UFC 142: The Real Winners and Losers from Aldo vs. Mendes

The UFC made its return to Brazil at UFC 142 after an extremely successful UFC 134 event in Rio just a few months ago.

Tonight’s event, headlined by Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, lived up to the billing as the fans in attendance were treated to an event that is an early candidate for most exciting event of 2012.

Unbelievable knockouts and submissions, along with some controversial decisions by referees, made for a highly unpredictable event that exceeded all expectations.

The featherweight title bout was the main event, but those combatants weren’t the only winners and losers. Actually, many of the biggest winners and losers did not actually show up on the official results as such.

As we do after every event, it’s time to examine who the real winners and losers. 

Winner: Mike Pyle

Mike Pyle was one of the hottest up-and-comers in the sport going into his most recent fight against Rory MacDonald at UFC 133, but his streak was quickly derailed when the youngster knocked him out in the first round of their bout.

He got back on the right path at UFC 142, though, when he delivered his own devastating TKO when he smashed Ricardo Funch just 1:22 into the first round. A huge knee landed on the button and punches finished the fight.

Pyle probably has a couple more fights before he gets to the top 10, but this was a good confidence builder to get back on track.

Loser: Michihiro Omigawa

Michihiro Omigawa was one of the top featherweights in the world when he made his return to the UFC at UFC 126, but has since gone just 1-3 after his decision loss on Saturday night to Yuri Alcantara.

Omigawa is a tough matchup for anyone, but like many Japanese fighters who have come over to America, he simply has not been very successful here.

I debated putting him as a winner because of his toughness after withstanding an absolutely ridiculous-looking arm bar in the first round, but that’s a pretty tough thing to call someone a “winner” for simply not submitting. 

Winner: Yuri Alcantara

With his decision victory over Michihiro Omigawa, Yuri Alcantara has now won 13 straight fights, including two in the UFC, both of which took place in Rio.

He’s relatively unknown to American fans, but he may get a shot to compete in the United States sometime soon with a 2-0 record in the Octagon and an impressive skill set in a thin featherweight division.

Winner: Edson Barboza

Perhaps the biggest winner of the night, Edson Barboza’s violent knockout of Terry Etim will be shown on knockout highlight reels for years and years.

An unbelievable spinning wheel kick caught Etim right on the side of the face, causing an instant knockout. Etim’s body was reminiscent of Michael Bisping’s when he took that vicious “H-Bomb” from Dan Henderson years ago.

The kick is certainly an early candidate for knockout of the year and a great start to 2012 for the undefeated Edson Barboza.

Loser: Mario Yamasaki

The “WTF” moment of the night was, without question, Mario Yamasaki’s inexcusably terrible call in disqualifying Erick Silva for LEGAL blows to the side of the head of Carlo Prater in their fight.

Silva clipped Prater with a shot that rocked him. Like many fighters do, Prater went for a takedown to stop the blows from continuing, but Silva stayed calm and attacked, picking his shots and landing some big punches to the side of Prater's head.

Yamasaki stood feet away, watching the punches come in and never once called a pause to the fight or stepped in to stop Prater when these supposed “back of the head” shots were happening.

A post-fight video showed that only one punch was even close to being to the back of the head and that Yamasaki had made a terrible decision. Still, the referee stood by his awful call.

If fighters get suspended after bouts for injuries, referees should get suspended for making calls like this. What a disgrace.

Winner: Erick Silva

As said in the last slide, Erick Silva should have been declared the winner, but was absolutely robbed by Mario Yamasaki.

No official word yet on whether the UFC will be giving him his “win bonus” for this fight, but they have given win bonuses for less obvious outcomes in the past.

This one is really a no-brainer and even though the victory won’t be official, it is very obvious to anyone who watched the bout that Silva was clearly the real winner.

Loser: Carlo Prater

On the opposite side of this controversial finish, Carlo Prater earned a win on the official card, but got absolutely smashed by Erick Silva.

This one should quite obviously go down as a loss for him, and the UFC will presumably look at it that way, but his official record will always say that he got a win at UFC 142.

Prater should donate his win bonus to Mario Yamasaki after this one. 

Winner: Rousimar Palhares

One of the most jacked fighters in the entire sport, Brazilian sensation Rousimar Palhares has to be considered one of the most dangerous fighters in any weight class.

With unbelievable strength and technique together, Palhares used a takedown to instantly transition into a heel hook that seemed to catch Mike Massenzio off guard.

Massenzio seemed calm at first, but quickly had to submit when Palhares started putting pressure on the hold. Palhares might have completely torn Mike Massenzio’s knee in the process.

If Ryo Chonan submitted Anderson Silva, imagine what Rousimar Palhares could do.

Loser: Dan Miragliotta

The referees had a tough night at UFC 142, and Dan Miragliotta isn’t going to escape without some criticism.

Miragliotta officiated the bout between middleweights (light heavyweights? something-or-other-weights?) Anthony Johnson and Vitor Belfort.

An intense bit of striking started off the fight, but as expected, Johnson quickly took the fight to the ground.

However after only a few moments of stalemate, Miragliotta stood the fight up. Johnson took the fight down soon thereafter and again, Miragliotta quickly stood it up. It even happened a third time, all in the first round!

No one can say that Johnson was doing great damage in the short amount of time the fight was on the ground, but to stand it up that quickly was just crazy. 

