UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber

[INDYjon22]

​

Main Card

• Bantamweight Championship: Dominick Cruz (No. 1 BW) vs. Urijah Faber (No. 3 BW)
• Middleweight Bout: Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader
• Bantamweight Bout: Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki
• Welterweight Bout: Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim
• Lightweight Bout: Matt Wiman vs. Dennis Siver

Preliminary Card (Spike TV)

• Lightweight Bout: Rafael dos Anjos vs. George Sotiropoulos
• Lightweight Bout: Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller

Preliminary Card (Facebook)

• Middleweight Bout: Brad Tavares vs. Aaron Simpson
• Lightweight Bout: Andre Winner vs. Anthony Njokuani
• Bantamweight Bout: Donny Walker vs. Jeff Hougland

The fourth of July will get kicked out with a bang when UFC 132 comes live from Las Vegas. The biggest fight in Bantamweight history will take place and will include two explosive fighters, Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. The card is anchored by an excellent main card and an intriguing undercard.

The Bantamweight title will be defended for the first time in UFC history at a UFC show. This isn't the first time that Faber and Cruz have met. In fact, Cruz's only professional loss was by submission in his WEC debut to the then Featherweight champion, Faber. Needless to say Cruz has something to prove and there is no love lost between these two. Cruz went on an 8 fight win streak and captured the Bantamweight title. Faber dominated the Featherweight division for awhile but then fell off and moved down in weight. Faber has since rattled off two Bantamweight wins and is looking to capture another title. This fight should be very exciting. Cruz is very unorthodox and is a master at throwing his opponents off, whereas Faber is a strong wrestler and a hard hitter. It'll be interesting to see if the old lion can rise to the occasion one more time, or if the hot shot youngster will dominate another person.

The comainevent will feature two very hard hitters in Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben. Wanderlei has found new life in his career since his move to Middleweight, whereas Leben is looking to rebound from his KO loss to Brian Stann. This fight should be an all out war. Both guys will certainly be looking for the knockout of the night and I expect nothing less then a classic.

Tito Ortiz's career is on life support and Ryan Bader is looking to pull the plug. Ortiz was once a dominate champion but has fallen on hard times. Tito hasn't won a fight since 2006, Bader is looking to rebound from his first professional loss to Jon Jones. I expect Bader to out box and out wrestle Ortiz en route to a decision victory. I really hope that Tito has one last win in him, but I think Bader will be to young and to hungry to lose.

The other main card fights will see Carlos Condit and Dong Hyun Kim battle in a fight that will put one man closer to a title shot and drop the other down. And, a lightweight showdown between Matt Wiman and the always tough Dennis Siver. I expect fireworks in this one.

The undercard will see Rafael Dos Anjos and George Soti both try to rebound from losses and Melvin Guillard once again try to advance up the Lightweight ladder.

It should be a fun and exciting night of fights. Personally, I cannot wait to see Leben vs. Wandy and Cruz vs. Faber. Both fights could potentially be fight of the year candidates.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I'm crushed about this card, not because of any of the fights but my friend had two tickets lined up but the guy sellin em screwed us and demanded 200 bucks more than the original price, so Fuck.....I could have been driving to vegas to see this right now

But onto the card, it's a killer lineup of fights and all of them are going to be great from the bottom on up.

Houghland should decision Walker, this is the only fight I dont care much about.

Andre Winner is going to get KTFO by Njokuani, cant wait to see that.

Tavares vs Simpson is going to be a great fight, I like Simpson but i've been a huge fan of Brad Tavares since his stint on TUF and I really hope he can pull off a TKO but odds are Simpson will be gunshy and straight wrestle for a UD.

Guillard vs Roller is an awesome fight, Guillard is the best he's ever been and will probably take out Roller with a TKO. Dont count out Roller though, he's a very underrated fighter with the ability to end the fight on the feet or ground.

G Sots vs Dos Anjos, Sots should dominate this fight. Dos Anjos is a good fighter but George is more well rounded and simply on another level. Sots by TKO due to ground and pound.

Siver vs Wiman, I like both guys and this is a very close matchup but i'm going to give Siver the edge, he's on a roll and has more momentum than ever after taking out Sots. Siver by UD.

Condit vs DHK, I am a tad biased because I love Carlos Condit but I think he is going to be the one to finally end Kim's winning streak. Condit by triangle.


Bowles vs Mizagaki, Bowles is a beast and I see him finishing Mizagaki but I cant decide how. Bowles by stoppage.

Ortiz vs Bader, is there a more one sided match up? I love Ortiz and Bader but Bader is gonna add another KO to his resume, I thank you Tito for giving us all the years of entertainment.


