UFC 173 Main Card Recap: T.J Dillashaw Batters Renan Barão To Become The New Bantamweight Champion

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has just put on another epic event in UFC 173 and, as always, LowKick is here to provide a recap of how the fights went down.

UFC 173 took place inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas Nevada. The main event featured a bantamweight title which may have been the greatest title fight in bantamweight history and will be a remembered for a long, long time.

The first round was an unbelievably dominant one for the challenger, showing his speed early catching the champ with some hard shots ahead of dropping him with a huge right hand. The fight looked over but Barão managed to hold on and even survive a rear naked choke attempt from Dillashaw to make it to the second round.

The Brazilian seemed to have recovered in the second and unloaded some offence of his own. But, it was not enough as Dillashaw released some more lightening quick shots nearly rocking Barão. A hard body kick at the end of the round also got the champions attention.
The third round seen more of the same from the Team Alpha Male standout, mixing up his striking with liver shots and high kicks.

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Dillashaw looked as fresh coming out in the fourth round as he did in the first and it showed. Just likes the previous rounds, “The Viper” used his speed to and cardio to totally outwork the champion. Then, in the fifth round, came the life changing moment for the 28-year old as he landed a huge high kick to rock the champion before finishing him off with punches.

Daniel Cormier secured his second straight win in the light-heavyweight division with relative ease in the nights co-main event. The undefeated former heavyweight controlled Pride and UFC legend Dan Henderson without breaking a sweat for two straight rounds. Cormier took “Hendo” down early in both rounds to do damage in top position.

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However, D.C turned it on in the third, ragging his opponent around the Octagon early. He then was able to take his back later on to choke Henderson out cold. After the win Cormier took to the mic to call out Jon Jones, telling him “you can’t run away forever””.

Robbie Lawler came back from his unsuccessful title fight against Johny Hendricks with a bang. The Strikeforce and UFC veteran put a beating on the No.6 ranked Jake Ellenberger for two straight rounds before laying it on “The Juggernaut” in the third to take a TKO win. “Ruthless” is now 4-1 in his UFC return.

In the bantamweight division, Takeya Mizugaki extended his current steak to five-straight wins after dominating Francesicso Rivera to take a decision win. The Japanese standout imposed his will early on, dropping his opponent with a quick combination inside. From there out it was all Mizugaki who used his wresting and sharp boxing skills to frustrate Rivera.

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Lightweights Jamie Varner and James Krause kicked off the main card with both men coming in needing a win after picking up losses in their previous performances. Varner showed buckets of heart in the first round after having his ankle broken from a hard low kick early on. The former WEC champion dug down deep and stuck it out for the first five minutes, but with him being unable to walk the fight was stopped between the first and second rounds.

UFC 173 Main Card Results:

James Krause def. Jamie Varner via TKO (Broken ankle) round 1 – 5:00

Takeya Mizugaki def. Francisco Rivera via unanimous decision

Robbie Lawler def. Jake Ellenberger via TKO round 3 – 3:06

Daniel Cormier def. Dan Henderson via submission (rear naked choke) round 3 – 3:53

T.J. Dillashaw def. Renan Barão via TKO round 5 – 2:22