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    Mark Palmer •

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    Ex-wrestlers Cormier, Bader winners at UFC 192

    Former Oklahoma State NCAA finalist and Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier held onto his Ultimate Fighting Championship light-heavyweight title, while Ryan Bader, three-time Pac-10 champ at Arizona State, earned a unanimous decision in his light-heavyweight bout at UFC 192 at Toyota Center in Houston Saturday night.

    Cormier earned a split-decision win over Alexander Gustafsson in the five-round headline event. Two judges scored it 48-47 and 49-46 for the champ, while the third went with Gustafsson, 48-47. It was Cormier's first defense of his title which he won back in May by submitting Anthony Johnson at UFC 187 in Las Vegas in May.

    Daniel Cormier (Photo/UFC)
    "The two men engaged in a remarkable war of wills across five grueling rounds," wrote Brian Knapp of Sherdog.com. "Cormier set the early pace, as he delivered a slam takedown -- Gustafsson was vertical at one point, his head pointed toward the mat -- in the first round. The Swede answered back, cutting Cormier near his right eye with a left hook in the second before flooring him with a knee strike and follow-up punches in the third. The champion took Gustafsson's best shots and did not blink.

    "Cormier found the inner strength and resolve to press through fatigue and considerable damage in the fourth and fifth rounds ... By the end of the bout, Gustafsson (16-4, 8-4 UFC) was suffering from severe swelling to both eyes and a nasty gash across the bridge of his nose, having failed in his second attempt to capture UFC gold."

    Cormier, who as a Cowboy lost to Cael Sanderson in the 197-pound finals at the 2001 NCAAs, is now 17-1 in his MMA career, and 6-1 in UFC, while Gustafsson fell to 16-4 overall, and 8-4 in UFC.

    In a co-main event also at 205 pounds, Bader beat former champ Evans, with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27 for the former Sun Devil. According to Sherdog.com, "Evans looked like a fighter that had not competed in 686 days. In his first appearance since 2013, the Blackzilians cornerstone was routinely beaten to the punch by his younger, fresher adversary ... Damage accumulated over time, as 'Suga' grew more desperate and less effective."

    Bader now enjoys an overall record of 20-4, 13-4 in UFC ... while Evans, who wrestled at Michigan State, is now 19-4-1 in his MMA career, and 14-4-1 in UFC.

    A third, much-anticipated welterweight match between former collegiate mat rivals Johny Hendricks and Tyron Woodley had to be scrapped because of what UFC President Dana White referred to Friday as "weight-cutting issues" for Hendricks. The former Oklahoma State two-time NCAA champ was reportedly rushed to the emergency room after suffering a kidney stone and a blockage in his intestines Thursday night as a result of his efforts to cut weight, An opponent for Woodley could not be found on such short notice, so the former University of Missouri All-American wrestler did not fight at UFC 192.

    One day before the news of the cancellation of the Hendricks-Woodley 170-pound bout, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about how wrestling is a great training ground for success in MMA, pointing out in the opening paragraphs that five of the six athletes slated to compete in the top-of-the-card matches at UFC 192 had been amateur wrestlers.
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