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This Weekend in Fights! (December 29th, 2012) was a very special New Year’s weekend that started on Saturday night with UFC 155, and continued to New Years Eve with DREAM 18/Glory 4, IGL Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye and Cage Warriors 51 Monday night.

UFC 155 kicked off this weekend at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in  Las Vegas, Nevada. The Heavyweight championship rematch 13-months in the making took place at former Heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez challenged the man who knocked him out the 64-seconds, Junior Dos Santos. The bout would last longer this around, a whole 23:56 longer, as Velasquez would take Dos Santos the distance. The bout was a very lopsided beatdown, after Velasquez landed a huge right hand that kept Dos Santos staggered throughout the remaining four rounds. A combination of heavy hands, wrestling and relentlessness is what gave Velasquez the judges nod 50-45, 50-43, and 50-44 in a unanimous decision victory to regain the UFC Heavyweight title.

The UFC 155 Fight of the Night honors went the the three round war between Joe Lauzon and Jim Miller. A standup battle between two submission experts would render Lauzon a bloody mess. Miller rushed Lauzon in the the first round with an assault of punches and elbows causing the cut.  Sporting a crimson mask Lauzon mounted a comeback in the second round, but unable able to finish. Down two rounds Lauzon attempted a leglock submission in the third, but with Miller still undamaged it was too late. Miller won a unanimous decision 29-28 on all three judges score cards.

The “Submission of the Night” and “Knockout of the Night” honors both took place on the Facebook prelims of the card. John Moraga weather the standup battle in the first two rounds to submit Chris Cariaso in the third. Moraga pushed Cariaso against the fence, and was able to slap on a standing guillotine forcing Cariaso to tap 72-seconds into the final frame. Todd Duffee returned to UFC in explosive fashion. Duffee went back-and-forth with Philip De Fries in the opening minute of the round, but Duffee’s heavy hands rendered De Fries up against the cage, where Duffee landed a huge uppercut to end the bout.

Chris Weidman’s Serra Longo teammate Constantinos Philippou replaced him and knocked Tim Boetsch off of his Middleweight championship dreams with a third round TKO. Philippou is now riding a five fight win streak, and hands Boetsch his first loss at Middleweight.

Yushin Okami dominated Alan Belcher for three rounds to pick up the unanimous decision victory. STRIKEFORCE veteran Derek Brunson made his successful UFC debut with a unanimous decision victory over the returning Chris Leben. Eddie Wineland and Brad Pickett went to war for three rounds with Wineland landing more significant strikes and picking up the split decision. In another three round war Jamie Varner defeated Melvin Guillard in a split decision. (Full UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II event results below.)

The return of DREAM with their 18th event combined the Glory 4 Heavyweight Kickboxing Super Grand Prix was the mega card of all cards this new years eve weekend. The event emanated from the Saitama Arena in Saitama, Japan airing live on the Fight Network, and on tape delay on CBS Sports. On the DREAM MMA bouts portion of the card, the Featherweight main event of Tatsuya Kawajiri versus Michihiro Omigawa was a lopsided victory for Kawajiri. Kawajiri took Omigawa down with ease, passed guard and delivering ground and pound throughout all three rounds. In both the second and third round Kawajiri attempted an arm triangle submission but both attempts were cut short by the sound of the bell, but the performance earned Kawajiri a unanimous decision.

DREAM Lightweight champion Shinya Aoki forced Antonio McKee to verbal submit after he landed a huge right hook to cause McKee to tap immediately. In the first round Aoki was able to take down the American wrestler and enrage him in the process. The second round was the end of the bout which champion by submission but uncharacteristically of Aoki as it came with the right hook as opposed to his signature grappling.

Bibiano Fernandes submitted Yoshiro Maeda in the first round, after Fernandes took Maeda down, attempted a rear-naked choke, but transitioned into a beautiful triangle choke. Maeda attempted to escape, but sunk the submission tighter in the process to force the tap.

