UFC 91 Results: Lesnar TKOs Couture To Claim Heavyweight Title
Brock Lesnar (3-1) became the new UFC heavyweight champion in the UFC 91 main event on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, knocking out heavyweight title-holder and UFC hall of famer Randy Couture (16-9) with strikes midway through the second round of their championship bout.
Couture, who had a noticeable smile on his face prior to the beginning of the bout, looked good in the opening round, wearing Lesnar down in the clinch, but Lesnar was able to get Couture to the ground twice in the round and, though he landed little offense on the ground, took the round on the MMAFrenzy.com scorecard based on the takedowns.
Lesnar hurt Couture early in the second with an elbow but Couture survived and connected with some strikes of his own, opening up a cut above Lesnar’s eye. But Lesnar caught Couture with an overhand right behind the ear that sent the 45-year-old to the canvas and, despite Couture’s best efforts, finished him off with punches on the ground.
Referee Mario Yamasaki stepped in to save Couture at the 3:07 mark of the second round, declaring Lesnar the victor via TKO and the new UFC heavyweight champion. He’ll next meet the winner of December’s interim title matchup between current champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir in 2009.
“(Heavyweight champion) sounds really good. I cant believe it. I want to thank Dana, the UFC, and I want to thank this guy. He’s got a lot of balls to come back and fight a young buck like me.” said Lesnar after the victory. “I just believe in hard work. I may come off as a cocky SOB, but I’m just confident.”
“Those are some bigass hamhocks coming at ya. It’s hard to get out of the way. That’s just a big son of a bitch, that’s all there is to it,” said Randy Couture, who also addressed his fighting future and whether he’d drop back down to the 205-pound light heavyweight division. “We’ll let things settle out and figure out what we want to do. I still feel like I’m getting better. He’s a big guy and he just caught me with a big shot.”
Kenny Florian (11-3) earned a lightweight title shot in the UFC 91 co-main event with an impressive first-round submission of Joe Stevenson (29-9). After using precise striking and superior footwork early in the first round, Florian took Stevenson to the canvas and quickly finished from there, reigning down punches from mount before taking his opponent’s back and securing the rear naked choke submission. “I wanted to go out here and make a statement,” said Florian. “I want BJ’s belt. I think you’re a great fighter. I think you’re a master, but it’s time to kill the master.”
With yet another submission victory in the UFC, this time over Tamdan McCrory, Dustin Hazelett is on his way to accomplishing his goal of earning the most “Submission of the Night” bonuses. McCrory appeared to be getting the better of the early standup exchanges, but once Hazelett went to the ground McCrory was outmatched, eventually submitting to a painful armbar. “I want to be the best Jiu Jitsu guy in MMA,” said Hazelett. “There’s guys like Demian Maia and I don’t have the grappling credentials like that but I want to be the best in MMA.”
Gabriel Gonzaga cemented his status as a top contender for a heavyweight title shot as he dispatched newcomer Josh Hendricks with strikes in just 61-seconds. “Yeah, I hope so,” said Gonzaga of a potential title shot. “I worked hard for this (win). I want a title shot again. Next time I’m gonna get the belt.”
“I’m hungry. I’m hungry to make people happy and put on a good show,” said middleweight contender Demian Maia after picking up his fourth-straight UFC victory over Nate Quarry. He dominated from the opening bell, immediately shooting and taking Quarry to the canvas before mythodically locking up a rear naked choke that forced the knockout-artis Quarry to submit. When asked about a potential title shot, Maia said that choice is the UFC’s but that he feels Michael Bisping would be a good fight for him.
In the only decision on the card, Aaron Riley picked up a victory in his UFC return over veteran Jorge Gurgel in a “Fight of the Night” candidate. Despite being a Jiu Jitsu black belt, Gurgel was again baited into engaging in a standup war and again came out on the losing side following three-straight rounds of striking that the judges unanimously scored for Riley 29-28. “Gurgel loves to stand and bang, (but) I’ve been working on my boxing,” said Riley. “I guess it helped me out in this fight.”