Winner: Vitor Belfort

One of the biggest fan favorites in the entire sport, particularly in Brazil, Vitor Belfort re-established why the fans love him so much at UFC 142 when he fought through adversity to defeat Anthony “Rumble” Johnson by first-round submission.

Belfort took some damage from Johnson early and ended up on his back numerous times in the first round, but eventually was able to take Johnson’s back and submit him with a rear-naked choke.

The crowd in attendance erupted as the home-country favorite celebrated his 10th UFC victory, every one of which has come by way of knockout or submission.

Loser: Anthony Johnson

The biggest loser of the weekend was unquestionably Anthony “Rumble” Johnson who not only failed to make the 185-pound weight limit, but also got submitted in the first round by Vitor Belfort.

Johnson officially weighed in 12 pounds over the 185 pound weight limit at 197 pounds. However, according to reports, he was close to the target weight with a few hours remaining, but doctors instructed him that he needed to rehydrate.

After he got some fluids in him, Johnson bulked up to 197 at the official weigh-in, shocking the fans and media in the process.

To put things in perspective, after moving up to 185 from his previous weight class at 170, Johnson officially weighed 26 pounds heavier than he did for his previous fight.

Johnson then weighed 211.6 officially today before the fight itself. Vitor Belfort weighed in at 205.

After missing weight and losing by submission, Johnson’s job could be in serious jeopardy.

(Update: Anthony Johnson has been released from the UFC.)

Winner: Jose Aldo

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has taken some criticism since his surprisingly close bout with Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

As perhaps the most dominant striker in the division, most were shocked when Hominick was able to take Aldo down repeatedly late in the fight and came surprisingly close to actually winning that fight in his hometown.

So when Aldo fought the man whom many believe to be the best wrestler in the 145-pound division in Chad Mendes, it’s not surprising that quite a few analysts were picking Mendes to take the title off of Aldo’s waist at UFC 142.

Aldo defied the critics, though, as he was never (really) taken down by Mendes and even knocked Mendes out at 4:59 of the first round with a crazy spinning knee followed up by a big right hand.

An ecstatic Aldo immediately bolted out of the cage and into the crowd where he celebrated with his Brazilian fans, clearly terrifying UFC brass in the process.

The display of emotion was very real and fun to watch as a fan. It’s not often that fighters have that kind of connection with their fans.

Loser: Team Alpha Male

On the receiving end of another brutal knockout, Team Alpha Male must be extremely frustrated with their inability to stop the runaway freight train that is Jose Aldo.

Urijah Faber lost a one-sided decision to Aldo in the WEC and now his previously undefeated teammate Chad Mendes was completely unable to get anything going before getting knocked out in the first round.

Team Alpha Male remains one of the best fight camps around, but UFC 142 was a tough night for them.

Winner: Joe Rogan

If there was any doubt that Joe Rogan is the best analyst, commentator and all-around personality in MMA, that doubt was put to rest at UFC 142.

Not only did Rogan deliver his usual explanations of techniques, rules and situations, but he also hit fans with an interesting explanation of the science behind cups after an accidental low blow during a preliminary bout.

I’ve been watching MMA for quite some time, I’ve participated in sports and I had no idea that there were so many different options or that they all had so many different positives and negatives about them.

But Rogan’s best work came after the Erick Silva and Carlo Prater bout which saw Mario Yamasaki deliver one of the worst calls of the year in disqualifying Silva for completely legal punches.

After learning the news, Rogan grilled Yamasaki in the center of the cage, asking him repeatedly if he thought he made the right decision.

Yamasaki looked to be completely caught off-guard when the video evidence was shown that the punches did not land on the back of Prater’s head. Still, the referee did not admit his mistake.

Rogan did everything he could to right the wrong that was happening, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Still, you can’t fault the guy for trying, or for asking the tough questions.

Loser: UFC

Before I get hammered from people saying that this was a great card, I want to be quick to point out that I completely agree. This was an awesome fight card, top-to-bottom, with some of the best finishes we have seen in years.

However, as we wait for the official buyrates to come in in the upcoming weeks, it’s going to be tough to believe that the UFC did very well with this one.

Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes are both amazing fighters, but they aren’t quite household names yet in America. It’s hard to believe that putting them as a headline to a pay-per-view event is going to draw in many buys.

It got my buy, and many other hardcore fans’ buys, but we will have to wait and see just how many casual fans tuned into this one.

But perhaps bigger than the lack of US-based popularity of the fighters competing in the main event was the competition that UFC 142 faced tonight. On free, network television, the Denver Broncos went to New England to face the Patriots in an NFL playoff game.

That’s Tim Tebow vs. Tom Brady. That’s the biggest sport in America. That’s an NFL dream for ratings.

Though the game ended up in a blowout, there were probably quite a few fans who opted to pass on purchasing a pay-per-view MMA event when they could sit at home and watch an extremely important football game.

Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger... But that’s just the truth on this situation.

Winners: Fans in Attendance

Regardless of how many people actually purchased this event, fans who did tune in got their money’s worth and much more.

Not only that, but the fans in attendance in Rio were some of the best fight fans that have ever been at a UFC event.

Not only were they respectful to all of the fighters, they were ridiculously pumped up for every fight, all the way from the first preliminary bout through the main event.

In addition to that, the fans seemed very knowledgeable and were even cheering things like guard passes that often go almost unnoticed by typical fans in the states.

Bravo, Brazilian fight fans, you understand the sport better than perhaps anyone. Then again, that’s not very surprising considering that Brazil was practically the home for actual skills during the early days of the sport.

The Gracies would be proud.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron