I'm late to the party, just saw the card yesterday as I was fighting off food poisoning on Saturday But damn it was a classic card from top to bottom.
Ben Henderson looked like a champion in there against Edgar. I really do think that upkick at the end of Round 2 put Edgar on queer street and affected him for the rest of the fight. I don't think many other LWs could've eaten that kick and kept fighting as hard as Edgar did though. I do hope he stays at LW though, there are still a ton of exciting fights with him there and I think not having to cut a ton of weight helps with his style of fighting. Edgar is a beast and I think he'll be back in title contention very soon.
I can't wait to see Bendo fight Anthony Pettis again. That is going to be another FOTN. I was sad to see Pettis drop Joe Lauzon like that because I'm a Lauzon fan, but Pettis throws kicks that are dangerous and beautiful at the same time. It's crazy to have two TKD fighters at the top of a division. MMA is really starting to become more diverse style-wise.
I was also sad to see Rampage lose to Bader, but it's not like Rampage didn't try. IMO, he was more active than he's been in a while, throwing kicks, slamming his opponent, standing in front of him and trying to bang, etc. Rampage loves Japan and he did his best to put on a good show.
How about Mark Hunt? He's on a 3-fight win streak and he looks a lot better than he did in Pride. His KO power is ridiculous and that counter that he dropped Kongo with earlier in the round was timed perfectly. I'd love to see him fight another kickboxer like Barry or Overeem. I'd even love to see how he fares against JDS with that steel chin and amazing KO power.
The only fight I didn't necessarily agree with was the Shields/Akiyama fight. I had Akiyama winning rounds 1 & 2 and I also thought he should've lost a point in round 3 which would've made it a draw on my card. I'll have to go back and watch it again but I really hope Akiyama doesn't get cut.
I also hope Okami doesn't get cut, I was sad to see him get finished in the last round after winning the first two.