UFC 125 Recap And Results

Added on Jan 02, 2011 by John Petit in

UFC & MMA

Irony reared its ugly head when the Main Event of “UFC 125: Resolution” ended on the scored cards with a split draw. The UFC held yet another successful New Years show in front of 13 thousand people at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was a fantastic evening of fights, and a great way to kick of their year. If UFC 125 set the tone for the new year, then we have some exciting cards coming in 2011.

Main card

Lightweight bout:

Clay Guida 156lbs vs. Takanori Gomi 155lbs

Guida def. Gomi via submission (guillotine choke) at 4:27 of round 2
The story of this fight was all about Guida’s movement. He was fighting in a really low wrestling stance, and jumping in and out almost the whole time. The pace and the movement really seemed to confuse Gomi, and he left himself vulnerable for a few solid strikes. In the second round, Gomi shot in with a knee that Guida controlled, and brought him to the mat. As Guida begane pushing him towards the fence, Gomi was looking for the kimura, and Guida used this position to lock up a head an arm choke. Gomi was able to wiggle out of it, but Guida switched positions and wrapped up his head and arm in an arm in guillotine. Guida rolled to his back, and Gomi couldn’t get his head out. He was forced to tap to the choke.

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Welterweight bout:

Nate Diaz 170lbs vs. Dong Hyun Kim 171lbs

Kim def. Diaz via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
This was a close fight to score, and this fight could have easily gone the other way. It was the wrestling of Kim that won him the fight, as he was able to repeatedly take down Nate. However, Nate was very busy off his back, and was constantly trying to finish the fight. Nate was able to hold his own on the feet, and this cause Dong to to close the distance and bring him to the floor. While I was watching the event, it really looked like Kim did more then enough to win, but when I re-watched the fight i scored it for Nate Diaz. After the fight Kim called out Georges St. Pierre, and while I think one day those two will meet, Kim is at least two wins away from a title shot in my opinion.

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Light Heavyweight bout:

Brandon Vera 205lbs vs. Thiago Silva 206lbs

Silva defeated Vera via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)
The wild card for this fight leading up to the bout was Thiago Silva’s back. He had a surgery and this was his first fight back, and he made the most of it. He made Vera look foolish for 15 minutes straight. Vera would show some positive signs on the feet, but Thiago would clinch and drag him to the floor of the cage. I maybe over estimating a little, but Silva easily spent 12 and a half minutes on top of Vera pounding on him. For 4 minutes plus in the third round, Silva had Vera’s back and pounded on him. I guess his knuckles started hurt or something, and decided to use palm strikes. According to Compustrike, SIlva landed 111 strikes to Vera’s 35.

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Middleweight bout:

Chris Leben 186lbs vs. Brian Stann 186lbs

Stann defeated Leben via TKO (strikes) 3:37 of round 1
Chris Leben did what Chris Leben always does. He put his hands up, and waded in while throwing punches. He managed to connect with Stan a few times, and even manged to hurt him a little bit. Then Stann started landind, and landed a huge knee that sent Leben to the floor. Leben scrambled back up to his feet, and got sat right back down by another strong shot by Stann. Stann was able to hover over the top of Leben while landing shots, and the ref was forced to stop the fight.
An emotional Brian Stann dedicated his win to a man he served with in Afghanistan and in Iraq who had been killed in action earlier in the week.

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Lightweight Championship bout:

Frankie Edgar (c) 155lbs vs. Gray Maynard 155lbs

Edgar and Maynard fought to a split draw (48-46, 46-48, 47-47)

Frankie Edgar Remains The Lightweight Champion

(Original announcement was Anthony Pettis would still get the title shot with Edgar. I have confirmed with the UFC that Edgar and Maynard will rematch for the third time instead of Pettis.)
Its exciting to me as a MMA journalist to know that we may have seen the fight of the year on January 1. If you are an MMA fan you need to watch this fight. The first round was a one sided beat down by Gray Maynard, and he made Edgar look almost foolish. At one point of the round, I was thinking to myself “This is the guy who beat BJ 50-45?” None of the judges were bold enough to give Maynard the round 10-7(they all scored it 10-8,) but I strongly feel that that was a 10-7 round. He was dropped more then three times, for three straight minutes he was doing his impression of “Bambi” on the frozen pond, he was out-struck 4-1, and no one in the MGM would have argued if the Ref stopped the fight and raised Gray’s hand. From now on, when people ask me what a 10-7 round will look like, I will say this round.
Then Round 2 Started…
Frankie Edgar somehow recovered, and really brought the fight to Maynard. This was the turning point to the fight, and everyone was amazed at what they were seeing. Although he was still a little wobbly, Edgar came forward and controlled the next round. After the second round, it became a close fight, and it was going back and forth for the remaining 15 minutes.
I personally had Gray Maynard winning the fight, and I am sure I will be writing on what a 10-7 round would look like.

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The rest of the card: