UFC Fight Night 68 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from New Orleans
UFC Fight Night 68 was, on paper, not a very good card. Of course, the problem with paper is that it's two-dimensional, and immutable. Unless you know origami. Which I do not.
Title implications and hot up-and-comers were hard to come by throughout the 12-fight slate, which went down Saturday evening from New Orleans. The main event pitted 44-year-old Dan Henderson against Tim Boetsch, an inconsistent middleweight 10 years Henderson's junior. A loser in five of his last six bouts, Hendo is receiving main event-level matchups these days more because of his past than his present.
There were also a couple of Louisiana boys who made interesting hometown favorites. Dustin Poirier fought for the second time since returning to lightweight when he tangled with the dangerous Yancy Medeiros. Shawn Jordan, a former LSU lineman, took on Crescent City native Derrick Lewis in one of the evening's two heavyweight brawls (Ben Rothwell vs. Matt Mitrione was the other).
Would the actual fights be a formality confirmation, or would it flip the paper off the desk? As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from the Big Easy.
Winner: Dan Henderson
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Time for me to take my medicine.
I'm sorry, Dan Henderson. I'm sorry. I said you were done. I said you were over the hill. I said you were boring. But it turns out none of those things are true, not as long as you still have that morning star swinging from the end of your right shoulder, where most people just have a regular arm.
Twenty-eight seconds was all it took for Hendo to humble Tim Boetsch, and pretty much everyone else, in this main event. He landed his trademark H-bomb, followed it up with a knee, followed Boetsch to the ground and finished it off with fists from there.
"When I say I'm not done and nobody believes me, and I can prove that I'm not quite done yet, it feels great," Henderson told broadcaster Jon Anik in the cage after the fight. "I felt great, and all the fans, I felt the energy from you guys."
But before we all eat too much crow, let's not forget that Henderson is still a loser in five of his last seven. He's still 44 years old, going on 45. He has still absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment in his lifetime. Would it be a terrible idea for him to retire now, with an emphatic win? No, it wouldn't.
Most likely, though, Henderson will fight again. He's beloved, he's a legend, he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer. I tip my cap. Thanks for another memory, Hendo.
Loser: Tim Boetsch
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This was Tim Boetsch's first main event as a UFC fighter. It was also probably his last.
Not a very strong performance from Boetsch, who circled right into that right hand, causing his aggression to work against him. Boetsch staggered, and he never recovered, especially not after that follow-up knee. There is not much else to say about the performance, given that it didn't even last 30 seconds.
Boetsch has now lost two straight and five of his last seven. And he seems to be regressing, not exactly the 185-pound Sherman tank we've all been conditioned to expect. He also seems to have a lot of difficulty handling great grapplers at the main-card level, although that wasn't a factor tonight.
In the end, he caught an H-bomb. He was not the first, and probably won't be the last, to do so.
Winner: Ben Rothwell
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If his fight didn't convince you, his promo surely did.
Ben Rothwell was an underdog coming into the co-main event. Matt Mitrione, the conventional wisdom went, was more athletic, lighter on his feet and better able to avoid his opponent's knockout blows while delivering stick-and-move punishment of his own.
It didn't go that way. From the get-go, Rothwell seemed intent on leveraging his ground game, which he has long asserted is an underrated asset. When Mitrione tried a takedown, Rothwell sprawled to prevent it, then went for a front choke. One thing led to another, the thing got tighter and suddenly Mitrione was tapping with both hands.
It was the third straight win for Rothwell, who didn't leave anything to chance in his post-fight interview. He wants to fight for the belt.
"No one can stop me inside this Octagon," Rothwell bellowed to Anik in the cage, before letting out this maniacal bit of laughter.
Picture it all in a Wisconsin accent, and you'll quickly realize that Rothwell has the style as well as the substance. He might not have a great chance if a fight ever leaves the first round, but for now, that's not important. Why don't we just match him up with Andrei Arlovski and enjoy ourselves?
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Winner: Dustin Poirier
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Earlier this spring, Poirier returned to the lightweight division. Saturday night, he returned home.
The Louisiana native would not have even needed those two minutes and 38 seconds if Yancy Medeiros wasn't tough as nails. Poirier swarmed Medeiros from the start, landing hook after hook right on the nose and simply overwhelming the Hawaiian. Eventually, referee John McCarthy stopped the contest, and credit to him for doing so, as Medeiros was badly beaten but still too tough to fall down as he leaned against the cage for support.
Two fights back at 155 pounds, two first-round knockouts for Poirier.
"I love what I do. This is me. Fighting is me," Poirier told Anik in the cage after the fight. "I was draining myself at 145...I feel like myself at 155...This is my house, and man, it feels good to be home."
