UFC 131 may have been overshadowed by the Canucks' Cup run, but it was a treat for the fans who showed up.
VANCOUVER -- For all the talk of the show being mostly ignored in Vancouver, UFC 131 turned out to be a fantastic night of fights.
It was like I expected, actually. Not the biggest names, but good bouts and the fighters delivered. Three knockouts, two submissions and three-round battles that rarely produced boos (though there were some, and not just for Kenny Florian).
And the fans showed up -- 14,685 in total on Saturday night at Rogers Arena, which isn't too bad -- and they were into it, making noise, doing the wave, chanting "Go Canucks!" and "Bruins suck!" to try to throw off Florian, the fighter from Boston who chose not to wear the Bruins jersey to the fight -- though it was probably too late after wearing it to Friday's weigh-ins.
Florian looked just fine in his featherweight debut, so much so that UFC president Dana White said he will "most likely" be the next to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight title. I'm personally not sure he's ready for that after just barely beating a guy who is not a top contender.
In the main event, Junior Dos Santos came within a punch or two of putting an exclamation point on the night but Herb Dean allowed Carwin to continue, albeit bloodied and they ultimately went three rounds. White said Dean is the best referee in the world -- perhaps ever -- and was okay with the non-stoppage, as was I.
All in all, White took all the repeated questions about Vancouver and simply reiterated how much he loves the city and said the UFC plans to come back. White said he wouldn't have changed the date even if they could have, despite them being overshadowed by the Canucks' Cup final run.
Perhaps the only hitch on the night was the judging (a common theme). Three times one judge scored a very close bout 30-27. But they were all by unanimous decisions, so can you really complain about one judge giving one round differently?
White did, especially in the case of Michihiro Omigawa, whom he said will get his win bonus and will be staying in the UFC despite "officially" losing to Darren Elkins, which dropped his UFC record to 0-4.
"Omigawa won that fight," White said. "Overruled."
As for Mark Munoz, he didn't see any controversy in getting the nod in all three rounds from one judge, Nelson Hamilton.
"The first round was kind of close but the last two rounds were mine, so I was confident," Munoz said.
White, clearly still upset, then chimed in.
"It's tough to be confident with the judging that goes on here again. I think one guy just said, 'Ah, everything's going to be 30-27, no matter what happens.'"
Later he said Hamilton should never be allowed to judge again. It was Dave Hagen who scored the 30-27 for Elkins, as well as for Kenny Florian over Diego Nunes.
CANADIANS GO 3-1 -- Sam Stout clearly had the biggest night by a Canadian, but a great adjustment by Winnipeg's Krzysztof Soszynski, not just in preparation for his third different opponent but in the fight itself against Mike Massenzio.
As he admitted, he didn't train for a wrestler, and he was taken down two or three times in the first round. But he figured out the timing and completely stuffed all Massenzio's remaining attempts in the final two rounds to easily earn the decision.
"I hadn't planned on fighting a wrestler, but the improvements I've made in my sprawl and getting back to my feet really paid off," Soszynski said.
-- Oh Jesse Bongfeldt, couldn't you have held on just six more seconds? By tapping out to an albeit nice standing guillotine by Chris Weidman, you not only lost, but you also cost fellow Canadian and training partner Nick Ring the submission of the night bonus.
Tough loss for Bongfeldt, but great win for Ring, who was already ahead 20-17 on all judges' scorecards before he managed to finish off James Head with a rear naked choke in the third.
