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The date was December 30, 2012, and the big re-match between UFC Heavyweight Champion, Junior dos Santos and the man he won it from, Cain Velasquez finally occurred 13 months after they last clashed.
It was a classic. In truth, it was pretty one-sided in favour of Velasquez, but the brutal punishment Dos Santos took and the fact that he hung in there, for five rounds made for an incredible spectacle.
A big right hand rocked Dos Santos early and Velasquez never looked back, controlling the pace and unloading on his opponent, seemingly at will. Velasquez won a one-sided Unanimous Decision to become the new and two-time Heavyweight Champion.
Jim Miller beat Joe Lauzon by Unanimous Decision in a thrilling encounter. This was an all-out war and was much more closely contested than the main event. Lauzon demonstrated incredible heart to survive the first round beating he sustained from Miller to hang in there for another two rounds. Just wall to wall incredible action.
In the only stoppage win of the night, Costas Philippou beat Tim Boetsch in a bout of two halves, wherein Boetsch started the quicker and was the aggressor until a deep cut and an injured hand, sapped his ability to compete and Philippou took full advantage to finish him with a flurry of punches.
Yushin Okami bested Alan Belcher in a dull bout, also by Unanimous Decision. Belcher just could not cope with Okami's ground control and could not utilise his striking game.
The card's opening bout was a calamity. Derek Brunson defeated Chris Leben via Decision, but really this was a fight that neither man deserved to win as the crowd loudly jeered three rounds of almost total inaction as the pair did little to earn or press for a victory. Most of the encounter was spent in the clinch or on the mat. It was like watching UFC 1.
The top two fights make UFC 155 a must-see, even if the other bouts weren't much to write home about.
The show pulled an impressive 590,000 buys on pay per view.
