The three stars of 'UFC 185: Pettis vs. dos Anjos' in Dallas

Ryan Benoit

The UFC plans to stage 45 events in 2015, and during that time, hundreds of fighters will enter and exit the octagon.

While pre-fight hype is an enjoyable aspect of the sport, it’s ultimately the in-cage performances that speak most to fans. For the majority of fighters, the opportunity to present their skills to the world only comes along a few times per year.

A total of 24 fighters got the chance on Saturday as part of UFC 185 at Dallas’ American Airlines Center.

The organization’s second pay-per-view in a 14-day period featured not one, but two title changes, which means there was no shortage of drama and competitive action in Texas.

Now that UFC 185 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

* * * *

After he spent about six minutes as Sergio Pettis’ (12-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) personal punching bag, Ryan Benoit (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) showed why MMA is so beautifully unpredictable with a come-from-behind knockout of the highly touted prospect.

Benoit was getting chewed up and spit out by Pettis’ striking early in the fight. Right as he appeared to hit an insurmountable deficit, one punch changed everything as Benoit knocked down Pettis and finished the fight with strikes on the ground.

It was the highlight of Benoit’s career, but it was tarnished a bit when he foolishly decided to kick Pettis in his rear end after the stoppage.

Despite the unsportsmanlike move, Benoit was quick to apologize to both Pettis and fight fans, which pleased UFC officials. Despite that gaffe, Benoit upset a notable name to put himself on the radar at 125 pounds.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) diverse offensive skillset was the key difference-maker in a second-round TKO win over Carla Esparza (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) to capture the UFC women’s strawweight championship.

The title fight pitted striker against grappler, and that’s exactly how it played out. Every time Jedrzejczyk stuffed a takedown, her confidence swelled while Esparza’s fizzled. It was clear a victory was within reach after just a few minutes of action, and by the second round, Jedrzejczyk found her range and finished the job.

Esparza is a talented fighter who will forever have a place in the record books as the UFC’s first 115-pound champion, but her one-dimensional performance was underwhelming for such a high-level contest.

Much of the blame for that can be placed on Jedrzejczyk, though. She completely nullified Esparza’s game, just like she said she would, and emerged as just the third European-born champion in UFC history and the first since August 2005.

Arguably the most surprising result of UFC 185 came in the final bout of the night when Rafael dos Anjos (24-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC) utterly dominated Anthony Pettis (18-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) to win the UFC lightweight championship.

Dos Anjos was a considerable betting underdog going into the fight, but it didn’t seem to affect his confidence. He was willing to take risks in the biggest fight of his life, and that ultimately paid off in the form of a completely one-sided title fight in which he won every round on all three judges’ scorecards.

The Brazilian’s progress since a crushing 2008 defeat to Jeremy Stephens in his UFC debut is undeniable. Dos Anjos has added high-quality striking to an already extremely efficient skill set on the ground. He showed a little bit of everything against Pettis and wore down “Showtime” with body kicks and dominated on the ground when needed.

Dos Anjos started his UFC career with a pedestrian 4-4 record, but since then, he’s won nine of 10 bouts. With wins over three of the best lightweights in recent UFC history (Pettis, Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone), dos Anjos is working his way toward becoming the 155-pound fighter in UFC history. The length and success of his title reign will determine exactly where he fits in that discussion.

For more on UFC 185, check out the UFC Events section of the site.