UFC 171 Aftermath: Who Needs Georges St-Pierre?

UFC 171 went off with a bang last night; delivering a pretty solid evening of bouts for the fans present in Dallas, Texas. A new welterweight champion was crowned when Johny Hendricks beat Robbie Lawler in a five round classic, and the card was overall pretty good.

Billed as the biggest UFC event of the year so far, 171 had some twists and turns that proved to be rather unexpected. Take a look at what I took home from last night’s festivities:

Welterweights can be exciting

As much as I hate the ‘just bleed’ mentality of the sport, it was very refreshing to see a 170-pound title fight that delivered. George St-Pierre’s absence from the sport has transformed the division, and I hop that last night’s main event was a sign of things to come.

GSP is great for the sport, but perhaps we as fans needed a break from what was becoming a regular five round snoozer with ‘Rush’. Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler deserve full credit for being thoroughly entertaining bad asses, and ‘Bigg Rigg’ should be congratulated for finally getting his hands on the belt that he fought so much for at 167.

Looks can be deceiving

A number of fights on the Dallas based card were set for big fireworks, but for whatever reason failed to go off. First off is the disappointing three round affair that was Hector Lombard vs. Jake Shields. ‘Lightning’ dominated in all positions, but never really went for the finish. Shields is one hell of a tough guy to take all that punishment and continue, though.

Next up was the exciting prospect of Diego Sanchez and Myles Jury, which ended up being a walkover for ‘Fury’. ‘The Dream’ never really showed up to the fight and it appears his days of thrilling barn burners may be a thing of the past. Then, of course, there was Carlos Condit and Tyron Woodley.

‘The Natural Born Killer’ is one of my favorite fighters, and I was very hyped to watch him fight the heavy handed KO artist T-Wood. The disappointing ending can’t be blamed on anyone, but that was the fight I anticipated the most at 171.

Dennis Bermudez needs a step up

‘The Menace’ made a big impression with his third round TKO win over Jimmy Hettes; finishing the submission specialist in dominant fashion and extending his featherweight win streak to six. It’s worth noting that Hettes was 10-1 prior to last night and had never been finished.

Bermudez is surely knocking on the door to a big fight, as he was ranked in the number 12 spot prior to bashing ‘The Kid’ in Texas. Thoughts on his next opponent? Jeremy Stephens, Nik Lentz, Clay Guida and Darren Elkins all sit ahead of DB right now, and a win over any of them would have Bermudez knocking on the door for a title shot.