It was the most talked about event in the history of The Ultimate Fighting Championship.  They set up an all star laden fight card, and followed it up with weeks upon weeks of hard promotion.  From preview shows to countdowns to fan expos, the UFC positioned it as the biggest card ever…and it actually lived up to the hype.

On paper, there wasn’t a bad fight on the card.  Once it was all said and done, there STILL wasn’t a bad fight on the card…in fact, it was damn good action start to finish.  In particular, the 3 feature fights were outstanding with Dan Henderson taking a KO win over Michael Bisping; Georges St. Pierre defending his Welterweight Championship with a 5 round unanimous decision over Thiago Alves; and Brock Lesnar taking a TKO win over Frank Mir to become the undisputed Heavyweight Champion.

Lets start with the Henderson win over Bisping.  Remember, these 2 coached against eachother on Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter, and grew to not like eachother so much.  Especially from Henderson’s camp, who had some really not nice things to say.  The fight itself was actually really fun to watch.  Henderson came in with a gameplan to out-strike Bisping and I thought did exactly that in the first round.  What was really funny was when Bisping realized he was probably getting out-pointed in the opening round and tried for a takedown…it was shrugged off so easily, it was laughable.

So into the second round we went.  Henderson had scored with quick left jabs in the first round, and they were used to set up a telegraphed right hook.  For Hendo, that strategy didn’t work to the success rate he wanted, so things changed a little bit in round 2.  While still using the jab, Henderson worked in a leg kick that was extremely effective, and it opened up Bisping’s jaw.  At 3:20 of the 2nd round, a leg kick lowered Bisping’s defences and bam, Henderson caught him flush with that right he’d been working on all night.

What happened after that punch landed is causing differing opinions.  Henderson admitted that he knew Bisping was out cold, and followed up with a punch that landed flush on the ground.  Anyone reading this knows that this kind of thing happens all the time…because you’re conditioned as a fighter to finish the fight and go until the referee pulls you off.  It was the ADMISSION that he landed a punch to an unconscious man that leaves a bit of a black mark on the sport, which is unfortunate.

Onto the Welterweight Championship match between Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves.  Not a whole lot to say.  It wasn’t close, GSP was the better fighter and highlighted the just how big the gap is between him and the rest of the 170 pound division.  Alves was outclassed in the striking game, he had no answer for the takedowns of St. Pierre, and failed to score a takedown of his own.  When it was all said and done, it was a unanimous 5 round win.

So what’s next?  For GSP, it’s the winner of the the bout between Mike Swick and Martin Kampmann at UFC 103.  And that all depends on WHEN Georges is back from his groin injury suffered on Saturday.  But the real fight everyone is looking forward to is a potential meeting with Anderson Silva down the road, the current Middleweight Champion.  Problem is…Georges didn’t seem 100% enthused with the potential of that fight when asked by Joe Rogan following the fight.  Silva has a sizeable weight advantage and it would take a big committment from St. Pierre to make sure he’s competitive physically.  I still think it’ll happen, but I don’t think it’s in the near near future.

For Alves, well it’s back to the drawing board.  Similar to Jon Fitch and his 5 round loss, Alves is going to need to show that he is improving in his next fights if he’s going to want to return to the top.  GSP had to do it after his shocking loss to Matt Serra…St. Pierre had to score wins over Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes before getting his return match.  Won’t be easy, but lets remember…Alves is 25 and is damn good.  He’ll be back.

Finally, the main event.  I’ll hold off on my written thoughts on Brock Lesnar’s post fight antics until later this week, because I have some fairly candid thoughts.  But on the pure fight itself, it’s simple.  Brock Lesnar is the real freaking deal and is going to be an extremely difficult task to dethrone.  The pure size needed to win the title from Lesnar is not something that comes in high supply.  Add in the fact that the wrestling pedigree Lesnar holds is so refined…it’s not going to be easy.

What did Lesnar do in this fight?  Well, he finished a top fighter for the 2nd straight fight, dispelling the myth that he can’t finish off opponents.  He showed that it doesn’t matter who you are at this point…you can’t block his takedowns.  And he showed once again he can take a few shots (punches from Randy, knees from Mir) and keep pushing forward.  Like him as a guy (like I do), or hate him as a guy (like many do)…you cannot deny that he is a dominant UFC Heavyweight Champion.

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