***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[Summers]

He was protecting himself though, and he was okay. I get your point, but surely it shouldn't be "damn, he's been punched a few times, i should call this" when he's protected and c. He was protecting himself, he gave a thumbs up. I think it was called way too early.

[Liam]

I think it becomes a 'better call early than late' type situation for me.

The thumbs up struck me as similar to taunts/smiles given by a man who gets clocked on the chin and knows he is hurt.

Like you said though, it probably can be seen from both sides - you'd argue that a title fight especially needs to be a bit more decisive.

[Summers]

Totally get the better late than never thing. One thing I hate is seeing fighters continuing to hit a clearly KO'd or out of it fighter because the ref is slow. On this occasion I think Faber was protected, still aware of what's going on and just stopping himself from being hit. He had his leg with one hand, he was blocking shots with the other. He was definitely defending himself.

[apsham]

Yeah - that was a shit, shit call by Herb Dean.

Those blows were for show, and Faber was actively defending himself.

[Cymbols]

Pretty poor show to be honest. Not the best stoppage in the main event, but not the worst. Aldo is by far the least endearing champion in the UFC mind, none of his fights have interested me since the Chad Mendes one.

[JasonM]

Yeah, it was a pretty weak show overall. But jesus christ, that opener KO was just absolutely fucking brutal.

Also, good to see Reem winning again and he looked in much better shape throughout the fight as opposed to his previous few fights. He paced himself well and he just mugged Mir... I was just cringing throughout because Mir was getting his face mushed in at will. And right now Overeem looks in the best shape since his actual UFC debut, if that Lesnar rumour is true and he returns, I can't see him beat a smarter Overeem.

Also, more angles and more slow-mo gif of that filthy KO.

[Rich]

Having finally finished the show, while I thought the main event could have gone on a bit longer, Faber was not intelligently defending himself, so I definitely see the reason the fight was stopped.

[Benjamin]

Having finally finished the show, while I thought the main event could have gone on a bit longer, Faber was not intelligently defending himself, so I definitely see the reason the fight was stopped.

Absolutely. He just had his hand covering the side of his head, while he was getting hit. I counted, Barao hit him 16 times in that position. 16 goddamn times are punches coming with crazy force on the side of his head. Durable or no, the referee's first responsibility is the safety of the fighters.

Aldo's cleaned out his division, can he move up now, please? Unless Money Mendes gets the next shot, and even that Aldo's most probably going to destroy him. Right now there's no star below 155lbs, Pettis' is most definitely on his way there but he's not, yet. Aldo moving up and facing him will most definitely create a star out of the two.

Overeem looked good, Mir is tough as fuck, you can see when Miragliotta told him to stand up that last time, Frank knew there was no use but he did it anyway. I like this Alistair, he's not going in and just trying to knock the shit out of everyone. A rematch with Silva would be welcome, or maybe I'll get that rematch I always wanted against Hunt Though he's probably going to face Dos Santos or Barnett, he's had verbal feuds with both.

Not sure if they're going to give Bagautinov the title shot after that performance, it wasn't exactly dominating.

I had fun watching the main card, great fights throughout, now time to watch the prelims.

[Cymbols]

Oh yeah, fuck Abel Trujillo. He really annoys me and I really wanted Jamie Varner to win and why couldn't Jamie Varner win it's not fair But seriously, it was a good knockout but Varner really shouldn't have gotten drawn into a slugfest. Now to watch a replay of Nurmagomedov vs Trujillo to cheer me up

[Rich]

Jamie Varner is horrible though, his cheating and attitude in the WEC really soured me on the guy

[Cymbols]

What he do in WEC? I heard he had some history with Cerrone but I don't know what happened. Still, I only really wanted him to win because I don't like Trujillo.

[Rich]

He took a "knee" while downed and feigned injury when he was just about to get blasted by Cerrone and took a very controversial technical split decision, and then ducked the rematch until after Cerrone lost his interim belt to Benson Henderson (though Varner then lost to Smooth) and then has continued just to have ideas above his station, hopefully he will now go and fight outside of the UFC as he is 1-3 in his last 4 fights.

Its not often I dislike someone, but Varner just raises my ire.

[Cymbols]

Fair enough, I'd duck Cerrone too mind, dude's plain scary! He's had a couple of scraps recently though, so I'd wager he's safe from the cut for now. A fight against Pat Healy could be fun though.

[EddieG]

Don't think Varner will get cut, he put up a good scrap which Dana loves, on short notice.

[Benjamin]

Just my opinion, but I think he's matured a lot since his time in the WEC, haven't really seen him take a short cut and he's been thrust into short-notice fights and not against some lousy competition, either, but genuine killers. Hated him in the WEC but I've really come around on him.

Also, my heart skipped a beat when I found out Donald Cerrone is fighting Edson Barboza at the FOX card in April I really want Cowboy to have that six fights in a year.

[Benjamin]

Pat Barry has confirmed he has signed with GLORY

Also, Jessica Eye's win over Sarah Kaufman has been overturned, as she failed a substance test. Apparently the substance wasn't for performance-enhancing, but a blood thinning medication from an issue which occurred because she was in an accident when she was 16. However, she's still fighting at UFC 170 against Alexis Davis, but she's on probationary suspension, though I'm not sure what that means.

[HC]

Pat Barry has confirmed he has signed with GLORY

Also, Jessica Eye's win over Sarah Kaufman has been overturned, as she failed a substance test. Apparently the substance wasn't for performance-enhancing, but a blood thinning medication from an issue which occurred because she was in an accident when she was 16. However, she's still fighting at UFC 170 against Alexis Davis, but she's on probationary suspension, though I'm not sure what that means.

Must fight in an ankle bracelet.

[Benjamin]

Holy fuck Phil Davis versus Anthony Johnson at UFC 172 I think I just peed a little.

EDIT: And now Tim Boetsch versus Luke Rockhold. A little weird, Rockhold is a lot closer to title contention than The Barbarian, but it's still sounds like a blast. Basically I want to marry UFC 172 now.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Benkid

[Rich]

Eh, it's not a bad card.

[Benjamin]

You're the worst, Rich

Although I will admit, it's not as sexy as UFC 170, and the Fox card in April already has three fights I'm super pumped about.

I'm already expecting half of all these fights to fall out due to injury anyway