2013 Event of the Year : UFC 166 ‘Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III’

A great card, by my definition, is one which is strong on paper and delivers in practice. In 2013, there were many great cards but one stood out above all the others. The clear winner of HOV-MMA/FightBoothMMA card of the year is UFC 166 which was held in the Toyota centre in Houston, Texas, USA on October 19th.

Headlining the card was the fight billed as the culmination of the greatest trilogy in UFC history for the heavyweight title between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos. As we now know, Velasquez put on a magnificent clinic of violence to not only retain his title, but lay claim to being the greatest heavyweight in the history of MMA after proving beyond any doubt he is currently the king. After an intriguing first two rounds, Cardio Cain took over and demolished the former-champion, ending it in the last round.

That was followed by the only damp squib of the thirteen fight card which saw Roy Nelson outpointed by Daniel Cormier in the Olympians last fight at heavyweight.

The third fight of the night, well, wont be forgotten any time soon. It’s my pick for fight of the year and had Joe Rogan exclaiming “This is the new greatest fight ever”. It was fought out between Mexican-American lightweight firebrands Diego Sanchez and Gilbert Melendez. It was a rip roaring contest from the very start with both men throwing with reckless abandon. The final round is the most amazing five minutes in the history of combat. Go and watch it right now! Diego got badly BADLY cut and still threw heavy leather. He even dropped Gil’ and almost had him finished. Amazing fight.

Of the remaining ten fights, seven were finishes. The three that went to decision were all tremendous close fights, the pick of which was Jessica Eye defeating Sarah Kaufman. Throw in the debut of Touchy Fili, Hector Lombard’s demolition of Nate Marquardt, one of the KO’s of the year from John Dodson, Tony Ferguson’s d’arce choke and there really is no debate.

Hands down, UFC 166 is event of the year.