UFC Fight Night 95 Recap

By Muk

Last night's FS1 UFC Fight Night was a good one, as the main card in Brazil was very entertaining, as we got to see several big fights and big finishes. The final 3 fights of the main card were all worth watching, even though it was a good card top to bottom.
In the third to last fight last night, we saw a heavyweight matchup of Roy "Big Country" Nelson and Antonio "Big Foot" Silva that lived up to the hype. Big Foot and Big Country were pretty evenly striking through the first round, but just moments into round 2, Nelson caught him with a huge punch, dropping him to the canvas, where Roy then continued to land some big shots, knocking Big Foot out, but Nelson felt that referee Big John McCarthy took too long to stop the fight, so he gave McCarthy a piece of his mind, a kick in the butt, and a flip of the bird. 
Next, former 135-pound champion Renan Barao, looked to get back on the winning track as he moved up to 145 pounds to face Phillipe Nover. It was a a back and forth fight, but Barao was in clear control throughout. He secured 3 takedowns and landed more strikes, in route to a Unanimous Decision victory after 3 rounds. 
Finally our main event featured the always entertaining Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino who took on UFC newcomer Lina Lansberg, in a 140-pound catchweight bout. This fight didn't go exactly as expected, solely for the reason that Cyborg allowed Lina to survive the first round, but that's about all she allowed her to do - survive. Cyborg dominated every single second of the fight, landing 104 significant strikes, compared to Lina's 0 significant strikes. Lansberg only ATTEMPTED 17 strikes, and had cage control during the fight for all of 18 seconds. She did not belong in the octagon with Cyborg, but then again, most women don't. Lina may have a bright future in the UFC, but we did not see any of it Saturday night. Cyborg should not ever have to fight at 140 pounds, and the UFC's own Joe Rogan took to twitter post-fight to talk about how the UFC needs to add more female weight classes, let Cyborg be a true champion, and let the sport and divisions continue to grow. While all that is still seemingly far off, the hope is that it is sooner than later.