Melvin Manhoef made  Denis Kang pay for engaging early in there bout. Manhoef landed a devastating knee to the body sending Kang crashing dow to the mat end the bout immediately. Manhoef ends 2012 undefeated with four victories. As expected Marloes Coenen forced Fiona Muxlow to tap in the first round. Coenen clinched Muxlow and delivered a series of knees. She then transition into a triangle choke, but switched to an arm bar to submit Muxlow with ease.

Glory 4 held a 16-man Heavyweight Kickboxing Super Grand Prix with the winner fighting four times in one night. With two unanimous decisions, a TKO and a knockout Semmy Schilt won the  Super Grand Prix and  $400, 000. The multi-time K-1 kickboxing champion added another accolade to his already impressive resume at 39-years-old with victories over Brice Guidon, Rico Verhoeven, Gokhan Saki, and finally Daniel Ghita in the finals. Ghita defeated Fabiano Aoki in the opening round, Mourad Bouzidi in the quarterfinals and Jamal Ben Saddick in the semifinals, before being dropped by Schilt in the finals. Schilt landed a huge head kick, that was partially blocked, but after the referee started the count he could see that Ghita was still on dream street, and called a halt to the action. Ghita earned $100,000 for advancing into the finals. (Full Dream 18 & Glory 4 event results below.)

Pro Wrestling Legend Antonio Inoki’s “Inoki Genome Federation” or IGF held Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2012 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan on new year’s eve. The card was a mix of combat sports with four MMA bouts, one Kickboxing bout, and five Pro-Wrestling matches. In the MMA portion of the card Satoshi Ishii toppled Tim Sylvia over three round to earn a unanimous decision victory. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic returned to MMA and submitted  debuting sumo and pro wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa in 78-seconds with an arm bar. Minowaman submitted Bor Bratovz with a heelhook mid way through the first round, and Rolles Gracie submitted Yusuke Kawaguchi with an arm-triangle choke in two minutes.

The main event of the card was a pro wrestling bout pitting Kazuyuki Fujita versus Naoya Ogawa. Unlike American pro wrestling bouts these are semi shoot with legitimate style finishes. Fujita defeated Naoya Ogawabouts with a “TKO” at the eight and a half minute mark. Two tag team matches were held with Atsushi Sawada & Hideki Suzuki defeating  Ray Sefo & Hiromi Amada when  Suzuki had Amada in a arm capture german suplex hold. The other pitting Kendo Kashin & Shogun Okamoto versus Bob Sapp & Erik Hammer. Kashin would pick up the victory with a crap hold on Bob Sapp. Akira Joh won his seventh 10 bout Toukon series match against Kotaro Nasu with a  single-leg crab. Finally in the kickboxing bout of the evening Prince Ali defeated  Kakutani Masayoshi in under two minutes via TKO. (Full IGF: Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2012 event results below.)

Cage Warriors 51 took place at the The Helix in Dublin, Ireland on new years eve night. Current Cage Warriors Featherweight champion Conor McGregor squared off against Ivan Buchinger for the vacant lightweight title. McGregor made short work of Buchinger with a first round knockout to become a double champ[ion in the promotion. TUF Alumni Jesse Taylor submitted Chris Fields with a rear-naked choke in the second round to become the new Cage Warriors Middleweight champion. (Full Cage Warriors 51 event results below.)

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Saturday Night Fights-

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UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2 results:

Cain Velasquez def. Junior dos Santos via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-43, 50-44) – to win heavyweight title

Jim Miller def. Joe Lauzon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Constantinos Philippou def. Tim Boetsch via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 2:11

Yushin Okami def. Alan Belcher via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Derek Brunson def. Chris Leben via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

FX prelims:

Eddie Wineland def. Brad Pickett via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)

Erik Perez def. Byron Bloodworth via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 3:50

Jamie Varner def. Melvin Guillard via split decision (30-27, 27-30, 30-27)

Myles Jury def. Michael Johnson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Facebook prelims:

Todd Duffee def. Philp De Fries via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:04

Max Holloway def. Leonard Garcia via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

John Moraga def. Chris Cariaso via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 1:11

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Monday Night Fights -

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DREAM 18/Glory 4 results:

Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Michihiro Omigawa via unanimous decision