Jeremy Stephens earned “Knockout of the Night” honors for his preliminary card victory, sending newcomer Rafael dos Anjos to the canvas with a vicious uppercut in the opening seconds of the final round. Dos Anjos looked impressive in his debut, dominating Stephens on the ground, but one of the best uppercuts in recent-history spoiled his debut as Stephens emerged victorious with the third-round stoppage. The winner, though, barely made it out of the opening frame: “(The omoplata) was tight. I thought my shoulder was going to pop,” said Stephens. “He’s an incredible opponent. He had me in some tough stuff. I have heart, baby.”
In other preliminary action Mark Bocek wore Alvin Robinson down on the ground before securing a fight-ending rear naked choke midway through the third round and Matt Brown overcame newcomer Ryan Thomas’ numerous takedowns before submitting him with an armbar early in the second round.
OFFICIAL UFC 91 RESULTS
- Brock Lesnar def. Randy Couture (c) via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:07
UFC heavyweight championship - Kenny Florian def. Joe Stevenson via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 4:03
- Dustin Hazelett def. Tamdan McCrory via submission (armbar) — Round 1, 3:12
- Gabriel Gonzaga def. Josh Hendricks via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 1:01
- Demian Maia def. Nate Quarry via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1, 2:13
- Aaron Riley def. Jorge Gurgel via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Jeremy Stephens def. Rafael dos Anjos via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 0:39
- Mark Bocek def. Alvin Robinson via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 3, 3:16
- Matt Brown def. Ryan Thomas via submission (armbar) — Round 2, 0:57
too bad for Randy ……… why do I hear ‘This is the end ” being sung right now ? The fight with Fedor is now gone .. might be a good time to say thats it .a stint at light heavy is only gonna make it worse ..
Couture looked pretty good until he got rocked with that 1 punch. Do you guys seem him continuing? HW or LHW? Man I’d love to see him fight again and would think he would since he has 1 more fight on his contract if he was GOING to retire he’d likely do it in the cage.
I’ll also go ahead and say I think Lesnar will be the champ for a looooong time. He has a bit of a challenge with the Mir / Nog winner but after that the talent drops off. I think his strength, size and wrestling will compensate for a lack of MMA skill and he’ll only need to do that for a year or two until he learns more. Who could defeat him? Lesnar v Fedor? Haha… Lesnar all the way.
Also… 9 fights and 1 decision. Can’t complain about that… also being able to see all 9 fights on the PPV isn’t too shabby either.
Lesnar could be champ for a while, but with a BJJ guy he could lose very easily. Hard to tell. Oh well, I am done. What an utter disappointment.
I think if Lesnar makes it through Mir/Nog winner (which I think he will) the next “threat” or fight I think would be interesting would be with Shane Carwin…I know he’s not be around that long BUT he as similar attributes as Lesnar…
Agreed Ryan, the UFC did a wonderful job with this event. The media coverage in recent days was outstanding, the fights delivered great action, and the UFC fit the prelims onto the broadcast. Can’t really ask for more.
Ethan, that’s the big question: Can Lesnar go to the ground with a submission guy and survive? He couldn’t with Mir in their first matchup but he now has months-upon-months to work on his ground game because no matter whether he fights Nogueira or Mir, he’ll be fighting a very good ground fighter. I was still very impressed with Couture’s performance tonight. He proved, yet again, he has what it takes to be competitive in this sport even at 45-years-old. I think a drop to light heavyweight would be for the best, but there’s a lot of intriguing matchups for him over the next couple years til he retires.
@Ethan yeah a BJJ (like Nog) vs Lesnar would be a good match-up and a good test for Lesnar but I think he’d be able to just power out of A LOT of subs. Plus you know he’s working on the BJJ and will only improve.
I think the key to beating him is pushing him into the 4th and 5th rounds, working the leg kicks (while avoiding the take-down) and testing his ability to maintain stamina while lugging that huge body around. As much as I’d love to see him get owned for a few fights to pay his dues… I just don’t see it.
