UFC 110 RECAP	Go back to previous page
By MMA Sports staff . Photo by Josh Hedges, courtesy of Zuffa, LLC

If you have never been to a live UFC event, then it’s merely impossible to explain the feeling you get. The atmosphere, the lighting, the sound, the anticipation, the fighters walk in, the stare downs, and then the fights are beyond any words I could describe to you. So let’s just get down to the fights.

Cain Velasquez gave his best UFC performance inside Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia at UFC 110 against one of the most notorious fighters in MMA – Antonio “Minotauro” Rodrigo Nogueira. Velasquez started a furious pace early with snapping punches and low-leg kicks. Halfway through the first period, Velasquez stepped forward and landed a right-left-right combination that crushed the MMA veteran. The fallen Nogueira then had an angered Velasquez bombard him with lefts and rights from above. Referee Herb Dean stepped in to save Nogueira from further punishment. The American Kickboxing Academy’s star was the second fighter to ever stop Nogueira in his illustrious MMA career.

“I trained hard for this fight, for the stand up part of it,” said Velasquez. “We were planning to just push the pace wherever we could. Stay on the outside, work the stand-up, and when the takedown was there, take it. Just kind of keep him off balance the whole time.”

A visibly defeated Nogueira discussed the loss afterward.

“Of course I’m disappointed about this fight. He had fast hands tonight, and he deserved to win,” Nogueira said. “He was an up and coming guy. He’s one of the best fighters in the heavyweight division.”

The co-main event at UFC 110 featured a close bout between Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping. Silva exchanged back and forth with the Brit throughout the first and second period at a frantic pace. Silva, screaming out in furry nearly ended the match with a wrenching guillotine choke at the end of the second round. The horn sounded and Bisping was able to see another five minutes of action. The Brazilian came out swinging in the third while Bisping returned the favour. Silva got the better of the final exchange when he dropped Bisping with just ten seconds remaining. Although the final moments were exhilarating, Silva was not able to finish Bisping off. Perhaps the judges saw Silva’s pair of near finishes as the deciding factor for the close match when they awarded Silva with a 29-28 unanimous decision victory in Sydney. Silva credited his longtime mentor Rafael Cordeiro for his success in implementing strikes.

“He’s an unbelievable coach,” Silva said. “For me, he’s the best coach in the world. He’s very, very important.”

Bisping gave an accurate assessment of his performance after their bout.

“I feel the reason he got the decision was the knockdown right at the end,” Bisping said. “I’m bummed out about it, but Wanderlei is a great opponent.”

Joe Stevenson was searching for a much needed win against George Sotiropoulos, however Stevenson was unable to take Sotiropoulos off of his game plan. Sotiropoulos mixed his standing attack with a well balanced ground game to earn a 30-27 unanimous decision victory.

“That was a close fight,” Sotiropoulos said. “I know I won the striking and the ground. I got a couple of reversals on takedowns and a couple of takedowns myself.”

Keith Jardine held his ground nearly two and a half rounds against the rising UFC star Ryan Bader until Bader connected with a right hand that set Jardine up for the finish. Stunned and backing up, Jardine avoided a flying knee only to get leveled with a left hook. Referee Josh Rosenthal stepped in to stop the bout, and Bader was awarded the TKO victory. Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic defeated last minute replacement Anthony Perosh in a two round tilt. Their bout was stopped short due to a deep cut on Perosh’s forehead. Filipovic was awarded a TKO victory. Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski battled through two rounds of action when an accidental head butt opened a deep gash on Bonnar’s forehead. The doctor called a stoppage and Soszynski was awarded a controversial TKO victory. The heavy handed Chris Lytle surprised Brian Foster with his sharp ground game when he secured a kneebar that forced Foster to tap just 1:41 in the first round. It took C.B. Dollaway three rounds to defeat Goran Reljic via 29-28 unanimous decision victory. In a close war between James Te Huna and Igor Pokrajac came, Te Huna was able to finish the fight and walk away with a TKO victory after the referee stopped the fight due to strikes in Round 3.

All in all, UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia was an amazing success, both for the UFC and the fans. The second fastest sell-out in UFC history had it all… Knockouts, Tapouts, Referee Stoppages and Doctor Stoppages. From the deafening cheers for George Sotiropoulos entering the Octagon to the brave never quit mentality of Anthony Perosh, from the hype up of the Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping fight to the successful debut of James Te Huna, from the dominating main event by Cain Velasquez to the MMA fans dream of seeing legend “Minotauro” Nogueira, this was certainly the greatest live event I have attended. So my advice to you… don’t miss the next one.