TBT: UFC 166 and Northern California’s Big Night (in Houston)

After a week without UFC action, we look back at UFC 166 and one of the biggest MMA events to be held in Houston.

Next week, the outspoken Sean Strickland and the electric Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez will take the stage in Houston, Texas.

But let’s go back to October 19, 2013.

The UFC headed to the Toyota Center (the same venue they will visit again next Saturday) and they brought a showcase of gargantuan proportions to the Lone Star State. But it wasn’t just the iconic heavyweight trilogy that made the event notable, it was also the fact that the UFC had paired Velasquez not only with his San Jose teammate, but with another man responsible for making Northern California an MMA hotbed in the 2010s.

Official poster for #UFC166 pic.twitter.com/DjZQIjcvrL

— UFC (@ufc) August 7, 2013

In the main event, then-heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez looked unstoppable after a 12-1 run in which he strangled the likes of Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ben Rothwell and others on his way to promotion as the next generation MMA heavyweight. Opposite him that night: Junior dos Santos, the Brazilian knockout machine who had carved his own path of destruction through the division with victories over Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir, Mark Hunt and others.

To top it off, the two had shared a few fights, with Dos Santos knocking out Velasquez in 2011 during the UFC’s highly promoted debut on the FOX Network. About a year later, and after both wins in the interim, Velasquez evened the score with a five-round dismantling that handed the Brazilian his first UFC loss. With both again achieving impressive victories, the two were evenly matched for the last time.

In the run-up to the fight, the two had taken the usual media tour of the local market. As has now become tradition, Velasquez and Dos Santos visited the NBA’s Houston Rockets, where they met (hilarious) with multiple All Stars Dwight Howard and James Harden. Nowadays, it has become a tradition for the UFC to visit the Rockets before events many fighters after attending matches before their events took over the venue.

The fight itself was sublime for a trilogy. After one-sided victories on both sides, the third was the most competitive and went the distance. Heavy damage was done, no pun intended, with the improvement in Dos Santos’ stamina compared to the second fight being the biggest adjustment. That said, the result was never in doubt as the faster Velasquez was just one step ahead of Dos Santos with a more comprehensive attack to secure victory and the trilogy.

Although we didn’t know it yet, it would be one of the last moments of triumph for Velasquez as injuries would take him out of action for two years afterward and he would subsequently lose the title to Fabricio Werdum in his next fight. He then split a few fights, beating Travis Browne at UFC 200 before suffering more injuries that kept him out of action until his last UFC appearance in 2019, where he lost to Francis Ngannou.

But that night wasn’t Velasquez’s alone. In the co-main event, his longtime friend and American Kickboxing Academy teammate Daniel Cormier began building his own Hall of Fame legacy. “DC” had won the Strikeforce Grand Prix as an alternate and taken his Olympic wrestling pedigree to the UFC. At the time, Cormier had not yet moved down to light heavyweight and this evening he faced a hard-fought veteran in Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson. Cormier was victorious by unanimous decision in what would be his last heavyweight fight for five years. He wouldn’t move up in weight again until 2018, when he became a two-division champion by defeating Stipe Miocic with a first-round knockout.

RT if you spent most of your Monday morning talking about #UFC166. We’re still raving about it at UFC HQ! pic.twitter.com/Onsv1Vl8x3

— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2013

While the event is now remembered for the success of the American Kickboxing Academy, it would be remiss not to recognize another Northern California product that delivered that evening. The longtime veteran of Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Stockton, about an hour and a half drive from AKA in San Jose, Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez put up one of the best battles in lightweight history. As a champion in Strikeforce and the WEC, Melendez found a willing dance partner The ultimate fighter Season one winner Diego Sanchez, who added to his own legacy of great Octagon battles.

From the first round the two were engaged in a back and forth war with the two left bloodied and battered by the final bell. For Melendez, it was the stamp on his UFC run that gave him a lot of momentum after dropping a fight against then-champ Benson Henderson in his promotional debut. For Sanchez, it was another war to add to his collection, which also saw him fight Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson and more in his storied career. But Melendez was the one to take home the victory, which also earned him a second chance at UFC gold. He would have a five-round effort against champion Anthony Pettis after the two were coached The ultimate fighter.

Other notable facts:

Future interim champion Tony Ferguson bounced back from his first UFC loss with a win over Mike Rio at the event that started a twelve-fight win streak that included winning the interim title on his way to becoming one of the most popular stars of the past decade.

In the first fight of the evening, current UFC flyweight contender Kyoji Horiguchi made his promotional debut against Dustin Prague after being a champion at Shooto in his native Japan. Horiguchi would post a 7-1 record in the UFC, with his only loss coming to longtime champion Demetrious Johnson in 2015. Horiguchi left the UFC in 2017 while on a three-fight win streak to return to Japan to fight at RIZIN, where he would become their Bantamweight Champion and also win the Bellator title in the same division. He returned to the UFC this past year and is back in title contention as a flyweight.

The event featured four fighters who had or would receive a UFC title: Velasquez, Dos Santos, Cormier and Ferguson.

The event featured six former or future UFC title challengers: Melendez, Sanchez, Horiguchi, Gabriel Gonzaga, John Dodson and Nate Marquart.

After UFC 166, five more UFC pay-per-views (now “Numbered Events”) were held in Houston: 192, 247, 262, 265 and 271

The UFC signed a multi-event partnership agreement with the Toyota Center in 2021. Texas was one of the first states to allow arena events again, as large crowds were slow to return after the 2020 pandemic and the state saw the UFC bring several events to Houston.

This Saturday’s Fight Night will be the first UFC event in Houston since UFC 271 in 2022, headlined by the middleweight title rematch between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker.