Nate Diaz boxes up Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 with his Stockton striking style, which is “vexing and paralyzing” for opponents who decide to stand and trade with him. Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting.

Nate Diaz’s performance Friday night (Dec. 30, 2011) at UFC 141 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a reminder of the reason(s) the Diaz brothers look often-beatable on paper, yet consistently deliver above expectations.

I’m firmly in the camp that while both of them can be decisioned, it’s going to take one hell of a fighter to make either of them openly admit they flat-out lost.

And while Diaz’ three-round, record-setting battering of Donald Cerrone doesn’t erase the memories of fights he’s lost because of better wrestlers, it’s a reminder of how vexing and paralyzing the “Stockton Style” really is. I won’t be surprised if Diaz is decisioned by the elite grapplers at lightweight, but even in the five UFC fights he’s dropped — all via decision — a similar template was followed in three.

Nate was simply held down by Joe Stevenson, Clay Guida and Dong Hyun Kim.

Alistair Overeem “hit the ball out of the park” with his Octagon debut performance, defeating Brock Lesnar via technical knockout and UFC 141 and sending him into retirement. Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting.

In a smashing Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut this past Friday (Dec. 30, 2011), Alistair Overeem introduced himself with a bang, dispatching Brock Lesnar in just 2:26 in the UFC 141 main event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the history of the game’s biggest promotion, there have rarely been bigger stages for an Octagon first-timer, and the Dutchman’s larger-than-life showing landed him a shot at heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. This was no figurative double lined into the right-center gap.

Overeem hit the ball out of the park.

There was much ground to cover for him, recognition-wise, with casual fans. Given his years of fighting in other organizations, compiling a highlight-reel list of victims, the soft-core mixed martial arts (MMA) aficionado may well have known little to nothing about him. And facing a known commodity in Lesnar, Overeem had a huge risk-reward prospect — 266 pounds’ worth — across the cage.

Equal parts patient and lethal, he dominated Lesnar with the kind of big-man fury that makes heavyweight fights an animal all their own.

Brock Lesanr (left) lost to Alistair Overeem (right) at UFC 141 on Fri., Dec. 30, 2011, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo via ESPN.com.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was back on pay-per-view this past Friday night (Dec. 30, 2011) withUFC 141: “Lesnar vs. Overeem,” featuring Alistair Overeem earning his shot at Junior dos Santos and his heavyweight title by sending Brock Lesnar into retirement with a first round technical knockout stoppage.

Nate Diaz also impressed with his three-round unanimous decision win over Donald Cerrone in a 15-minute war of attrition that resulted in everyone going home happy. That’s probably because the “Fight of the Night” bonus they earned netted them a cool $75,000.

And that’s not even mentioning Johny Hendricks, who put himself on the welterweight map with a 12-second knockout of Jon Fitch. 

In cased you missed any or all of it — or just want to keep the discussion alive — below are links to all the major storylines borne from Friday night’s event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In we go.

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Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC – Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

It was a grim tableau. Slumped against the cage after absorbing a frightful assault to the body, Brock Lesnarwore the dejected look of a fighter done with the sport. Imagine realizing your career in a given vocation was obviously something you suddenly no longer wanted to pursue, with the impetus for that decision being a public beating like the one Alistair Overeem delivered at UFC 141 this past Fri., Dec. 30, 2011, in Las Vegas. It was one of the most poignant moments you’ll see, yet painfully public at the same time.

His post-fight retirement announcement wasn’t a surprise. In moments of adversity, you find out what a fighter is about, and Lesnar handled his interview with Joe Rogan very well.

Brevity goes a long way when making an announcement that will change the short-term landscape of the sport; he’s done with MMA, and he did one hell of a lot to bump the game up to the next level in a mere eight fights, five of which were against guys who were former or current champions. He could have ranted about how he just got caught, how he wanted a rematch, and all the expected posturings that come straight from the “Beaten Fighter Playbook.”

Those are the easy sells and juicy rationalizations. But Lesnar took his medicine like a man and reminded us that life goes on outside the game, with a quality precisely defined by how much you put into it. Family is key to him and MMA simply isn’t worth the investment, especially considering his diverticulitis, which has been a recurring issue in the past two years.

His short, frank speech was a graceful exit given the tumultuous emotions he must have been feeling, and went a long way toward showing his real side, that of a family man who simultaneously accepted the need, at times, to play the heel, something he’d become proficient at during his pro wrestling days. He was certainly adept at it, sometimes pushing the envelope to strange places where the envelope seemingly ended, and unclassifiable viewer weirdness ensued.

His inimitable post-fight meltdown after battering Frank Mir into submission at UFC 100 was a Holy Trifecta of sorts, as he simultaneously offended the guy he’d just smashed, the promotion he smashed him in and a major sponsor (Bud Light) for the event he smashed him at.

In the history of the sport, there may have been no equivalent moment where a guy had the audience so ready to eat from the palm of his hand, willingly accepting him as the newly crowned champ. But Lesnar delivered a gleeful verbal smack to the face instead.

Johny Hendricks (right) brutally knocks out Jon Fitch (left) at UFC 141 on Fri., Dec. 30, 2011, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Donald Miralle/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images.

Johny Hendricks’ booming left cross gave him one heck of a career boost, as he dispatched longtime welterweight contender Jon Fitch in just 12 seconds at UFC 141 this past Fri., Dec. 30, 2011, in Las Vegas. The win elevates “Big Rig” into the elite of the 170-pound weight class, a division suddenly in flux with championGeorges St. Pierre’s knee injury and the Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit bout for the interim title.

It was a stunning end, given Fitch’s hard-earned reputation for durability. And it left the same taste in my mouth as Jake Ellenberger stopping Jake Shields did: we saw an elite welterweight get starched so quickly that we really didn’t learn a lot about the victor in what was expected to be a hard-knocks-style test of his overall game.

Quick knockouts happen in MMA, with a frequency I’ve roughly estimated at 10-15 percent. They are the kind of fights where you merely find out one guy can strike hard, but you don’t learn anything else regarding how the winner’s overall game matched up in any other phases.

That’s not to take anything away from Hendricks or Ellenberger, both of whom delivered the goods in a manner no one predicted. But I’ve always had a special place for the “step-up” fight like this, where a guy takes on a proven commodity to show if he’s got the goods to compete at the next level.

Quick endings leave me feeling like we were served dessert first, got stuffed, and were kicked out of the joint without getting a taste of the main course.

Alistair Overeem (left) delivers a powerful knee to the midsection of Brock Lesnar (right) at UFC 141 on Fri., Dec. 30, 2011 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ouch!

After receiving a devastating left kick to the mid-section from heavy hitting heavyweight Alistair Overeem last night (Dec. 30, 2011) at UFC 141: “Lesnar vs. Overeem,” the 6‘3″ 265-pound Brock Lesnar crumbled to the mat, wincing in visible pain.

Following up with a few strikes to the downed behemoth, Overeem delivered one final body blow that forced referee Mario Yamasaki to step in and save the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion from further damage in the opening frame of a scheduled five round main event.

The dominating performance not only kick-started “The Demolition Man’s” UFC career in impressive fashion; it also marked the end of Lesnar’s career with the world’s largest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion.

Contrary to the belief of the WWE’s Chris Jericho, Lesnar wasn’t simply looking for a way out by ”taking a dive.”

According to UFC President Dana White, Lesnar told him after the bout that he feels he may have suffered a broken rib, a message White passed along to reporters at the UFC 141 post-fight press conference:

UFC 141′s Alistair Overeem emerged as the next number one heavyweight contender after smashing Brock Lesnar in the main event. Photo by Esther Lin for MMA Fighting.

Looking for live UFC 141: “Lesnar vs. Overeem” results?

Sorry, you’re a little late to the party. That’s because Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) impressively completed another crowd-pleasing pay-per-view (PPV) event last night (Fri., Dec. 30, 2011), knowing that most of its young mixed martial arts (MMA) audience would be out ringing in the New Year this evening.

Fear not, because we’re here to give you a complete rundown of what you missed — or simply want to revisit — with UFC 141: “Lesnar vs. Overeem,” which came through in the clutch for the fans in attendance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and those of us who watched it remotely.

Alistair Overeem proved that his stand up skills really are as good as promised when he defeated former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar in a devastating first round technical knockout triumph, while in the co-main event, Nate Diaz put on a boxing clinic against Donald Cerrone en route to a very dominant decision win.

If you like submissions, this was not the event for you. Each and every fight was either finished by (technical) knockout or went to a judges’ decision. Indeed, there was not one solitary submission on the entire card.

After the jump, MMAmania.com reviews the highlights of the weekend that comprised UFC 141: