Lawler/MacDonald is the top contender fight in the welterweight division, Matt Brown should be given some consideration.  I want him to face the winner of one of the two important welterweight fights coming up. Either take on the Condit/Kampmann winner or take on the winner of Shields/Maia.  I suggested his next fight be against Maia after he bested Mein on Fox not too long ago.  "Mr. Fox" as Dana White has dubbed Brown, needs to face a quality guy.  His run is so impressive yet so unimpressive at the same time.  Give this guy a real fight please.
• Urijah Faber flat out wins any non-title fight.  Give Alcantara credit, he had Faber in all sorts of trouble early in round one.  After that it was the power wrestling and ground and pound by Faber that neutralized Alcantara.  You know I love Faber vs McDonald next.  Alcantara should take on a guy on the edge of the top 10, like maybe Mike Easton.  Also, learn how to pronounce Alcantara's name Jon Anik.  You are seriously the worst announcer and I think Goldberg and now Stann should permanently take your job.
• I just want to declare that I am brilliant before breaking down the co-main event of the evening.  I went to Facebook and posted "Alistair Overeem is by far a better fighter than Travis Browne but he has a glass chin. Mark my words he is gonna go night night."   If that isn't a snipe, I don't know what is.  Alistair Overeem beat the living hell out of Travis Browne for the first 3 minutes of this fight.  Then he landed two or three illegal knees Mario Yamasaki chose to ignore!  Travis Browne took so much damage to his body but was able to land the kick heard around the world.  He would NOT have stopped most heavyweights with that kick, but Overeem has a chin of glass.  Thank you, Bas Rutten, for pointing that out to me.  I made a lot of money off this Browne victory, as did Travis.  He is now getting respect among the top heavyweights.  I say him vs Werdum for the top contender spot!
• I knew Chael Sonnen was a bad matchup for Shogun Rua stylistically.  I knew Sonnen would take Shogun down and I knew Shogun would sweep into a top position.  I suspected a TKO or submission could end this fight one way or another.  But I did not think Chael P. Sonnen would submit Shogun in the first round with a guillotine choke.  Very impressive win for Chael who called out 
• Wandy yet again.  It is rumored this fight will definitely happen now that "the Axe Murderer" is pissed.  Huge statement for Chael.  Shogun will bounce back, he still has fight left in him.

Picks entering event: 108/188

Picks during event: 7/13

Pick totals: 115/201=57.2%

UFC awards:

KOOTN: Matt Brown+Travis Browne

SOTN: Chael Sonnen+Michael McDonald

FOTN: McDonald/Pickett

Brutal Sports Awards:

Beatdown of the Night: Michael Johnson

Sketchiest Decision of the Night: None! Good work judges.

Upset of the Night: (even though odds would say Howard over Hall)  Michael Johnson!

The cut list:

• Ramsey Nijem
• Cody Donovan

Three Stars:

1. Michael McDonald
2. Travis Browne
3. Michael Johnson