Wanderlei vs Leben, again I love both these guys(isnt this an amazing card???) but I think Wanderlei has found a great new home at MW and Leben is losing his granite chin.Wanderlei by UD.

Cruz vs Faber, Cruz is an amazing fighter and as good as Faber is(and he holds a win over Dom) I think Cruz has grown so much that now he has a big edge. Cruz by UD

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Great night of fights, and like I expected, we have a contender for Card of the Year.

Condit is just about ready for a title shot. He needs one more win, and I could conceivably see him beating Fitch. My god, what a great performance, and I want to see him fight Diaz so badly. I think he has the tools to beat GSP too.

Bader is doomed to being a mid-level fighter... which is a shame, I really like watching him fight. I do think he was rushed in his development though, and the same thing is going to happen to Phil Davis. Sure, both beat Lil Nog, but that's because Lil Nog sucks against wrestlers. Bader wasn't ready for Jones, and Davis isn't ready for Rashad.
I give Tito all the credit in the world for pulling this one out. It's not like the guys he lost to were bad... The Liddell loss was when Chuck was tearing through the division. He would have beaten Rashad if he didn't keep grabbing the fence, and he kept it competitive against Machida, almost upsetting him. I still think he beat Forrest at 106, and he was outright beaten against Hamill. He's a douche, it's why I wanted to see him lose, but Tito is still a dangerous fighter, and he still has at least a couple of good fights left in him.

I was kind of pissed that Siver got booed for the decision. It was a close fight, but the judges got it right. And yes, I'm with IndyJon, Wiman is a smug douche, especially with the way he walked off after the announcement that Siver won. Siver's on the doorstep of a title shot too... and a fight against Guida, or a rematch against Guillard makes a lot of sense.

Stick a fork in Wandy, he's done. As far as Leben goes, I want to see him against Belfort next.

I had Cruz/Faber being 48-47 for Cruz. VERY tough fight to score, but Cruz definitely won. I don't agree with how two of the judges had it completely in favor of Cruz, especially a 50-45, but a great performance nonetheless and he's going to dominate the Bantamweight division for years.

I think we're going to get a rematch, just because the guy next in line would be Demitirious Johnson. who despite beating two of the biggest names at 135 in his last two (Yamamoto and Torres), is a virtual unknown to causal fans and there's really nobody else right now who they can sell a Cruz fight on, besides Faber. You could make a case for Brian Bowles too, but he's also a virtual unknown to fans. The UFC should probably book a rubber match between Cruz and Faber, and have Bowles vs. Johnson ON A MAIN CARD for #1 Contendership. It's time to build up these lower weight divisions and give them more exposure on major cards and on TV.

 

[INDYjon22]

I had a blast with the card last night. UFC is on fire right now in terms of their July 4th weekend shows. UFC 100 and 116 will both still have higher numbers then 132, but I personally think that 132 has been the best of the July shows in recent years.

I love Carlos Condit and at this stage in his career he either needs to fight BJ Penn or Jon Fitch next with a title shot on the line. Condit is ready for the big times and deserves a shot against the best in the division. I honestly believe he could give either guy a run for their money, as well as GSP and Diaz.

I was so happy when Tito won last night. I had Bader winning the fight but deep down I was pulling for Ortiz and it was great to not only see him win the fight but to also stop an up and coming prospect fairly decisively. Bader needs to work on his submission defense seeing as his last two loses have come by guillotine choke. But regardless, it was great to see Tito dig the grave of another opponent one more time.

Siver vs. Wiman was very close. I personally had Wiman winning, but the guy is an asshole and losing that close of a decision couldn't have happened to a better guy. I was much happier to see Siver pick up the win and would like to see him take on Guida or even Josh Thomson if the UFC decided to bring him back in. Wiman will bounce back but he needs to check his ego.

Wanderlei vs. Leben was an excellent slugfest for the 27 seconds that it lasted. Wandy actually caught Leben but then made the mistake of clinching where Leben could land those hard uppercuts. I was sad to see Silva lose but Leben is a fun fighter and I can't complain to much. I like Guys idea of Leben vs. Belfot depending on if Belfort wins his next fight or not.

And I thought they made the right decision in the title fight. It was a very competitive fight from both guys. I actually kind of though Faber won the fight but it was hard to follow everything that was happening at the bar I was at. Either way both guys went at it for 5 rounds and showed how even they are. I really hope and believe that the UFC needs to set up a third fight between these two as fast as possible. When Johnson and Bowles are your top contenders right now, the UFC should know where the real money lies and it is in a third fight between Cruz and Faber. Hell, do what I said last time coaches were being talked about for TUF if they can. I know Miller and Bisping are the next coaches but depending on when that finishes up and another season starts have Cruz and Faber coach. It would make them more visible to a larger audience of people while hyping up the completion of their trilogy.

