Holy shit. UFC 189 is going to go down as one of the greatest events in Mixed Martial Arts history. The event started off kinda boring but once Matt Brown sacrificed Tim Means to the MMA gods of yore, we were blessed with several fight of the year candidates. The UFC was banking on this event to draw new viewers in with all the advertising they did and having McGregor get as much media attention as he could and I think that it paid off very well.
From the main event of the undercard and onwards, each fight was compelling in their own way. Brown and Means battled each other out to see who has the best “hellbows” of the UFC with Brown getting the better of the two. Almeida struggled against the veteran Pickett but was able to fight back to a spectacular flying knee KO after being dragged into deep waters. Gunnar Nelson managed to outstrike the incredibly dangerous striker in Brandon Thatch and showcase his slick BJJ. Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Bermudez was a back and forth war where Stephens would manage to land a bomb on Bermudez and in turn Bermudez would use his superior grappling to bully Stephens. Ultimately, Stephens managed to time one of Bermudez’ takedown attempt into another flying knee KO.
Then we get to the co-main event. Words cannot express how wonderful this fight was. Both men took several years off each other as they battered each other with strikes and broke each others’ bones. The fight also had what is currently my favorite moment in any MMA event ever. Lawler ultimately was able to stop MacDonald by completely shattering his nose on the 5th round when he was down on the scorecards. Rory now finds himself in a similar position to where Robbie was 10 years ago. We’ll see him come back and hopefully be better than ever.
McGregor and Mendez had an incredible atmosphere to the fight as a crowd full of Irishmen cheered their fellow countryman on. McGregor managed to land several body kicks early in the first, killing of Medez’ normally incredible cardio. Mendez also struggled to through McGregor’s reach advantage but he managed to do so and land several bombs onto the Irishman’s noggin. Mendez also managed to take down MgGregor several times and did a lot of damage when he was able to keep him down. Finally, at the end of the 2nd, McGregor managed to get up after a failed guillotine/necktie attempt by Chad and secure a TKO victory with 2 seconds left in the clock.
The only question left is: WHERE YOU AT ALDO?!