UFC Fight Nights 99 and 100 Results: Real Winners, Losers in Belfast and Brazil
Oh, did you have something to do this Saturday? I'm so sorry.
Are you one of those people with "a social life" and "obligations outside of MMA"? Not me. Not this guy. I'll never understand people. All I want every weekend, without fail, is a full drumbeat of UFC activities. Twenty fights? Heck, why not 30? It's like the UFC is afraid to commit or something. How about 1,440 fights on a Saturday, one for every minute of the day? Let's go all in on this, UFC.
With the new UFC owners reducing staff and potentially the number of events, let's soak in these potentially final vestiges of oversaturation. Never forget where you were when, one week after the blockbuster UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, the UFC hosted UFC Fight Night 99 and UFC Fight Night 100 back to back on a Saturday.
You never know how many more of these opportunities you'll have!
One day. Twenty-five UFC contests. Can't you feel the excitement? As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. In case you're a charlatan, these are the real winners and losers from all of this great content that you missed for inadequate reasons.
The full results of both cards appear on the final two slides for the literal-minded among us.
Winner: Gegard Mousasi
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Loss avenged.
It was a lazy narrative, but that doesn't make it invalid. Gegard Mousasi, the talented and popular middleweight, put his only loss of the past two years in the rearview mirror Saturday with a first-round, ground-and-pound TKO of Uriah Hall.
Mousasi was cruising in their original 2015 engagement, until the dynamic Hall sprang some spinning stuff on him for a flash knockout. In Belfast, Mousasi was notably conservative in his output, flinching away from Hall's early feints.
But as the first round wound down, Mousasi turned up the heat, taking the action to the mat. Hall made the mistake of flattening out his posture and giving up his back. Mousasi laced several hard shots through Hall's defense to seal the deal.
What's next for the 31-year-old Dutchman who is now 6-1 in his past seven? Mousasi has some ideas.
"Whoever has the belt," he said in the cage after the fight when broadcaster Dan Hardy asked about his next opponent. "I'm coming. What the f--k. I'm coming. ... I need a [title] elimination fight now or a title shot. Whatever the UFC says.”
It seems Yoel Romero, fresh off his finish of Chris Weidman at UFC 205, has the inside track to face champion Michael Bisping next. Mousasi has to be on the short list of contenders, though.
Loser: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira knows how to take punishment. Lil Nog and his iron chin got their share Saturday night.
Ryan Bader survived getting rocked early. He then landed a couple of takedowns and worked ground-and-pound over the course of long minutes to grab a TKO win in the third round.
Nogueira is 40 years old. He has dropped three of four, and injuries have limited him to only six contests since 2011. His twin brother, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, already hung up his gloves.
Although he was a loser at Fight Night 100, Lil Nog is a winner in MMA and would be considered as much if he walked away now. He has nothing left to prove and has unassailable toughness. Here's hoping he does what's best for himself and his loved ones, whatever that may ultimately be for him.
Winner: Bellator?
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We won't know the real winner here for a few days.
When the TV ratings come out from the head-to-head battle between UFC Fight Night 100 on FS1 and Bellator 165 on Spike, we'll know who came out on top.
Bellator put its best foot forward, bringing former UFC lightweight champ Benson Henderson into a fight with current Bellator champ Michael Chandler. The fight was tremendous, with Chandler hammering and then holding off a game Henderson in one of the great performances in Bellator history.
The UFC countered, as you know, with the, let's say, perfectly respectable Bader-Nogueira rematch and whatever it had in the larder that would stick to the stucco. (In fairness, no larder is stocked like the UFC's.)
It will be interesting to see the final data, particularly in the shadow of the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev boxing blockbuster, which surely siphoned off plenty of fight fans.
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Loser: Eduardo Herdy
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Whenever you see a referee's name, you know something is amiss.
And so it is once again.
An electric fight between super-prospect Thomas Almeida and the surprisingly frisky Albert Morales took a turn in the second round after Almeida slammed home a brutal body shot. The shot crumpled but didn't drop Morales, to whom the phrase "too tough for his own good" applies. Almeida swarmed with major combinations that caused Morales to turn his back and run away.
Almeida chased and hammered, and in so doing Morales slumped back against the fence, where he was essentially pinned. He could only stare through glazed eyes while Almeida rained unanswered blows on his face and body.
Still, referee Eduardo Herdy—he of Drew Dober "phantom tap" fame—took a while to make up his mind. Should he maybe keep it going, just in case Morales somehow gets off the fence and does something meaningful to evade these strike missiles? "Yes," came Herdy's answer to himself.
Well over a dozen unanswered punches later—and with Jon Anik and color commentator Brian Stann both literally screaming "stop the fight!"—Herdy finally stepped in and decided the damage was sufficient.
There's no nice or fun way to say this, so I'm going to just say it: Herdy shouldn't be an MMA ref anymore.
Winner: Kamaru Usman
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Kamaru Usman put it all together at UFC Fight Night 100.
Against a tough and aggressive welterweight in hometown guy Warlley Alves, Usman showed a dangerous and advanced striking game to complement his top-notch wrestling. He battered Alves for much of the contest and took a convincing unanimous decision.
Afterward, Usman called out Demian Maia. Maybe I'm naive in hoping Maia is in line for a title shot instead, but either way Usman has turned his potential into something kinetic.
Loser: Ian McCall
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Will Ian McCall ever compete in the MMA cage again?
Four attempts to compete since January 2015, four failures to do so. They weren't all his fault—Ray Borg pulled out of a fight in September, and Justin Scoggins withdrew from a bout in July—but some of them were, and it's definitely a pattern at this point.
