In order to understand how long it has been since the UFC held an event in Connecticut (Oct. 2005), just take a look at your screen. Are you using Chrome to look at this on your PC? Google had been a public company for a only little over a year. Did you follow a link to this article from Facebook? Zuckerberg and company had just dropped the ‘The’ and the ubiquitous social-media giant was available only in schools. Are you reading this on your mobile device? The iPhone would not make its debut for almost two more years.
To add a little more texture, let us take a look at some of the names from that 2005 card and see where they are today: Chris “Lights Out’ Lytle? Retired. Renato “Babalu” Sobral? Retired. Chael Sonnen? Retired/fired. Forrest Griffin in just his second bout after winning the premier season of The Ultimate Fighter? Retired. The headliner? A 15-second joke of a match between Andrei Arlovski and Paul Buentello that saw Arlovski win by KO to become the Heavyweight Champion.
On September 5th, 2014, the UFC finally made its return to The Constitution State, and it did not disappoint.
Many fight fans may have slept on this event due to a lack of marquee names on the main card. If you did, you made a mistake.
First up for the night was a lightweight bout featuring TUF: Live (Season 15) winner Michael Chiesa (11-1-0) vs. Joe Lauzon (23-10-0).
If there is one truth about any fight that involves Joe Lauzon, it is this: Fight of the Night potential. Going into the fight against a tough up-and-coming Chiesa (already a two-time Submission of the Night winner), Lauzon had already racked up a whopping 12 post-fight bonuses in his career. Tonight was no different. Both fighters came out with guns blazing in the first round. Both managed a takedown. Chiesa took Lauzon’s back late in the round but ended up getting reversed and finding himself in the same position. Chiesa landed better in the exchanges standing up.
Round two kept the pace of the first but without the takedowns. Lauzon attacked Chiesa with a flurry near the cage, landing a clean left knee to Chiesa’s head, opening a cavernous gash above his right eye. Despite Chiesa fighting his way out of danger, referee Herb Dean called time out to have the fight doctor check the cut. The doctor determined that the wound was too severe to let the fight continue. At 2:46 in the 2nd round, Dean called the fight in favor of Lauzon due to doctor stoppage. Both fighters earned $50,000 Fight of the Night bonuses for their effort. The rematch might open holes in the Earth.
Next up, former NFL defensive tackle and TUF: Heavyweights contestant Matt Mitrione (7-3-0) takes on “The Black Beast” Derrick Lewis (11-3-0).
While the veteran Mitrione has seen professional MMA competition from only inside The Octagon, Lewis got his pro start among the Bellator ranks and, later, Legacy FC, where he became the promotion’s heavyweight champion. This one I have been waiting for and for good reason! At The Ultimate Fighter 19 finale, Lewis called out Mitrione after KO-ing Guto Inocente, Mitrione’s training partner, in the first round. Mirtione, offended, accepted the challenge. Mitrione put The Black Beast down in a scant 41 seconds with a TKO win.
MORE HEAVYWEIGHTS! In the co-Main Event, Big Ben Rothwell (34-9-0) clashes with perennial threat Alistair Overeem (37-14-0). “The Reem” enters The Octagon after a unanimous decision win over Frank Min in February. Before that, however, he suffered two consecutive KO/TKO defeats. One to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. The second and more recent, a stunning come-from-behind knockout via front kick from Travis Browne.
Rothwell has not seen the cage since his KO of Brandon Vera back in August of 2013. Round 1 started out eerily similar to the Overeem/Browne meeting. Alistair unloaded punishing knees and kicks to the body. Rothwell staved off the attack and landed a big punch that stunned Overeem. Seemingly recovered, The Reem came back only to get tagged with a big right hand above the ear. Overeem went down, and Rothwell wasted no time, putting him away with punches at 2:41. Rothwell was awarded a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
The Main Event! A rematch six years in the making pitted Renaldo “Jacare” Souza (21-3-0 1NC) against Gegard Mousasi (35-5-2), the man who handed him the first of only two professional losses since 2008. Mousasi is fresh from his impressive Round 1 submission of Mark Munoz in May after going the distance and coming up short against Lyoto Machida via decision in February. What can we say about Jacare that has not been said already? He is a five-time World Jiu-Jitsu Champion, Strikeforce Middleweight Champion, and a UFC Submission and Performance of the Night winner. Jacare was clearly out for vengeance.
The opening round set the tone for the whole fight. Jacare used a good clinch and attempted his nearly-signature takedown against the cage. Mousasi put up a good takedown defense but only briefly. Once the takedown was there for Jacare however, Gegard only had time. Mousasi offered some pretty stellar submission defense and utilized a triangle choke threat from the bottom to make things more interesting. But, Jacare soon had him on his back and ended Round 1 with a kimura attempt.
Round 2 included more of the same from Jacare: takedown, Kimura attempt, and more defense from Mousasi. By the end of the round, it was just a matter of that aforementioned time.
In the third round, Jacare hit the takedown at will, seemingly in spite of Mousasi’s suddenly effective jab. There was a brief scramble, and Mousasi looked to have wrested control from Souza and landed on top — in Jacare’s guard, where he sank in the fight-ending guillotine. Jacare got his revenge and scored a Performance of the Night bonus in the process.