On July 11th, 2015, the UFC held it’s 189th pay-per-view event and to many fans, it still holds up as one of the best cards in the promotion’s history. Two flying-knee knockouts, arguably the greatest title-fight of all time and the prelude to the coronation of a star that would change the landscape of mixed martial arts, UFC 189 is undoubtedly still a landmark event for the promotion.
Admittedly, the event was slow to ignite as fans were ‘treated’ to preliminary cards that featured five out of six fights going to the judges’ scorecards, with none of the bouts being particularly engaging.
For fans looking back on this event, it is somewhat amusing to see former UFC Bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt appear in the opener of the preliminary card. Garbrandt’s unanimous decision victory over Henry Briones was only his second fight under the UFC banner before he would go on to dethrone Dominick Cruz for the Bantamweight crown 18 months later.
The final fight on the prelims would prove to be the first crack of thunder before an electrifying main card as Welterweight fan-favourite Matt Brown scored the only finish of the preliminary cards with a first-round guillotine choke submission of Tim Means. Brown began the finishing sequence with a well-placed elbow in the clinch, before adding another as Means broke away from the exchange, causing Means to shoot for a takedown. Brown would sprawl and defend the attempt before wrenching in the choke for the tap.
The main card opened with what can only be described as the epitome of a ‘fan-friendly’ fight between veteran Brad Pickett and at-the-time unbeaten prospect Thomas Almeida. Pickett got the better of the early goings, slipping many of Almeida’s punches and he would drop his opponent with the first real exchange of the fight, the undefeated Brazilian missing with an uppercut and being met with a left hook for his troubles.
Pickett would try to take advantage of a shaken Almeida with a takedown as he got back to his feet, but Almeida was able to defend with his back to the cage. Almeida was knocked down again however, being caught with a vicious knee while trying to escape the grappling of the grizzled Brit.
Almeida would recover thanks to a heel-hook attempt that caused Pickett to retreat and just over a minute later, he would drop his opponent with a stiff right elbow that would have put many other fighters out cold. Both men would end the opening frame trading vicious strikes on the feet.
The second round would last only thirty seconds as Pickett went for a flying knee, that was avoided by Almeida, before the prospect would immediately respond with the same technique, catching the Englishman flush on the chin causing referee John McCarthy to stop the fight.
The second fight on the main card was a Welterweight matchup between Brandon Thatch and Gunnar Nelson. The early stages of the first round were spent with both men feeling each other out in the fight, Thatch being the aggressor more often than not, trying to exploit Nelson’s low guard.
One of the more humorous points of the night was made by Joe Rogan on commentary, noting the large ovation that Gunnar Nelson received by the travelling Irish fans for simply being a training partner of Conor McGregor, despite being from Reykjavík, Iceland.
Nelson would rock Thatch with a slick jab-straight combination, putting the American on his back and allowing Nelson to initiate his elite groundwork; he would immediately pass guard and get into full mount on Thatch, who desperately tried to work his body out from under his opponent while also trying to guard any ground-and-pound. The American would give up his back to avoid Nelson’s strikes but would be pulled back into a body triangle and eventually a rear-naked-choke that caused him to tap out, three minutes into the opening round.
The final non-title bout of the night was a catchweight bout between Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Bermudez, originally meant to take place at Welterweight but Stephens had weighed in over the limit.
Stephens and Bermudez would continue the frenetic pace that the rest of the main card had built up. A clash of heads between the two fighters would leave Stephens with a bad cut over his right eye early on in the first round. Much of the opening frame was spent with ‘The Menace’ pressuring Stephens towards the cage, looking to initiate his wrestling, an area where he was perceived to have the advantage going into the fight.
Bermudez landed a takedown and spent much of the first on top of Stephens, shooting for submission attempts and coming up empty. After Stephens managed to escape, he did well in dragging his opponent into a brawl, a style in which he was more than comfortable in.
Stephens frustrated Bermudez throughout the second round with vicious leg kicks to his opponent’s lead leg, stuffing any takedown attempts that came his way and generally dictating the terms of the fight. This allowed him to demonstrate his superior punching power, as he would drop Bermudez multiple times in the second round and turn the tide of the fight in his favour.
The finish would come thirty seconds into the third and final round as Stephens would catch an advancing Bermudez with the second flying knee finish of the night, following up with punches to secure the TKO victory.
The fight was an easy choice for Fight of the Night, perhaps even Fight of the Year, but it was outdone by the very next matchup on the card.
In the semi-main event, Robbie Lawler defended his UFC Welterweight Championship against Rory MacDonald, in what would be the second meeting between the two fighters after Lawler edged out a split decision victory at UFC 167.
