UFC 138 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Muñoz vs. Leben

Birmingham, England played host to tonight’s UFC 138 event headlined by Mark Muñoz and Chris Leben. “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” defeated “The Crippler” by doctor’s stoppage between the second and third rounds.

It wasn’t the most stacked event ever, but it was definitely a card worth watching with an entertaining main event.

Like most MMA events, tonight proved again that you don’t necessarily have to be involved in the fight card to be affected by its outcome. The real winners and losers often don’t show up in the record books, and tonight was no different as many outsiders were affected.

With that said, let’s take a closer look at UFC 138: Muñoz vs. Leben and examine who the real winners and losers were.

Winner: Terry Etim

Terry Etim had been out of the sport for over 18 months, but he has apparently spent that time preparing for the first few seconds of this fight.

He shot out of the gate and immediately went on the offensive against Edward Faaloloto, forcing his opponent to attempt to bring the fight to the ground. Etim saw it coming and was able to lock up a guillotine choke, which forced the submission just 17 seconds into the first round.

Winner: Anthony Perosh

The first round was fairly lackluster with Anthony Perosh trying to take Cyrille Diabate to the ground, but Diabate was able to stay up on his feet where he was clearly in control.

Things turned about in the second round, when Perosh exposed the weak point in Diabate’s game by taking the fight to the ground.

Diabate’s world-class striking game was negated when he was taken down. From there, it wasn’t much longer until he was tapping to Perosh, who earned his second straight fight in the Octagon.

Loser: Papy Abedi

Papy Abedi came into tonight’s event with an undefeated record of 8-0, seven wins of which came in finishes. His task at UFC 138 was completely different though, as he was going up against one of the division’s top fighters in Thiago Alves.

Abedi looked decent early in the fight but eventually got rocked by Alves who followed up with a rear-naked choke to earn the first submission of his career while simultaneously handing Abedi the first loss of his career.

There is a good chance that Abedi will be back, but the first loss always hurts the worst. 

Winner: Thiago Alves

After losing three of his past four fights, Thiago Alves was in desperate need of a victory at UFC 138. Though Papy Abedi didn’t have the name value that some of his recent opponents had, there is no denying that Alves had his work cut out for him.

“The Pit Bull” stepped up in a big way, absolutely crushing Abedi in the striking game before slapping on a rear-naked choke and getting the submission.

He still has a ways to go before he will be back in title contention, but Thiago Alves might have saved his job tonight with a victory.

Winner: Renan Barão

Tonight’s biggest “winner” might have been Brazilian fighter Renan Barão, who was searching to increase his winning streak to 17 fights.

In fact, other than a draw, Barão’s record has been spotless since his second professional fight, a record which has now increased to 28 straight fights without a loss when he submitted Brad Pickett with a rear-naked choke.

His striking also looked great tonight, and there is no doubt that, at just 24 years old, this dude is for real. 

Loser: Renan Barão’s Celebration Dance

What the hell was that?

FAIL!

Loser: Chris Leben

Tonight’s main event between Chris Leben and Mark Muñoz might not be the big-name showdown that some of the upcoming UFC fight cards have, but any fight involving this guy has the potential to be great.

Tonight, as usual, Leben delivered.

He came out strong early, but Leben was repeatedly taken down by Muñoz throughout the fight and spent much of the contest exerting energy by trying to get back on his feet while taking big damage from the hard hands of the Filipino Wrecking Machine.

It’ll go as a TKO loss due to stoppage between the rounds, but Chris Leben definitely wanted to continue fighting.

It’s hard to put him on this list as a “loser” because of the heart he showed, but Leben’s continued struggles against middleweights make it hard to imagine that he’s ever going to climb back above being a gatekeeper in the division.

Winner: Mark Muñoz

Former NCAA Division I National Champion wrestler Mark Muñoz continued his impressive ascent up the UFC middleweight division with what was perhaps the biggest victory of his career. He did earn a decision over Demian Maia in his previous fight earlier this year at UFC 131, but the TKO victory over Chris Leben was huge as well.

The Filipino Wrecking Machine took it to Leben tonight and opened up a nice cut on his left eye, causing Leben’s corner to stop the fight due to their fighter not being able to see.

Muñoz called out UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who will likely be fighting Chael Sonnen next.

Why not? Someone has to be in line after that. 

Losers: UFC Fans in the U.K.

The UFC has gone out of its way to create some amazing on-paper fight cards in 2011, but if we’re being completely honest, this was not one of them. What’s worse is that this is not the first time the UFC has failed to deliver a high-level main event in England.

The previous UFC event in the U.K. was UFC 120 which featured the main event of hometown favorite Michael Bisping vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama—another event which the UFC opted to provide for free on television as opposed to pay-per-view.

Fans across the pond continue to show up to these events and support the sport, but at a certain point, the UFC needs to step up again and give them a top-level fight. 

Winners: Those Who Tuned in

Many people didn’t even watch this event, but those who did were treated to a surprisingly entertaining fight card, proving the point that even when the card itself doesn’t look that great, the UFC always delivers.

In fact, some fans are even rumbling about this possibly being one of the best free events that the UFC has put on in quite some time.

If you were one of those who decided not to tune in, make sure that you check the replay at some point. You won’t regret it.