Gilbert Melendez-Diego Sanchez: Best UFC Fight Ever?
RESULTS FROM UFC 166 IN HOUSTON
San Francisco, CA– I will preface each article this evening, on both the UFC 166 presentation and the boxing card on HBO, with it was indeed a great night to be a fight fan. In a lightweight (155 lb.) contest, Gilbert Melendez, the reigning Strikeforce champion when the company was swallowed up by the UFC, and Diego Sanchez put on three of the best rounds I’ve seen in the UFC’s 20-year history.
WILL ADMIT TO SCORING SIN!
Although I scored the fight 30-28 Melendez, the crowd was mixed on the nod, but Sanchez who dropped a unanimous decision 30-27 & 29-28 twice, let it be known that he thought he won! Gilbert, who lost controversially to then champion Benson Henderson earlier this year on an April UFC On Fox card, was electrifying.
BOTH MELENDEZ & SANCHEZ GOT $60 K BONUSES!
Sanchez, although he had moments in this “give and take battle,” I thought he “took a lot more than he gave,” as my scoring on that and Melendez’s punches really meaning something. A single right uppercut that dropped Gilbert in round three compelled me to do the unforgivable, that being scoring a round even.
HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT SECOND TO MELENDEZ-SANCHEZ
The main event, UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez, 240, now 13-1 vs. Junior Dos Santos, 241, (16-3) was a brawl that could never live up to the Melendez-Sanchez fight, just didn’t get my heart pumping as the “Fight of The Night” was one of the greatest fights in MMA history.
BACK TO THE MAIN EVENT
Cain Velasquez, hurt seconds after the opening bell by the looking to box Junior Dos Santos, survived and forced Dos Santos into a ground and pound game as Cain forced Santos to the cage fence and just started beating up him up, albeit ugly. Dos Santos was hurt badly in round three, again in four, with the UFC announcers asking what is keeping him up?
CAIN AHEAD BUT JUNIOR STILL DANGEROUS!
With both guys bleeding badly, Santos worse, in round four referee Herb Dean had the MD look at Santos’ busted up mug and was allowed to continue. Elbows, knees, there was a lot of wrestling, but both guys were hurting one another with Boxing 101, right hands, left hooks and punches thrown in combinations that were sometimes set up by the jab.
DOS SANTOS JUST CAN’T BEAT CAIN…AGAIN!
With the fighters coming in 1-1 against one another, the ending, coming at 3:09 mark of round five was brought about by a solid left hook and then a right hand that further damaged an already hurt Dos Santos, who went for a choke and instead fell face first in to the canvas with Cain landing on top and looking to kill. That’s when things were stopped.
CORMIER BEATS “BIG COUNTRY”
Prepping for his drop to 205 lbs., ex-Strikeforce Grand Prix heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier remained unbeaten at 14-0 with a three round unanimous decision over Roy “Big Country” Nelson. For the most part it was a non-eventful fight, but Cormier was by far the better man after 15 minutes (3 five minute rounds).
GONZAGA CONTINUES REBUILDING PROCESS
Gabriel Gonzaga (16-7, 11-6 UFC) KO 1 Shawn Jordan (15-5, 4-2 UFC) with another boxing move, the right hook, near hand, finishing a combination in which the victor got rocked, but he kept throwing and Jordan was dropped and out from a single right hook out of the southpaw stance!
NON-TELEVISED UNDERCARD
MIDDLEWEIGHTS (185):
Tim Boetsch (17-6, 8-5 UFC) Split Decision 3 C.B. Dollaway (13-5, 7-5 UFC) Scores: (30-26 twice & 29-27)
MIDDLEWEIGHTS:
Hector Lombard (33-4-1-1, 2-2 UFC) KO 1 Nate Marquardt (32-13-2, 10-6 UFC)
FLYWEIGHTS (125):
John Dodson (15-6, 4-1 UFC) KO 1 Darell Montague (13-3).
LIGHTWEIGHTS:
K.J. Noons (12-7, 1-1 UFC) UD 3 George Sotiropolis (14-6, 7-4 UFC)
LIGHTWEIGHTS:
Tony Ferguson (14-3, 4-1 UFC) SUB 1 (D’Arcy Choke Hold) Mike Rio (9-3, 1-2 UFC)
WELTERWEIGHTS (170):
Adlan Amagov (13-2-1, 2-0 UFC) KO 1 T.J. Waldburger (16-8, 4-3 UFC)
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT (135):
Jessica Eye (11-1, 1-0 UFC) SD 3 Sarah Kaufman (16-3, 0-1 UFC) Bad decision in the minds of some. Scoring: 29-28 twice for Eye & 29-28 Kaufman. One judge seemed to muck up this and the Boetsch scoring.
LIGHTWEIGHTS:
Andre Fili (12-1) TKO 3 Jeremy Larsen (8-5, 0-4 UFC).
BANTAMWEIGHTS (135):
Kyoji Horiguchi (12-1, 1-0 UFC) TKO Dustin Pague (11-9, 1-5 UFC)
Pedro Fernandez