We’re heading into the Octagon for the second time this week for the UFC’s latest show on Fox, shown live in the early hours of this past Sunday morning on BT Sport.
The show began in the middleweight division with Brad Tavares taking on Yoel Romero.
To say that Romero put in an impressive performance certainly wouldn’t be underestimating things. He looked in top form for the entire three rounds, and everything he did just looked so good. His striking was top notch throughout, and his takedowns were equally as impressive.
The only blot on his copybook was that whenever he took the fight to the ground Tavares managed to get back to his feet most of the time, but the fact that Romero was able to take him down so easily said a lot about Tavares’ lack of defensive work. He was also a step behind as far as the striking was concerned, as evidenced when Romero connected with a slicing left elbow that opened up a nasty cut on his hairline.
As for the judges, no surprises here as all three gave everything to Romero.
Lightweight action followed as Donald Cerrone went up against Edson Barboza.
This was a perfect example of how a fight can turn in an instant. Barboza came out swinging from the start and stunned Cerrone in the first few seconds. The Cowboy looked stunned for a few moments but seemed to regain his composure even though Barboza kept coming at him with some great shots.
The Cerrone connected with a left jab that sent Barboza crashing. Cerrone quickly followed him to the ground and took his back, synching in a rear naked choke. There was nowhere for the Brazilian to go, and it wasn’t long before he tapped out to give Cerrone the submission win.
The co-main event featured women’s bantamweight action as Miesha Tate faced Liz Carmouche.
Once again the UFC’s youngest division gave us an exciting fight. Carmouche put on a great performance early on, especially on the ground. Tate seemed almost catatonic as the former Marine took control and dominated the action, and although Tate went looking for an arm submission Carmouche looked in complete control.
Tate only seemed to get into the fight when she went for a guillotine in the second, but as soon as the third round began it was all one way traffic on her part, beginning when she scored with the takedown. She suddenly looked in top form when she took Carmouche’s back and went looking for a rear naked choke, and although Tate came close to getting the stoppage Carmouche managed to survive that scare and the rest of the fight.
Which meant more work for the judges as Tate took the unanimous decision.
The main event featured the big boys of the heavyweight division as Fabricio Werdum took on Travis Browne, with the winner getting a shot at the title.
This proved to be a very entertaining five rounder as Werdum put in an excellent performance. He managed to survive an early scare when Browne sent him crashing, but from that moment on the fight belonged to the Brazilian.
Werdum managed to do what no-one else had ever done to Browne before when he took him down to the mat. It was the first of several takedowns, and although his ground work looked great it was his striking that stole the show.
Every combination, every kick, just looked so smooth as he took Browne apart piece by piece. The man with the Daniel Bryan-like beard looked rather ordinary at times. He also looked absolutely shattered by the time the second round ended.
Although Werdum slowed down a little in the fourth, confident that he was way ahead in the scoring, he came right back into the fight in the final round, his hard blows adding a cut above the right eye to Browne’s bloodied nose. By this time Browne had regained a little of his lost energy, but it just wasn’t enough to make any sort of impact as Werdum looked like he was coasting along.
After all this the judges were called upon for the final time as Werdum took the unanimous decision, setting up a meeting with heavyweight king Cain Velasquez.
In conclusion – the UFC’s second event in a week proved to be another outstanding show. All four main card fights delivered, and then some, from Yoel Romero’s great performance in the opener right up to Fabricio Werdum’s demolition job on Travis Browne, and that’s something that a lot of those in the know didn’t see coming.
As for my fight of the night no-prize as I didn’t see the official winner I’m going for the aforementioned demolition job by Fabricio Werdum against Travis Browne. Werdum thoroughly deserves his upcoming title shot after that performance.
So with all of that out of the way there’s just one more thing to do, and that’s to give this show the big thumbs up.
By day I’m an unemployed retail worker, and at weekends I volunteer at a local museum, but by night I’m the author of The Two Sheds Review, Britain’s longest running professional wrestling and mixed martial arts blog. Visit my site at www.twoshedsreview.vze.com. It’s been online in one form or another since June 2000!
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