UFC on FOX 12: "Lawler vs. Brown" is in the books, continuing the recent run of good form from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) when it comes to free fight cards.
The main event saw Robbie Lawler defeat Matt Brown by unanimous decision, winning the welterweight title eliminator bout and earning a second crack against champion Johny Hendricks (highlights here).
Anthony Johnson dazzled in the co-main event, knocking out Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in 44 seconds while establishing his place as one of the best light heavyweight fighters in the entire division (highlights here).
We get to all the juicy stuff below, with our "Great Expectations," fresh off the stands:
Main Event
What We Expected: Five minutes of extreme violence, resulting in a brutal knockout victory for either competitor (probably Lawler).
What We Learned: Just because an anticipated fight is expected to be over before the 25-minute mark, it doesn't mean it has to be boring or uneventful when it goes the distance.
We didn't get to see a knockout, but Lawler went toe-to-toe against Brown, and delivered a great fight on free television. Observers more or less expected "Ruthless" to take home the victory, since he was favored, but "Immortal" brought the fight to him and never let up until the final horn.
Maybe Brown isn't an elite fighter after all, and despite having potential to work his way to a title fight, winning against a top three opponent had to happen for him to be considered as one of the best welterweights out there. Still, the Ohioan stayed in the Octagon and took some of Lawler's best shots, and there's no way he should take a step down in competition when it comes to his next opponent.
As for Lawler's rematch against Hendricks, the jury is still out on how it will look. We can never really predict these types of outcomes, yet if the American Top Team (ATT) combatant had trouble putting Brown away, defeating "Bigg Rigg" became that much harder.
With the champion still out nursing an injury, it's uncertain if he'll be able to perform like he did at UFC 171. On the flip side, the former Strikeforce and EliteXC standout didn't offer anything stupendous to believe he'd crush Hendricks, or have his way with him in the rematch.
Truth be told, it's going to look like a very different fight...and one that Hendricks could be expected to win quite handily when it comes to the odds.
Co-Main Event
What We Expected: An impressive showing for Johnson, or the slightest chance of an upset courtesy of Nogueira boxing factored in with "Rumble's" disappointing showing.
What We Learned: The knockout was more or less supposed to happen, but there were a lot of other possibilities, too. "Rumble" had to be on his A-game, and after dismantling his foe without even taking a solid punch to the face, it escalated him into top contender status at 205 pounds.
Apart from Jon Jones facing Daniel Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson being shelved for the time being, there's nobody in the division who is on the same type of roll -- or, who's got the same type of contender potential -- as the co-main event winner. It's going to be hard to match him up against anyone other than the winner of Ryan Bader vs. Ovince St. Preux, since getting beat by Glover Teixeira (a former title challenger who was easily ousted by "Bones") would simply ruin the promotion's plans for a blossoming title hopeful.
It also showed us how this sport is completely wacky at times, since the book was written on "AJ" several years ago. He was a welterweight who had no idea how to cut weight, and adjust to his frame in the sport. Completely rejuvenated, "Rumble" makes it believable that anything is possible.
With that being said, when we have gut feelings about someone's time being up, it's usually true. "Lil' Nog" hadn't fought in over a year, and he looked quite fragile in the Octagon. The Nogueira brothers are two legends who can't be overlooked for their contributions, but seeing them compete at 38 years old after their fair share of damage taken is a bit much.
In conclusion, this fight card was pretty good. The "Prelims" had their boring moments, although the main card did not disappoint, alongside Bobby Green's upset over Josh Thomson and Dennis Bermudez's submission win against Clay Guida.
UFC has been quite exciting as of late with these free cards. Some fans are upset with oversaturation complaints, but let's not pretend like these results have been the norm for the past year or so. More fights aren't a bad thing, yet the volume should match the quality.
Let's not forget we had to sit through The Ultimate Fighter: "Brazil" 3 Finale on the same day as UFC Fight Night 41, followed by UFC 174 shortly after. Then came UFC Fight Night 43 and 44 in the same day, and despite UFC 175 being entertaining, the next night saw mixed reactions for TUF 19 Finale.
There were a lot of finishes in New Jersey and Dublin (UFC Fight Night 45 and 46, respectively), which play into effect when determining the level of excitement. These past three cards have been pretty damn good, and some will trash writers, fans, and everyone in between when they say it's just too much given the recent results.
As much as I'm critical of the schedule (maybe because it's my job cover fights), I do love seeing more action rather than not. But it comes down to which ones materialize as exciting, versus a plethora of fight cards with no real punch.
For those who stick by the promotion with minimal complaints, I salute you. Technically, we should all behave like this. But don't pretend like these past two weeks has solved the problem. I must remind you that UFC Fight Night 47 in Maine is a fairly average card, and UFC Fight Night 48 in Macau is a two-fight event.
Also, UFC 177 may be stacked with two title fights; however, the main card features Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler and Ramsey Nijem vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira backing up the headliners. No disrespect to those competitors, though this could be the norm moving forward. That said, UFC 178 looks like the best tray of lasagna I've seen in a while, so maybe it all becomes subjective in the end.
Call it too many fights, roster overload, or just a difference of opinion, but we also can't expect fight cards to be enthralling or lackluster before they happen. But we can sure predict which ones excite us the most, against those we could skip through for the good parts.
Anyone disagree?
For extensive coverage of UFC on FOX 12: "Lawler vs. Brown," featuring video highlights, post-fight recaps, and more, click here.