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

UFC on Fuel TV 4 Prelim Recap

Andrew Craig's crazy comeback headkick.
Photo by SporTV.com

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!

Raphael Assuncao vs. Issei Tamura: Assuncao seems to have really rejuvenated his career at 135. So far, he has looked fantastic in his last two performances at bantamweight, following his KO loss at the hands of Erik Koch. He won this fight with a relentless TKO win over rising prospect in Issei Tamura. Assuncao controlled the fight from the very start and finished it early in the second round.

Possible matchups for Assuncao: Following this impressive victory, Assuncao is ready for a bigger test if he plans on making a title run at 135. Yves Jabouin and him had a very close fight back in October of 2009; in which Assuncao won a razor thin split decision over Jabouin. Yves looked fantastic in his last bout with Jeff Hougland, making for this rematch to be interesting. The winner deserves a top-15 or top-10 opponent.

Possible matchups for Tamura: Tamura was anything but impressive in his TKO loss to Assuncao. John Albert has lost his last two, despite the second being highly controversial, and a fight between these two could prove to be a loser goes home bout.

Marcelo Guimaraes vs. Dan Stittgen: This was one of the two fights mentioned above that did not perform. There were times where I was actually getting angry with myself for watching the fight. They were constantly stalling in the standup, with some of the worst standup I have ever seen, and doing nothing on the ground. Guimaraes eventually took the split decision in a fight that will do no good for either’s careers.

Possible matchups for Guimaraes: I thought that this would be one of the only times that both fighters should be cut for their performances in the Zuffa-era of the UFC (the only other I can think of is Maiquel Falcao vs. Gerald Harris). Him and Papy Abedi should face off in a loser goes home match; I have no interest in either of them.

Andrew Craig vs. Rafael Natal: Andrew Craig has a ton of heart, which was shown in his two UFC fights so far. He was being thoroughly dominated by Rafael Natal. The second round was looking to be a 10-8 and I was looking to be 3-0 in my predictions, but Craig put those to rest with a head kick. It landed flush and Natal went OUT.

Possible matchups for Andrew Craig: Craig is a hard fighter to find matchups for. He doesn’t look good but figures out a way to win. The guy is not ready for upper echelon but he should fight the winner of Jared Hamman-Michael Kuiper to decide where he goes in the middleweight division.

Possible matchups for Rafael Natal: One kick can end your night, no matter how impressive your performance. Natal lived that statement in this fight. Natal has not impressed me in his 2-2-1 stint in the UFC so far. His wins over Kuiper and Paul Bradley did not impress me in the slightest. Both him and Karlos Vemola had losses on this card so a rebound fight between them makes sense.

Chris Cariaso vs. Josh Ferguson: The flyweights still haven’t had a boring fight in the UFC. They have all been crazy brawls and insanely entertaining. Cariaso and Ferguson continued that streak as Cariaso outworked his way to a unanimous decision victory over the tenacious Josh Ferguson, who I presume will be cut after an 0-2 stint in the octagon.

Possible matchups for Cariaso: That is now 3 in a row for Cariaso, making him 4-1 in the UFC and 5-2 under Zuffa. Despite the fact that his wins over Mizugaki and Vaughan Lee are highly disputed, especially Mizugaki, a win is a win and Cariaso is slowly, but surely, working his way up to a title shot. With the flyweight division so thin, UFC executives are scrambling for title contenders. Cariaso should fight Louis Gaudinot next and whomever wins that fight, should move up to a number one contenders bout.

Alex Caceres vs. Damacio Page: Bruce Leroy has found his home all the way down at 135 pounds. After being very hyped following TUF, he lost two fights in-a-row making me believe that he would receive the pink slip, but ended up dominating former WEC bantamweight champ in Cole Escovedo. He would then lose one of the weirdest decisions that I have ever seen to Edwin Figueroa, a fight in which was highly controversial. Tonight, Caceres had the clear submission advantage as he continually went for submissions against Page once the fight hit the mat, eventually securing a slick triangle in the second round and earning him SOTN honors.

Possible matchups for Alex Caceres: While I was on Twitter, I noticed that Walel Watson had called out Caceres saying that their fight would be awesome. I agree, I believe that could very well be a fight of the night and a tough test for both young fighters.

For the Main Card Recap Click Here