– Anthony Fusco, staff
The first UFC card on Fox took place Nov. 12 and it did not disappoint. It was a historic card for the UFC as it was the first time they were being broadcast on the FOX television network, one that is supposed to allow the organization to target a whole new platform of viewers.
At the end of the night they had done exactly that. Fox Network has declared that the debut UFC show was a resounding success. The heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos drew 5.7 million American fans to the network, which makes this fight the most-watched UFC event ever. Not bad for a sport that started with no weight classes, no rules, and barely any fan support.
The UFC purposely picked a fight that would guarantee fireworks and they did not disappoint as Junior Dos Santos knocked out Cain Velasquez to become the new UFC heavyweight champion. The knockout came just 64 seconds into round one as Dos Santos hit Velasquez with a right hand that dropped him, and proceeded to finish the fight on the canvas with a series of strikes.
UFC 139 was another first for the UFC as they held their show at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California this past Saturday. They put on a great card for their first show in San Jose as Dan Henderson made a triumphant return to the UFC by scoring a unanimous decision victory in a five round war over Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua. This fight showed a true warrior spirit for both men in the cage as they fought their hearts out to the final bell. In other action, Wanderlei Silva rudely welcomed Cung Le to the UFC with a knockout victory and Urijah Faber caught Brian Bowles in a choke and forced him to tap. With the win, Faber gets another shot against bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Stephan Bonnar returned to the octagon for the first time in almost a year and dominated Kyle Kingsbury for a unanimous decision victory. On the preliminary fights, Michael McDonald and Ryan Bader both scored knockout victories. The card was fantastic, the fights were entertaining and the atmosphere was electric. Now imagine what Toronto is going to be like for their second show in December?
Predictions for the December events: For the TUF Finale, I predict that Jason “Mayhem” Miller will submit Micheal Bisping. I believe that light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones scores a TKO victory over Lyoto Machida. The fight between Frank Mir and Minotauro Nogueira is harder to call but I give the edge to Mir with a unanimous decision victory. Likewise, Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem is a hard fight to predict but I’m going with Overeem by TKO. My final prediction is that Donald Cerrone KO’s Nate Diaz.
