UFC on Versus 4 Results: The Real Winners and Losers

The UFC on Versus 4 results are now in, and another great night of UFC action was capped off by a surprising result in the semi-main event of Charlie Brenneman vs. Rick Story and an unbelievable main event from heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry.

Kongo was able to weather what appeared to be a sure knockout coming from Barry midway through the first round only to answer with an absolutely astonishing uppercut of his own to put Barry unconscious on his back.

But sometimes the simple “wins” and “losses” in the record books don’t tell the whole story. As we’ll see in this slideshow, some of the biggest “winners and losers” from tonight’s UFC on Versus 4 card did not end up with that designation on their official records.

Loser: Charles Oliveira

Yes, Charles Oliveira did win his fight, but no, this isn’t a misprint. He is going down as a “loser” from tonight’s event due to the fact that he won the fight, essentially, with an illegal knee. We can debate until we’re blue in the face about whether those type of knees should be legal, but the fact is that they aren’t.

Nik Lentz was arguably winning the second round up until that point but quickly fell to a rear naked choke after the knee.

The crowd’s reaction—chanting “Bullsh--”—says it all. Oliveira won the fight, but as Joe Rogan said, it is very likely that his victory will be taken away when the athletic commission gets a better look at what happened.

Winner: Joe Lauzon

Joe Lauzon secured his place as one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC with his impressive performance against British fighter Curt Warburton.

Early in the first round, Lauzon landed a big shot on the feet that rocked his opponent.

While many other fighters would look to finish the fight with more punches, Lauzon showed off his always exciting ground skills by slapping on a kimura before quickly adding on a triangle. It was the kimura that secured the submission, but the triangle was a nice addition.

In his post-fight interview, Lauzon announced that he intended to submit Warburton before adding, “Gotta get that bonus money!”

Loser: Daniel Roberts

The Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu team member looked out of place in his fight against Rich Attonito...and that’s likely because he was out of place with the fight staying on its feet.

It’s not that Roberts didn’t try to bring the fight to the ground, but his takedowns just were no match for Attonito’s sprawl. Without being able to bring the fight to the ground, Roberts was a fish out of water, and Attonito landed numerous huge shots that nearly knocked him out.

The book on Roberts may be out. If you can keep the fight on the feet, Roberts does not have an answer.

The one silver lining for Roberts in this fight is that he showed great composure by avoiding being knocked out despite a violent head kick as well as a couple very solid punches.

Winner: Rich Attonito

After a successful run as a middleweight, Rich Attonito made his first appearance in the welterweight division at UFC on Versus 4. In his debut in the division, Attonito picked Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu fighter Daniel Roberts apart, earning a unanimous judges’ decision in the process.

But it was how he won the fight that was more impressive. Roberts would have much preferred to bring the fight to the ground, where he could negate Attonito’s punching power.

But Attonito didn’t allow it, using an impressive sprawl to avoid the takedown and keep the fight exactly where he wanted it for nearly the entire 15 minutes.

Attonito landed a huge head kick that nearly knocked Roberts out and a few big punches when the fight got back to the feet. Somehow Roberts was able to survive, but the fight was never in question after that head kick.

Loser: Joe Stevenson

In what was likely a must-win fight for former UFC lightweight contender Joe Stevenson, he fell again in his fourth straight loss, losing to Javier Vazquez.

At just 28 years old, Stevenson has already competed in 45 professional fights. Ariel Helwani spoke about how it is very possible that the amount of damage that his frequency of fighting has done on his body may be taking its toll.

Stevenson simply didn’t have the “killer instinct” that one would have expected from a guy that needed a win. This is very likely the last that we have seen from “Joe Daddy” in the Octagon, at least for now.

Winner: Tyson Griffin

Unlike Joe “Daddy” Stevenson, who was unable to put together a win in a likely must-win situation tonight, Tyson Griffin was able to edge out a majority victory (29-29, 29-28, 29-28) over former The Ultimate Fighter finalist Manny Gamburyan.

It was Griffin’s first featherweight fight for the UFC after having been successful in the division early in his career. However, when he moved to the UFC, there was no featherweight division, and he instead had to move up to 155 pounds if he wanted to stay in the world’s biggest MMA promotion.

Now that the UFC and WEC have merged, though, Griffin appears ready to compete again at what may be his more natural weight class.

Loser: John Howard

In what was likely a must-win fight for both men, John Howard was unable to edge out Matt Brown and ended up losing his third straight fight in the Octagon.

Howard, known for his generally very exciting fights even in losses, was unable to implement his game plan and almost seemed to be fighting not to lose, as opposed to with intent to win.

He was able to win one round, but as the fight went on, cardio became an issue. Failed takedown attempts took the energy right out of Howard’s body and he was unable to do much in the third round, as he ate jab after jab from Brown.

It is not guaranteed that Howard will be out of the UFC after this loss given that the first two of his three losses came against top-level opponents in Jake Ellenberger and Thiago Alves, but he certainly could be without a job by the end of the week.

Winner: Matt Brown

A former cast member on The Ultimate Fighter Season 7, Matt Brown was coming off three straight losses in the Octagon coming into UFC on Versus 4. With three generally being the kiss of death in the UFC, a fourth loss would’ve certainly sealed Brown’s fate.

But by utilizing his jab and avoiding takedowns from Howard, Brown was able to win a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) and should have no problem keeping his job with the UFC.

“I’ve got all these tools that I never use because I just want to kill people,” Brown told Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview.