Randy did not get outclassed, nor out worked. He got clipped and Lesnar capitalized on it. No one has a heart like Randy and I will always have faith in that guy.
Brock does not deserve that title. Despite his gifts, he does not deserve it.
If ya’ll have a Digg account I’d appreciate your votes:
http://digg.com/other_sports/Brock_Lesnar_TKOs_Randy_Couture_Complete_UFC_91_Recap
Thanks!
randy shouldve won
Kris- thanks again for doing this coverage was great all week.
I have to agree about this card it was a well put on and promoted fight card. Even the decision was a great fight. Also have to say this is one of the few cards I can remember recently that left so many interesting lines and questions out there such as Florian vs. Penn, what’s next for guys like Maia and Gonzaga? how long will Lesnar reign? What lies ahead for Couture? While I disagree with this being the biggest fight in UFC history I have to say it was one of the more intriguing cards in awhile.
I tell you what I hope will happen with Couture…he’ll go out and finish up his contract and put on two more outstanding fights (which will hopefully be wins) and then hopefully he’ll retire gracefully and get back into announcing where he is awesome. He’s in that same position as Liddell where he can still fight and put on good shows but it comes back to what more does he have to prove and when will the body give out.
This Tells Me One thing. Fedor must come to the UFC in my opinion. He is the only one left that has shown the capability to beat the crap out of that ****y SOB. Lesner is huge! I am impressed with Randy’s Performance and I was so disapointed but i know he has done much more for this sport so to me that means he is more of a champ then Lesner, Randy Has one more fight on contract correct. So maybe the Light Hevy Weight Title next. I really don’t want Lesnar to be the champ this sucks. I hope he does not turn out to be a boreing fighter.
i think with this loss randy should show up as a coach on TUF…. who would be the opposing team coach? i dunno, but with experience and drive he would make a great coach to follow, and if he were to drop down to LHW it could make for some interesting fights
No problem Chris, glad you liked it!
Also i think Gabriel Gonzaga Would be a better Matchup To defeat Lesnar than Mir Or Nog.
Franklin or Hendo could be opposite Couture on TUF, but I don’t see that happening. I would like to see him drop to 205 but with such a limited time left in his career why waste it doing TUF when he could squeeze in another fight before retirement. After he retires, though, I could see him being a coach on the show and just not fighting the opposing coach afterward.
If Lesnar wants to beat Nogueira, he better fire the quacks who destroyed his wrestling and train with Randy for a while. Randy controlled that entire fight until that big punch. Anyone who tries to claim Brock out-wrestled anyone is on drugs. He got a take down and immediately put anyone near a tv to sleep.
He very well may have earned a TKO, but Yamasaki either stopped it too early or too late. If the hammer fists and punches didn’t merit a stop, there’s no way the rabbit punches did.
to all the guys who think lesnar could handle a bjj guy on the ground and power out of submissions, think again.. seriously think about it, he didnt even power out of Mir’s submission…and even if he has months and months of bjj training till he fights Mir/Nogueira…he wont ever be at the level of bjj that Mir and Nog are at. He could train for years at bjj nonstop and i still think he could not submit either of them. especially not nogueira. I think he could beat Mir if they fight again, but i doubt he could take nogueira. Nog knows how to fight against a striker…he just falls over and waits…till he can pull the other guy to the ground. JUST LIKE what he did to Cro-Cop when he was in his prime. And even though Brock is a wrestler, if Nog or Mir were to somehow get his back, or have lesnar in their guard, well, Lesnar would be screwed. It really sucks seeing Couture lose like that…but i think we all think that he most definitely not done fighting in the UFC. Lesnar is not a complete fighter, and wont be for at least a year or two. So until then, he has a great chance of losing if a bjj fighter gets him on the ground. No matter how strong he is. Either way. Nice fight for Brock. He earned alot of respect, but i still dont think he deserves it. I mean c’mon the guy has fought 4 times professionally… and idk what to say about Gonzaga. He would be a decent matchup for brock as well. I think he has more motivation than any of the heavyweights do now…
oh and kris…nice article man!!
