UFC 142: Rio Aldo vs. Mendes

UFC 142: Rio Aldo vs. Mendes
January 14, 2012

Review
The UFC returns to Rio with the main event, Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes. First, the other fights on the card were a mix. Edson Barboza showed some impressive skills in his defeat of Terry Etim. His knockout is one of the best knockouts in a while. The kick was clean and Etim tightened up and fell straight back like a board. Erick Silva, in his second UFC fight, stopped the fight against Carlo Prater even faster than his first. Sadly, it was negated by a controversial disqualification for illegal blows to the head. Despite the DQ, Silva still looked dominate in the short seconds of the fight. Rousimar Palhares had a great leglock submission victory against Mike Massenzio. The quickness of how Palhares pulling guard and finishing the submission was technical magic. Anthony "Rumble" Johnson was unable to make weight for his fight against Vitor Belfort. As disappointing as that fact is, his performance in the fight proved to be even worse. Belfort took advantage of Johnson's poor conditioning and ended the fight with a rear naked choke, while Johnson was too tired to do anything to defend himself. Finally, Jose Aldo, who is considered to be one of the best pound for pound fighters in MMA, knocked out Chad Mendes. Mendes had his back and when Aldo escaped, got a knee into Mendes' head. The finish was at the 4:59 mark of the first round. Only disappointment was the short length of the main event. The crowd was insane in the building as Aldo celebrated. There were a couple of highlight knockouts and an impressive submission in UFC 142. The finishes were great and overshadowed the disappointed disqualification and poor showing of Anthony Johnson. There have been better UFC events and worse UFC events.
6.5/10
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