I was definitely wrong on this card being a snoozer. A few fights went as expected, but there was some more fun stuff all over.
I thought the Fight Pass prelims weren't great at all, though I missed the first fight. Breese/Strickland was pretty boring.
I thought Cacares looked awesome. Got a little sloppy in round 3, but he basically toyed with a pretty decent fighter in Cole Miller for over 10 minutes. After TUF I would have never though "Bruce Leeroy" would still around the UFC, much less actually develop into a pretty good fighter. He'll never be a champ, but he's fun to watch and has improved so, so much.
Andrade looked great, just trashed Penne. She could be a really big thread at 115.
Good wins for Dariush and Ortega. I'm still trying to figure out exactly where to place this guys in their divisions, I'd like to see fights against very established guys next so that we can put things in perspective. I know Guida's established, but he's a bit of a shell of his former self.
Poirer looked great. This was really a fight I had no clue on, so I'm glad he had a good finish.
I think I mentioned before hand that while everyone was big on Lombard over Henderson, I thought it would be a much closer fight. I just haven't been sold on Lombard in the UFC, he's looked consistently poor. Big muscles and big record fighting cans in other promotions might win over fans online, but it's certainly not helping him win fights. Just an awesome KO by Henderson too. It would be great if he called it a career now, but he must look at Bisping winning the belt and wondering if he could still put 2 or 3 wins together and get in the mix.
Holloway did the expected, not much to add here. If Conor isn't at 145 next, then the next shot is his. Very interested to see how he does against Edgar or Aldo.
Speaking of expected, Cruz took care of Faber rather easily. That should bring an end to that rivalry. I think there's a better chance that Faber retires and makes amends with Dillashaw than there is he actually fights him.
As for Bisping, what can you say? I don't know anyone who picked Bisping, or even gave him a chance. There were some rumors floating last week that he really was in the best shape of his life because of this short camp and had added some muscle because he didn't have so many long sessions. I have no idea what to attribute it to, but it was nice to see him win that title. The weird thing is.. I don't mind the matchup with Jacare that much for him if that's what's next. I like it better than Weidman or Rockhold. It will be interesting what they do.
Great night of fights when you add the announcements on there. Obviously the Helwani news got some people worked up, but I don't really care about that kind of stuff. The MMA community has always had this weird energy about caring way too much about other people's jobs.. whether it's fighter pay, journalist credentials, whatever. I don't know where it all comes from, I guess it's the years of MMA being a second-level sport has given everyone a complex.
