UFC 141 RESULTS: Alistair Overeem Debuts in UFC and Retires Brock Lesnar – 12/30/11

UFC 141: LESNAR VS OVEREEM was held Friday, December 30, 2011, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card aired live on PPV.

In the EPIC main event, former Strikeforce and DREAM heavyweight champion Alistair “The Reem” Overeem played the role of Grim Reaper in his UFC debut. Overeem collected the MMA soul of Brock Lesnar with a series of knees and kicks to the body. After getting stung by a nasty liver kick, Lesnar dropped to a knee in pain, a reminder of the multi-year battle he recently fought with diverticulitis. Overeem finished Lesnar with punches to the head. In his post-fight interview, Lesnar, already a millionaire from his days as a WWE superstar, announced his retirement from the UFC.

In the co-main event, Nate Diaz put a Stockton-style beatdown on Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Diaz successfully got into Cerrone’s head before this fight with trash talking and swatting off Cerrone’s signature cowboy hat at the weigh-ins. Since the Diaz brothers are angry by nature, they are able to fight emotionally and yet remain technical. Cerrone, on the other hand, strayed away from his technical acumen with anger and attempted to trade with Diaz at the expense of defending himself. This resulted in Cerrone getting clearly outpointed by Diaz’s machine gun striking style.

Johny “Big Rig” Hendricks blasted former UFC welterweight title contender Jon Fitch in a mere 12 seconds with a lethal left hook. In 15 career fights, Fitch had only ever lost once – and it was to UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre by a 5-round decision. Although Hendricks wasn’t even the biggest underdog on this fight card, from a career-changing perspective, this is one of the biggest upsets of the year in MMA. Fitch has been a perennial title contender for most of his UFC career. Now Johny Hendricks has officially arrived!

Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson continued his ascent up the UFC ranks with a first-round TKO victory over veteran fighter Vladimir “The Janitor” Matyushenko. Gustafsson will likely get a Top 10 light heavyweight in his next fight.

The first 6 fights on the card all went the distance. Jimy “The Kid” Hettes, Ross “The Real Deal” Pearson, Danny “Last Call” Castillo, Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim, Jacob “Christmas” Volkmann and Diego “The Gun” Nunes earned decision wins, respectively, over Nam Phan, Junior Assuncao, Anthony “The Assassin” Njokuani, Sean Pierson, Efrain Escudero and Manny “The Anvil” Gamburyan.

Updated MMA win-loss records with total fight time in brackets.

UD = Unanimous | SD = Split Decision | SUB = Submission

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone

KO OF THE NIGHT: Johny Hendricks over Jon Fitch

QUICKEST WIN: Johny Hendricks over Jon Fitch in 12 seconds

BIGGEST UPSET: Nate Diaz (+255) over Donald Cerrone

BIGGEST WINNER:) Alistair Overeem

BIGGEST LOSER:( Brock Lesnar

UFC 141 Madman Roundtable Results:

2011 MADMAN LEADERBOARD

UFC fights ONLY.

*DANGER* of being released from UFC due to loss.