Saturday night’s UFC 133 was filled with much excitement and plenty of knockouts. The main event ended with Rashad Evans landing a ridiculous knee to Tito Ortiz’s chest, and then following up that powerful knee with a flurry of pushes before the ref was forced to end the bout. Tito’s Cinderella-story comeback did not end how he had hoped, but it is hard to criticize a guy who took the fight on two and a half week notice and still came out ready to brawl. If nothing else, Dana White recognized the hard work put in by both fighters, and awarded them “Fight of the Night” bonuses. The co-main event between MMA legend Vitor Belfort and Japanese sensation Yoshihiro Akiyama ended with a great TKO victory by Belfort as all fans saw signs of the young Vitor Belfort that he all grew up loving. Belfort stunned Akiyama early and was able to put him away at the 1:52 mark of the first round. His quick hands and relentless aggression gave Belfort the “Knockout of the Night” bonus that all fighters aspire to get.
There were a couple other great fights on the main card. Young British prospect, Rory Macdonald, once again proved why some are comparing this 22-year-old kid to Georges St. Pierre. Macdonald took out another veteran fighter with his TKO victory over Mike Pyle. Middleweight bout between Jorge Rivera and Costantinos Philippou was not the fast pace, exciting fight we had all hoped for, but this bout still featured great technique and skill as Philippou walked away with a split decision victory. That last main event fight was between Brian Ebersole and Dennis Hallman. Although these are relatively low profile MMA veterans, these two men put on quite the performance in their four-minute bout. Ebersole walks into the cage with a big arrow shaved into his chest hair pointing to his head, while Hallman comes out wearing what looks like a little blue speedo. These two engage early, and Ebersole ultimately comes out on top after unleashing a number of vicious elbows that put Hallman to sleep. Due to the fact that there were no submission victories, Dana White also awarded Ebersole a “Knockout of the Night” bonus.
UFC 133 may not have gone as planned, but the main card still featured four TKO victories which is unheard of. The fans in attendance were happy, the audience watching PPV at home were happy, and Dana White was happy as well. So in the end, UFC 133 didn’t end up too bad at all.
