UFC 169: Renan Barao vs Urijah Faber Ends Early, Late Comeback For Abel Trujillo

by Dr. Octagon, J.D.

NEWARK, N.J.–Our esteemed editor and I were onsite at the Prudential Center on Saturday night for UFC 169. Nah, we didn’t get credentialed. The UFC is famously stingy with press passes, so we just bought tickets. Pretty good seats for the price too, especially since there were two title fights.

While I’ll watch any form of combat sport, Mr. Nagesh pretty much only watches boxing, so I was excited that he was going to catch his first MMA show. Unfortunately, there was more violence in the stands than in the cage (two people were stabbed despite pretty extensive frisking/metal detectors on the way in). This event set the record for most decisions in UFC history.

Despite the lack of stoppages, there were some great moments. At least we didn’t waste our money going to one of the most noncompetitive Super Bowls in recent memory.

The UFC is definitely starting to show some undercard fatigue now that they’re putting on so many shows. There were a few fights where the fighters not only didn’t look that good, but also weren’t very aggressive. Not the sort of thing that makes you want to go out and buy Fightpass. Anyway, here’s a breakdown of the main card:[[MORE]][[MORE]]

Renan Barao vs. Urijah Faber: Renan Barao is now the undisputed bantamweight champ after Dominick Cruz’s unfortunate third injury (ACL injury, messed up ACL graft that had to be redone, groin injury). Faber was filling in on short notice, but still looked as jacked as a 5'6" man can possibly be.

Faber looked okay in the very early going, but Renan Barao is just a sharper striker with a reach advantage. After Renan caught Urijah with a big right hand, Urijah was turtled up and sort of working a single while also covering his head with his hand. Barao was punching him in the head, but most of the strikes were hitting the glove.

Barao was looking at referee Herb Dean, basically asking him to end the fight. Herb Dean told Urijah to work and Urijah gave him a thumbs up (which Herb Dean couldn’t have possibly seen from where he was standing), then Dean waved off the fight. Urijah immediately protested. The stoppage was clearly a mistake, but you could understand why Herb Dean stopped the fight after about a dozen strikes to the head without any movement from Faber.

The refs aren’t perfect and in this case Herb Dean erred on the side of protecting the fighter. Faber as always was classy in defeat. Renan Barao is the best bantamweight of all time and there aren’t a lot of guys who look like they have a chance at beating him. He’s beaten Faber twice now, and Faber pretty much murders every other fighter in the weight class that he faces.

The separation between Barao and the next best fighter is pretty wide, so look for him to continue climbing the pound-for-pound rankings. His 32-fight win streak going back to 2005 is one of the most impressive in MMA.

Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas: Ricardo Lamas decided to stand up with UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo for the first four rounds. Bad idea. It was classic Jose Aldo, keeping his distance, stifling defense, vicious leg kicks, and enough offense to win the first four rounds easily. Until the fifth round, when Aldo ended up on his back and took a little bit of damage. Still, in the end it was an easy decision for the champ.

It looks like they’re setting up a superfight between Aldo and lightweight champ Anthony Pettis.This is just my observation and could be incorrect, but Aldo is so muscular and cuts so much weight that I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes into the Octagon around the same weight as Pettis, who is a bit taller but much less muscular. That would be a great fight and could help Aldo gain some of the popularity stateside he so richly deserves.

Frank Mir vs. Alistair Overeem: I should start off by noting that for some reason, in person, I was struck by how small Alistair Overeem’s head looks on his giant body. It just doesn’t look right.

This fight was interesting just for the hormonal backstory. Overeem is pretty much the Barry Bonds of mixed martial arts, having gone from a halfway-decent light heavyweight then bulking up to the limit of the heavyweight division while fighting in Japan (where there isn’t any PED testing). Then Overeem was caught juicing when he started fighting in the UFC.

Frank Mir has never been caught cheating, but is a beneficiary of the controversial testosterone replacement therapy program which allows fighters to supplement their testosterone to levels that are most likely higher than the average person’s (and higher than is allowed in the Olympics).

This fight had to end in a stoppage right? Frank Mir has a long history of getting blasted in the first round and Alistair Overeem has a long history (at least before his UFC tenure) of blitzing the hell out of people in the first round. Well Mir certainly got blasted a few times, but Overeem seemed content to play it safe and beat Mir up without really working for the finish or putting himself in danger. That was probably a good decision because Overeem’s chin is awful, and Frank Mir has injured far better grapplers on the ground.

Overeem called out Brock Lesnar, which was odd for a number of reasons. He beat Lesnar decisively, Lesnar hasn’t fought since, and Lesnar is not currently even training as an MMA fighter. More likely Overeem’s going to be matched with someone like Junior Dos Santos or Josh Barnett.

TRT aside, Mir looked horribly slow, but he is still far from the bottom of the heavyweight division, so I don’t see him getting cut from the UFC so long as he wants to keep fighting.

Ali Bagautinov vs. John Lineker: John Lineker finally made weight (after his second try). This was the first time I’ve seen a guy walk up to the scale in his sauna suit. He was one pound overweight (2 pounds actually, since they give the fighters a one pound margin of error in non-title fights). There was word that Lineker could be getting a title shot if he won this fight, although you would think they’d be nervous to put him in a title fight when he’s had such trouble making weight.

Lineker is one of the few 125-pounders who has a ton of power in his hands. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to use his power in this fight, as Ali Bagautinov exploited his weak wrestling to get the decision.

Jamie Varner vs. Abel Trujillo: Thank god for this fight. The undercard was boring as hell and this fight started off the Pay Per View. I was hoping that Gautham would get to see at least one really exciting fight and this one delivered.

Jamie Varner was filling in as a late replacement for Bobby Green against the absolutely enormous Abel Trujillo. Varner won the first round. In the second, Varner had Trujillo in trouble and was following him for a finish when he walked face-first into one of Trujillo’s massive right hands. Trujillo really turned his hips and smashed him with the punch; Varner was out before he hit the mat.

One of the best comebacks I’ve ever seen and sure to be one of the top moments of the year. This fight really woke everyone up after a lackluster undercard. The arena absolutely exploded after the finish.