UFC 141

With the amazing success of back-to-back pay-per-views in UFC 139 and UFC 140 fans were treated to some of the best fights and all around cards all year. To end the year UFC attempted to set up what would arguably be the biggest heavyweight bout in history between Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem. With a headline this big was there really any other reason to see this card? Maybe not the biggest main event card if you're a casual follower but it was a pretty fun card to watch.

Nam Phan and Jimy Hettes opened the night in what would go on to become a pretty one-sided fight. Phan demonstrated in his last fight some very technical boxing in a winning effort against Leonard Garcia while Hettes was coming off a successful debut four months earlier. It was an interesting setup for the fight, being something of a style against style bout with Phan's technical standup going against Hettes and his judo and ground game. Like I said, the bout is pretty one sided with one fighter's style just being too much for the other. There are plenty of points where I thought it would be over but the losing fighter showed a tremendous amount of heart and survived until a unanimous judges decision.

Next was octagon veteran Vladimir Matyushenko taking on rising star Alexander Gustafsson. Most fans will recognize Matyushenko as a fighter who has always been so close to the top of the division losing out only to the best of the best but always proving to be a dangerous fighter with some explosive power in his fists. Then there's Gustafsson. A lot of casual fans won't be able to pick him out from a lineup or even recognize too many of the people who he has left in his path, besides Matt Hamill and Phil Davis, but he's becoming something of the next Jon Jones of the light heavyweight division. Although not entirely a physically imposing figure he is one scary fighter and looks to be the rising dark house of the division putting away everyone of his opponents besides one decision and his loss to Davis. The fight itself was a heavy handed contest that ends in the first round with a resounding TKO. The victor looked a bit shaky in the beginning but the finish definitely left a resounding answer as to the fighter's place in the division.

Since 2008 Jon Fitch has been widely recognized as the #2 welterweight in the division with only real reason for not being a champion is because of some guy named Georges St-Pierre, whoever the hell that is (Obviously joking). He's beaten every fighter since in rather dominate fashion, with the exception of BJ Penn who he fought to a draw, but unfortunately for Fitch his style of winning typically involves wrestling his opponent down, controlling him, and grinding him out for three rounds. Effective but not the most exciting fighting style. His opponent Johnny Hendricks is a fellow wrestler but has demonstrated some really dangerous power in his hands knocking out three of his opponents since entering the UFC. Now, when I tell you that you need to not blink or move away from your television screen I tell you this so that you don't miss one of the most startling and quick finishes I've seen all year. It's quick, it's devastating, and it left my jaw on the floor. Look to watch the replay on this sucker more than a few times.

When it was announced that Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone were gonna fight in the co-main event I had a feeling that it was not only gonna win fight of the night, I really believed that it was going to be one of the best fights of the entire year. Diaz, although not exactly friendly pre-fight time (or really anytime) with the people in his division, has always been a very exciting fighter. His brother, Nick Diaz, and Nate have the same style of fighting where from start to finish they give it their all and showcase some of the all around best skills in any division. Equally exciting is Cerrone, a big time fighter in the WEC who has finally been getting some real attention since fighting in the UFC, who also presents the same type of exciting all around game. In the first round one fighter has a clear cut advantage, quickly putting the other fighter in what looked like a game finishing beatdown. However the fight continues with much heart shown from the loser in what would go on to be a decently exciting fight, although it was clear that the victor was just absolutely dominate.

Now, there's really not much to say that most people don't know about Lesnar. Former UFC champion who has been battling diverticulitis for the past few years makes his return to the title hunt against Alistair Overeem. Overeem, not known to a lot of casual UFC fans was once a light-heavyweight for PRIDE before going on a three fight losing streak. That's when he changed things up in a big way. He put on a massive amount of muscle and stopped cutting the weight to the 205 limit and just let himself be this absolute monster of a striker. He went on to win the Strikeforce heavyweight title, the DREAM title, and a title in the K-1 kickboxing world all within the past year (the first for any fighter of MMA). To say the least, he was an exciting prospect for the UFC to get and they put him right in the thick of things against Lesnar with the winner getting the first shot at dos Santos' title. Even as I type this I get the feeling most people know the outcome of this fight already but simply put the eventual victor looked downright scary. Not only did he play to his strength and exhibit just an all around clinic of quick pain but he completely shut out the other fighters style, to the point that he looked simply outclassed. This all took place within the first half of the first round. Simply put, the victor certainly earned the right to his title shot. As for the loser, again most people know what happened there.

Overall, not a bad card. All the prelims go to decision with most of them being nothing spectacular. The main card showcased the most interesting aspects of the whole card with the three TKOs. It's certainly not gonna break boundaries or call for a mandatory viewing but it's definitely worth watching if given the time.

I enjoyed this PPV, watching Diaz and Overeem win. However, the editing on this DVD was disappointing to me. My favorite part, Nate giving the double middle fingers at the start of the third round, is edited out. Not blurred out, but completely gone. This, along with bleeping out all curse words, and blurring other middle fingers (why the double standard?) was a let down.

The main event in, Joe Rogans words was suppose to be, "The best Heavyweight match-up in UFC History," (seems to me like he always says that) It would be an understatements if I said that the main event didn't live up to the hype! It was complete garbage and I feel sorry for anyone that actually payed to watch this Disaster of a UFC card; especially those that only bought the PPV to watch the abortion of a main event.

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