Although Ronda Rousey's first round submission victory over Liz Carmouche is getting the lion's share of the attention coming out of last night's (Sat., Feb. 23, 2013) UFC 157: "Rousey vs. Carmouche" pay-per-view (PPV) event at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and rightfully so, there were two other high profile marquee bouts on the card.
One of them delivered and one of them did not.
The one that did was Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar, a bantamweight battle pitting two top contenders both looking to establish -- or in the former's case, reestablish -- themselves as next in line for a shot at the winner of Renan Barao vs. Dominick Cruz, whenever that happens.
"The California Kid" rose to the occasion, dominating "The Pride of El Salvador" for nearly the entirety of the bout. In fairness, it lasted less than a round but after a quick throw had him on his back and scrambling, Faber got top position, unleashed vicious ground-n-pound, took his opponent's back, locked in a body triangle while Menjivar was standing up, and choked him out from that position.
It was incredible.
What wasn't incredible was the co-main event bout between Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida. There was a certain outcry from a segment of the UFC fan base that these two should have been the main event but after three rounds of plodding "action," if you can call it that, "The Dragon" was awarded a split decision that some called into dispute.
Only some, though, because the rest simply didn't care by that point.
Machida moves on to take on the winner of Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen while "Hendo" heads to the back of the line. After his performance last night, he just might deserve to be there.
To get more detailed breakdowns on these two fights click here (for Faber-Menjivar) and here (for Henderson-Machida). For complete UFC 157 results and all the latest news coming out of the event click here.