Heavyweights opened up the card in a fight between two UFC debutantes in Jack May and Derrick Lewis. May was winning the first round until he blew his knee out on a takedown. Following that, Lewis teed off on him against the cage to pick up a TKO victory. Following the fight, Lewis told Joe Rogan in the cage that he felt "asleep", and that Bruce Buffer had "hypnotized" him.
Following that, two extremely hyped prospects collided in the featherweight division. Mirsad Bektic and Chas Skelly fought to a three-round decision filled with entertaining spots. In the second round, Skelly landed two hard knees to Bektic against the cage when Bektic had his hand down and was deducted a point. Bektic appeared to be in la-la land inbetween rounds but came to in the third and showed crisp striking to pick up the victory.
To close out the Fight Pass prelims, flyweights Dustin Ortiz and prospect Ray Borg fought to a split decision. Borg displayed amazing ground technique and came extremely close to sinking in a rear naked choke many times. Ortiz clearly showed much stronger striking but a lack in the ground department. In the end, Ortiz took a split decision home through his superior striking and clinch work.
Jordan Mein and Hermani Perpetuo fought to a split decision where Mein displayed some serious ground and pound, especially in the first round. He seemed to let off the gas a bit as Perpetuo eeked out the third round on many scorecards. Mein would take rounds 1 and 2 on two scorecards for the split decision victory. Caio "Hellboy" Magalhaes then dominated Luke Zachrich in a 44 second TKO by punches.
Undefeated Alex White then fought Estevan Payan and scored a TKO in just 1 minute and 28 seconds. White landed a big jab that dropped Payan against the fence and then landed six clean undefended shots. Payan contested the stoppage, but it was evident that he was out.
Four unanimous decisions in a row came next as Jorge Masvidal defeated Pat Healy, Thiago Alves defeated Seth Baczynski, undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Rafael dos Anjos, and Yoel Romero defeated Brad Tavares. Masvidal displayed much improves speed and striking to defeat the very durable Healy. Alves, returning to the UFC after nearly two years, outstruck Baczynski and showed no sign of ring rust. Nurmagomedov looked as impressive as ever against his highest-ranked opponent yet, showing off his obviously world-class wrestling. Romero also displayed his Olympic-level wrestling, landing 7 of 12 takedowns and dominating Tavares through three rounds.
In what many expected to be the fight of the night, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Edson Barboza lit up their striking games and displayed great chins. Barboza landed hard shots in the beginning of the round and took hard shots from Cerrone but was dropped by a jab late in the round. Cerrone jumped right on his back, sunk in a choke, and finished the fight at 3:15 of the very first round.
Miesha Tate and Liz Carmouche looked to get back on the winning track in Orlando, and it was a close one. Carmouche displayed great wrestling and took Miesha down several times in the first half of the fight but Tate took control late. I actually scored round 3 10-8 for Miesha, but in the end she won a unanimous decision.
In the main event of the evening, Fabricio Werdum dominated Travis Browne, showing excellent improvement and his striking and continued his position as the best ground game in the heavyweight division. Post-fight, it was revealed that Browne had broken his hand in the first round and perhaps had a broken rib. Nevertheless, Werdum solidified himself as the #1 contender for Cain Velasquez when he returns, perhaps set for a huge collision in Mexico City later this year.
Five Things we Learned at UFC on Fox 11
1. Fabricio Werdum's striking is not to be underestimated. Werdum showed a granite chin and a vastly improved striking game, landing several hard shots in the second and third rounds before letting off the gas a little in the fourth.
2. The Lightweight division is becoming very interesting. 155 pounds has always been an interesting division, but it became even more interesting tonight. Khabib Nurmagomedov remains undefeated, Cowboy is storming back into the top 5, and Jorge Masvidal is back on track.
3. The UFC has a ton of great prospects coming in. Mirsad Bektic, Chas Skelly, Alex White, and Ray Borg all had very good showings tonight.
4. Thiago Alves doesn't suffer from ring rust apparently. Alves didn't skip a beat in his decision victory against Seth Baczynski and noted his desire to fight twice more this year.
5. Florida is back on the UFC's radar. Following a disastrous showing in Miami, Dana White was very vocal about his hesitancy to return to Florida. Orlando showed up big tonight, giving the UFC one of its highest attendances for a non-PPV show and making a ton in gate money. The viewership should be interesting to see as well.
Storyline to Watch
Donald Cerrone's 2014 crusade continues. Cerrone has two finishes in four months so far this year and is well on track to get his wish of six fights this year. It'll be interesting to see who he gets next- he's currently ranked 8th and many people are either injured(Grant) or not willing to fight at the moment(Diaz, Thomson). Bobby Green just pulled out of his fight against Jim Miller next week in Baltimore and Cerrone noted his desire to fill in, but fighters receive mandatory medical suspensions and probably won't be able to do that. If that doesn't happen, a bout between him and Khabib Nurmagomedov seems to make sense.
Prospect to Watch
Mirsad Bektic, even though he received a few illegal knees and was roughed up, has massive hype behind him and could do very well in a short amount of time in a very top-heavy featherweight division. No clue who he gets next but it should be interesting to see where he goes from here regardless.
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