It was a great night of fights in Dallas this past Saturday as UFC 185 featured two championship belts changing hands and a whole lot of destruction on the undercard. Rafael dos Anjos brought lightweight champion and high flying superstar Anthony Pettis crashing back to the ground, while Joanna Jedrzejczyk proved that the 115 pound division can pack a punch as she finished strawweight champ Carla Esparza off with strikes in two rounds.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so why write any more before getting to our collection of the best photos, gifs, tweets, and videos to come out of UFC 185.
Here’s Ross Pearson’s thunderous knockout of Sam Stout which earned him a $50,000 knockout of the night – er, I mean ‘performance of the night’ bonus. Can’t be seen celebrating brain trauma, can we? No matter how awesome it may look.
@RondaRousey I take motivation from the best, specially you, hope to meet you in the future :)
— Joanna Jedrzejczyk (@joannamma) March 15, 2015
Looks like Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Ronda Rousey are members of the Mutual Admiration Society.
Two champs !!#ANDNEW #ufc #ufc185 #WelcomeToTheShow @rdosanjosmma http://t.co/PF3E51ucF0 pic.twitter.com/lCbGNzNzgg
— Joanna Jedrzejczyk (@joannamma) March 15, 2015
The two new champs get together for a snapshot. This is the first time since since UFC 92 in 2008 that two belts have changed hands at a single UFC event.
According to Rafael Dos Anjos manager, he suffered a partial tear of his MCL and hadn't wrestled for 3 weeks leading to the fight #UFC185
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) March 15, 2015
Rafael dos Anjos’ amazing performance is even more amazing when you take into account the fact that he was fighting with a partial MCL tear. My God this dos Anjos!
This stats screenshot from our friends at reddit’s MMA page should help put into perspective what a complete rout the Joanna Jedrzejczyk / Carla Esparza fight was.
So imagine this 50 times over. Except sometimes with elbows. Yeah. Not a fun night for Carla Esparza.
Right in the penis! Alistair Overeem worked Roy Nelson over for 15 minutes straight, but this is the only shot that really seemed to phase Big Country.
Which is amazing because by the end of the fight Roy’s body was looking like someone had set it on fire.
https://instagram.com/p/0PUu3-oNmH/
When your crew on point and ready to roll.
1, 2, 3… Say cheese! 😙😜#UFC185 pic.twitter.com/aPezkNg59u
— Brittney Palmer (@BrittneyPalmer) March 15, 2015
When your crew be rolling and it’s all good.
Beneil Dariush getting a leg up on Daron Cruickshank. Dariush would end up choking Cruikshank out and earning a $50,000 performance of the night bonus.
Sorry, Roger. #UFC185 pic.twitter.com/eqfT9ON71J
— The Mane Event™ (@EliasTheodorou) March 15, 2015
Not only did Elias Theodorou beat Roger Narvaez by TKO, he also broke the guy’s arm with a kick.
It wasn’t a good night for the Pettis brothers as little brother Sergio lost his prelim fight to Ryan Benoit, who classed the joint up by kicking Pettis right in the butt after the stoppage.
Congrats @RdosAnjosMMA and whole Brazil with the belt. You really deserved it. Work on your your wrestling, I am coming for the belt!!!
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) March 15, 2015
Khabib Nurmagomedov was the last guy to put the stamp on Rafael dos Anjos, and now he’s hungrier than ever for his title shot. He’ll have to get through Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in May first though.
A great pic of the new women’s strawweight champ by our favorite photographer in the sport, Esther Lin.
And one last one of Rafael dos Anjos with his family right after winning the belt. That is the smile of a truly content man.