Last night, UFC delivered an awesome night of MMA action with their UFC 188 event in Mexico City, Mexico. Eddie Alvarez pulled a tough win over the two time Strikeforce Lightweight Champion, and one time WEC Lightweight Champion, Gilbert Melendez. In the main event of the evening, Fabricio Werdum shocked the MMA world by out striking, and getting the submission victory in a UFC Heavyweight Championship unification bout against Cain Velaquez in his country. Here are my reactions to both the co-main and main event of the evening. Enjoy!
(CO MAIN) EDDIE ALVAREZ VS. GILBERT MELENDEZ
In the first round, things started off very slow. Both fighters were in the feeling out process. As the round progress, Gilbert Melendez shown his sharp striking ability by landing elbows, and jabs. Melendez's striking was definitely effective because, Alvarez's left eye begun to swell. At the end of the first round, Melendez landed a total of ten head strikes, while Alvarez only landed one. Then, in the beginning of the second round, Eddie Alvarez pushed the pace by landing strikes, and attempting a takedown. Alvarez was definitely the aggressor throughout this round. He kept pressuring his opponent by pressing him against the cage, landing leg kicks, and finally scoring a takedown. Alvarez also landed a spinning back elbow that impressed the Mexican crowd. The third round was quite similar to the second. Eddie Alvarez kept pushing the pace by scoring three takedowns. Melendez and Alvarez did exchanged shots for a bit. Both men went the distance, and Alvarez won via split decision. It was a tough win for Eddie Alvarez, simply because, he had to battle some adversity in this bout. His left eye swell due to a broken nose (never blow your nose if it's broken), which made it hard to see from that eye, and obviously, hard to breath from his nostrils. On top of that, he competed at high altitude. This was a great win for Alvarez because, he redeemed himself from his previous fight which was his first UFC bout, where he loss against Donald Cerrone.
(MAIN) FABRICIO WERDUM VS. CAIN VELASQUEZ
This fight was exciting from the beginning to the very end. Both men started off swinging, exchanging huge shots with one another. Velasquez pressured Werdum by utilizing his clinch game, and landing knees to the body. Both men scored takedowns in this opening round. Cain Velasquez definitely won the first round, because he landed more shot than his opponent: uppercuts, jabs, and knees. In the second round, Cain continued to land combinations, and was very light on his feet. However, Werdum shown no intimidation to Velasquez while standing up. He also landed sweet combinations of his own, and was more aggressive than Velasquez. In the third round, both men kept a great pace, and exchanged devastating shots. Then, Velasquez attempted a takedown, which backfired. Werdum put Velasquez in a tight guillotine choke, and submitted him. Werdum who was the underdog entering this fight, silenced the Mexican crowd, and became the new undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. Incredible heavyweight action! The UFC heavyweight division is currently filled with stars such as: Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Stipe Miocic, Andrei Arlovski, and Ben Rothwell as well, so it's going to interest to see who will be next in line for the gold.
Fight On!
