Aldo Stars in UFC 142; Instant Replay on the Horizon for UFC
Featherweight Champion Aldo Brilliant in UFC 142 Triumph
By Brian Knapp
Brian writes for the great mma website www.sherdog.com
Jose Aldo laid Chad Mendes out at UFC 142.
Jose Aldo, this is your moment.
Aldo (21-1, 3-0 UFC) was utterly brilliant in the UFC 142 main event, as he retained his featherweight crown with a spectacular knockout victory over the previously unbeaten Chad Mendes on Saturday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mendes (11-1, 2-1 UFC) met his end 4:59 into round one. Afterward, a triumphant Aldo stormed out of the cage and into the middle of a boisterous, pro-Brazilian crowd, where he was carried around on the shoulders of his countrymen in an emotional scene that will not soon be forgotten.
“This is why we do this,” Aldo said through a translator. “I can only thank my team. I’m nobody without my team.”
The finish was breathtaking. The two men engaged in an extended clinch against the cage, with Mendes attached to Aldo’s back. The Brazilian champion separated Mendes’ hands, broke free and, in one motion, turned and met the challenger with a knee to the head that was equal parts exquisite and devastating. The Team Alpha Male standout went stiff and hit the canvas. Aldo followed, blasted him with a right hand and put an exclamation point on his 14th consecutive victory.
“I knew he was going to go for my legs, and I knew I had to throw that knee,” Aldo said. “Thankfully, I put it on the right spot.”
From the start, it did not go well for Mendes. Aldo attacked with savage kicks to the legs and stymied every one of his takedown attempts. With the decorated amateur wrestler unable to put the fight in a more advantageous position, it was only a matter of time before Aldo zeroed in.
“Jose’s a great champion,” Mendes said. “He’s a tough dude. This is the best I’ve ever felt for a fight. I was very prepared, and he got me. He’s very athletic, very fast, with great footwork. He was the better man.”
Belfort Taps Overweight Johnson
A day after he failed to meet the contracted weight requirement for his middleweight debut, Anthony Johnson submitted to a first-round rear-naked choke from Vitor Belfort in the co-main event. The white flag was raised 4:49 into round one.
Backed by the echoing chants of his countrymen, Belfort (21-9, 10-5 UFC) had to walk through considerable fire to win for the seventh time in eight appearances. The 34-year-old succumbed to multiple takedowns and absorbed a brutal standing-to-ground right hand from Johnson (10-4, 7-4 UFC), who was 11 pounds overweight for the bout. Belfort kept his cool, let his hands work after multiple restarts by referee Dan Miragliotta, worked his way into a dominant position on the Imperial Athletics representative’s back and cinched the choke.
Belfort, who will next face Wanderlei Silva after a coaching stint on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil,” had not won via submission since finishing Bobby Southworth with a rear-naked choke under the Pride Fighting Championships banner nearly 11 years ago.
Palhares Heel Hook Submits Massenzio
Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares File Photo
Palhares won impressively.Mike Massenzio spent barely more than a minute in the cage with Rousimar Palhares and, like several other before him, hobbled out of it.
Palhares victimized Massenzio (13-6, 2-4 UFC) with his trademark heel hook in their middleweight showcase, securing the tapout 63 seconds into the first round. It was the sixth such victory for the Brazilian powerhouse, who has become arguably the most feared leg lock specialist in all of mixed martial arts.
A legitimate threat to any middleweight on the planet, Palhares (14-3, 7-2 UFC) has won three fights in a row and six of his last seven.
Silva Disqualified for Illegal Blows
Surging Brazilian welterweight Erick Silva had an apparent victory snatched away from him, as referee Mario Yamasaki disqualified the 27-year-old former Jungle Fight champion for illegal blows to the back of the head 29 seconds into the first round of his featured bout with Carlo Prater.
Replays did not appear to show any blatantly illegal blows.
“I have to decide right there and then,” Yamasaki said. “There is nothing I can do.”
Silva (13-2, 1-1 UFC) blasted Prater with a beautiful knee to the body in their initial exchange and drove him to the ground, swarming the WEC veteran with punches and hammerfists to the side of the head. One may have strayed from the intended mark but looked to be no worse than a glancing blow. Yamasaki intervened, and Silva walked back to his corner with what he thought was his fifth straight win. Moments later, after some considerable confusion, Prater (30-10-1, 1-0 UFC) left the cage as the victor.
“I have great respect for the referee,” Silva said through a translator. “I see most of [the punches] hit the side of the head. I don’t see any that hit the back of the head.”
Barboza Heel Kick Scores Spectacular KO
Unbeaten Brazilian Edson Barboza recorded the first spinning wheel kick knockout in UFC history, as the former Ring of Combat champion flattened Englishman Terry Etim 2:02 into the third round of their lightweight showcase. It was a jaw-dropping conclusion, one certain to keep Barboza on highlight reels for years to come.
Barboza (10-0, 4-0 UFC) was in complete control at the time of the knockout, as he repeatedly landed the vicious low kicks for which he has become known. Etim (15-4, 6-4 UFC) had no answer for the speed and athleticism of his highly touted foe, and his situation grew more dire as the fight deepened. The kick brought an abrupt and brutal end to his outing, as Barboza’s heel struck him flush on the face and sent him crashing to the canvas, stiff as a board.
