UFC 189 results: McGregor interim champ, Lawler smashes MacDonald
UFC 189 results: McGregor interim champ, Lawler smashes MacDonald
UFC 189 promised to be the biggest mixed martial events of the year and possibly ever according to UFC President Dana White. The event was held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 11 on pay-per-view.
White speculated that despite their featherweight champion Jose Aldo pulling out of the headlining featherweight title bout with Conor McGregor the pay-per-view buy rate could surpass their largest event to date, UFC 100.
The UFC 100 fight card did 1.6 million buys on pay-per-view. Could Conor McGregor obtain bigger numbers than Brock Lesnar?
It very well may have. It was the best fight card in recent memory.
The Notorious Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes put on a fight for all fans to remember and it was McGregor who would win the UFC interim featherweight title.
Let’s not forget about the first title fight of the night. A rematch between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald. Lawler won the first outing via decision and now that he is champion, his first task at hand was to defend against MacDonald who believed he is a much better fighter now. Finally, after the months leading up to this fight and the two not trash talking one another they got in each others face yesterday at the weigh-ins with Lawler slapping MacDonald’s fist away.
The fight was absolutely insane. Lawler dominated the first two round, bloodying the challenger with strikes left and right. Then things changed in the third. MacDonald came back, bloodied Lawler and referee Big John McCarthy kept his eye on Lawler for safety. The same with the fourth. The judges could easily score it two rounds a piece. The final round could determine the champion. That is when Lawler smashed an already broken nose of MacDonald and he went down in pain. The fight would be called by McCarthy with Lawler winning at one minute even in the fifth, retaining his belt.
The Dennis Bermudez vs Jeremy Stephens fight was an absolute war which can land in the Fight of the Year category. Stephens was cut badly and quickly bloodied after an accidental headbutt in the opening seconds of the fight. The two men went back and forth battering each other until Stephens TKO’s Bermudez in the third.
Gunnar Nelson looked extremely impressive tonight at he finished Brandon Thatch early with a rear-naked choke.
In the first fight of the pay-per-view, Brad Pickett battered and bloodied the favored Thomas Almeida throughout the majority of round 1. But it did not take long before the tide turned and Pickett was put to sleep by a flying knee in Round 2.
The Immortal, Matt Brown headlined the preliminary bouts on Fox Sports 1 against a very game, Tim Means. Means brought the fight to Brown and hurt him several times. Brown tried takes downs several times with no success. Finally with just seconds lefts in the first round and after receiving a gash on his forehead Brown was able to apply a guillotine choke and score a come from behind victory. Brown set the UFC welterweight record for finishes with 12.
Also, Mike Swick returned to the octagon for the first time in several years. Swick and Diego Sanchez are the only two active Ultimate Fighter 1 cast members on the UFC roster. Unfortunately for Swick however he would fall to Alex Garcia via unanimous decision.
John Howard worked the Irishman Cathal Pendred for the better part of three rounds yet somehow one judged scored in favor of Pendred so Howard would win via split decision rather than unanimous.
Below are the official UFC 189 results:
Main Card (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Conor McGregor defeated Chad Mendes via TKO, Round 2, 4:57 for interim featherweight title
Robbie Lawler defeated Rory MacDonald via TKO, Round 5, 1:00
Jeremy Stephens defeated Dennis Bermudez via TKO, Round 3, 0:32
Gunnar Nelson defeated Brandon Thatch via submission (rear-naked choke) Round 1, 2:54
Thomas Almeida defeated Brad Pickett via KO (knee) Round 2, 0:29
Prelim Card (FOX Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET)
Matt Brown defeated Tim Means via submission (guillotine choke) Round 1, 4:44
Alex Garcia defeated Mike Swick via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
John Howard defeated Cathal Pendred via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Cody Garbrandt defeated Henry Briones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Prelim Card (UFC Fight Pass, 7 p.m. ET)
Louis Smolka defeated Neil Seery via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Cody Pfister defeated Yosdenis Ceden via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