On Friday—one day before he was set to compete at UFC Belfast—McCall went to the hospital after getting sick while cutting weight. His bout with Neil Seery, who was hoping to compete in front of a friendly crowd, was canceled.
It's similar to his late-notice withdrawal in summer 2015 against Dustin Ortiz, as well as a 2014 fight with John Lineker.
Taken together, since July 2014, McCall has been scheduled for seven fights and made it to exactly two. At 32 years of age, he is young enough to make a change but old enough to feel a sense of urgency. Here's hoping his luck improves, as do whichever conditions are within his power to change.
Winner: Wales
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Jack Marshman was the first Welsh fighter to sign a UFC contract.
Brett Johns was the first Welsh fighter to set foot in the UFC Octagon.
Johns was the first Welshman to win a UFC fight; Marshman was the second.
All of it happened at UFC Belfast.
At least one Welsh MMA pundit was calling them "the history boys" Saturday after Johns controlled fellow prospect Kwan Ho Kwak and Marshman knocked out Magnus Cedenblad.
"The Welsh fans are amazing," Johns said in a statement the UFC mailed to reporters after the fight. "They’re the reason why I’m here. I’m very thankful.”
Fresh off pulling a substantial upset, Marshman provided even more context.
"I’m over the moon," he said in his statement. "It’s an amazing feeling, and the crowd was nuts for the Welsh. I’m sure the UFC must be thinking, ‘Look at the Welsh guys coming in and getting two wins; s--t we’ve got an untapped market.'"
Loser: Bethe Correia
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Bethe Correia, you're on notice.
The salvo came from Marion Reneau, the Belizean-American women's bantamweight, who dispatched Milana Dudieva with a methodical ground-and-pound TKO at UFC Fight Night 99.
The 39-year-old Reneau would appear to be a classic late bloomer. Debuting in the UFC last year at age 37, Reneau is 3-2 since entering the Octagon and frankly would be 4-1 if the judges hadn't gone all Mister Magoo during her fight with Ashlee Evans-Smith.
Beyond her well-rounded skill set, Reneau is a formidable presence on the microphone. That's where Ms. Correia comes in.
You may remember Correia from that time Ronda Rousey ate her alive at UFC 190. She's also known as a bit of a brash self-promoter—perhaps to the point that she writes verbal checks she can't actually cash.
So it's noticeable when you hear the silence that comes from Camp Correia every time Reneau calls her out. It's a lot noticeable if you're Marion Reneau.
"Three times I have called out Bethe Correia, and three times she has played the duck role," Reneau said to Hardy in the cage after the fight. "So Bethe Correia, this is your official call-out. You said you wanted to dance. Let's dance."
Any time now, Correia and UFC. You're not frightened, are you, Bethe?
Winner: The Art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
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If you like submissions and watch undercards, you must have enjoyed UFC Fight Night 100.
Of the evening's 12 fights, four ended in submission, all during the preliminary slate. Among those, three finished in guillotine chokes: Pedro Munhoz against Justin Scoggins, Luis Henrique against Christian Colombo and Gadzhimurad Antigulov against Marcos Rogerio de Lima. In addition, Cezar "Mutante" Ferreira finished Jack Hermansson with a sweet arm-triangle choke.
Obviously, with the card occurring in Sao Paulo, the evening was packed with jiu-jitsu aces. It made for quite a show when the hometown favorites (and one or two others) delivered.
UFC Fight Night 99 Full Card Results
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Main Card
- Gegard Mousasi def. Uriah Hall by TKO, 4:37, Rd. 1
- Stevie Ray def. Ross Pearson by split decision
- Alexander Volkov def. Timothy Johnson by split decision
- Artem Lobov def. Teruto Ishihara by unanimous decision
Preliminary Card
- Jack Marshman def. Magnus Cedenblad by TKO, 3:32, Rd. 2
- Kyoji Horiguchi def. Ali Bagautinov by unanimous decision
- Kevin Lee def. Magomed Mustafaev by technical submission (rear-naked choke), 4:31, Rd. 1
- Amanda Cooper def. Anna Elmose by unanimous decision
- Justin Ledet def. Mark Godbeer by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:16, Rd. 1
- Zak Cummings def. Alexander Yakovlev by submission (straight armbar), 4:02, Rd. 2
- Marion Reneau def. Milana Dudieva by TKO, 3:03, Rd. 3
- Brett Johns def. Kwan Ho Kwak by unanimous decision
- Abdul Razak Alhassan def. Charlie Ward by KO, 0:53, Rd. 1
UFC Fight Night 100 Full Card Results
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Main Card
- Ryan Bader def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by TKO, 3:51, Rd. 3
- Thomas Almeida def. Albert Morales by TKO, 1:37, Rd. 2
- Claudia Gadelha def. Cortney Casey by unanimous decision
- Krzysztof Jotko def. Thales Leites by unanimous decision
- Kamaru Usman def. Warlley Alves by unanimous decision
- Sergio Moraes def. Zak Ottow by split decision
Preliminary Card
- Cezar Ferreira def. Jack Hermansson by submission (arm-triangle choke), 2:11, Rd. 2
- Gadzhimurad Antigulov def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima by submission (guillotine choke), 1:07, Rd. 1
- Johnny Eduardo def. Manvel Gamburyan by TKO, 0:46, Rd. 2
- Luis Henrique def. Christian Colombo by submission (guillotine choke), 2:12, Rd. 3
- Pedro Munhoz def. Justin Scoggins by submission (guillotine choke), 1:55, Rd. 2
- Darren Stewart def. Francimar Barroso by TKO, 1:34, Rd. 1
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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