New champ! New champ! Talk about DOMINATION! Anthony Pettis strutted into his hometown arena and decimated Ben Henderson with body kicks until Ben was forced to take him down. From his guard, Pettis ended up submitting Bendo verbally with an armbar in one of the most lopsided fights of Bendo’s life. Holy ****! After, Pettis called out Jose Aldo, which I really want to see at 155. Incredible performance.
All gifs by Zprophet!
Josh Barnett and Frank Mir entered the cage with bad intentions where neither man touched gloves and Barnett ultimately DESTROYED Mir against the cage. Mir was against the stoppage, but honestly it was done, Barnett could’ve killed him. Awesome.
The Guida/Mendes fight went as expected, with Guida bouncing around doing little and Mendes landing everything of consequence. Mendes showed great takedown defense and in general, Guida had nothing for “Money.” Finally, in the third round Mendes nailed Guida with a looping right hand and finished Guida via strikes for the first time in his career. This is Mendes’ fourth knockout in a row, which makes him the second man in the UFC to do that ever. Wow.
Ben Rothwell’s TRT kicked in for him in a big way in the third round, finishing Brandon Vera via strikes with a pep in his step no one has ever seen from him in the third round. It was a fine fight, with Vera winning early then Rothwell finally taking over.
Eric Koch and Dustin Poirier started out the night in typically great fashion with Poirier knocking down Koch early, then getting caught in an extremely tight triangle that almost ended the fight after getting a little overzealous. Finally after working their way back to the feet, Poirier dropped Koch with a nasty left hand and almost finished Koch with a D’arce as the first round ended. WOw! I’m tired just typing that. THe second round was more of the same, with Poirier winning and Koch getting bloodied. The story of the third was Koch finally getting a takedown then looking for subs with a few elbows for good measure. Poirier tried to control him, but Koch got Poirier’s back and worked for the sub for the rest of the third round. Ultimately, Poirier gets the decision in an amazing fight and clear favorite early for FOTN.
