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For the first time in six weeks, the UFC aired an event on pay-per-view and it featured the end of a heated rivalry between Jon Jones and Rashad Evans. Two new contenders were also made in other weight classes, which were the welterweight and bantamweight divisions. Also, heavyweight fighters made an impact and two UFC Ultimate Fighter winners clashed on the preliminary card.
Round One: “Bones†Wins The Feud
One thing was for certain heading into Saturday Night, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and contender Rashad Evans hate each other. The culmination of the feud happened this past Saturday Night, which featured Jon Jones decimating Rashad Evans on route to a five round decision. Jon Jones has now defeated three former UFC Light Heavyweight Champions in a row, which were Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida and Quinton Jackson. Rashad Evans, while still a dangerous competitor, is now out of contention for the championship for the time being.
Next Round For Jon Jones: Dan Henderson
Next Round For Rashad Evans: Lyoto Machida, Alexander Gustafsson or Ryan Bader
Round Two: GSP’s Buddy Gets The Duke
Something was made abundantly clear on Saturday Night, which is that Rory MacDonald is going to be a champion in the UFC someday. At UFC 145, Rory MacDonald simply decimated Che Mills on route to a second round TKO after some ground and pound. While Che Mills may not have been the contender fans wanted to have Rory MacDonald fight, he was a dangerous fighter nonetheless. It will be interesting to see how long Rory MacDonald remains a welterweight, because he vowed to never face friend and current UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre.
Next Round For Rory MacDonald: The Jon Fitch/Aaron Simpson winner
Next Round For Che Mills: Rick Story, Charlie Brenneman or James Head
Round Three: A New Bantamweight Contender
One of the fights I was personally looking forward to most at UFC 145 was the bantamweight battle between Michael McDonald and Miguel Torres. In that fight, Michael McDonald flattened the former WEC Bantamweight Champion with an uppercut in the opening round. Miguel Torres, once one of the most feared bantamweights in MMA, now is seemingly on the downside of his career. Michael McDonald now finds himself near the top of the UFC Bantamweight Division, currently headed by UFC bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz.
Next Round For Michael McDonald: Brian Bowles, Mike Easton or Vaughan Lee
Next Round For Miguel Torres: Alex Soto, Ken Stone or Jeff Hougland
Round Four: The Heavyweight Explosion
There will need to be more space added to an already increasingly full heavyweight division because Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell are moving on up. On the UFC 145 preliminary card that aired on FX, Travis Browne submitted former Strikeforce fighter Chad Griggs in the first round. On the UFC 145 pay-per-view card, Ben Rothwell made a great comeback to knockout Brendan Schaub in the first round. With Roy Nelson without an opponent as of this writing at UFC 146, maybe the victorious Travis Browne or Ben Rothwell can provide opposition.
Next Round For Ben Rothwell: Shane Carwin, Dave Herman or Shawn Jordan
Next Round For Travis Browne: Cheick Kongo, Stipe Miocic or Mike Russow
Round Five: An Unheralded Clash
One thing was made abundantly clear to anybody who checked out the UFC 145 card, a battle between UFC Ultimate Fighter Champions on the downside of their careers means very little to the UFC. That is because two UFC Ultimate Fighter champions in Mac Danzig and Efrain Escudero clashed with little to no fanfare. At one point in time, when two UFC Ultimate Fighter champions collided, it made a splash in the water of the proverbial UFC pool. When it was all said and done though, Mac Danzig won an uneventful unanimous decision over Efrain Escudero.
Next Round For Mac Danzig: The Spencer Fisher/Sam Stout winner
Next Round For Efrain Escudero: A UFC release
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