Roundtables
UFC 170 Roundtable: Hansen, Ennis, Hyden, and Penick rate and review "Rousey vs. McMann" event
Feb 23, 2014 - 9:40:34 AM UFC 170 Roundtable: Hansen, Ennis, Hyden, and Penick rate and review "Rousey vs. McMann" event

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

MMATorch staff and contributors sound off on last night's UFC 170 card:

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST: (7.5)

Look. Some of you know, some of you don't, but I've been out of the loop for the last couple weeks. Other than one hastily thrown together roundtable written at 3 AM on Monday morning (hey, at least I'm honest), I haven't even though about MMA in two weeks. But even I knew that Makovsky, Sterling, Assuncao, and Davis were going to win by decision, and that Koch would win with either a straight left or a head kick in the first. It was also somewhat obvious to me that Stephen Thompson was a better fighter than Robert Whittaker, Mike Pyle had too many weapons for TJ Waldburger, Demian Maia would wear out and get picked apart by Rory MacDonald, Daniel Cormier would embarrass not only someone named Patrick Cummins, but the NSAC as well, and that Ronda Rousey would finish Sara McMann in the first round. So, despite being able to see how the card would play out, that begs two questions:

1.) Why did I totally blow chunks on Kountermove?
2.) Why did I enjoy this PPV as much as I did.

The answers:

1.) I hate money, clearly.
2.) It was a fun night of fights. Stephen Thompson's striking is an absolute treat, as is Mike Pyle's Muay Thai. Demain Maia was more effective in the first round than I thought he would be. I mentioned to Jamie throughout the week that I believed that Maia could get MacDonald down a few times, but I also thought MacDonald was angular enough to keep Maia's weight off of him, allowing MacDonald to get up quicker than most people would with Maia on them. But, with that said, if Rory MacDonald thinks he's a killer now, that just means that he overvalues the felonious nature of his jab.

Daniel Cormier vs. Patrick Cummins never should have been cleared by the commission, and this was a bigger mismatch than any UFC fight since Randy Couture vs. James Toney. Anyone, yourself included, who bought the hype for this abortion is a fool, period.

The one surprise, of course, was Ronda Rousey finishing Sara McMann in the first round. By Knockout. Knee to the liver. Early stoppage or not, Ronda Rousey now has the first knockdown in the UFC's women's bantamweight history, the fastest (T)KO finish in the division's history, as well as the fastest submisison in the division's history. She's ridiculous. Take a look at the top 15 ranked fighters in the division (per the UFC official Fan Media Rankings:


1) Cat Zingano - injured, lost two rounds to Miesha Tate.
2) Miesha Tate - Miesha Tate, enough said.
3) Alexis Davis - Struggled with a flyweight, can't finish, has no power, her strengths are dwarfed by Rousey's.
4) Sara McMann - Just lost to Rousey.
5) Jessica Eye - She's a HighFlyweight, and should REALLY look to get down to 115.
6) Sarah Kaufman - Already had her chance, failed miserably.
7) Liz Carmouche - Already had her chance, failed miserably.
8) Amanda Nunes - Maybe in a couple years.
9) Jessica Andrade - Maybe in a couple years.
10) Julianna Pena - May not fight for a couple years.
11) Germaine de Randamie - Really?
12) Bethe Correia - Really?
13) Raquel Pennington - Really?
14) Jessamyn Duke - Really?
15) Jessica Rakoczy - Really?

So look here people, here's the deal. If this PPV sells a ton, enough to prove that Ronday Rousey alone can do four to five hundred thousand buys, she's going to fight Davis or Zingano next. And after that she'll continue to fight fighters on this list of so-called contenders. However. If this does sub-300,000 buys, and if her next main event PPV (August?) tanks, she's fighting Cyborg in December or February. So, if you want to see Rousey ever be challenged, don't buy the pay-per-view.


SHAWN ENNIS, MMATORCH SENIOR COLUMNIST: (8.0)

Lots of solid, fun fights on the card tonight. It's unfortunate that the list of solid, fun fights doesn't include the top two fights on the card, but hey: these things happen in MMA.

Rory MacDonald came back in a big way and brought the violence against Demian Maia. Hopefully for him it means that he'll neglect the safe mode of fighting in the future. Stephen Thompson looked great in dispatching Robert Whittaker, and while Whittaker is no Carlos Condit, it's another quality win for Thompson, who is now 4-1 in the UFC. Mike Pyle pretty much dominated T.J. Waldburger even though he took some stiff punches on the way to winning, and it's hard to see where Waldburger fits in the welterweight division right now after his recent history of being knocked out.

The prelim fights were all solid, with Assuncao, Sterling and Makovsky looking especially impressive in victory. Gibson acquitted himself well too. As for the top two fights, neither were all that competitive, and it's hard to say how much Cormier's win actually means for his prospects at 205, but it's hard to deny how good he looked. Cormier looked spectacular and no worse for wear after the cut to light heavyweight. Rousey looked more dominant than usual, finishing the fight without even going to the ground. Good stuff from the champ.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR: (7.5)

Ronday Rousey looked fantastic, as she garnered another first round finish. This time it was by TKO, though. Maybe that will quiet some of the people who say Rousey is a one-trick pony.

Daniel Cormier looked great as well, but that was against a guy off the street. I don't want to take anything away from Cormier because he did precisely what he was supposed to do, smash a guy who had no business being in there with him. If Cormier can replicate this he could be something big in the light heavyweight division. I still would like to see him against his original opponent, Rashad Evans, before I get too excited, though.

Rory MacDonald came back strong after losing the first round to Demian Maia. It's a good win for MacDonald but he's got a ways to go before he can get that hype train back on the road. He looked really good and strong in those last two rounds. This is a solid foundation for his comeback/title run.


JAMIE PENICK, MMATORCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: (7.5)

After two straight events with ten decisions, an event with five stoppages is automatically an improvement. That four of them came on the main card is even better.

Rousey looked fantastic as always, adding in a new wrinkle to the proceedings by keeping the fight on the feet and finishing McMann there. It was a slightly questionable stoppage, but McMann went down in a heap from that liver shot.

As for Cormier-Cummins, there's just not much to say. The fight was massively one-sided from the outset, and Cormier beat Cummins up as he should have. Moving on.

Rory MacDonald had a good bounce back performance against Demian Maia, who started strong but faded late. Competitive fight between two top ten guys, and MacDonald moves back up the ladder.

Mike Pyle and Stephen Thompson each had nice wins, and Thompson's striking remains damned entertaining to watch. Wouldn't mind seeing the two of them meet down the line.

As for the prelims, I was definitely impressed by Aljamain Sterling, though there's clearly a lot of improvements that can be made before he's a viable contender at bantamweight. Raphael Assuncao likely secured his title fight in a one-sided decision, Alexis Davis may have done the same with her closer win over Jessica Eye if Cat Zingano is still hurt, and Zach Makovsky's a legit contender at flyweight as well. On Fight Pass, Erik Koch at lightweight could be excellent, and Ernest Chavez vs. Yosdenis Cedeno didn't belong in the UFC's cage.