UFC 134 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Rio

UFC 134 is in the books and it’s time to analyze the results from tonight’s fight card from Rio, Brazil by taking a look at the real winners and losers.

Sure, the official record book has most of the information you need, but it doesn’t always tell the whole story. Sometimes things happen that the record books simply can’t tell us. Often times these things don’t even involve someone who was actually fighting on the card.

The UFC will be excited that Anderson Silva once again proved his dominance tonight, but there’s a lot more that went into making this one of the most successful pay-per-view events in the organization’s history.

So read on fight fans, as we take a closer look at tonight’s UFC 134 Rio results. 

Winner: Rousimer Palhares

A man who has snapped the stereotype of unimpressive physical Brazilian specimens in MMA, Rousimer Palhares also looked awesome tonight in his fight against Dan Miller.

In one of the craziest things we have ever seen in the cage, Palhares dropped his American opponent early in the first round before landing a couple punches on the ground. Miller looked like he was close to going out and referee Herb Dean stepped in to get a closer look at the action. It was at that point that Palhares pulled off and walked away, seemingly victorious.

He went back to his corner and celebrated before the referee informed him that the fight was not over. Moments later, Palhares was nearly knocked out himself, but was able to survive and eventually won by judges’ decision. 

Loser: Dan Miller

Dan Miller somehow escaped the early near-knockout from his opponent Rousimer Palhares, and even nearly walked away with a knockout victory of his own moments later. But in the end, the New Jersey native was victim to his second-straight loss.

Though his fights are almost always entertaining and he has shown up numerous times to fight on short notice, Miller has now fallen to a disastrous 2-5 in his last seven UFC fights. That kind of record is almost always the end for fighters in the world’s largest MMA promotion, but Miller has been able to cling on, possibly somewhat due to all of the losses coming by way of decision.

We will have to see if Miller makes it through the week with his UFC contract intact, but it’d be hard to fault the promotion if they cut ties with him at this point. 

Winner: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

“Big Nog’s” career seemed to be on life support coming into Saturday night’s UFC 134 card. With losses in two out of his last three fights and a 16-month layoff between UFC 134 and his previous fight at UFC 110, Nogueira desperately needed a win tonight to get back on track.

Apparently he got the message.

Nogueira absolutely crushed the heavy-handed Brendan Schaub with a first-round knockout just over three minutes into the fight.

Time will tell whether Nogueira is really back or if this was just the swan song of a Hall of Fame career, but tonight belonged to the former Pride champion. 

Loser: Brendan Schaub

If you took a poll among MMA experts regarding who the hottest heavyweight in the world has been over the past 18 months, there is a fairly good chance that they would have responded with the name Brendan Schaub.

Schaub had been on an impressive four-fight win streak in that span with his most recent victory coming against the legendary Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. The victory shot Schaub up in the worldwide rankings and earned him a shot against another legend, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

The odds-makers had him as a big favorite coming into the fight, but Schaub was surprisingly knocked out early in the bout.

This will be a disappointing loss for “The Hybrid,” but he is young and athletic enough to get back into the top 10 sometime in 2012. 

Winner: Edson Barboza

Many fans were exposed for the first time to the highlight-reel athleticism and technical striking ability of Brazil’s Edson Barboza, who won a close split decision over Ross Pearson tonight at UFC 134.

Barboza was expected to win the fight by most and ended up losing the fight on one judge's scorecard, but that alone doesn’t keep him from being one of the bigger “winners” on tonight’s card.

He has the ability to be one of the top fighters in the world in the coming years. Not only that, but at only 25 years old, he’s still getting better.

Perhaps it’s time to give him another top up-and-comer.

Loser: Forrest Griffin

Typically one of the biggest fan favorites, Forrest Griffin received the worst reaction of his career tonight going into his bout with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. While he claims he knew it was coming, it seems fairly obvious that the negative crowd reaction kept him from really getting into his usual groove.

Griffin lost this rematch with Rua by way of knockout in the first round. The loss was Griffin’s third in his past five fights since winning the UFC light-heavyweight championship back in July 2008.

Perhaps worst of all, though, is that Griffin has seemed to be dropping hints that he is exploring a permanent career outside of the sport. We don’t want that as fans, but it might be the right decision for him to make at this point in his career as he has publicly said that he doesn’t believe he is improving as a fighter anymore.

Winner: Shogun Rua

What a night of redemption for the former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

The Brazilian put away all concerns that his career could be coming to an end with an impressive knockout victory tonight over a man who previously beat him, Forrest Griffin. The knockout was his fourth in the UFC in as many wins.

Shogun arguably had the most to prove of any fighter on tonight’s card after a crushing loss to Jon “Bones” Jones earlier this year. This victory will be celebrated by Rua and his fans tonight.

Loser: Yushin Okami

A disappointing night for Yushin Okami was expected by the brilliant minds in Las Vegas, but the Japanese wrestler seemed confident heading into his rematch with Anderson Silva at UFC 134. Unfortunately for him, they were proven right.

Okami actually looked pretty good throughout most of the first round as he used his jab and a powerful clinch game to control “The Spider.” But when the two broke apart, it was Silva who, not surprisingly, completely dominated the striking.

Yushin shouldn’t be ashamed of his performance tonight given that he looked a lot better than a lot of Silva’s recent opponents, but that won’t make the sting hurt any less.

Winner: Anderson Silva

Greatest. Of. All. Time.

What else is there to say?

Once again, the middleweight division has been cleared out. Sure, the winner of Chael Sonnen vs. Brian Stann will likely get a title shot later this year or early in 2012, but then what?

Never has someone completely annihilated an entire weight class like Anderson Silva. We may never see it again. Enjoy.

Loser: Chael Sonnen

As much as Chael Sonnen would have liked to have seen his friend win tonight, an Anderson Silva victory means that he is very likely only one fight away from another title shot.

So why is he on a “loser” slide?

Well, that one can be answered pretty easily... Did you SEE Anderson Silva tonight?!

Good luck, Chael.

Winner: The UFC/Foreign Markets

Some may point to UFC 100 or even UFC 129 as being more important in the history of the organization, but UFC 134 from Rio was a monumental night for the world’s largest MMA promotion.

Not only was there a tremendous amount of coverage in the United States, but the entire Brazilian population seemed to embrace this event like nothing to have ever come before it.

Soccer fans would attest to the fact that the crowd tonight more resembled a gigantic fútbol match than an MMA event, but that is a good thing. The fans in attendance were as rowdy and biased as could have possibly been imagined but, again, that is a very good thing.

Like they have done in the U.K., Canada and Australia before, the UFC fully exploded in Brazil this weekend. This unbelievably important event will very likely be looked back at years from now as the start of something special in South America.

After years of giving us some of the world’s top fighters, the Brazilians were finally treated to a monumental worldwide “thank you” from the UFC.