All in all UFC 132 was a great show to watch. We saw Condit emerge with another win and one step closer to a title fight, Tito show that he can still win against good competition, Leben show off his chin and striking and a great war between the very best Bantamweights in the world today.

 

[X]

Another month, another great UFC PPV offering. On paper this was a stacked card in terms of name value, and the show definitely delivered on the promise I saw in it initially when the fights were announced. Everything from the prelims on Facebook to the Spike TV prelims to the PPV itself delivered and then some.


Facebook Prelims

Jeff Hougland vs. Donny Walker was a solid fight to kick off the FB prelims. Hougland is just the kind of "convict turned cleaned up MMA fighter family man" story that the UFC loves to push, so I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him in the coming months, especially with a rather dominant win here over Walker. Not a great fight or anything, but a solid ground war for three rounds and a good win for Hougland.

Anthony Njokuana vs. Andre Winner was probably the best fight on the prelims, and a possible candidate for fight of the night. Njokuani continues to look impressive on the Facebook prelims each month, adding another dominant unanimous decision win to his record. Quite an entertaining fight that the Spike TV prelims wound up re-airing because of that fact. Njokuana looked impressive in his stand-up again.

Aaron Simpson vs. Brad Tavares saw another fight go the three-round distance to a decision victory. Average fight here really, both men were content to lay around and try pushing off the cage in the clinch for the most part. The ref wound up breaking them up a few times and they'd exchange a few nice big swings before going right back into a struggle against the cage. Simpson won all three rounds pretty handily, but as I said, nothing overly exciting here outside of a really nice slam from Tavares in the second round.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Brian Bowles was one of the fights I was looking forward to the most on the card because of my love for a lot of the old WEC guys, but unfortunately this was another fight where there really wasn't much to write home about. Bowles was able to control the pace of all three rounds and while not being overly dominant, he did win the fight rather handily. Mizugaki has to be disappointed with his performance here, but hopefully he gets another chance in the UFC and doesn't get cut because of this loss. He's a fun fighter and he made me a fan during his WEC stint.


Spike TV Prelims

Rafeal Dos Anjos vs. George Sotiropoulous looked to be a good choice for the televised prelims, and Dos Anjos quickly proved that decision wise by knocking out Sotiropoulous with an absolutely devastating right hand 35 seconds into the first round. George barely had a chance to even blink before he was KOed. Great win for Dos Anjos.

To kill some time before the last remaining preliminary fight, Spike TV aires the earlier Njokuana vs. Winner fight, which is well worth watching.

Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller was another solid choice for the televised prelims and another fight where you better not have gotten up to grab a drink or take a piss, because it was over within a little over 2 minutes after Guillard knocked Shane Roller out decisively in the first round. I've been a fan of Guillard's for a long time and I was more than happy to see the longtime UFC vet get a big win here.


Main PPV Card

Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim looked to be a solid choice for the opening fight on PPV, and it wasn't long before Condit proved that by handing Kim his first professional loss by strikes via TKO at around 3 minutes into the first round after a huge flying knee. Impressive victory for Condit, and I'd imagine this should do wonders for the argument of giving him a title shot in the future. Yet another fun KO on a card full of them.

Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader had to be the most shocking fight of the night as the Huntington Beach Bad Boy was able to pick up a severely needed win (his first since 2006) quickly in the first round via guillotine choke submission. It was obvious from the pre-fight hype that Bader wasn't taking Ortiz as seriously as he should have, and he paid for it here leaving himself open for an easy submission for Tito. Being a longtime Ken Shamrock fan, I've obviously never been a big Tito Ortiz fan, but even I found myself smiling upon seeing a UFC legend keep his career alive. It's nice to see atleast one veteran still with some gas left in the tank after having guys like Cro Cop and Couture break our hearts with devastating losses over the last few months.

Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman was one of the more controversial fights of the night, with many people upset by Siver's victory by unanimous decision, including the crowd who booed the decision to the high heavens. Dana White's response to the controversy? He claimed both he and Justin Beiber (who apparently was watching the fight with him) had scored all three rounds for Siver. And after all, who are we to question the all-mighty word of DA BIEBZ? Seriously though, pretty decent fight with a bullshit decision. There's no way Siver won all three rounds, two you could easily make the argument for, but Wiman most certainly atleast won the second round as he bloodied Siver with ground and pound on the mat. I was really hoping we could go atleast one PPV without a terrible decision by the judges, but no dice.

