MMA

Three stars of UFC on Fox 6

Feb 1, 2013, 10:23 PM | Updated: 10:24 pm

1. Anthony Pettis

With one perfectly placed liver on Donald Cerrone, “Showtime” forced his back onto the top of the UFC Lightweight rankings. The former WEC champion’s performance was almost video game-esque. Right out of the gate, Pettis showed everyone why the man with the most famous highlight in all of MMA hadn’t even began to show what was left in his arsenal. After throwing a ridiculous cartwheel kick that was less than a foot from becoming the most stellar knockout in UFC history, Pettis followed it up with what has since been dubbed the “Showtime Knee” that caught everyone, including Cerrone, completely by surprise. This was easily Pettis’ most dominant and most important victory since joining the UFC and after having his hand raised made it clear he was coming for the winner of UFC on FOX 7’s lightweight title fight between UFC champion Benson Henderson and Strikeforce import Gilbert Melendez.

2. Ryan Bader

To say The Power MMA Show’s own Ryan Bader made quick work of UFC legend Vladimir Matyushenko would be an understatement. Not only did the former Ultimate Fighter winner secure the first submission victory in his UFC career, but he also broke the record for fastest submission victory in UFC light heavyweight division history. After dropping Matyushenko with strong left hook, Bader secured the victory with an incredibly impressive arm-cross guillotine just 50 seconds into the first round. Becoming the first man to submit the “The Janitor” secured Bader the Submission of the Night and, more important than that, got him back into the winner’s circle after his knockout loss to Lyoto Machida back in August. A matchup against another MMA veteran in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua or the winner the James Te-Huna-Ryan Jimmo in February could make sense for Bader’s next fight. But with a baby on the way, fans of the former ASU wrestling All-American might have to wait a little while before seeing Bader back in the octagon.

3. Ricardo Lamas

With UFC Featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo scheduled to defend his title against the former UFC Lightweight champion Frankie Edgar this Saturday, Ricardo Lamas knew he had to make splash in his matchup against former number-one contender Erik Koch if he wanted to have his name thrown into the title mix. Utilizing his suffocating ground-and-pound, “The Bully” turned Koch’s face into a crimson mess on his face to a dominating TKO victory. This win gives Lamas four in a row, which is more than enough to make a case for being the new number one contender. With so many marquee matchups on both the preliminary and main card bouts this fight between two dominant featherweights came in as the most overlooked fight last Saturday. Nobody is overlooking Lamas anymore, so let’s just hope he takes advantage of the spotlight.

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