It was an exciting night from Rio de Janiero as UFC 179 definitely delivered for fans who ordered the event live on PPV.
In the Carlos Diego Ferreira vs. Beneil Dariush bout, Dariush was able to control the pace on the feet and on the ground to overwhelm Ferreira. Ferreira was able to attempt a heel-hook submission and scrambled to escape some dangerous situations, but it was Dariush that was able to land takedowns at will and landed a bit of ground and pound to show that he was the aggressor and dominated his way to a unanimous decision victory.
The Lucas Martins vs. Darren Elkins fight was quite uneventful. Elkins took Martins down for a little bit in the first round, but did not really do any damage. Martins landed a head-kick in the 2nd round that wobbled Elkins for a bit, but Martins clinched with Elkins for some reason after that and did not try to finish him with strikes. Elkins then pushed Martins against the fence to try to secure another takedown, but ate a few knees in the process and was unsuccessful in taking Martins down. The scores were rather odd at the end of the bout of which the judges scored it 30-27 twice for Elkins and 30-27 once for Martins and gave Elkins the controversial split-decision verdict.
The Fabio Maldonado vs Hans Stringer bout was not looking good for Maldonado at first as Stringer was putting Maldonado on the mat and was advancing positions while reigning down some elbows. Stringer got another takedown in the 2nd round and it seemed like it was going to be the same story for the round, but Maldonado swept positions and ended up on top of Stringer and ended up landing punches while on top and kept landing strikes. Finally, the referee called the fight with 54 seconds left in the second round. After Maldonado’s TKO victory, he jumped on the fence and was congratulated and embraced by Anderson Silva in front of the Brazilian crowd.
Phil Davis surprised everybody against Glover Texeira. Davis was able to throw Texiera to the ground time after time throughout the fight and was able to land some hard ground and pound, securing dominant positions in the process. Davis was able to dodge the power punches of Texeira and land some lead overhands of his own to show that he was also a threat on his feet. This gave him the opportunity to change levels and take Texeira down at will. Phil Davis won the fight 30-27 by unanimous decision. After the fight Davis called out Anderson Silva because he wants to fight the greatest Brazilian fighter ever now as Davis is undefeated in Brazil.
Chad Mendes vs. Jose Aldo really gave the fans their money’s worth. This was simply the best UFC featherweight fight ever. Mendes got right in Aldo’s face from start to finish of the bout and brought the best out of the champ. There was a controversial late punch at the end of round one by Aldo which ended up shaking up Mendes. Mendes ended up having a couple accidental eye pokes during the fight which Aldo kept complaining about. In round three, Mendes rocked Aldo with an uppercut that stunned the champion, but Aldo landed an over-hand right of his own that put Mendes backwards on his feet. Mendes was able to get some crucial takedowns later in the fight, but it was Aldo’s aggressive nature and hard blows which earned him the 49-46 nod over Mendes in what may be considered “The fight of the year.” Even though Aldo won the fight, he has never took punishment like this and considered Mendes his toughest fight to date. Aldo wants Conor McGregor next and referred to McGregor as “The Joker” in his post-fight interview with Brian Stann.
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