UFC Fight Night 63 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Mendes vs. Lamas
Welcome, one and all, to Breakfast at The Octagon.
The only thing missing from UFC Fight Night 63, which began Saturday morning at 11 a.m. ET in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Fairfax, Virginia, was the strawberries and cream. Those have always looked delicious.
Maybe next time. This time, MMA fans had to settle for 10 free fights and five hours' worth of action, culminating in a battle between featherweights Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas. Though nothing is official, the winner of this matchup would appear to have an inside track for the next shot at the UFC featherweight championship.
But there was more to it than that. In fact, this card was pretty loaded for a cable TV card. In the co-main event, streaking lightweights Jorge Masvidal and Al Iaquinta threw down. Other luminaries included two winners from The Ultimate Fighter (Michael Chiesa, Julianna Pena), a beloved veteran (Clay Guida) and two high-level prospects (Dustin Poirier, Carlos Diego Ferreira).
As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Night 63, this time doled out to you live from the Octagon right here in Fairfax, Virginia.
And if you're one of those literal-minded people, full results are available in the final slide.
Winner: Chad Mendes
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The main event in Fairfax was a Ron Burgundy special. It escalated very quickly.
What looked to be a potentially protracted feeling-out period was interrupted by a huge punch from Mendes. Lamas hit the floor, with only sheer toughness and the mercy (if you want to call it that) of referee Dan Miragliotta keeping Lamas in the contest.
It happened two more times before the ref finally called the stop, but it was clear from the first knockdown who the better, stronger fighter was today.
"I hit him big, and he went down. He was tough, man," Mendes told broadcaster Jon Anik matter-of-factly in the cage after the fight.
Lamas is a tough customer and a talented competitor, but he wasn't in Mendes' league today. It seems that, for now, Mendes and champ Jose Aldo have a stranglehold on the very top of the division. It's unfortunate for Mendes that he has lost twice to Aldo, but that's an issue for another day. Today, Mendes staked a claim as the second best in a deep division. That's not too shabby.
Loser: Al Iaquinta
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At the beginning of Al Iaquinta's co-main event bout with Jorge Masvidal, the crowd was solidly behind the New York native.
As the fighters left the cage, the story was a little different.
Masvidal started strong and used some sharp kickboxing to cut Iaquinta open below his eye. As the fight wore on, however, Masvidal began to coast a bit, and a late burst from Iaquinta made the fight more interesting at the end.
It was a close fight. But in the end, it appeared Masvidal would take the fight 29-28, or two rounds to one.
That's not what happened.
Iaquinta got the split-decision nod from the judges. And the previously pro-Iaquinta crowd exploded in boos. The boos were so loud, I couldn't hear Iaquinta's post-fight interview with Anik.
At least, I couldn't hear most of the post-fight interview. I did hear the part where Iaquinta pointed to the crowd and shouted "F--- you! I fought my a-- off in here! F--- you!"
As you might expect, the boos got a little louder at that point.
An incensed Masvidal stormed out of the cage, with the crowd cheering his every step.
For the winner, it was a fairly dramatic and sudden heel turn. I understand that Iaquinta, after pouring his heart out in the cage, was probably upset by the boos. Nevertheless, it's probably never a good idea to curse out the crowd, especially if you just took a decision that, at the very least, could have gone either way.
Despite the W on his record, it didn't feel like a winning performance for Al Iaquinta.
Winner: Washington, D.C., MMA Fans
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It has been a while since the UFC came to the nation's capital. The last time was nearly four years ago. It was UFC on Versus 6 in the Verizon Center. The main event? Dominick Cruz defended his bantamweight title against a challenger by the name of Demetrious Johnson.
So, yeah. Long time ago. And after Baltimore fans brought their A-game to UFC 172 last year, the pressure was on D.C. MMA fans to deliver the goods.
They did. Despite the early start time, fans showed up in force in the Northern Virginia suburb. They cheered at the right times and were quiet at the right times, swelling to big ovations in key moments.
There were no attendance numbers at publication time, and it probably wasn't a sell-out, but sitting cageside, it looked like a venue that was pretty close to capacity.
With its white-collar reputation and Redskins monomaniacality, D.C. may not be a prime MMA hotbed suspect. However, the area seemed to show on Saturday it can nevertheless provide a sustainable market for the sport.
