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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Renan Barao, from Brazil, celebrates his winning the Interim Bantamweight Championship over Urijah Faber of California during UFC 149 in Calgary, Alberta, Saturday, July 21, 2012.
Sunday, July 22, 2012 | midnight
UFC 149: Fan favorite Faber falls
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KSNV coverage of Urijah Faber's loss to Renan Barao, July 21, 2012.
Brazil can now lay claim to producing more current UFC champions than any other country.
Renan Barao became the fourth Brazilian titleholder Saturday night by capturing the interim bantamweight championship at UFC 149 in Calgary, Alberta. Barao put on a dominant, though some felt unspectacular, performance in a unanimous-decision victory (50-45, 49-46, 49-46) over Urijah Faber.
“Barao looked like a beast and dominated one of the best,” UFC President Dana White said. “If you were booing Faber-Barao, you’re not an MMA fan.”
Oh, but the majority of the 16,089 fans in the sold-out Saddledome were doing more than booing. By the end of a pay-per-view card that saw four of five fights go to decision and several bouts produce no significant action, the crowd was chanting expletives and “refund.”
They were particularly upset with the middleweight co-main event, which saw Tim Boetsch score a controversial split-decision victory (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) over UFC newcomer Hector Lombard. The fight contained almost no excitement, but most figured Lombard did enough to win at least two of three rounds.
But it wasn’t meant to be as Lombard’s 20-fight win streak snapped in his first octagon appearance.
“I was glad to give him his first loss, though I wasn’t too thrilled with how things went,” Boetsch said.
Neither was White, who made it no secret that he was unsatisfied with the card overall. Although he disagreed with the fans on Barao’s fight, he echoed their criticism for the rest of the main card and called it “justified.”
“We can count on one hand how many times a UFC has (stunk),” White said. “Tonight is one more finger on the hand.”
But there won’t be any refunds.
Check below for full results from the rest of the UFC 149 card.
In an uneventful heavyweight affair, Cheick Kongo pulled off a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 30-28) against Shawn Jordan. Both fighters were tentative to engage, but Kongo landed more strikes.
James Head pulled off a major upset in a welterweight bout on the main card. Head utilized his wrestling advantage to defeat Brian Ebersole, who was previously undefeated in the UFC, by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29).
Matt Riddle submitted Chris Clements at 2:02 of the third round in their welterweight bout. After mostly getting the better of Clements for 12 minutes, Riddle locked in a standing arm-triangle choke for the victory.
Nick Ring managed to eke out another victory in a close rematch with Court McGee. Ring beat McGee by unanimous decision with all three judges awarding the Calgary local the first two rounds.
Francisco Rivera knocked out Roland Delorme at 4:19 of the first round in their featherweight bout. Rivera has won two in a row upon the UFC granting him a second chance in the promotion.
With one punch, Ryan Jimmo nabbed his first UFC win and put himself in the record book for one of the fastest knockouts of all-time. Jimmo knocked out Anthony Perosh seven seconds into their light heavyweight fight with an overhand right.
It took some perseverance, but "The Ultimate Fighter" 14 alum Bryan Caraway got past Mitch Gagnon in a bantamweight bout. Caraway submitted Gagnon with a rear-naked choke at 1:39 of the third round, after a slow start.
Antonio Carvalho was the biggest underdog on the preliminary card, but he stopped Daniel Pineda in short order. Carvalho knocked out Pineda with a right hand at 1:11 of the first round.
Anton Kuivanen defeated Mitch Clarke by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) in a lightweight bout to open the card. Clarke took the first round with his grappling, but faded from there.
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
Stop paying for the over-priced pay per view and tickets and then see what White has to say. Its about the money not about the quality of what they are selling!
The prelims on FX packed more excitement than the PPV. That Jimmo KO was was unreal!