· Silva’s Streak Remains Unbroken, Jones Earns Title Shot At UFC 126
UFC 126 is now in the books and featured what many touted as the biggest middleweight title fight in MMA history as Anderson Silva faced off with Vitor Belfort. The fight started slow with each fighter staring the other down, circling around the cage. After a brief exchange that resulted in another faceoff, Silva quickly threw a front kick that caught Belfort square in the jaw and followed it up with two crisp punches to the downed Belfort. The referee quickly called a stop to the fight and Silva retained his middleweight title.
Following the main event, the UFC offered bonus coverage by way of a lightweight bout between Gabe Rudiger and Paul Taylor. Rudiger was overwhelmed by Taylor's strikes from the beginning and was knocked out during the second round via head kick.
Before the pay-per-view broadcast, the UFC 126 card started off on Spike TV with Chad Mendes earning a dominating unanimous decision over Michihiro Omigawa. Omigawa was making his first trip back to the UFC in three years after losing his first two UFC fights, then at lightweight. He offered little offense to Mendes' relentless attack and was cut up during the bout. The victory was Mendes' first for the UFC since coming over after the UFC/WEC merger.
In the following bout, action shifted to an earlier match between TUF alumni Kyle Kingsbury facing off against Ricardo Romero. The fight introductions lasted longer than the actual fight as Kingsbury immediately hurt Romero with a body shot and finished it off with unprotested ground-and-pound.
The featured bout on the Spike card was the UFC debut of former WEC top lightweight contender Donald Cerrone clashing with British striker Paul Kelly. Immediately following the opening bell, Kelly landed a vicious punch as Cerrone reached out to touch gloves, but Cerrone rebounded with a takedown of his own. Later in the round, the elbows of Cerrone opened a nasty cut over the eye of Kelly. In the second round, Cerrone got a trip takedown. After controlling Kelly on the ground, Cerrone was able to get the mount position. Kelly rolled and gave up his back allowing Cerrone to lock in a body triangle to control Kelly's movement. Midway through round two, Cerrone picked up the win with a rear-naked choke submission.
The opening contest of the pay-per-view telecast was a bantamweight bout between former champion Miguel Torres and "The Pit" product, Antonio Banuelos. The bout offered little more than Banuelos' repeated attempts to unsuccessfully close the distance and Torres counter jabbing. The jabs were effective in causing Banuelos to bleed from his nose. The crowd booed profusely throughout with Torrest picking up an uneventful unanimous decision win.
Jake Ellenberger was originally slated to face former number one contender Jon Fitch on this card. Fitch was later moved to UFC 126 to face B.J. Penn. Ellenberger's replacement opponent was Carlos Eduardo Rocha. In the opening Stanza, Ellenberger was repeatedly in trouble. Rocha's jiu-jitsu was on constant display throughout the first round leaving Ellenberger constantly defending. Rocha was not able to repeat the early success as Ellenberger turned the momentum and won the second and third rounds with a mix of striking and throwing in a few quick takedowns. The decision was not without some controversy. Ellenberger won the decision 29-28 on two judges cards but one judge scored the bout 30-27 for Rocha, despite Ellenberger being the aggressor and controlling the second and third rounds' pace.
One of the evening's featured contests was a light heavyweight showdown between rising prospects Jon Jones and Ryan Bader. Bader was not able to execute his takedowns on Jones with Jones being the faster and seemingly stronger of the two. Jones capitalized on top position and submitted Bader with a guillotine choke. Following the win, Joe Rogan entered the cage and offered Jones a title shot in March against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua as it was announced that the number one title contender, Rashad Evans had suffered a knee injury during training and was forced to withdraw.
In the night's co-main event, two of the sport's most popular fighters, Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin engaged in a very close fight. Griffin was able to take Franklin down and control him throughout the first round. The second and third rounds were much closer with Griffin picking up the unanimous decision win, 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards.
Following customary procedure, the UFC handed out three bonuses following the event, each worth $75,000. Donald Cerrone and Paul Kelly earned the "Fight of the Night" bonuses. Anderson Silva's unorthodox front kick knockout of Vitor Belfort accounted for the night's "Knockout of the Night." In what has to be the night of Jon Jone's life, he earned the number one contender spot to the title of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua as well as the bonus for "Submission of the Night" with his guillotine win over Ryan Bader.
During the post-event press conference, UFC President Dana White reported an attendance of 10,893 for a live gate of $3.6 million.
Quick Results:
Main Card
- Anderson Silva defeated Vitor Belfort via knockout - Round 1, 3:25
- Forrest Griffin defeated Rich Franklin via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Jon Jones defeated Ryan Bader via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 2, 4:20
- Jake Ellenberger defeated Carlos Eduardo Rocha via split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28)
- Miguel Torres defeated Antonio Banuelos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Prelims
- Donald Cerrone defeated Paul Kelly via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 3:48
- Chad Mendes defeated Michihiro Omigawa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Demetrious Johnson defeated Norifumi Yamamoto via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
- Paul Taylor defeated Gabe Ruediger via knockout - Round 2, 1:42
- Kyle Kingsbury defeated Ricardo Romero via technical knockout - Round 1, 0:21
- Mike Pierce defeated Kenny Robertson via TKO (punches) - Round 2, 0:29
