UFC 142

Lore & Background

The event featured preliminary fights live on Sportsnet and FX. Several bouts were altered due to withdrawals: Siyar Bahadurzada pulled out and was replaced by Carlo Prater against Erick Silva; Rob Broughton pulled out and was replaced by Gabriel Gonzaga against Ednaldo Oliveira; Paulo Thiago pulled out due to injury and was replaced by Ricardo Funch against Mike Pyle; Stanislav Nedkov withdrew due to visa problems and was replaced by Caio Magalhaes against Fabio Maldonado, but Maldonado was injured less than a week before the fight and the bout was scratched. At the weigh-ins, Anthony Johnson failed to make the middleweight limit, coming in 11 pounds over the 186 lb allowance; he was fined 20 percent of his earnings and the bout was contested at a catchweight of 197 lb. Vitor Belfort requested that Johnson not weigh more than 205 lb on fight day; the UFC mandated that if Johnson could not make that limit, the bout would be cancelled. Johnson officially weighed in at 204.2 lb on fight day, and the bout took place as scheduled.

In Their Own Story

The Prudential Center hummed with a low, electric tension as the arena lights dimmed. You could smell the antiseptic sharpness of the walkway, the rubber of the cage floor, the faint metallic tang of the steel posts. In the corner, a 36-year-old man with a shaved head and a jaw like weathered granite rolled his shoulders, eyes locked on the octagon. Across the cage, in the opposite corner, a 24-year-old stretched his arms above his head, his shadow stretching long across the mat. The announcer's voice crackled through the speakers, and the crowd noise swelled into a wall of sound that you felt in your sternum before you heard it. The bell rang. Two men walked toward each other across eight feet of canvas, and for four rounds the only thing that mattered was the next strike, the next breath, the next decision. Then the referee's hands came up, and the sound in the building changed from anticipation to something raw and uncontainable.

Reader's Guide

The following fighters received $65,000 bonuses: Fight of the Night: Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim; Submission of the Night: Rousimar Palhares; Knockout of the Night: Edson Barboza.

Did You Know?

• UFC 142 was the first UFC event of 2012.
• Anthony Johnson weighed 204.2 lb on fight day after missing weight by 11 pounds at the official weigh-in.
• Edson Barboza won both Fight of the Night and Knockout of the Night for his bout with Terry Etim.