Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) made its first trip to Bangor, Maine, this past Saturday night (Aug. 16, 2014) for UFC Fight Night 47: "Bader vs. St. Preux," and it was another night of surprising results.
In the main event, Ryan Bader continued his winning ways by defeating Ovince St. Preux by unanimous decision. It was far from pretty, but "Darth" got the job done and snapped his foe's five-fight winning streak, delivering him the second loss of his career.
However, it's not like Bader made a case to challenge someone like Anthony Johnson or Alexander Gustafsson, and his next opponent is going to be a tricky one for the promotion to figure out.
Gray Maynard may have walked to the Octagon for the final time this past Saturday night, as he suffered another stoppage loss against Ross Pearson. "The Bully" has lost his last four bouts by way of stoppage, and it was his third consecutive TKO loss.
Tim Boetsch scored another memorable comeback against Brad Tavares in front of his home fans, earning the knockout win after a frustrating opening round. "The Barbarian" was cut open badly and looked like he was going to lose a decision to the Hawaiian before clipping him with a left hook and following up with some dynamite to put him away.
Also victorious on the main card was Alan Jouban (who strung together a comeback of his own), Shawn Jordan, and Thiago Tavares. Big winners on the "Prelims" were Jussier Formiga and Sara McMann (take a look at the undercard recap here).
With that said, it's time to name the biggest winner and biggest loser (and their runner ups) from the event in Bangor.
Biggest Winner -- Tim Boetsch
Another day, another comeback.
Boetsch's homecoming wasn't going so well for him, since he was getting dominated by Brad Tavares for nearly 10 minutes. It looked as if "The Barbarian" was going to get stiffed all the way until the final horn, and that's when he started to land bombs.
Reminiscent of his comeback against Yushin Okami at UFC 144 in Japan, a bruised and battered Boetsch clipped Tavares with a huge shot before flooring him and sealed the deal shortly after.
He became the first person to knock out the Hawaiian, and the victory has to be pretty damn sweet for a guy who was a few minutes away from being 1-4 in his last five contests -- and possibly cut, too.
Runner Ups -- Ross Pearson & Alan Jouban
After a bogus decision loss against Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night 42, the Englishman erased his woes in the most emphatic way possible, stopping Maynard in the second round.
Pearson, a UFC veteran since 2009, hasn't really made a statement to make us believe he'd be a championship threat, yet his victory on Saturday night was his third consecutive stoppage win, and he definitely deserves the big fight he's longing for next.
After being rocked a couple of times, male model Alan Jouban became the third person to knock out UFC veteran Seth Baczynski, presumably sending him packing from the promotion.
It was a dream debut for "Brahma," who received a taste of punishment while he was at it. The crazy comeback allowed him to record his third consecutive victory, and it's going to be easy for the organization to market him because of his activities outside the Octagon.
If only Derek Zoolander got into MMA...
Biggest Loser -- Gray Maynard
Well, it was a fun career while it lasted.
There's a chance we could see Maynard in Bellator or World Series of Fighting (or even in the minnows), but there's no point in UFC booking him for another fight. He was looking decent before being stopped by Pearson's fists, yet "The Bully" may not have the chin to hack it anymore.
Guys like Pearson, Nate Diaz, T.J. Grant, and Frankie Edgar aren't exactly known for knockout power, and they've sent Maynard home with four KO/TKO losses.
With only one win in his last six bouts, the 35-year-old combatant should call it a day after a lengthy career. He's been in title fights, and he's dominated most of his competition, but it isn't fun to watch him duke it out anymore.
Runner Ups -- Ovince St. Preux & Zach Makovsky
Bader didn't look particularly good against St. Preux, which means OSP had a performance to forget.
Suffering his second career loss, the Florida-born fighter was looking impressive in under the UFC banner until "Darth's" grappling became too much for him to handle. It's a learning experience for St. Preux, yet this was a bout where he could have leapfrogged a lot of his divisional counterparts had he defeated Bader in the main event.
To make matters worse, it seems as if OSP has trouble with wrestlers (or grappling in general), since he had no answer for Bader's drives and it was a bit reminiscent of his loss against Gegard Mousasi back in Strikeforce.
Better luck next time.
Makovsky tried to elevate his game by training with Firas Zahabi's TriStar gym for this bout, yet the results didn't go as planned.
Not that Formiga looks like he could trouble Demetrious Johnson, but "Fun Size" had the best chance outside of Ian McCall and John Lineker to be the next title challenger, and simply put, he blew it.
The flyweight was outclassed in the grappling exchanges (except for the third round), and couldn't punish the Brazilian on the feet, either. His track record may have been beneficial had he won, considering he was a former Bellator bantamweight champion, but he now finds himself at the back of the line.
Then again, Formiga beat Chris Cariaso, who is getting the next shot at gold.
Anything can happen, right?
That just about does it.
For more on UFC Fight Night 47: "Bader vs. St. Preux," including video highlights, post-fight recaps, and more, click here.