Articles

UFC 178 Had A Bit Of Everything (Including Bullshit)

Articles


UFC 178 was one of the best cards we’ve had in a while. From Manny’s come-from-behind victory and Nick Diaz-esque calling out of Brian Caraway, to Mighty Mouse once again proving why he’s one of the best P4P fighters in MMA, and all the craziness in between, there’s nobody complaining  after this stacked card (Except Tim Kennedy, who has a pretty valid point…)




In case you missed it, here are some highlights from the night.

The evening started off with Manny Gamburyan getting kicked in the junk a couple of times then recovering to pull off a submission victory over Cody Gibson with 4 seconds left in the second round. He called Ronda Rousey over to stand next to him in his post-fight interview with Rogan, and then Manny proceeded to call out Brian Caraway saying he doesn’t care if Brian wins or loses his next fight, he wants to fight him no matter what. “Where you at, Caraway? Don’t be scared, homie.” Classic.

Dominik Cruz is finally back, and he’s looking as good as ever. He made quick and brutal work of Mizugaki, and it’s hard to argue against the former champ getting a title shot ASAP.

Also making a comeback after a long layover is Cat Zingano, who many people believe is Ronda’s last remaining threat in the UFC. Cat had 17 months off after dealing with an injury and some personal struggles. It took her a few moments to get going, but she managed to finish Amanda Nunes in the 3rd round.

Tim Kennedy vs Yoel Romero got the nod for fight of the night, which is a bit weird but it was exciting as hell none the less. Backstage, Kennedy was yelling at Romero about how it’s bullshit that the fight wasn’t stopped when Romero wasn’t getting off of his stool to start the next round. That seemed to really take Kennedy out of his game, he came so close to finishing it and Romero was visibly wobbled and his cornermen did a world-class job of stalling to buy those extra few precious seconds which ended up being enough for Romero to turn the tides and to put an end to Kennedy’s title crusade (At least for now.)

There were some polls earlier in the week and Poirier vs McGregor was hands-down the fight that most people were most excited for. Love him or hate him, everyone wanted to see how Conor would handle a really tough test like the #5 ranked Dustin Poirier and frankly Conor McGregor made it look easy. That’s it, we can finally stop calling it hype. There’s no hype, Conor McGregor is the real deal. He’s been saying for a while that he’ll finish Poirier in the first round, and he did just that.

Cowboy Cerrone vs Eddie Alvarez was a really exciting and highly anticipated matchup. You can bet Dana was rooting for UFC-staple Cerrone over former Bellator champ Alvarez, and it paid off. There was a point in the first round where Eddie landed at least a dozen unanswered shots in the clinch, and that’s the point where cowboy said “Not today.” Cerrone kept working kick after kick to Alvarez’ leg and it finally gave in. It was interesting that Cowboy went to the ground after knocking down Alvarez with leg kicks, rather than stepping back and forcing Eddit to get stood up again to continue the onslaught of leg kicks, and Cerrone confessed during the internet that he was really tired at that point. Perhaps one of the weirdest things we saw tonight was Cowboy without that killer-get-a-finish-instinct.

This brings us to our main event, Demetrious Johnson vs Chris Cariaso. After such a stacked card, a Mighty Mouse fight is just icing on the cake. As you’d expect, DJ put on a clinic against the #8 ranked Cariaso. He’s just miles ahead of the rest of the division, he’s cleaned it out, yet he still looks better each time we see him.

It was a stellar night of fights, perhaps one of the best top-to-bottom cards in a year or two, with only minimal bullshit. There were come-from-behind victories, there were comebacks of former champs and number 1 contenders overcoming ring rust, there was Stoolgate, knockouts, submissions… everything an MMA fan could ask for.

 


Page 1 of 1: