The UFC was back in Boston last night and the 13-fight card did not dissapoint. Dana White had said this was the best free TV event the company had ever put together. And I think he was right.
UFC 75 was the best free card (with Rampage vs Henderson (champion vs champion), the controversial Bisping win over Hamill and Cro Cop falling to Kongo).
But short of a title fight, UFC Fight Night 26 had all the makings for a memorable, long talked about card and it lived up to the hype.
(My view for the fights below)
When the UFC first came to Boston it was back in August of 2010. There were some real big names: Randy Couture, B.J. Penn, Frankie Edgar, Gray Maynard, and Kenny Florian.
It was a good night, but not great. Couture fought boxer James Toney in a very rare "freak match" in the Dana White Era UFC.
Maynard was boring in a win over Florian, and Edgar controlled Penn for 5 rounds in the main event title fight. Again good but not memorable like last night.
The early fights at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen (on Fox Sports 1) were solid and the crowd turned out early. Cold Miller lost a crap decision to Manny Gamburyan, Michael "Mayday" McDonald and Brad Pickett put on the fight of the night and crowd went bonkers for Conor McGregor... And that was all BEFORE the 6-fight main event.
(McGregor with Joe Rogan after his decision win. BELOW. He apologized for not finishing the fight and said he hurt his knee.)
The biggest disappointment of the night was local guy Joe Lauzon losing to Michael Johnson. Not Lauzon's best night but it was Johnson's to be sure.
John "Doomsday" Howard made sure the Mass fighters didn't go winless. The Dorchester native took a split decision win over Uriah Hall. Howard was the biggest underdog on the card (+365), but Dana was not thrilled with all the high 5s the two fighters were dishing out during the fight. He said post fight that Hall doesn't have what it takes to fight in the UFC.
Matt Brown made up for it with a 29 second KO victory over Mike Pyle. Brown went on to say that Pyle is better than GSP, so...
Urijah Faber got a nice win over a tough Iuri Alcantara. Faber dominates non-title fights, we'll see what happens next for him.
Then it was time for the co-main event.
Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne
Two Top 10 Heavyweights put on a hell of a show. Overeem beat the crap out of Browne for 2 solid minutes, many refs would have stopped the fight. But Browne just took it and waiting for Reem to tire. He did. When the former Strikeforce and Dream champ lowered his hands, Browne began with an assault of kicks to the head, ultimately landing one before finishing him off with hammer fists to the skull.
Best win of Browne's career. Another brutal loss for Overeem.
At this point the UFC was playing with house money. 12 fights down with the vast majority being very entertaining.
But it was time for Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen took down Shogun immediately and you started to wonder if this was going to be a slow, control from the top, methodical fight. But before anyone could get too upset, Chael pulled off a submission victory, his best career win.
Awesome night of fights.
Lots of questions jump out: does Matt Brown or Travis Browne get a title shot soon? Will Faber face Mayday? What's next for Overeem and Shogun? What weight class will Sonnen's next fight be?
But we do know the answer to the most important question. The UFC WILL be back in Boston.
