Some decent fights in this event.

Unfortunate that the Irvin vs Sakara got stopped with that punch to the eye, but Irvin didn't look very good at all prior to that. Due to cutting the weight, or time off I guess.

I picked Kongo by domination, was a mis-matched fight IMO.

Jones and Dos Santos both looked awesome.

The John Howard knockout was nice as well.

Yeah, really good event. Shame they didn't show a couple more prelims, but I guess their time slot was carefully controlled.

Like you say, Jonny, a shame about how the first fight ended, but I actually thought Irvin looked okay up until that point. He'd clearly put a lot of bulk back on since the weigh-ins and looked much healthier. Definitely think that if he fights at MW from now on he'll be good at that weight, as he looked pretty sharp and quick.

Kongo fought smart, but also fought really hard and showed his conditioning is improving as well as his wrestling. Great performance.

I'd picked Gonzaga to win his fight in exactly the same way Kongo did his, but it was another great performance by Dos Santos. For me, this was the toughest pick of the night by some distance. Good fight.

The Howard fight was really entertainiong from start to finish. And what a finish! Loved it

Jones/Vera was good and a good end to it. Just wish it had lasted longer and been a lot tougher on Jones to really test him. What an elbow, though! Vera's face looked busted up during the replays and the decision.

Also, some great reffing throughout by Herb Dean and Josh Rosenthal.

Brutal event. It hurt more to see Buentellos pinkyfinger then the Howard KO, even if that was a really impressive KO, specially after looking like he would have a hard time in that fight.

Yeah Kongo surprised me. I did not expect him to be that agressive and it was a good performance. Unfortunately I bet on Buentello in the competition but, I think i got the other picks right. now the undercard will decide the rest hehe.

It was pretty lame that after such short fights they didnt even show one prelim fight! Ok they might have a limited timeslot but man it felt SHORT!

I was not impressed by Irwing. I was pretty convinced that Sakara would win even before the fight and I must say that he is looking really really good imo. Shame we didnt get to see him a little bit more. Glad for his sake though, must have been his easiest victory so far

Now Jon Jones... Seriously, whos gonna stop him? I was not impressed with Vera even before the elbow but I have no complaints about Jones. War Jon Jones!!!


Agree about the excellent reffing by Herb and Josh. They are the best!

Thank god there is another UFC coming up rght away because this was like a sweet appetizer!

Hah, yeah, I agree with you about this being like an appetiser. Short and sweet, sets you up ready for the main course this coming weekend.

I repeat that its a shame they didnt show any of the other fights!
Some great names there and some interesting newcomers.

* Lightweight bout: United States Clay Guida vs. United States Shannon Gugerty
* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Eliot Marshall vs. Belarus Vladimir Matyushenko
* Lightweight bout: United States Duane Ludwig vs. United States Darren Elkins
* Heavyweight bout: United States Brendan Schaub vs. United States Chase Gormley
* Welterweight bout: United States Mike Pierce vs. United States Julio Paulino
* Light Heavyweight bout: United States Eric Schafer vs. United States Jason Brilz

Now I cant wait to get my eyes on the unaired fights!

Poor sandman. I don't think the weight cut impacted his performance so much. Sakara's foot work was perfect, so Irwin couldn't find his range, and Sakara's boxing was sharp to the point of perfect. Irwin was getting tagged with accurate shots for the duration, including the one that leaded to the stoppage.

The only other things I have to say is, John Howard! BAM!
How would you feel to be the other guy. You're just waking up, you have no idea what happenned, and your opponent is already having his chat with Joe...

Honestly, I was a little bit let down by the televised card.

I think Id built it up to expect more than I should have, especially with Veras comments at the weigh in about the fact that it would be fight of the year blah blah blah...

Irvin - really disappointing - Im sure he was looking for a way out. He looked poor. He doesnt look right at that weight and to me hes just a middle of the road fighter....Sakara looked strong, superb boxing skills on show and I think he would have brutalized the sandman had the fight gone on longer.

Kongo looked good, seemed to have much better conditioning than in some past fights, but at the same time, Buentello isnt up there in the upper echelons of the HW division, and physically wasnt really a match for Kongo. Jurys out, but I dont see Kongo ever beating the likes of Brock, Dos Santos or Cain

Dos Santos. Looking better and better. I dunno ObSkewer - I saw this one coming a mile off. I knew that Gonzaga had a chance - hes a big powerful guy with a lot of weapons in his arsenal, but Dos Santos standup is shockingly good, and I thought it was just a matter of when he would connect with Gonzagas chin.

Jones. Watch out Machida, Shogun etc....not much more too say - reinforces my opinion of him every time he fights. Pure talent. Wrecking machine. Vera was doing OK'ish, you could tell Bones had respect for Veras Muay Thai, but what a brutal elbow, must have smashed his cheek bone or something. Ouch.
Was really looking forward to more of a war here, but didnt turn out that way.

The Doomsday fight they showed was great, I was thinking perhaps I shouldve picked Ninja for this one, but then Bam....out cold - the 2 full power follow up shots were unnecessary though.

All in all, a good event, but not great.....all about 111 now !!!