UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz

[Troy]

UFC 133​

Main Card​

Light Heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
Middleweight bout: Vitor Belfort vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
Middleweight bout: Jorge Rivera vs. Costantinos Phillipou
Welterweight bout: Dennis Hallman vs. Brian Ebersole
Welterweight bout: Rory MacDonald vs. Mike Pyle​

Preliminary card (Spike TV)​

Light Heavyweight bout: Matt Hamill vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Featherweight bout: Chad Mendes vs. Rani Yahya​

Preliminary Card (Facebook)​

Bantamweight bout: Ivan Menjivar vs. Nick Pace
Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Mike Pierce
Featherweight bout: Mike Brown vs. Nam Phan
Middleweight bout: Rafael Natal vs Paul Bradley​

Mainevent was supposed to be Jon Jones vs. Evans but Jones is injured so Davis gets a shot at Evans where the winner of this match gets a title shot. Davis has impressed me since debuting in UFC but this is a bit earlier than expected. Evans is a quality fighter and it will be tough for Davis to beat him. I will be cheering on Davis but I think Evans will win.​

Franklin vs. Lil Nog should be a brawl and it is tough to pick a winner. I would have to go with Franklin for the win.​

Belfort vs. Akiyama I am really looking forward to. Belfort will want to come back strong after losing to Silva and Akiyama is coming off two loses.​

 

[Andrew]

Not a bad event at all, I don't watch much UFC but I've seen Lil Nog before and he's really good...

I'd like to see him beat Franklin.

Rashad Evans should win.

 

[Troy]

Huge change to this card. Davis is out with an injury and Tito Ortiz is his replacement. Great opportunity for Ortiz who is coming off a great win against Bader. He will be the clear underdog but he showed against Bader that he still has his moments.

 

[Slim]

Well in his fight with Bader his back was against the wall and he had everything to lose in that fight if he didn't throw everything out at him. Now that he has his job... this is more for an opportunity to show that he can still go against the elite in the division and that it hasn't passed him and his style by. It'll definitely make for an interesting fight. But I doubt this time it'll go 3 rounds.

Rich vs. Lil Nog looks like it's gonna be a fun fight. Lookin for Rich to get the win there... maybe by decision.

Now Belfort is the fight I'm lookin forward to cause Belfort held back in that Silva fight due to how good of a counter striker Anderson is and didn't let loose. Now he is facing Akiyama. And Akiyama has a lot to prove cause he's been riding a pretty bad losing streak so he needs to show that he belongs. Belfort needs to prove that he still has it and he is still an elite striker. This one is gonna be a war.

 

[Slim]

Lil Nog is out with a shoulder injury. So now Rich is out of an opponent.

 

[Troy]

Damn that sucks. So the two top fights have been changed due to injuries. Not sure who they can get to face Franklin at short notice.

Fingers crossed Belfort and Akiyama stay healthy for their fight as I really don't want that one to change.

 

[Troy]

Rich Franklin has decided not to fight on the event. He was offered a fight against Gustafasson but he told White that at this stage of his career he only wants to fight top contenders and White was fine with that. Fair enough as well, there is a big difference in Nog and Gustafasson and Franklin should wait until a better opponent is available.

The card is looking a bit weak now though since they have just promoted one of the matches from the Prelim Card rather than adding some big names at short notice. Not sure if this PPV will be worth the money anymore.

 

[Deezy]

Put Nam Phan and Mike Brown on the maincard. Problem solved.

 

[Troy]

Another change to the main card. Alessio Sakara has had to withdraw from his fight against Jorge Riveria andCostantinos Phillipou will replace him.

I am still undecided about whether I will buy this PPV. I would have prefered Jones/Davis in the mainevent and I wanted to see the Franklin fight.

 

[Dod Draper]

Knew Sakara vs. Rivera was going to hit the rocks. What's that? Like the 3rd time that fight's been scrapped?

 

[Slim]

Thats why I only go sports bars to watch these things. That way I'm not dropping like 50 bucks or whatever it costs for these things. I really was hoping to see Rich fight but... hopefully he'll be fighting again soon.

the card may look lackluster but there was some other card that on paper looked like it was going to suck but it turned out really really good. So here is hoping that this one is going to be the same.

 

[Troy]

I have decided to get the PPV and split the cost with a mate. Like you said Slim hopefully this event will deliver even though the card doesn't look that strong.

 

[Troy]

Good card in the end even if it was a short card.

Evans vs. Ortiz was a very entertaining fight and Ortiz nearly caught him a couple of times. Evans was too good in the end though and won via TKO just before the end of Round 2. Ortiz looked gassed after one round but he was smart with his submissions but just couldn't lock them in completely. I think we will see him again in UFC. Evans vs Jones should be really good. Deserved FOTN.

Belfort vs. Akiyama was a one sided affair. Akiyama tried the front kick to start but that didn't work and after that it was all Belfort and he won by KO within two minutes. KO of the night.

Ebersole is one of my favourite fighters. Great to watch and has a good sense of humour. Have no idea what the hell Hallman was thinking with that outfit but Ebersole finished him by TKO in round one. Dana White gave him a $70k bonus for getting Hallman's "shorts" off tv quickly.

Philippou won a split decision against Rivera. No idea how one judge thought Rivera won the fight I had it 29-28 to Philippou. Was odd watching the second round though when he couldn't finish Rivera when he had complete control.

MacDonald is one for the future and he had another clean win. Another first round TKO.

Mendes looked in control against Yahya and deserved the unanimous decision win.

Hammill looks spent and couldn't complete any takedowns against Gustafsson who won by TKO in round 2.

Hendricks vs. Pierce was alright and Hendricks did enough for the win.

I have no idea what the judges were smoking when they watched Menjivar vs. Pace. I thought that Pace clearly won that fight, he lost the first round but won the next two quite clearly.

Overall good PPV and I am glad I bought it.

 

[Dod Draper]

Hallman's beatdown was justified. Those pants were fucking awful (I sound like Dana).

Ortiz getting stopped wasn't surprising. Tito hasn't been a top level 205'er for years now.

 

[Troy]

I couldn't believe it when he walked into the octogon with them. I thought that he was surely joking and that he would put some shorts on. Wouldn't surprise me if UFC or even the athletic commissions force fighters to at least wear shorts.

I thought that Ortiz did alright on short notice. He was only even going to win with a lucky submission but the fight wasn't too bad since it changed a couple of times before that.