Shinya Aoki def. Antonio McKee via Verbal Submission (Punch) -0:24- Round 2

Bibiano Fernandes def. Yoshiro Maeda via Submission (Triangle Choke) – 1:46 -Round 1

Melvin Manhoef def. Denis Kang via KO (Knee to Body) – 0:50 – Round 1

Hayato Sakurai def. Phil Baroni via unanimous decision

Georgi Karakhanyan def. Hiroyuki Takaya via split decision

Will Brooks def. Satoru Kitaoka via TKO (Punches) – 3:46 – Round 1

Marloes Coenen def. Fiona Muxlow via Submission – 3:29 – Round 1

GLORY 4 Kickboxing Heavyweight Grand Slam Tournament:

Opening Round:

Semmy Schilt def.  Brice Guidon via KO – Round 2

Rico Verhoeven def. Sergei Kharitonov via unanimous decision

Gokhan Saki def.  Raomoru via TKO – Round 1

Anderson “Braddock” Silva def. Igor Jurkovic via TKO – Round 1

Remy Bonjasky def. Filip Verlinden via split decision

Jamal Ben Saddick def. Errol Zimmerman unanimous decision

Mourad Bouzidi def. Peter Aerts via TKO (Injury) – Round 1

Daniel Ghita def. Fabiano Aoki via unanimous decision

Quarterfinals:

Semmy Schilt def. Rico Verhoeven via unanimous decision

Gokhan Saki def. Anderson “Braddock” Silva via KO – Round 1

Jamal Ben Saddick def. Remy Bonjasky via unanimous decision

Daniel Ghita def. Mourad Bouzidi via TKO (Injury) – Round 2

Semifinals:

Semmy Schilt def. Gokhan Saki via unanimous decision

Daniel Ghita def. Jamal Ben Saddick via KO – Round 1

Finals:

Semmy Schilt def. Daniel Ghita via TKO – Round 1 - wins Glory kickboxing Heavyweight Grand Slam Tournament

GLORY Kickboxing Super Fights:

Robin van Roosmalen def. Yuichiro Nagashima via unanimous decision

Jerome Le Banner def.  Koichi Pettas via KO (Punch) – Round 3

Jason Wilnis def. Toshio Matsumoto via unanimous decision

Mutsuki Ebata def. San Che Kim via unanimous decision

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IGF Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2012 results:

IGF MMA Bouts:

Satoshi Ishii def. Tim Sylvia via unanimous decision

Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic def. Shinichi Suzukawa via submission (arm bar) – 1:18 – Round 1

Ikuhisa Minowa def. Bor Bratovz via submission (heelhook) – 3:18 – Round 1

Rolles Gracie def. Yusuke Kawaguchi via submission (arm-triangle choke) – 2:00 – Round 1

IGF Pro Wrestling Bouts:

Kazuyuki Fujita def. Naoya Ogawa via TKO (referee stoppage) – 8:27

Atsushi Sawada & Hideki Suzuki def.  Ray Sefo & Hiromi Amada via submission (Suzuki over Amada via arm capture german suplex hold) – 15:20

Kendo Kashin & Shogun Okamoto def. Bob Sapp & Erik Hammer via submission (Kashin over Sapp via crab hold) – 4:28

Masked Genome Jr. def.  Kouhaku Kamen via submission (octopus hold) – 4:47

Akira Joh 10 Bout Toukon Series (Bout 7):Akira Joh def. Kotaro Nasu submission  single-leg crab) – 6:47

IGF Kickboxing Bout:
Prince Ali def. Kakutani Masayoshi via TKO – 1:43 – Round

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Cage Warriors 51 results:

Conor McGregor def. Ivan Buchinger via KO (punch) – Round 1, 3:40  - captures vacant lightweight title

Jesse Taylor def. Chris Fields via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 1:09  - to become new middleweight champ

Katia Kankannpaa def. Aisling Daly via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Jack Mason def. Florent Betorangal via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-27)

Paul Redmond def. Ryan Roddy via submission (toehold) – Round 2, 2:14

Prelims:

James Brum def. Moktar Benkaci via unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-28

Tommy Quinn def. Philip Mulpeter vs. via majority decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29)

Henry Fadipe def. Charlie Watts  via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:09