Poirier also took the opportunity to call for a top-10 opponent in his next fight. That seems like an entirely reasonable request to me.
Loser: Francisco Rivera
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Not a bad night's work for Francisco Rivera. It only took him 21 seconds to polish off Alex Caceres in the first bout of the evening's main card and re-establish himself as the most formidable power puncher in the UFC bantamweight division.
Saturday marked Rivera's return to the UFC after an eye surgery forced a six-month layoff. His vision looked fully recovered, at least if that seeing-eye left hook was any indication. A right hand started Caceres' mat-ward topple, but the left was what hastened the fall. A few ground strikes later and the ref had seen enough.
So why is Rivera a loser?
"I've been fighting for the UFC for a while now and I've never gotten a bonus," Rivera told Anik in the cage after the fight. "Please! I need it. Please!"
It was a heartfelt plea from Rivera, 33, who has two kids and currently fights full-time. In his last fight, a loss to Urijah Faber precipitated in part by the dicey eye poke that led to Rivera's surgery, Rivera received $20,000.
Rivera is now 11-4-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the UFC. It's never good when one of your fighters gets on the mic after a big win and essentially begs you for money. All he was missing was the empty wooden porridge bowl.
Can you pay this guy, UFC? Please? He's bumming me out.
Winner: Anyone Who Watched This Card
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This is why they fight the fights.
Even when the competitors are lower on the totem pole and not excessively accomplished in their resumes, it's still, you know, hand-to-hand combat. Fights are still taking place. And UFC Fight Night 68 was a reminder that all cards, all promotions, can entertain, even if a big gaudy belt is not on the line.
Of the 12 contests on the card, 10 ended with a stoppage. Seven of those stoppages were knockouts. One—Brian Ortega's win over Thiago Tavares—was accompanied by about two pints of blood in the cage. Seven came in the first round. Four came in less than two minutes.
It just goes to show that fights are always worth keeping at least one eye on. Let's hear it for face-punching! Especially when it's this fun, and on free TV, no less.
Loser: Derrick Lewis' Chin
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At approximately 6:44 p.m. New Orleans time, a hollow "BOOM" reverberated over the bayou. Alligators retreated below the muddy surface of the water. Egrets took to the air. Plates of bananas Foster fell to the ground with a tinkling crash.
That was when Shawn Jordan landed one of the heaviest kicks you're ever going to see a heavyweight land this side of Junior dos Santos.
It was early in the second round, and both of the heavyweight sluggers were already tiring. Or maybe Jordan was just lulling us all into a false sense of security. Jordan raised his leg and landed a hook kick right on the kisser of the 6'3" Derrick Lewis. Lewis did what any of us would do: He fell down.
A few seconds of ground-and-pound later and the knockout was complete. Tough luck for Lewis' chin, but one for Jordan's career highlight reel.
Winner: Joe Proctor
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It was going to the judges, until it wasn't.
Joe Proctor and Justin Edwards waged a back-and-forth fight, with Proctor firing counter combinations and Edwards landing big knees and kicks.
Neither man ever seized a major advantage, at least until the very final seconds of the contest. When Proctor went for a guillotine choke in the waning moment of the final round, it seemed to be more preemptive than anything, a way of tying up Edwards and displaying offense at the end of the fight.
But then he dropped down and tightened his grip. In the snap of a finger, Edwards was in legitimate trouble.
Edwards, surely knowing that a judges' decision could easily go his way, gamely resisted the urge to tap. But Proctor's grip only got tighter, and with two seconds remaining, Edwards' body gave out and he went limp. The referee rightly waved off the fight.
According to Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie, the technical submission set a new UFC record for "the latest submission ever in a three-round lightweight fight."
UFC Fight Night 68 Full Card Results
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Main Card
Dan Henderson def. Tim Boetsch by KO, 0:28, Rd. 1
Ben Rothwell def. Matt Mitrione by submission (front choke), 1:54, Rd. 1
Dustin Poirier def. Yancy Medeiros by TKO, 2:38, Rd. 1
Brian Ortega def. Thiago Tavares by TKO, 4:10, Rd. 3
Anthony Birchak def. Joe Soto by KO, 1:37, Rd. 1
Francisco Rivera def. Alex Caceres by KO, 0:21, Rd. 1
Preliminary Card
Shawn Jordan def. Derrick Lewis by TKO, 0:48, Rd. 2
Omari Akhmedov def. Brian Ebersole by TKO (retirement), 5:00, Rd. 1
Chris Wade def. Christos Giagos by unanimous decision
Joe Proctor def Justin Edwards by submission (guillotine choke), 4:58, Rd. 3
Jake Collier def. Ricardo Abreu by split decision
Jose Quinonez def. Leonardo Morales by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:34, Rd. 1
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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