The Blog

 Introduction UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes. January 14, 2012. HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The second UFC event in Rio de Janeiro, following UFC 134 in August 2011. José Aldo defended the UFC Featherweight Championship against Chad Mendes by TKO at 4:59 of round one — with one second remaining in the round. Aldo celebrated by running into the crowd. Edson Barboza knocked out Terry Etim with a spinning heel kick in a finish widely considered one of the most spectacular in UFC history. Vitor Be

 Introduction UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem. December 30, 2011. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. New Year’s Eve pay-per-view. Alistair Overeem made his UFC debut by knocking out Brock Lesnar with a body kick and punches at 2:26 of round one. In the cage post-fight, Lesnar announced his retirement from MMA. Overeem’s body kick connected with Lesnar’s liver. Lesnar dropped to a knee against the cage. Overeem swarmed and referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight. Lesnar: ‘Brock Lesnar is officially

 Introduction UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida. December 10, 2011. Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jon Jones retained the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship against Lyoto Machida with a standing guillotine choke in round two. Machida refused to tap out and was rendered unconscious while Jones held the submission. Referee John McCarthy stopped the fight at 4:26. It was the first time Machida had been submitted in his professional career. Jones finished 2011 with a 4-0 record: Bader, Shogun

 Introduction UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson. November 19, 2011. HP Pavilion, San Jose, California. The first UFC event in San Jose — the longtime home base of Strikeforce. Dan Henderson defeated Mauricio Rua in a five-round war that was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame Fight Wing in 2018 as its first-ever inductee. Henderson won by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) in a fight widely considered one of the greatest in MMA history. Both fighters absorbed massive punishment across 25 minute

 Introduction UFC 138: Leben vs. Muñoz. November 5, 2011. LG Arena, Birmingham, United Kingdom. The UFC’s second event in Birmingham, following UFC 89 in 2008 which also featured Chris Leben. The main event between Mark Muñoz and Leben was the first non-title five-round fight in UFC history. Muñoz defeated Leben by TKO via elbow at the end of round two. Renan Barão defeated Brad Pickett in a bantamweight Fight of the Night in front of the home crowd. Chris Leben was later suspended one year by t

 Introduction UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz. October 29, 2011. Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas. The event was originally titled GSP vs. Diaz after Nick Diaz was booked against Georges St-Pierre for a WW title defence. St-Pierre withdrew with a knee injury, and  Nick Diaz returned to the UFC after more than five years in Strikeforce and dominated Penn across three rounds by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Penn’s left eye swelled shut during the fight. Post-fight, Penn said ‘I’m done.’ Di

 Introduction UFC 136: Edgar vs. Maynard III. October 8, 2011. Toyota Center, Houston, Texas. Frankie Edgar defeated Gray Maynard by TKO at 3:54 of round four, closing one of the UFC lightweight division’s defining trilogies with a final score of 1-1-1. The event held the UFC record for most total fighting time at 158 minutes and 32 seconds. Maynard rocked Edgar in round one of the third fight, as he had in the second. He did not try to finish; he conserved energy. Edgar recovered and turned the

 Introduction UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage. September 24, 2011. Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado. The first UFC pay-per-view event in Denver since The Ultimate Ultimate in 1995 — a gap of 16 years. Jon Jones made his first LHW title defence, submitting Quinton Jackson with a rear-naked choke at 1:14 of round four. Jones opened the fight by crawling toward Rampage on all fours. He used his 11.5-inch reach advantage throughout and built sustained pressure across three-and-a-half rounds before taking t

 Introduction UFC 134: Silva vs. Okami. Also known as UFC Rio. August 27, 2011. HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The UFC’s return to Brazil after 13 years, its first event in Rio de Janeiro, and its first pay-per-view in Brazil. Anderson Silva defended the Middleweight Championship against Yushin Okami by TKO in round two, his first UFC victory on Brazilian soil. Sherdog awarded the event 2011 Event of the Year. 14,000 fans attended; tickets sold out in 74 minutes. Brazilian fighters went 7-1

 Introduction UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz 2. August 6, 2011. Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event was expected to feature Jon Jones’ first LHW title defence against Rashad Evans, but Jones suffered a hand injury that kept him out until September. Evans accepted a rescheduled main event against Tito Ortiz instead. Rashad Evans stopped  Vitor Belfort knocked out Yoshihiro Akiyama in round one. Brian Ebersole beat Dennis Hallman. Alexander Gustafsson stopped Matt Hamill in round t

 Introduction UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber. July 2, 2011. MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. Dominick Cruz retained the UFC Bantamweight Championship in the first bantamweight title fight in UFC history, defeating Urijah Faber by unanimous decision across five rounds — 50-45, 49-46, 48-47. The bout was awarded Fight of the Night. Tito Ortiz submitted Ryan Bader with a guillotine choke in round one, pulling off the Upset of the Year. Dana White had publicly stated that Ortiz needed a win to stay in th

 Introduction UFC 131: dos Santos vs. Carwin. June 11, 2011. Rogers Arena, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The second UFC event in Vancouver, following UFC 115 in June 2010. Junior dos Santos defeated Shane Carwin by unanimous decision — 27-30, 27-30, 26-30 — in a three-round heavyweight main event to earn a title shot against Cain Velasquez. The original main event had been Brock Lesnar vs. dos Santos, arranged after their coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter 13. Lesnar withdrew with a r