Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman
 
Chris Weidman took this crucial middleweight bout on eleven days notice. Demian Maia, however, had months to prepare for tonight’s fight. While Weidman has a viable excuse, neither man is likely in the good graces of UFC president Dana White, as from about the middle of the second round on both fighters looked gassed. This led to the third round being described by Joe Rogan as “two drunk guys outside of a bar.” Non-the-less, Weidman was able to control most of the bout with takedowns and superior striking to earn a split decision.
 
Throughout the bout, Maia failed to show that his stand-up game has improved enough to be relevant again in championship discussion, as up and coming wrestling expert Chris Weidman continuously beat him to the punch, mixing up kicks, knees, punches. The submission expert was also unable to manage any sort of offense on the ground, as Weidman was able to get take down after take down. Maia was able to get up off his back quickly every time, but was unable to impose his will in his area of expertise.
 
The third round degenerated to sloppy takedown attempts by Maia, as Weidman took the center of the ring, landing looping punches after stuffing the lack luster attempts. Both men left what they had in the ring at the end, swinging with everything they had, unfortunately they didn’t have much of anything left. In the end, two judges saw that Chris Weidman had done enough to earn the decision victory.
 
Chael Sonnen vs. Michael Bisping
 
Chael Sonnen is still the undefeated, undisputed champion of the world(whatever world he lives in.) Chael Sonnen gets his long awaited rematch with the real champion Anderson Silva, and in what may have been the best Michael Bisping that we have ever seen, will be left to figure out what happened as Chael Sonnen was awarded the unanimous decision victory.
 
Chael came out firing as always, winging punches trying to close the distance as quickly as possible. Bisping tagged Chael coming in, as he would almost the whole fight, but Chael was able to secure a double leg take down. In what would be the story of the first two rounds, Bisping worked back up quickly, pressed Chael against the cage and working with short shots to the head and body. Chael winged punches at the Brit, but got tagged often with hard shots for his effort.
 
Bisping seemed to be employing his game plan to a “T” going into the third round. The final round, however, would be a different story, as Chael immediately shot a power double that grounded Bisping. From there, Chael was able to employ some effective ground and pound, and as Bisping tried to get up, he surrendered his back. Chael seized the opportunity, getting both hooks in, then eventually transitioning to full mount. Bisping was able to manage a hip escape, getting back to half guard. Bisping was able to wall walk up the cage back to his feet, managing a takedown of his own versus Chael to end the round.
 
While Chael took the third round handily, the first two were up for grabs, though it seemed Bisping dictated the pace and landed harder shots. In the end, the judges saw Chael’s take downs and aggressiveness to be enough, one judge even giving him all three rounds, as Chael took home the unanimous decision. Chael’s win now sets up the super rematch we have all been waiting for, likely facing Anderson Silva for the middleweight championship in a soccer stadium in Brazil.
 
Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis
 
We wondered if Phil Davis was ready for the step up in competition, and our answer is not just yet. Rashad Evans was superior in every aspect of this fight, taking the unanimous decision victory over Phil Davis to earn his long awaited title shot at UFC 146 against Jon Jones.
 
Davis came out strong, showing an improved striking game, throwing crisp kicks with his long legs at the former Spartan Evans. But just as we would throughout the fight, Rashad stayed just on the outside of Davis’ reach, picking his spots and landing stinging punches.
 
The wrestling department, which would on paper favor the former four time All American Davis, was also controlled by Evans, sprawling and stuffing almost every take down by Davis, save one at the end of the third round. Rashad also caught three of Davis’ kicks, sending him to the mat each time and securing a mounted crucifix position on two of that occasion.
 
There was little question who was in control going into the fifth round, but that didn’t deter Evans from going for the finish, as he really opened up with his heavy right hand. Davis ate some hard uppercuts off another caught kick, but was able to finish the fight with Evans and will no doubt become a better fighter because of this loss.
 
 
I’m sure the UFC and FOX didn’t hope for all three broadcast fights to end in decisions, but they did get the two most profitable fights in Sonnen/Silva and Evans/Jones. It will be interesting to see what they will have in store for FOX 3, as their fight choices for this card came into question as all three fights had the ability to go to a decision, especially before the Munoz injury.
 
 
 Photos Courtesy of Zuffa LLC.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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