UFC on Versus 5 took place Sunday night and the fights were as exciting as advertised.
The big winners on the night were Chris Lytle and Ben Henderson.
Lytle defeated Dan Hardy in the main event with a guillotine choke late in round 3. Lytle announced on Saturday night that he would be retiring win or lose after the contest and he shared a nice moment with his kids after the victory.
The fight was a slugfest as we expected, with Lytle doing a good job of working the body and Hardy landing some nice crosses. Surprisingly, neither man crashed to the ground and lasted nearly the whole fight before a big uppercut to the ribs forced Hardy to shoot on Lytle. Not having much wrestling experience, Hardy left his neck open for Lylte, who secured a very tight choke and got Hardy to tap with just 44 seconds left in the contest.
Lytle finished at 31-18-5 in his career and won five of his last six. He also secured Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night honors, a cool $130,000 in bonuses.
Hardy has now lost his last four in the UFC, but Dana White announced that Hardy will not be cut. Still, the colorful fighter seemed crushed by yet another loss.
In the co-main event, Jim Miller was unseated as the No. 1 contender in the lightweight division by Ben Henderson. Henderson put on the best performance of his career in dominating Miller for 15 minutes to earn a decision victory.
Henderson was relentless, pushing forward the entire fight with kicks, punches, and inside elbows. When the fight hit the ground, Henderson out-wrestled Miller and unleashed a fury of ground-and-pound strikes. Miller attempted a number of submissions, but never had Henderson in any real danger.
Henderson is 2-0 in the UFC but there is no clear contender for the Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard winner. One would think Melvin Guillard may be the front runner.
Another lightweight that made a big statement on Sunday was Donald Cerrone, who quickly disposed of Charles Oliveira to improve to 3-0 in the octagon.
Cerrone had superior striking and the fight never hit the ground until Cerrone dropped Oliveira and finished him off with a flurry of punches.
UFC on Versus 5 Results
Sunday, Aug. 14
Chris Lytle def. Dan Hardy via submission (guillotine choke) at 4:16 Round 3
Ben Henderson def. Jim Miller via unanimous decision
Donald Cerrone def. Charles Oliveira via TKO at 3:01 Round 1
Duane Ludwig def. Amir Sadollah via unanimous decision
Jared Hamman def. C.B. Dollaway via TKO at 3:38 Round 2
Joseph Benavidez def. Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision
Ed Herman def. Kyle Noke via submission (heel hook) at 4:15 Round 1
Ronny Markes def Karlos Vemola via unanimous decision
Jimy Hettes def. Alex Caceres via submission (rear naked choke) at 3:12 Round 2
Cole Miller def. T.J. O’Brien via submission (guillotine choke) at 2:30 Round 2
Jacob Volkmann def. Danny Castillo via unanimous decision
Edwin Figueroa def. Jason Reinhardt via TKO at 0:50 Round 2
