Tonight, the UFC capped off a massive 20th Anniversary celebration with one of the best cards of the year. Tonight’s event was one that was certainly proclaimed to be the biggest UFC event to-date, with stars on both the main card and the undercard, this event delivered in spades. The numbers aren’t in yet, but action-wise, UFC 167 was certainly a mixed bag of great fights, shocking announcements and high emotions to go along with it all.
Tim Elliott vs. Ali Bagautinov
The opening fight between Tim Elliott and Ali Bagautinov was fantastic. Two very different striking styles that complimented each other well, both in theory and practice. Elliott with his wild pace and bull-rush style looked brought to mind by memories of Clay Guida and Leonard Garcia. While on the other side you had Bagautinov, with his powerful counter punching, reminiscent of a Machida era gone by. The two men engaged early and often with Bagautinov getting the better of the exchanges. Oddly, the official stats had an astronomical error, quoting Elliott with a 2-1 advantage in total strikes. (One look at Fightmetric.com shows it much closer with Elliott edging out Bagautinov 48-43 in total strikes. Still, the more effective punches and ultimately the decision both went to Bagautinov who took home the win.
Winner: Ali Bagautinov via unanimous decision.
Josh Koscheck vs. Tyron Woodley
Tyron Woodley. What can be said about this guy that hasn’t already been said before? A lot. People have been sleeping on “The Chosen One” and with two KOs and a split decision loss to the human blanket that is Jake Shields, but he is definitely not one to be slept on. He hurt Koscheck early in round one with big punches to the face and there was some visible swelling on the right side of his face. In the end, Woodley only needed 4:38 seconds to put the former welterweight title challenger away with a vicious series of punches that left Koscheck needing referee assistance after the fight.
Winner: Tyron Woodley wins via KO at 4:38 of Round 1.
Robbie Lawler vs. Rory Macdonald
Another Cinderella story on this card comes in the form of UFC and Strikeforce vet Robbie Lawler. Coming off of two (T)KOs of Bobby Voelker and Josh Koscheck, he entered this fight looking to make it three violent wins in three fights and even though he beat Rory Macdonald via split decision, no one – not even Carlos Condit – had given “Ares” so much trouble in the Octagon. While Rory wasn’t being dominated, he wasn’t doing enough to win by any means. The story of this fight was definitely Lawler’s crisp boxing and use of leg kicks. Rory had no answer for the leg kick and it visibly affected his game because of it. They affected his movement throughout the tilt and definitely didn’t do the prospect any favours late in the fight as he was knocked down by a Lawler flurry.
Official Scorecards: 29-28 Lawler, 29-28 MacDonald, 29-28 Lawler. Winner: Robbie Lawler by split decision.
Chael Sonnen vs. Rashad Evans
The co-main event was one that pitted two accomplished wrestlers, two friends and two co-workers against one another – or at least that was the angle the UFC went with. This fight was short, sweet and to the point. Coming into this fight, Chael talked a lot about how he didn’t know how to fight Rashad and that he wasn’t sure what his game plan was going to be. This certainly looked to be the case with Rashad getting the “W” via dominant wrestling in the clinch and a gruesome showing of ground and pound to secure the early TKO. Once Rashad had Chael on his back, the fight was all but over for him. Rashad rained down punches and elbows until Chael turtled and then gave up his back where Evans finished the fight. Rashad is definitely no slouch by any means, but Chael’s days as a top contender may be numbered and if he can’t get a win against top competition in his next fight, he may end up becoming a gatekeeper to the Top 5.
Winner: Rashad Evans via TKO (punches), Round 1.
Main Event: Johny Hendricks vs. Georges St. Pierre
GSP vs. Hendricks was a fight for the ages. It was one that had some heavy speculation behind it given the skill set of the challenger and the pseudo-retirement talk coming from the St. Pierre camp. Coming into this fight, Johny Hendricks was seen as a one-dimensional threat, but putting down three top welterweights with the same punch will do that to a man. Hendricks, a wrestler with a love for striking and a mean left hook took GSP five full rounds tonight and in the eyes of many, did enough to take the title from the champion. He was able to land his left hand seemingly at will and had more success taking the champion down than anyone since Matt Hughes beat St. Pierre at UFC 50. Let that sink in for a minute. Even in defeat, no one in the 18 fights proceeding this main event was able to take down GSP more than once; managing two takedowns and made the most of them with vicious ground and pound throughout the fight. Hendricks had the champion wobbled towards the end of the fight and Georges was visibly the worse for wear out of the two combatants. Nevertheless, the judges awarded a split decision to the man they call “Rush”, making this ninth consecutive title defence and putting him past BJ Penn for most time active in the Octagon with a total of 5 hours, 28 minutes and 12 seconds.
After the fight, St. Pierre was hesitant on the mic and after Joe Rogan pressed him on the issue, he announced that he had some personal issues that he needed to attend to and that he was going to walk away from the sport for a while. Does this mean that GSP is retiring or that he is just taking some time to sort out his own personal affairs? Would the UFC make him relinquish his title or let him sit out as long as he needs a la Dominick Cruz? Either way, one thing is for sure. Hendricks surprised a lot of people in defeat tonight and a new star in the welterweight division has been born.
Official Scorecards: 48-47 Hendricks, 48-47 St. Pierre, 48-47 St. Pierre. Winner: Georges St. Pierre via split decision.
Photo Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
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