Winner: Matt Mitrione

Matt Mitrione floored Christian Morecraft with a punch early in the first round and then again late in the first round. In fact, it looked like the fight might even be stopped the second time, but Morecraft was able to regain his composure and somehow even ended up on top of Mitrione.

In the second round, Mitrione seemed to stagger Morecraft with a leg kick that caused Morecraft to lose his footing, leading Mitrione to land another big shot and nearly finish the fight with a knockout.

Morecraft landed two big takedowns in the second round. But when he was unable to do much damage or advance his position, the fight was stood back up fairly quickly. From there, it was all over, as Mitrione landed an unblocked three-punch combination that completely smashed Morecraft’s face, knocking him down for the third time.

This time, Morecraft dropped his mouth guard like he was in the UFC Undisputed video game and was completely out. Mitrione let him fall to the ground and confidently opted not to finish it up with more punches.

“I piss excellence,” Mitrione told Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview. The joke eased the tension after a tough fight, but Mitrione was also very humble about the victory and explained how much he respects and now loves the sport.

A great night for Matt Mitrione.

Note: For those wondering, I am not listing Morecraft as a “loser,” as he lost a fight against a very tough opponent who he was an underdog against to begin with. Morecraft actually landed more shots on the feet than many expected he would and even looked like he was taking control of the bout in the second round.

Loser: Nate Marquardt

This one should go without saying, but Nate “The Great” Marquardt is going to have to find a new place to work after being released from the UFC.

UFC President Dana White spoke candidly on the UFC on Versus 4 pre-show about how disappointed and “disgusted” he was in Marquardt, who failed to get medical clearance for his scheduled main event fight against Rick Story.

According to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, Marquardt will not pay a fine and is eligible to return as soon as he can get medically cleared. Unfortunately, according to White, he will never again compete in the Octagon.

Winner: Charlie Brenneman

The biggest winner of the night was Charlie Brenneman, who few gave a chance to, taking the fight on literally one day’s notice after Nate Marquardt was forced to drop out of the fight.

What a performance it was by the guy who is being touted as “Rocky” today. A Pennsylvania native, Brenneman was the crowd favorite despite being a massive underdog in this fight against consensus top-10 welterweight Rick Story.

After controlling the first two rounds of the fight with his wrestling, which almost no one would have predicted, Brenneman was able to hold off numerous submission attempts from Story in the third round to earn a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in what was by far his biggest fight yet.

Loser: Rick Story

Could things have gone any worse for Rick Story?

After winning the biggest bout of his career as an underdog against Thiago Alves less than a month ago, Story stepped in to replace the injured Anthony “Rumble” Johnson on short notice. The fight with Nate Marquardt was promoted very well by the UFC as the main event on tonight’s card.

But when we learned that Marquardt was dropping out of the fight due to medical reasons, Story himself was suddenly the one without an opponent despite having worked to get his body down to 170 pounds.

The UFC didn’t want to see Story go without a fight after all that effort, though, so they shot Charlie Brenneman, whose opponent T.J. Grant was also forced to drop out of their fight, up the card into the semi-main event.

But when he was surprisingly dominated by Brenneman in the first and second rounds, Story suddenly found himself absolutely needing to finish the fight to avoid a loss and a likely drop out of the top 10 in the welterweight MMA rankings.

As we now know, Story came close to submitting Brenneman numerous times in the third round but was unable to secure the finish with either the kimura or triangle that he had worked for. As a result, Brenneman earned the shocking victory, and Story will go home very disappointed that he decided to take a fight on short notice.

Winners: Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry

It was a short fight that concluded with what will go down as one of the most memorable finishes in UFC history, but both Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry are winners tonight.

Barry caught Kongo with a punch midway through the first round and looked like he was ready to finish him with punches on the ground. It was so close, in fact, that the referee even stepped in and bumped Barry while he was teeing off on Kongo’s head.

The momentary slowdown may have actually allowed the French fighter to stay in the bout, as Kongo remained somewhat composed and began working his way back up to his feet before Barry hit him again, sending him tumbling back to the canvas.

But somehow, Kongo was able to get back to his feet while taking even more punches from Barry, only to counter with a right hook to the temple of his own that staggered Barry. Kongo quickly followed it up with a thunderous uppercut that sent Barry, who just seconds before had nearly finished the fight, crashing to the mat, unconscious with his eyes wide open.

Despite Barry’s crushing defeat, I am putting both him and Kongo down here as “winners” due to the fact that they were able to put on a highly entertaining and very memorable main event in replacement of Marquardt-Story.

While the fight didn’t go Barry’s way, he can hang his hat on the fact that he could have very easily been declared the winner by TKO and no one would have objected—not to mention the referee interfering with his punches could have very possibly cost him the fight.

Loser: Versus Network

It’s not that the event we saw was bad, but the entire main event for UFC on Versus 4 completely fell apart. For those who don’t remember, the original main event was actually Nate Marquardt vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in what was expected to be a fight between two top-level fighters.

But when Johnson had to drop out of the fight, the UFC was left looking for another opponent for Marquardt. They turned to Rick Story, who had just defeated Thiago Alves a few weeks ago. Story vs. Marquardt was a bit disappointing but still had a lot of intrigue to it.

Unfortunately, when Marquardt failed to get medically cleared, the UFC had to scramble to put together another fight, this time promoting Charlie Brenneman to fight Rick Story in what was then determined to be the semi-main event.

This will still be a successful event for the UFC and Versus, but it is not quite what it could have been if all of the fights had come together.