UFC 167 Recap

At the end of 5 rounds, sometimes body language tells us who won.

UFC 167 was the 20th anniversary celebration for the UFC.  What seemed like a great night for the UFC ended in shambles due to a controversial decision in the main event.  The 20th anniversary will always be tainted by a terrible decision by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).  More on that later on, here is the card's quick results:

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• Gian Villante looked sluggish at first, but pulled off a sick KO win over Cody Donovan in the end.
• Sergio Pettis showed he still has holes in his game, but still dominated his contest with Will Campuzano to win a decision.
• Jason High and Anthony Lapsley hugged it out for 3 rounds.  High won thanks to more top control.

FS1 Prelims:

• Erik Perez mixed good striking with an excellent takedown game to get the unanimous decision win over Edwin Figueroa.
• Rick Story gave Brian Ebersole all he had but did not get the finish.  He will be happy with his unanimous decision win though.
• Thales Leites used his superior grappling to neutralize Ed Herman's power and win a decision.
• Donald Cerrone and Evan Dunham saved to prelims with an exciting fight.  Cerrone capped off a 2-2 record in 2013 with a triangle choke win over Dunham taking home a Submission of the Night bonus.

PPV:

• Ali Bagautinov slowed the rise of Tim Elliott and made a name for himself with an impressive decision win.
• Tyron Woodley and Josh Koscheck threw heavy shots back and forth before the TUF 1 alum went down in spectacular fashion.  Huge win for Woodley who has plenty of big fight options on the horizon.
• Robbie Lawler pulled of a big upset with his destruction of Rory MacDonald.  Rory did well to survive the 3rd round and not get finished, but Lawler took home the split decision win.
• Rashad Evans was the first to get a takedown in his wrestling match with Chael Sonnen.  From there he threw hard shots and put a stamp on the king of the broadcast team.  Or did he?  Daniel Cormier looks like he'll be Rashad's next opponent.  If only Kenny Florian could fight Rashad too...
• GSP retained his crown in one of the most controversial fights I remember.  Round 1 went 2 to 1 for GSP on the scorecards, but Hendricks clearly landed the better shots with those hard elbows and a late takedown.  I do not see how GSP possibly could have won this round, thus the controversy.  Round 2 Johny Hendricks dominated from start to finish, rocking GSP and beating him up good.  Round 3 Hendricks started to slow so he took it off a bit.  However, he got a late takedown and very well could have stolen the round.  I can give GSP the close round champion gift and let him win round 3.  Round 4 again was dominated by Johny.  Round 5 was a wrestling match that GSP won.  This was the only clear round won by GSP.  As you can see, it should be 48-47 for Hendricks since he won rounds 1, 2, and 4.  Round 3 debatably could have been Hendricks as well. However, the judges that gave GSP round 1 are ridiculous and wrong.  Hendricks got robbed and GSP should not be the welterweight king.

As far as the state of the 170 pound division, I have a few ideas.  Robbie Lawler vs Johny Hendricks seems to be an awesome fight to do while GSP is "on vacation."  The interim belt should be created just because GSP's future is unsure.  The winner of Lawler/Hendricks should fight the Brown/Condit winner from the fight scheduled in Sacramento.  That is my take on the division.  I hope GSP comes back and I hope Johny gets the rematch he deserves.  Keith Kizer and the NSAC dropped the ball here.  The judges were flat out wrong on November 16th, 2013.

Picks entering event: 168/290

167 picks: 7/11 (not counting GSP/Hendricks for or against me)

Pick totals 2013: 175/301=58%

UFC Awards:

FOTN: GSP/Hendricks

SOTN: Cerrone

KOOTN: Woodley

Brutal Sports Awards:

Beatdown of the Night: Lawler

Sketchiest Decision of the Night (and year!!!): GSP/Hendricks

Upset of the Night: Lawler

Three Stars:

1. Tyron Woodley
2. Donald Cerrone
3. Robbie Lawler