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Viewpoint: Upon Further Review
By Tristen Critchfield
Read more excellent writing from Tristen and others at the superb mma website www.sherdog.com
Erick Silva’s UFC 142 loss resulted from blows that were ruled illegal.
In the grand scheme of things, Erick Silva is going to be just fine.
More people will remember the breathtaking fashion in which the 27-year-old welterweight dispatched Carlo Prater at UFC 142 than the “L” that appears on his record at the moment.
Silva began with a flourish on Saturday, attacking Prater with a knee to the body before pushing the 41-fight veteran to the canvas. A series of rapid-fire hammerfists followed, and referee Mario Yamasaki quickly stepped in to intervene just 29 seconds into round one. That appeared to make two sub-60-second finishes in two Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UFC appearances for Silva. The frenzied crowd inside the HSBC Arena recognized that the next potential Brazilian star was being born right in front of its eyes.
The enthusiasm soon faded when the decision was announced, however. Yamasaki ruled that Silva had landed illegal strikes to the back of Prater’s head and awarded the WEC veteran a disqualification victory.
According to FightMetric.com, Silva landed eight significant strikes — 12 overall — before the bout was stopped. Multiple replays suggested that nearly all of those punches were legal, although one did appear to find the back of Prater’s head. The ruling resulted in the rarest of post-fight interviews, with UFC analyst Joe Rogan interrogating Yamasaki.
“I have to decide right there and then,” Yamasaki said. “There is nothing I can do.”
Meanwhile, UFC President Dana White had a blunt reaction on his Twitter account: “BS call for Erick Silva,” he wrote.
In hindsight, it is always easy to criticize the judgment of an official. Yamasaki has refereed 220 fights in the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, Pride Fighting Championships, EliteXC, International Fight League and K-1 promotions, so it is reasonable to assume that he knows his craft fairly well. Most of the time, Yamasaki gets it right — otherwise he would not have stuck around for as long as he has. Still, while fans and analysts had multiple opportunities to break down the action in slow motion, Yamasaki only had the heat of the moment. Nobody — in any walk of life — makes 100 percent foolproof decisions under those circumstances.
Yamasaki was the center of controversy.In mixed martial arts, wrongs can be righted; it just tends to happen days, weeks or months after the fact. At UFC on Fox 1, Robert Peralta appeared to knock down Mackens Semerzier with a punch that set up his technical knockout victory. Video review showed it was an incidental head butt — not a punch — that stunned Sermerzier, and the bout was ruled a no-contest by the California State Athletic Commission a month later.
In the NFL, a touchdown can be overturned in a matter of minutes if it is determined the scoring player stepped out of bounds before reaching the end zone. A buzzer-beating jump shot is subject to closer examination in the NBA immediately after it happens.
Even Major League Baseball, with its sometimes-antiquated traditionalist values, allows umpires to consult the tape to answer the question, “Fair or foul?”
The UFC, the organization most geared toward the 18-to-34-year-old demographic of any of the above, does not yet have instant replay. If the promotion can embrace social media like Facebook and Twitter as well as it has, then it obviously understands the value of immediacy. And in live sports, nothing displays the urgency to get it right immediately than instant replay.
Sure, nobody will remember that Prater’s hand was raised in the Octagon five years from now, especially if the fight is reviewed and overturned down the road. Silva himself showed high character immediately after the fight in a situation where he very easily could have complained. White announced at the post-fight press conference that Silva would receive his win bonus in full.
“I have great respect for the referee,” Silva said through immediately following Yamasaki’s decision. “I see most [of the punches] hit the side of the head. I don’t see any that hit the back of the head.”
If Yamasaki had been able to review the conclusion of the fight, he could have done one of two things: determine that Silva did not land any flagrantly illegal blows and overturn his original ruling or decide that the single glancing blow had seriously hindered Prater’s chance of winning and keep it the same. Either way, it would allow for a more level-headed decision and eliminate the need for any kind of anti-climatic change in the coming weeks.
Imagine if the main event had gone differently, and Jose Aldo had followed up his knee with strikes similar to those that Silva threw against Prater. Obviously, that was not the case, as Chad Mendes landed flat on his back, but it is a possibility worth considering.
Silva’s performance will be respected in terms of matchmaking within the company regardless of the official result. A title fight with a questionable ruling would need to be resolved in a more timely fashion, however.
Instant replay is the answer to this hypothetical problem. The Silva-Prater affair was not the only fight that could have used another look at UFC 142. In a preliminary bout between Yuri Alcantara and Michihiro Omigawa, there was some question as to whether the Japanese featherweight had tapped to an armbar late in the first round. He did not and the bout was not stopped, but if Omigawa had indeed asked out, a quick review could have identified it.
For now, instant replay should be instituted for all bouts that result in a stoppage: be it submission, technical knockout or otherwise. Further details can be ironed out at a later date.
In a brave new world with instant video replay in the UFC, cooler heads will prevail; correct calls will be made, and the phrase “upon further review” — or at least something like it — will have never sounded so sweet.
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