Chicken wings and Beer Review: UFC 141 Lesnar vs. Overeem

Well Maniacs UFC 141 is over and we know all the results.

In my other fan post Chicken Pot Pie Predictions (http://www.mmamania.com/2011/12/29/2668972/chick-potpie-prediction-ufc-141-lesnar-vs-overeem) I broke all the fights down and gave my predictions and opened up a poll on what people thought of those predictions:

Matt Damon won with 30% of the votes, followed by "Some" at 25% and "Fucking Moron, Don't do this again" with 24%

Now I'm going to break down the results:

Preliminary card
Featherweight bout: Manny Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes

Winner: Diego Nunes by Unanimous Decision

My prediction was correct, I called for a Unanimous decision for Nunes or TKO. It wasn't as one sided as I expected but still a good performance by Nunes

Lightweight bout: Jacob Volkmann vs. Efrain Escudero

Winner: Jacob Volkmann by Unanimous Decision

I was wrong on this fight, Volkmann was the betting favorite and it showed. It was a good grappling match overall, not the most exciting however, with the exception of a close call in the 3rd round when Escudero sinking in a close north south choke and a couple of Rear Naked Choke attempts by Volkmann in the 2nd round.

Welterweight bout: Dong Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson

Winner: Dong Hyun Kim by Unanimous Decision

Fight had less grappling than I expected, with a little more free stand up from Kim. Fight was pretty slow paced. In the first, Kim had a nice looking Judo throw but was reversed almost immediately by Pierson, who took Kims back in the closing moments of the round. In the second, we saw more sloppy kick boxing, with Kim throwing weird crane kicks at Pierson face. Try, try, try again once finally lands and dazes Pierson, Kim attempted to finish but was unable to. 3rd round was more stand up, a single leg take down and some work in half guard by Kim, but neither fighter really being exciting. Pretty much what I expected from this fight.

Lightweight bout: Anthony Njokuani vs. Danny Castillo

Winner: Danny Castillo by Split Decision

I was right about the winner, and he did what I expected as far as the grappling went. He had the wrestling background on Njokuani and it showed, with Castillo controlling the grappling 75% of the time, including a nice slam in the first round. Njokuani did better in the second round, and the 3rd was close as well. In the end it was a 29-28 fight with neither fighter being really dominating. Castillo didn't get the submission like I expected, but there were a decent amount of attempts by both fighters.

Featherweight bout: Ross Pearson vs. Junior Assuncao

Winner: Ross Pearson by Unanimous Decision

Pearson had a successful featherweight debut. It was a closer fight than I expected, with Pearson not getting the better of the fight the entire time. He clearly won most of the stand up exchanges and stayed aggressive throughout the fight. In the end it was a good victory for him and Assuncao is 2-3 in the UFC.

Main card

Featherweight bout: Nam Phan vs. Jimy Hettes

Winner: Jimy Hettes by Unanimous Decision

This was as one sided as I expected and predicted it to be. Even with Phans black belt in BJJ, he wasn't able to stop hardly any take downs nor reverse many positions on the ground. Hettes completely outclassed Phan. The judges scores tell the story: 30-25, 30-25, 30-26. I don't remember the last time I've ever seen that, with Hettes almost ground and pounding Phan out in the 1st round, and having multiply submission attempts throughout the fight. Excellent win by Hettes, this kid has a future.

Light Heavyweight bout: Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alexander Gustafsson

Winner: Alexander Gustafsson by TKO

I was correct again in the guess, Gustafsson was rightly the favorite in the this fight. Vladdy looked old and slow in the fight and never mounted any offense. He came in recklessly and got caught right on the chin and fell down into the turtle position and got TKO'd in just over 2 minutes.

Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks

Winner: Johny Hendricks by Knock Out

No one saw this coming. I was expecting another Jon Fitch "Fitching" with a slowly ground out unanimous decision win. Hendricks KO'd Fitch in 12 seconds, easily one of the fastest KO's I've seen. He hit him with the big left hand, Fitch's arms dropped and Hendricks hit him a few times on the ground before the ref pulled him off. Hendricks moves up, Fitch loses some credibility but will likely rebound.

Co-Main Event:
Lightweight bout: Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone

Winner: Nate Diaz by Unanimous Decision

This was a toss up fight but I thought Nate had the goods to beat the "Cowboy" and I was right. Nate Diaz threw great combinations, pressed the action and made Cerrone look confused. Diaz had a great fight and probably shocked a lot of Maniacs by how one sided the fight was. Cerrone did get a couple head kicks off, including one that dropped Diaz in the 2nd round, but Cerrone failed to capitalize. Diaz looked great, but it is possible that Cerrone was overtrained as this was his 5th fight this year.

Main Event:
Heavyweight bout: Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem

Winner: Alistair Overeem by TKO

Another fight that could have gone either way. I had picked Brock by TKO but this doesn't surprise me in the slightest, especially after seeing the way Brock was acting at the start. He looked guy shy, tentative and freaked out. He doesn't attack with his normally aggressive I'm gonna eat your face attack, he only goes for a single half hearted single leg take down. It was only a matter of time before Overeem hit him with something. That something was a liver kick that dropped Lesnar and allowed Overeem to swarm him and cause the ref to stop the fight in less than two and half minutes. I was so disgusted with Lesnar I didn't bother to stay and watch the interviews after the fight and left the bar, only finding out when I got home that he announced his retirement. I hope he doesn't stay retired and comes back and fights someone with a similar experience level and get his confidence back. I don't expect him to stay retired long. Give him.....Matt Mitrione?

Meanwhile Overeem looked pretty good in his UFC Debut, I don't expect him to beat Junior Dos Santos for the title when that fight happens sometime next year, but he's a welcome addition to the roster non the less.

Well my first posting went OK with me getting 7 out of 10 picks correct. I'll write up my take on UFC 142: Aldo vs Mendes next weekend. Thank you for reading.