HYDEN’S TAKE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 205 from McGregor to Romero to Woodley

UFC 205 was this past weekend. Let’s see if it delivered.

GOOD/BAD: Miesha Tate vs. Raquel Pennington

I have this listed as both GOOD and BAD because Pennington fought a smart fight as she dueled with Tate, but the actual fight was kind of lacking. It was fine and solid, but it just wasn’t all that great. Pennington won the decision and Tate announced her retirement immediately afterwards. That’s surprising to say the least, but maybe she’s been contemplating this for a long time? I’m sure she’s got plenty of other things she wants to do in her life and I hope she enjoys retirement. As for Pennington, this was a good win for her.

GOOD: Yoel Romero stops Chris Weidman

Things were back and forth for the first two rounds. In the third round, things were again pretty tight until Romero blasted Weidman with a huge knee that ended things. Weidman was coming in for a takedown and got wrecked. This was a huge win for Romero, and a big setback for Weidman. I still would favor Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza over Romero to get the next title shot, but I certainly couldn’t argue with Romero getting the next title shot. I just hope the fight takes place soon, so whoever doesn’t get the title shot can fight the winner.

GOOD: Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Joanna was just too quick and landed way more shot over these five rounds. She peppered Kowalkiewicz with jabs, straights, hooks, and kicks. Kowalkiewicz never seemed to truly be in danger, but she sure took a beating. She almost was able to stop Jedrzejczyk in the fourth round, but she couldn’t put her away. This was a striking clinic put on by Jedrzejczyk, with just a tremendous volume of strikes being landed by her. This was a really good fight and I don’t know who’s going to be able to beat Jedrzejczyk, she throws so many punches and is so incredibly fast, she’s a handful for anyone. Big win for her.

GOOD: Stephen Thompson vs. Tyron Woodley

This fight ended in a majority draw, which is disappointing for obvious reasons as you would always prefer to see a clear decision. It was pretty good, and clearly really close. Woodley almost stopped Thompson in the fourth round, but Thompson was able to escape. Woodley gave Thompson plenty of respect for his striking, but did have some good success of his own, dropping Thompson and showing his power. This is one of those times where I’d be in favor of an immediate rematch. I just think that this fight was so close that you could easily go that way. I suppose it just depends on the overall health of both fights coming out of this fight and if other contenders in the division jump out as more deserving.

GREAT: Conor McGregor stops Eddie Alvarez

This was amazing. McGregor dropped Alvarez twice in the first round. That’s impressive enough, as Alvarez had only been stopped once before this fight. Then, in the second round, McGregor ended things with some more vicious striking to become the new UFC Lightweight Champion, along with his UFC Featherweight Championship. So now he’s a two division champion in the UFC. That’s just incredible. This is unprecedented stuff. And McGregor did this against an ultra-tough guy in Eddie Alvarez. He didn’t luck into this title.

This is great stuff, and a historic moment in MMA. He was already the biggest star in MMA, and this only makes McGregor bigger. This is so impressive.

The question now becomes which belt does McGregor keep? He’s earned the right to keep both belts for a short time, but then he has to decide which one to give up. McGregor has also mentioned wanting to take some time, as he’s expecting a child with his girlfriend, and wants an ownership stake in the UFC to return. I don’t know about all that, but he’s certainly got a case for it. If anyone has ever been worthy of such a thing, it’s definitely McGregor. He’s done incredible things for the UFC and made them a lot of money. And I don’t know if this will happen or not, but I would imagine that UFC 205 will break the pay-per-view buyrate record for the UFC, which was previously set by McGregor-Diaz 2 at UFC 202, which broke the record set by Diaz-McGregor at UFC 196.

So it’s likley that McGregor’s last three fights have all set new highmarks for PPV buyrates, smashing the record set in the halcyon days where Brock Lesnar was a UFC champion. It almost sounds insane to say this, but this event could come close to, or surpass, two million buys. That would be an unbelievable mark. And if this event does pass two million buys, how do you say no to McGregor? At the same time, though, how does the UFC give one fighter that much? I don’t know what’s going to happen, but both sides are likely to be firmly entrenched in their demands and it’s going to take some cool heads to get all this figured out. That’s for the future, though. As for this event itself, it’ll go down in history as a great card with an amazing finish. It’s safe to say, it definitely delivered.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS HYDEN’S TAKE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 163 and UFC Fight Night 98 – Ferguson shows he deserves the next Lightweight Title shot