Chris Leben vs. Wanderlei Silva was another one of those heart-breaking fights that I mentioned earlier in my rundown of the Ortiz-Bader fight. I've been a fan of Leben's for awhile, but the Axe Murderer is a legend and as a former PRIDE guy I was rooting hard for him here. Unfortunately it didn't matter, because Leben knocked him out with strikes almost immediately, winning the fight in less than 30 seconds. Impressive win for Leben, but another heart-breaking loss for a former PRIDE legend.

Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber was the big main event that everyone had been anticipating for several months, myself included. Definite "big fight" feeling through all five rounds as a fight finally went to the judges again on this show. First round saw both men looking cautious, dipping and diving all over the place and trying to get in a few big swings. First round was extremely close, Faber looked like he caused more damage with the strikes he landed, but Cruz definitely landed more of his strike attempts. Second round was just as exciting and closely fought, but Cruz may have won it based on a big takedown very late in the round. The third round was just as hard to judge with Faber finally getting a hard-earned takedown only to eat some more nasty kicks from the champ. Both guys really started teeing off in the fourth round on one another but I thought Faber clearly got the better of most of their exchanges. The fifth round is probably what sealed the decision win for Cruz here as he scored several big takedowns on Faber. Faber was still in it until the very end though, getting in his fair amount of shots. Probably the best fight of the night here, and while I'm not sure I agree with the unanimous decision win for Cruz, it was clear to everyone here that this was an extremely close and hard-fought contest and a re-match down the line certainly wouldn't be out of the question. Great fight to officially cap off a really fun show.


Overall this was a really fun show from UFC and continued their unofficial annual tradition of great 4th of July weekend shows. The main event was a great fight even if it didn't clearly provide an answer as to who the better man was in my eyes, and the undercard on the PPV was full of knock-outs and submissions, as nearly every fight seemed to avoid going to the judges scorecards (which can only be a good thing). Even the prelims were worth checking out. UFC continues to deliver on PPV even with all of their roster turnaround, and this show gets another easy Thumbs Up from me.

 

[JWGunslinger]

He claimed both he and Justin Beiber (who apparently was watching the fight with him) had scored all three rounds for Siver. And after all, who are we to question the all-mighty word of DA BIEBZ? Seriously though, pretty decent fight with a bullshit decision. There's no way Siver won all three rounds, two you could easily make the argument for, but Wiman most certainly atleast won the second round as he bloodied Siver with ground and pound on the mat. I was really hoping we could go atleast one PPV without a terrible decision by the judges, but no dice.

Ok first off, Really?....Really?....Justin Beiber, really? I dont know if my respect for Dana should go down or respect for Beiber should go up since this makes it seem as though he has some level of testosterone in him. But about the decision I definitely agree with Xfear, I was rooting for Siver and I do think he won but there is no way in hell that he won all 3 rounds.

Well 8 out of 11 predictions of who would win aint bad, I was spot on with some of the outcomes and not so much on others. Who expected Tito to sub Ryan Bader? Anyone? The one thing I knew could work to Tito's advantage was Bader looking past him but I still assumed that Bader would catch him. But instead Tito pulled off an amazing victory after catching bader with a hook and sinking in a killer Guillotine. I am beyond happy for Tito, I loved seeing a legend score a win and give him self a little more time. The one negative here is I made a bet right before the fight that if tito won that I would shave my head, I lost that one >_<

Condit was my favorite win of the night, he's one of my favorite fighters, he's my pick to beat GSP if Diaz doesnt and that was an amazing knock out of a very tough guy. Kim is a game opponent and his winning streak in MMA and the UFC were very threatening but I knew Carlos would go in there and take care of buisiness. I think after this win he deserves a shot, but he wont wait til after GSP-Diaz to fight again so the logical choices that have already been mentioned are BJ and Fitch, personally I think he and Fitch would make a great fight and that is the one i'd like to see next.

Melvin had another awesome win, this in the greatest time of his career and if he keeps the momentum going he will get that title shot soon.

I was really pissed about Simpson snorefesting his way to a win over my boy Brad Tavares but he'll come back strong.

Dos Anjos surprised the hell out of me, major props to him. Sots needs to get back into the groove he was in back when he fought Joe Stevenson.

Njokuani is a beast, I love watching this guy fight. I hate Winner but props to the guy for surviving that onslaught early on.

I'm crushed that Wandi lost but i'm happy for Leben, he has more of a career left in him that Wanderlei so I suppose it's for the best. Even though he lost I would love to see Wanderlei vs Sonnen, I think it would be an epic fight with Sonnen scoring a big win over The Axe Murderer before he has to retire. Leben should fight Belfort, that would be an awesome fight, i'd pick Belfort.

Cruz vs Faber went just how I expected, woo hoo.

Overall it was an outstanding card, without a doubt best this year. Cant wait for another one like this