In what was seemingly a throwaway event between two fairly substantial pay per views, and the last UFC on Versus card, leave it to some lesser known and established fighters to bring in one of the stronger selection of fights on a free card in some time with Dominick Cruz successfully defending his title on free television.
Cruz would show off some wrestling dominance in the main event against Demetrious Johnson by establishing his wrestling base ala Georges St. Pierre. Struggling with the diminutive fighter, who’ll most likely move to flyweight once that division is established, Cruz dominated Johnson with his wrestling prowess after a first round where Johnson’s speed made Cruz look slow for the first time in his career.
A methodical deconstruction of the challenger, Cruz would defend his title for the second time in the UFC and would mark the first time a UFC title has been defended on free television in the Zuffa era since Quinton “Rampage” Jackson successfully defended the light heavyweight title against the last Pride middleweight champion in Dan Henderson.
But it was the undercard where the fireworks of the night really took off.
Pat Barry would show some strong standup before being submitted by Stefan Struve in the second round. After a pedestrian first round that could’ve been scored either way, Barry would imitate Jackson by slamming the near seven footer out of an attempted triangle choke but Struve would defend it and sink it in deeper immediately after the impressive looking slam.
A little controversy would take place in the fight before the heavyweights between welterweights Charlie Brenneman and Anthony Johnson. Johnson was well en route to winning the first round when a devastating leg kick appeared to finish the fight. Replays would show that Brenneman was still conscious and had been still reacting. Mario Yamasaki stopped it a bit too soon based on how it looked and appeared to not check to see if Brenneman was out.
The show’s most impressive fight came on first as Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig finished what they started nearly two years ago in Vancouver. After a premature stoppage ended that fight, they wound up in a three round war that left Danzig a bloodied and beaten loser to Wiman in a very close decision.