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Loser: Julianna Pena
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Julianna Pena didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination in her return fight. She had undersized and overmatched Milana Dudieva mounted in about one minute. A few score hammerfists and elbows later, she had the TKO win. It happened inside the four-minute mark of the very first round.
So why is she a loser?
I'll tell you why. Because she could have been doing this for the last two years, if not for a cruel twist of fate.
After winning The Ultimate Fighter 18, Pena suffered a freakish and devastating knee injury while training. Because of the rehab, this was her first fight since November 2013.
Given the dominant nature of this victory and the other UFC contests that came before it, you have to feel for Pena a little and wonder where she'd be if she hadn't lost that time.
Fortunately, she's still only 25 years old and looked decidedly non-rusty in her return. In a division that could use some new blood to challenge Ronda Rousey, perhaps Pena could still become an important piece of the puzzle, even if it comes a little later than a perfect world might have had it.
Winner: Dustin Poirier
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Well then.
Dustin Poirier returned to the lightweight division with extreme prejudice on Saturday, knocking out a game and dangerous prospect in Diego Ferreira after one frenetic round.
A straight right started the problems for Ferreira. He never fully recovered and was ultimately dropped again and finished with ground strikes for a clean KO.
But he was not only looking bigger and stronger than he had at his previous featherweight home. His technique was better, too, as he avoided unnecessary wildness. As Luke Thomas of MMAFighting pointed out on Twitter, Poirier was "patient [and] executed at range. Woke the crowd up, too."
He did indeed. After the fight, Poirier said he had already been promised a slot on June's New Orleans card. That could be fun for the Louisiana native. If he turns in another performance like Saturday's, it'll be fun for everybody else, too.
"I really enjoyed training camp, and that's a big part of this sport," Poirier said afterward. "I'm going to stay at 155, and I look forward to fighting in New Orleans and beating someone in my home town.”
Loser: Gray Maynard
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Saturday's viewers may have seen the last of Gray Maynard in the UFC Octagon.
After three straight losses interspersed with lengthy injury layoffs, Maynard was relegated to the undercard and a lightly regarded opponent in Alexander Yakovlev, whose primary attribute is that he is tall for a lightweight (6'1").
Maynard scored a few takedowns early but his conditioning and chin ultimately betrayed him. In the second round, a straight left from Yakovlev dropped Maynard like a sack of wet newspapers, and a trip takedown in the fight's waning seconds likely sealed his fate.
This is not the forceful "Bully" we were once accustomed to seeing. This is not the Maynard who gave Frankie Edgar all he could handle on more than one occasion.
The 35-year-old has earned the right to make his own decisions about his future in fighting. Here's hoping his decision is well-informed by the wealth of data and intelligent observers at his disposal.
Winner: Timothy Johnson
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It was a pretty good Saturday for Timothy Johnson.
For this, his UFC debut, Johnson made his way to the cage sporting the kind of mustache a CHiPs extra would have been proud to unfurl. But his grand entrance was not complete. He also walked out to Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing."
By the time he knocked out Shamil Abdurahimov—with the ref calling the bout only three seconds before the end of the first round—Johnson had the Fairfax early birds on their feet and eating out of his hand. As he stood up out of the full mount that Abdurahimov couldn't seem to figure out, the "U-S-A" chants began.
"I don't think I could've written it up any better," Johnson told Anik after the fight. I would imagine not.
UFC Fight Night 63 Full Results
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Main Card
Chad Mendes def. Ricardo Lamas by TKO, 2:45, Rd. 1
Al Iaquinta def. Jorge Masvidal by split decision
Michael Chiesa def. Mitch Clarke by unanimous decision
Julianna Pena def. Milana Dudieva by TKO, 3:59, Rd. 1
Clay Guida def. Robbie Peralta by unanimous decision
Dustin Poirier def. Carlos Diego Ferreira by KO, 3:45, Rd. 1
Preliminary Card
Liz Carmouche def. Lauren Murphy by unanimous decision
Alexander Yakovlev def. Gray Maynard by unanimous decision
Timothy Johnson def. Shamil Abdurakhimov by TKO, 4:57, Rd. 1
Ron Stallings def. Justin Jones by unanimous decision
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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