UFC 209: Tyron Woodley wins narrow, controversial decision over Stephen Thompson

LAS VEGAS – There were a slew of great storylines at UFC 209 Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

Alistair Overeem knocked out Mark Hunt, despite spending much of Thursday night and Friday morning battling a case of food poisoning. He needed to get an IV, and first had to get a therapeutic use exemption to avoid running afoul of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s rules against IV usage. Still, it was touch-and-go he would be able to fight, and then he went out and put on a terrific performance.

“If I would have felt this morning the way I did [Friday], I wouldn’t have been able to compete,” Overeem said.

Darren Elkins completed one of the most incredible comebacks in UFC history when he roared back in the third to stop Mirsad Bektic in a come-from-behind win that might rank only behind Anderson Silva’s middleweight title-saving win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 117.

The main event, though, wasn’t an all-timer. Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson had fought to a draw in their bout for the welterweight title on Nov. 12 in New York and it was an entertaining, competitive and back-and-forth battle.

But on Saturday, Woodley won a majority decision in a desultory fight in which the crowd booed lustily and frequently chanted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Woodley didn’t rush in because he knew Thompson was dangerous with kicks and had he rushed in, it could have been trouble for him. He said the worst thing to do would have been to rush in like a bulldozer.

“I had to respect his style,” Woodley said.

It will go down in history along with other championship fight duds like Tim Sylvia-Andrei Arlovski, Tito Ortiz-Vladimir Matyushenko and Anderson Silva-Thales Leites as among the least-exciting the company has ever staged.

The only serious action of the fight came in the final 30 seconds when Woodley landed a straight right hand that dumped Thompson. Woodley pounced on him and went for the finish, and referee John McCarthy was watching carefully, prepared to stop it.

But little happened in the fight and Woodley was unable to land the punch or two he needed to make it a definitive finish.

UFC president Dana White wasn’t thrilled with the fight, but he said the fighters did what they thought they needed to do in order to win.

“Listen man, it’s easy to sit in your seats, drinks some beers, eat some popcorn and boo people,” White said. “But they’re not in there fighting Tyron Woodley or Wonderboy. A lot was at stake and these guys, you know, fought the way they felt they needed to, to win.”

Both men, though, were wary of the other and never engaged. Woodley circled relentlessly, keeping his back against the cage and not often venturing to the center. Thompson stalked, but threw surprisingly few punches and didn’t cut off the cage.

The result was a dull fight that was looked even worse given the hotly anticipated interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov was canceled when Nurmagomedov was hospitalized when he turned ill during his weight cut.

That bout was arguably the best fight the UFC could have made, and there was great disappointment when it was dropped from the card.

And it looked worse when Woodley and Thompson failed to deliver a satisfying main event. Derek Cleary and Chris Lee each had it 48-47 for Woodley, while Sal D’Amato scored it 47-47. Yahoo Sports had it a draw, scoring it 48-48.

“A top-notch, A-plus judge should be able to discern [a winner] through the scoring criteria even if it’s razor-thin,” said Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission. “Does a 10-10 [score in a round] come up? Yes, but in the three years I’ve been executive director, we haven’t had a 10-10.”

D’Amato scored the fifth round 10-8 in favor of Woodley. That made it a majority decision for Woodley instead of a split, but Bennett said it was “unacceptable.”

Woodley said the fight was closer than the first match between them. Thompson said he felt he won and was surprised when he heard the scores read.

“I’m disappointed, man,” Thompson said. “I worked my whole life to get here. I thought I won, but you can’t live it in the judges’ eyes. That’s on me.”

Woodley was hoping to parlay an impressive victory over Thompson, an elite kickboxer, into a big money fight. But he did himself no favors on Saturday, fighting cautiously and not firing his trademark overhand right.

Thompson, though, was just as guilty as Woodley for the lack of action. He has the best variety of kicks in the business, but rarely used them, content it seemed to follow Woodley in circles around the cage.

There were numerous compelling bouts on the cards, including Elkins’ dramatic Bektic in the third round of their featherweight bout.

Bektic absolutely pummeled Elkins for two-and-a-half rounds and was on the verge of a win several times, as blood poured from several wounds on Elkins’ face. But Elkins fought back and ended the match with a kick to the face, as the crowd roared.

It is one of the best come-from-behind wins in UFC history.

Overeem kept himself relevant in the heavyweight division, stopping Hunt with a vicious knee in the second, a win made more impressive by overcoming his illness. And Teymur’s win over Vannata was sensational and rightly called the Fight of the Night.

But the main event, after a promising bout in November, fell flat.

“When I was out doing a radio tour for this fight, I said, ‘We’ve all seen the first fight. How can this fight not be good?’ ” White said. “I guess it doesn’t matter what happens in the first fight.”

It did matter to Woodley, who said it is difficult to forget the first fight and the little things that went on.

That, he said, played a role in the slow match the second time around.

“When you fight someone for the second time it’s like a chess match,” he said. “You don’t want to give up anything. I knew that his game plan was going to be to keep it on the outside and not let me get in close, because that’s where I do the most damage and he did a great job.

“He made it very hard to get it in close. He was countering well, he’s really light on his feet. It wasn’t the most exciting fight like you guys were used to the last time. Sometimes chess is move by move.”