UFC 145 Recap, Results, and LowKick.com Awards

The grudge match between Rashad Evans and Jon Jones hopefully has come to an end tonight as Jones handily defeated his arch-rival in a grueling, technically-fought bout. Both fighters seemed very confident in their timing early on, as Evans scored a few good punches and Jones threw his usual myriad of unpredictable kicks. While Evans did register a headkick of his own, he was wobbled repeatedly during the fight due to Jones’ superior reach and striking accuracy. While it may not have been Jon Jones‘ usual highlight finish, he no doubt dominated his former training partner in Atlanta.

Prior to that was an explosive co-main event between Rory MacDonald and Che Mills. Mills came out swinging but was ultimately taken down at will and subjected to brutal ground and pound from MacDonald. He gained a second-round TKO in a rather lopsided bout. The young Tri-Star gym product has received high praise from world famous trainer GSP,and it would appear he has backed up the hype thus far.

In a Heavyweight bout, Ben Rothwell gained a vicious KO over Brendan “The Hybrid” Schaub. While Schaub appeared to have rocked Rothwell with a nice spinning elbow, Rothwell quickly responded with a powerful left hook of his own, sending an out-cold Schaub to the canvas in a short, violent battle of power strikers.

Rising bantamweight prospect Michael McDonald made quite the impression as he continues his ascent up the division rankings. His emphatic knockout of former WEC champion Miguel Torres shows the potential that this young fighter has. Many serious fans are beginning to think his career will turn into something big soon.

In an absolute war that left both fighters a bloody mess, Eddie Yagin was able to score split decision over Mark Hominick. Whie it appears that Hominick did by far the most damage with his peppering jabs to the nose, two earlier dominant positions in which Yagin unleashed some vicious ground-and-pound that may have been the deciding factor here.

Preliminary card (FX)

Mac Danzig def. Efrain Escudero via  decision.
Anthony  Njokuani def. John Makdessi via unanimous decision.
Matt Brown def. Stephen Thompson via unanimous decision.
Travis Browne def. Chad Griggs via submission (arm-triangle choke).

Preliminary card (Facebook)

Marcus Brimage def. Maximo Blanco via decision.
Chris Clements def. Keith Wisniewski via decision.

Lowkick.com UFC 145 Awards:

Performance of the Night: Jon Jones, who put on a masterful dissecting of Rashad Evans‘ considerable skills. He was never in any true danger of being finished, and although rocked a few times, fought a precise and excellent match. Jones will face Dan Henderson next, adding to his already very long list of former champions ascontenders.

Knockout of the Night: Ben Rothwell: Rory MacDonald was quite brutal in his knockout of Mills, as was Michael McDonald’s finish of Torres, but the overall violent nature of this fight made it one of the most exciting to watch. When Rothwell was seemingly reeling, he came back with a vengeance to knock Schaub silly using a vicious left hook.

Fight of the Night: Mark Hominick vs. Eddie Yagin: Both of these fighters came to brawl to the end, Although Hominick seemed to be in big trouble after being ground-and-pounded in the first two rounds, he fought back with crisp, excellent boxing to severely bloody his opponent’s face.  If a fight could truly go either way when put in the hands of the judges, perhaps physical/facial damage incurred could be more a deciding factor in the future.

Further Reading: Dana White: Dan Henderson is next for Jon Jones