UFC 141 results recap: Review of Friday night's gigantic 'Lesnar vs. Overeem' fight card in Las Vegas

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Sorry, you're a little late to the party. That's because Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) impressively completed another crowd-pleasing pay-per-view (PPV) event last night (Fri., Dec. 30, 2011), knowing that most of its young mixed martial arts (MMA) audience would be out ringing in the New Year this evening.

Fear not, because we're here to give you a complete rundown of what you missed -- or simply want to revisit -- with UFC 141: "Lesnar vs. Overeem," which came through in the clutch for the fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and those of us who watched it remotely.

Alistair Overeem proved that his stand up skills really are as good as promised when he defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in a devastating first round technical knockout triumph, while in the co-main event, Nate Diaz put on a boxing clinic against Donald Cerrone en route to a very dominant decision win.

If you like submissions, this was not the event for you. Each and every fight was either finished by (technical) knockout or went to a judges' decision. Indeed, there was not one solitary submission on the entire card.

After the jump, MMAmania.com reviews the highlights of the weekend that comprised UFC 141:

Brock Lesnar had not fought in the Octagon for more than 14 months. He was recovering from a second bout with diverticulitis, as well as having to have 12 ridiculous inches of his colon removed.

No big deal, right?

No matter, if you believed Lesnar -- who told the media and fans alike that he was good to go -- Overeem was going to have his hands full with a fighter unlike any other he'd ever encountered.

Talk is cheap.

It was clear, early on, that Lesnar was not going to be able to take down Overeem. Lesnar looked flustered and frustrated. He made the mistake of standing in front the former K-1 kickboxing champion ... and he paid for it.

It wasn't long before "The Reem" found a home for his kicks on the midsection of his opponent. After one such rib-crushing shin across the torso, Lesnar toppled to the ground underneath a bludgeoning of blows from Overeem before the referee finally stepped in and stopped the beating.

"Goodnight, Irene."

Read the full recap with analysis of the Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem fight at UFC 141 here. To watch full video highlights of their main event clash click here.

As a reward for his quick and brutal victory, Overeem will now get to face UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior dos Santos in a match-up between the two finest heavyweight strikers in all of MMA. Before the fight with Lesnar, Overeem said, "Whoever wins this fight will go up the ladder. Whoever loses, will go down." Simplistic enough, but very true.

The win was huge for Overeem, who now has a chance to prove that he really is deserving of all the hype he's been receiving for so long. The loss was epic for Lesnar; career-ending, to be exact. After the loss, Lesnar told Joe Rogan that he's done with MMA. It will certainly be interesting to see where he goes from here.

There's really no telling what's next for Lesnar, but wrestling fans and WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon may not have been too "raw" over his decision to leave the sport of MMA.

Watch video highlights of "Lesnar vs. Overeem" here.

The build-up to the lightweight scrap between Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz was ridiculous. You've got a street punk thug who slaps hands away when they try to shake his. You've got a rockstar "Cowboy" who takes a break, every now and then, from riding bulls and motorcycles to beat people up so he can pay for his expensive lifestyle.

They didn't like each other. It wasn't an act. It was water and oil. Everyone was hyped for this fight.

For three rounds, Diaz battered Cerrone, making it look like a sparring session between a well-skilled boxer and a part-time fighter who was usually only asked to hold the bags.

If you expected this fight to go the way it did, hopefully you put a few dollars on this debacle. If you did, you fared well.

Ultimately, five fights in one calendar year may have been too much for Cerrone. Only time will tell, but he certainly didn't look like himself at UFC 141.

Diaz had the performance of his life, and stated afterward that he believes he's well within title contention.

Read the full recap with analysis of the Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz fight at UFC 141 here. Watch video highlights of "Cerrone vs. Diaz" here.

The main card also featured former welterweight number one contender Jon Fitch taking on Johny Hendricks, in a bout that many had Fitch winning by a landslide.

MMA fights don't happen on paper and Johny Hendricks forgot to look at the Vegas odds.

In typical fashion of old, Fitch rushed in, no doubt looking to grab a hold of his opponent and wear him out the way he has done to so many foes in the past.

Hendricks had other ideas.

As Fitch came in headfirst, Hendricks clipped him with a well-placed and timed punch to the side of the head that had Fitch's equilibrium playing tricks on him. It wasn't long (12 seconds, to be exact) before Fitch was on his back and unconscious, forcing Steve Mazzagatti to jump in and call a stop to the action.

You can read a full and in-depth analysis of the "Fitch vs. Hendricks" fight at UFC 141 here.

As previously noted, there were no submissions on this card, but plenty of knockouts and other intense battles that earned some big payouts.

For a full list of all of the UFC 141 bonus award winners click here.

Those are the big thrills and spills that we were able to come up with. What does your highlight reel look like?

For complete UFC 141 results and a detailed recap of all the action click here. To check out a recap of the UFC 141 prelim fights that were seen on Spike TV, click here and here. Want to know what happened with the UFC 141 Facebook Prelims portion of the card? To read a full recap click here.

And just in case you want to get up to speed on the entire UFC 141 fight card from top to bottom click here.