What I meant to say in that last fight is I masturbate harder than Randy was getting punched at stoppage time.
Thanks jenkins!
jenkins, DBiz, Nico
Must be hard to type through all those tears.
There’s no way that stoppage was too early, Randy’s body went stiff about 3 times. Randy’s a legend and the fact that he was able to control the clinch game for a round was amazing to watch. But let’s face it, he would not beat Lesnar if they fought 10 times. That’s not because he sucks or Lesnar is the best, but just because of the massive size differential.
I think Mir has no chance against Lesnar again, only because he was getting completely controlled in the first fight until Lesnar got overanxious. I do think Nog is going to beat Mir though and can/will beat Brock because of his iron jaw and great subs. That’s really the only way to beat him is have great BJJ and/or a great jaw
I think a decent wrestler could beat Brock, since he got pushed around the cage by a guy 60 pounds lither than him. His wrestling has gone deep in the crapper since he went WWE. If he had any skills left at all he should have been able to finish in the first.
Like I said up there. He needs to fire the quacks that train him on the ground and go to XTREME COUTURE for a while.
ha ha ha, couture is done. He was done in my mind when he tried leaving his contract. This is what he deserves, his fall from grace!
Kris,
Nice work, thanks for all the coverage this week, I will be creating a Digg account soon just so I can vote for stuff here.
DBiz,
I think Brock got “pushed around” because Randy had better leverage in a few places, but also, Brock didn’t want to expend energy fighting for position when he could have the cage hold him up while Randy leaned against him until he got the right leverage position to make a quick reversal. However, I do think he would benefit from training at a real gym, like Xtreme Couture, or MFS, or with Greg Jackson.
All the people that are complaining about “He didn’t deserve a title shot.” (now, not before the fight) He won. As far as I’m concerned if you win the fight when you get a title shot, you deserved to be there. Granted, he didn’t have to “pay his dues” like some other fighters, and I would have liked to have seen that. But if you win when you get a shot, regardless of when it comes in your career, you deserved it.
Ryan in NY,
re: “As much as I’d love to see him get owned for a few fights to pay his dues… I just don’t see it.”
What I gather from that is you’d like to see fighters lose a few fights, to pay their dues before the get a title shot. And I realize this is a slippery slope argument, but that implies that because Fedor hasn’t gotten “owned for a few fights” he hasn’t paid his dues?
about the event,
all the other media coverage in the run-up was great. Seeing most of the fights end in a stoppage was great, and seeing all of the fights was great, nice job UFC.
Kris,
Forgot to mention this, this was Aaron Riley’s return the UFC, he previously fought on an Ultimate Fight Night a few years ago, which was a loss, then he joined to police academy and fought in a few smaller shows before returning tonight.
Gonzaga would do well against brock until R2.. Gonzaga is so freaking tired after R1 in EVERY fight. And after EVERY fight they always talk about how Gonzaga is working on his strength and conditioning, yet he always is huffing and puffing big time after it. Soooo if he doesn’t sub/tko brock R1 then he aint ever gunna win…
Brock will be the HW champ for a long time, but he’s gunna be another Tim Sylvia. I’m not saying Brock wont finish guys, cause I think he will, I’m just saying the people aren’t going to like him. He’s too ****y for having 4 fights. But the problem is he WILL muscle outta most every (if not every) submission and pound people with his king kong hands until he wins. Then the crowd will Boo him and move on.
Brocks wrestling is still top notch. Randy is a world class wrestler, gold medal even in Greco (not olympics) I believe soo that has a lot to do with why Randy made his wrestling look bad. watch the Herring fight again where he dumps Herring at will.
Another thing about Brock’s wrestling, when it didn’t really look like he was trying to wrestle Randy had his way, but as soon as Randy tried to take his back those wrestling skills came in and he schucked him off and to the ground pretty quickly. Take downs were 2-1 in the fight in favor of Brock, and his take downs had more emphasis to them. I don’t think anyone can say that Brock’s wrestling is not there or good, but he needs to work on his wrestling as it applies to MMA vs just wrestling as it applies to wrestling.