UFC on Fuel TV 4 Main Card Recap

Chris Weidman finishing the fight.
Photo by The Fight Nation

Overall, this was a very good night of fights.  We got to see a potential dethroner of Anderson Silva’s long reign show why he is being considered the next big thing in MMA with his win. We also got to see a potential Fight of the Year and several other rising prospects show that they are ready for a step up in competition. Only two fights were not entertaining, that’s a rarity that there were only two. Anyway, into the recap!

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Anthony Njokuani: Dos Anjos continues to show why he should be such a feared fighter. He beat a kick boxer at his own game and dominated the ground game with wrestling and BJJ. Dos Anjos ended up dominating every round, even though one of the judges gave one to Njokuani.

Possible matchups for dos Anjos: The guy deserves a top-10 opponent. I thought that he beat Tibau and he was winning against Clay Guida before his jaw broke and he had to tap out when Guida was putting pressure on it. Donald Cerrone looked fantastic in his last fight with Jeremy Stephens. Dos Anjos and Cerrone would put on one hell of a brawl. Dos Anjos and him are similar but Cerrone has the better technical and fast standup while dos Anjos is wild but powerful with his.

Possible matchups for Njokuani: Paul Taylor and Njokuani were supposed to fight twice before, including on this card. That fight would be spectacular so lets try again, third times the charm.

Vaughan Lee vs. TJ Dillashaw: Lee started off very good in the standup, getting the better of the exchanges and landing some solid kicks to the body. He started to get a little wild and missed a head kick, which was caught and he was instantly taken down. His back was taken and the fight was over. First round submission for Team Alpha Male.

Possible matchups for Dillashaw: TJ still really needs to work on his standup. His ground game is fantastic but his stand up is too wide and can be easily countered. He should face off against the winner of Mizugaki and Hougland. Both of those guys would be a tough test for TJ; Mizugaki in the standup and Hougland on the ground.

Possible matchups for Lee: Lee seems very undersized at 135 to me. I think a move down to 125 would pay off very well. He is very well rounded and very fast on his feet. Another bantamweight that just moved down to 125 is Jared Papazian. These guys would put on an amazing fight and I would hate to see either of them go for the loser would most likely be cut.

Francis Carmont vs. Karlos Vemola: I really like both of these guys. They both have tons of potential and like to finish fights. The first round was close but Carmont most likely won for his takedowns and controlling the standup. Eventually in the second round, he had Vemola in a crucifix and transitioned into a RNC for the finish.

Possible matchups for Carmont: Carmont wants a top-10 guy, I say not yet. Him and Costa Philippou have been doing very well at middleweight lately and they should face off in the near future. The winner of that fight should be able to take big step up in competition, possibly top-10.

Possible matchups for Vemola: The heavyweight turned middleweight has one big problem in his fights: impatience. He thinks he finds a guillotine, so he dives on it without trying to set it up. He sprints forward for the takedown and gets caught doing so. If he can be patient, he could do big things. Clifford Starks could be the perfect opponent to help him with that. Starks is a big and very athletic 185er who is a hard fight for anyone not named Anderson Silva at middleweight. If Vemola could be patient in a fight with Starks, he would win.

Aaron Simpson vs. Kenny Robertson: This fight was the second one mentioned in the first paragraph. The first round was pretty fun but after that, the best shots landed were knees to the butt. Seriously. Eventually, Simpson won the dominant decision win.

Possible matchups for Simpson: I’m still interested to see how well Jon Fitch will recover from his loss to Hendricks. I wouldn’t mind seeing them fight eventually.

Possible matchups for Robertson: I don’t really have much interest in Robertson after this performance and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is cut. But a fight between him and Besam Yousef would be a loser goes home fight.

James Te Huna vs. Joey Beltran: “The Mexicutioner” never fails to put on an awesome fight. This was one of the best fights so far this year and will most likely be running for FOTY later in 2012. Te Huna also landed the most significant strikes in one round and the whole fight; a record for the 205 pound division. It was a dominant win for Te Huna and I believe that he is ready to take on some big names.

Possible matchups for Te Huna: Glover Teixeira is fighting Rampage at UFC 153. Win or lose, Te Huna vs. Glover Teixeira is guaranteed fireworks. They both love to finish and I believe that Te Huna would be a really tough test for Glover.

Possible matchups for Beltran: The newest addition to the UFC light heavyweight division is Jimi Manuwa, who is now the former BAMMA 205 champion. He still doesn’t have his debut fight set up and Beltran is always a good test for new comers.

Chris Weidman vs. Mark Munoz: No one has ever, EVER, dominated Mark Munoz like that. I thought that Weidman would have the slightest wrestling advantage but not as big as it showed in this fight. Weidman took down Mark at will, and held him there. Weidman was continually going for chokes and armbars and kimuras. He was relentless. He did the same again in the beginning of the second round but Munoz got back up. Mark swung a big right hand; Chris ducked under it and elbowed him straight in the face, nearly knocking out Munoz. He drops to the floor and Weidman lands around 15 unanswered punches to the side of the head of Munoz. It was brutal and one of the latest stoppages that I have ever seen.

Possible matchups for Weidman: This 28-year-old kid could very well be the person to dethrone Anderson Silva. It’s only his 9^th fight in his career and he dominated a top-3 middleweight. He has the wrestling that can beat Anderson. He has a submission game so he can defend against Silva’s attacks off his back. His standup is the only question but it looked amazing on Wednesday. Munoz never even landed a single punch. He is basically a better, stronger, more humble version of Chael Sonnen. If he does get this fight with Silva, which I think he deserves, I might just go with him.

Possible matchups for Munoz: This was a devastating loss for Mark. The guy is a class act and I never like to see him lose. But he is still a top-10 middleweight. Hector Lombard and Tim Boetsch are fighting in a week, so the loser of that could come fight Munoz for a rebound fight.

For Prelim Recap Click Here