The fight would start off tentatively, with both men respecting each other’s power, neither man overextending nor taking significant risks. MacDonald was the more active of the two fighters in the opening round, finding early success with repeated front kicks to the body of the champion.
The front kicks from ‘The Red King’ served to open up other options as Lawler began to prioritize blocking and anticipating that one technique, a prime example of this being a swift head kick by MacDonald halfway through the second round.
With two minutes to go in the second, the fight began to kick into gear with both fighters landing combinations and the challenger’s nose being badly bloodied. Both men ended the second frame with a vicious exchange, landing stiff shots but neither fighter looking staggered.
Much of the third round was highlighted by the surprising patience showed by the champion with the nickname ‘Ruthless’, Lawler staying behind his southpaw jab, landing two-punch combinations when MacDonald opened up and executing an impressive sprawl against a takedown attempt and landing punishing blows on the ground, leaving ‘The Red King’ sporting a crimson mask.
Towards the end of the third, however, MacDonald began to regain a strong foothold in the fight, landing multiple head kicks to the champion across the round, staggering him. This led to an incredible final thirty seconds, the challenger blasting Lawler with knees and elbows up against the cage, with Lawler clearly still hurt going back to his corner after the horn.
The fourth round would begin exactly how the third ended, MacDonald landing another head kick and backing Lawler up against the cage. The opening minute of the round was one-way traffic, the challenger landing multiple elbows in the clinch and trying to repeat his success with the roundhouse using his back leg. Lawler would begin to recover but would be left with a disgusting torn lip following an exchange in the clinch.
One of the most iconic images in MMA history would occur at the end of the fourth as after the horn, Lawler defiantly spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor of the octagon and both men stared each other down, to a standing ovation from the crowd in Las Vegas.
To any fans at the time that were watching this fight and worrying about another contentious decision on the judges’ scorecards, that fear was put to rest a minute into the fifth and final round, Lawler landing a straight left hand that caused the challenger to crumble. It wasn’t a violent or stunning end but a powerful reminder of the damage that a fighter will accumulate in the pursuit of greatness, MacDonald’s body simply giving out and not being able to take any more punishment.
Somehow, for the fans in attendance at the MGM Grand, there was still one more fight to be decided, the interim UFC Featherweight Championship pitting Chad Mendes against an ascending Conor McGregor. The main event was originally scheduled to be McGregor taking on Jose Aldo in a bitter grudge match for the UFC Featherweight Championship but after Aldo had to pull out of the event injured, the UFC elected to crown an interim champion while he recovered.
If the atmosphere in the arena wasn’t already at a fever pitch, the walkouts for both fighters, featuring live performances by Aaron Lewis and Sinead O’Connor, set the stage perfectly for what was about to come.
Going into this fight, many were intrigued to see how McGregor would match up against Mendes, as the consensus was that McGregor had not faced any elite wrestlers in his path to title contention. This notion looked to have some weight as early as ten seconds into the fight as McGregor immediately rushed in with a spinning back kick and was then taken down following an attempt at a flying knee.
McGregor would recover quickly and predictably, get the better of the standing exchanges, peppering Mendes with body kicks, which left the American flat-footed and breathing heavily. Mendes would score another takedown with under three minutes left in round one, but ‘The Notorious’ was able to escape while Mendes was trying to pass his guard.
The Irishman would again use his reach advantage to control the fight on the feet, but Mendes would wrestle him to the ground once more, this time transitioning quickly from full guard to half guard and then to a mounted crucifix. McGregor would attempt to sprawl unsuccessfully and would be kept on the ground for the remainder of the round.
Mendes would again take McGregor to the floor early in the second, raining down elbows on a cut over the right eye that Conor suffered in the previous round. Mendes would stay in McGregor’s guard for almost the entire round, eventually trying to mount and then execute a guillotine choke, which allowed McGregor to escape with forty seconds on the clock in the second frame.
McGregor would thwart a takedown attempt by ‘Money’ and begin to land combinations, Mendes’ lack of movement leaving him a target. McGregor would complete a stunning knockout with a straight-left hook combination that floored Mendes and snatched the victory after being dominated for the entire round, this win setting up the infamous clash between Aldo and McGregor in December later that year.
The main event billing and presentation, combined with the eventual knockout of Aldo to become the undisputed UFC Featherweight Champion, propelled McGregor into being the face of the sport and gave mixed martial arts a cultural icon that they may never replicate. UFC 189 will forever be significant as it is arguably the true beginning of McGregor’s dominance over the sport both inside and outside of the octagon.
The Inbound Observer 