The Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada was crowed as the location where Dana White's Ultimate Fighting Championship series would provide one of the best mixed martial arts cards in recent memory. Along with White, most aficionados, "experts" and media concurred with this assertion. The Pay-Per-View event scheduled five fights and featured defending middleweight champion Chris Weidman in the main event, along with the most marketable MMA fighter in the world, Ronda Rousey, in the co-main. The preliminary bouts were televised on the Fox Sports 1 network. Overall, the card as a whole failed to provide the kind of electrifying actions promised by the promotional company and expected by the public.
Leading up to the co-main event between defending bantamweight champion "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey and Canadian challenger Alexis Davis, the prelims and main card failed to deliver the live-and-death action and competitive fights heralded in the lead up to the event. Outside of Uriah Hall's brave performance, which was made significant when he won despite having broken a toe in his right foot, there had been but a couple of rounds during the event of true sustained action via the television broadcast. This would not matter as the mood seemed to change dramatically once Rousey, who truly is the face of the UFC, made her way to the legendary Octagon to face Davis.
Even during their cage walks it seemed that this fight would be a mismatch, as Davis appeared as happy as a kid in a candy store while Rousey wore the face of a caged and starved animal, ready to feast on the first piece of meat she could sink her hooks into. The odds maker who made the Canadian a huge underdog was right on the money as once the fight got under way, it took Rousey all of 16 seconds to dispose of her title challenger; Rousey took Davis to the mat and pounded her mercilessly with right hands to the face which incapacitated the Canadian and prompted the referee to stop the massacre. Davis was so out of it, her muscle memory evoked her body to continue to attempt to hang on even though her brain was on a break. The bantamweight champion was one of the main reasons many paid and she gave the pro Rousey contingent what they wanted to see.
In the main event, American Chris Weidman cemented his stranglehold on the middleweight division by defending his title against longtime Brazilian MMA standout, Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida over the course of five rounds. Weidman easily won the first three go-rounds as he battered Machida around the Octagon, landing strikes at will and hurting "The Dragon" on several occasions. The fight seemed like a washout going into the last two salvos but Machida showed his pedigree in the final ten minutes. The Brazilian began to land vicious straight left hands and crushing left body kicks that made the fight competitive. The American continued to stalk but was stunned on a few occasions by "The Dragon's" fire. In the end, it was too little too late, as Weidman closed the show and earned a unanimous decision victory. The last two rounds of the fight were the most exciting and competitive of the entire televised promotion. The good news for Dana White is that most will only remember Rousey's destruction of Davis and the last ten minutes between Weidman and Machida.
Sergio L. Martinez
www.convictedartist.com
