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#1
Dana White took a ton of grief for having Rousey as the Main Event and Hendo/Machida as the Co-Main and the decision to do so could not have turned out better. If people filed out of the Honda Center in Anaheim after watching Hendo/Machida they would of left with a bad taste in their mouth and remembering exactly why it was they stopped watching boxing in the first place. You could have replaced the Octagon cage with a boxing ring and thrown some boxing gloves on Hendo and Machida and the result would of been the exact same.
Machida is the MMA version of Floyd Mayweather(minus the personality and monster paydays) as he is simply just faster than all his opponents and truly turns counter punching into an art. Problem is that style if he isn't landing an insane front kick leads to boring decision wins. Just when you thought Ronda couldn't receive any more hype, she turns in an amazing performance and sends the fans home saying WOW!
The only thing that could of made this card more beneficial for the UFC is if it was on FOX. Instead of 400k watching it could have been 5-8 million and the UFC would of without a doubt left the event with a ton of new fans as well as a new demographic of fans with women everywhere tuning in. Instead, they are left hoping that word of mouth spreads and the next time Ronda headlines that their will be a significant bump in buys. I'm guessing Dana was worried about Ronda being the Main Event on Fox and submitting Carmouche in 20 seconds leaving everyone wondering why they would dish out $55 in the future for 20 seconds of action. Unfortunately he will only be left with what ifs as it may be years before Ronda is ever tested like that again.
The biggest winners on the card were Faber, Lawler and Kenny Robertson. Kenny Robertson was almost assured of getting cut win or lose but with his SOTN that was truly amazing to watch, he may have bought himself another fight in UFC and if not at least he gets a nice 50k parting gift. Lawler after getting grinded against the fence for most of the first was able to in typical Lawler fashion land that big blow and in what to most seemed to be a quick stoppage, he made a statement in his return to the UFC. I think his next fight should be against Court Mcgee, as their styles would make for an amazing battle. Court always pushes the pace and has a granite chin and I would love to see Lawler land a clean shot on Court and test that chin. Let's do it Joe Silva.
Perhaps the biggest winner on the card was Faber as he was able to put his name back in the mix for a title shot by winning and doing so in impressive fashion. It really comes down to exactly when Cruz will be back as a Faber/Barao match up again so soon doesn't make any sense. I think a Faber/McDonald fight is really the only fight to make in that division right now and one I would love to see as a Co-Main on any card. Bottom line is Barao is gonna wait for Cruz and he has earned the right to wait as long as it takes for him to get healthy after dominating everyone else in the top five of that division. My guess is Faber/McDonald happens and the winner gets the winner of Cruz/Barao.
I guess you would also have to count Machida as a winner as well regardless of how boring it was since Dana has announced he will now fight Jones for the title. I'm not sure who really wants to see Jones/Machida again but it looks like that's what we're gonna get. I'd be much more intrigued to see Gustafsson or Cormier against Jones but it looks like those match ups will have to wait.
To be honest if a Jon Jones/Anderson Silva fight was ever gonna happen, late this summer would be as good a time as any. With nobody dying to see Machida/Jones again and with Anderson not too interested in fighting Weidman, the timing for this fight will never be better than this summer. Jones should exit the Sonnen fight without any serious damage so an August or September match up honestly makes a ton of sense here, one can dream right.
The big losers are Dan Henderson, Koscheck and anyone losing on the under card. With impending cuts, all the losers on the under card outside of maybe Grice and Johnson are almost assured to receive their pink slip sometime this week. Grice did exactly what Dana asked and fought his A$$ off so I find it hard to believe White would cut anyone after giving that kind of effort. Lavar Johnson I think gets one more fight and I'm hoping Struve beats Hunt next week so we can see a Hunt/Johnson match up that will sure to be a crown pleaser.
Koscheck may be on his way out of the UFC after back to back losses and the fact that he is one of the highest paid athletes on the roster isn't gonna help his case. My gut is that Dana will give him one more fight as he has shown a soft spot in the past for anyone on the first season of TUF(e.g. Chris Leben) and a match up with Ty Woodley or Jake Shields seems to make sense although Shields/Kos is sure to be a snoozefest.
Henderson's biggest problem now is father time After this latest loss he is probably two fights away from a title shot and at 42 the chances of him ever fighting for a title again are slim to none. I would love to see Henderson/Glover, but with Glover already booked against Bader, I'm hoping that if Cormier beats Mir, he'll drop and face Hendo. It's a win win for everyone because Cormier will become a household name if he beats Hendo and winning that fight would set up Jones/Cormier perfectly.
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