UFC Fight Night 89: MacDonald vs. Thompson: Reviews and Results

UFC's return to Canada was a great night of MMA action and all fights delivered. Canadian 'Face of MMA' Rory MacDonald was involved in a highly cerebral and technical main-event against surging welterweight Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson, while the co-main event was a terrific contest between maverick Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone and Canada's own Patrick 'The Predator' Cote.

The main card begun with a striking war between former strawweight fighters Joanne Calderwood and former title challenger Valerie Letourneau, in UFC's first-ever female flyweight bout. While the fight went back and forth for almost 3 rounds, 'Jo Jo' clearly had the upper hand for the most part and finished Valerie in the final round with a front kick to the body and punches followed.

Rising Canadian lightweight Olivier Aubin-Mercier registered yet another submission win as he took out Thibault Gouti with a submission in round 3, after a closely contested bout till then. What then followed was a 3-round war between former Ice Hockey enforcer Steve Bosse and former football player Sean O'Connell in the Light Heavyweight division. Both men thre everything, including the kitchen sink at each other, with Bosse even getting dropped in the first round.

The Canadian managed to survive though and ended up winning the fight on judges' scorecards. The scoring for the fight was a bit peculiar as the goings-on was a lot closer than what the final scoreline suggested. 

The co-main event was all Donald Cerrone, who in his second welterweight outing in a row, put on a show as he took out and finished the uber-tough veteran in Patrick Cote. Cote was totally outclassed on the feet by 'Cowboy' who landed three knockdowns on the Canadian, finishing him in the 3rd round.

The main event was nothing short of a chess match, as both Thompson and MacDonald battled for the right cage position, with Thompson's speed, movement, and timing not letting the prodigal Canadian to get into a rhythm. In what was a clear-cut victory, Thompson got the better of Rory on the feet and stayed out od danger when the proceedings did hit the ground.

In the end, 'Wonderboy' earned a huge win over his former training partner and no.1 ranked welterweight contender in the UFC and positioned himself for a shot at the title, currently held by Robbie Lawler.

Full results:

Main card (FOX Sports 1 now)
Stephen Thompson def. Rory MacDonald by unanimous decision
Donald Cerrone def. Patrick Cote via third-round TKO (2:35)
Steve Bosse def. Sean O'Connell via unanimous decision 
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Thibault Gouti via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 2:28)
Joanne Calderwood def. Valerie Letourneau via third-round TKO (2:51) 

Undercard 
Jason Saggo def. Leandro Silva via split decision 
Misha Cirkunov def. Ion Cutelaba via submission (arm triangle) (R3, 1:22)
Krzysztof Jotko def. Tamdan McCrory via first-round TKO (0:59) 
Joe Soto def. Chris Beal via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 3:39)
Elias Theodorou def. Sam Alvey via unanimous decision 
Randa Markos def. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger via UD 
Colby Covington def. Jonathan Meunier via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, :54)
Ali Bagautinov def. Geane Herrera via unanimous decision