UFC 202 was this past weekend, and it was a great show. Let’s get to the rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly once again… or in this cage, the good and the great.
GOOD: Tim Means stops Sabah Homasi
Homasi showed great toughness, but Means was just beating the hell out of him the whole fight. He opened him up with numerous cuts to the face and just kept blasting away until the fight was stopped in the second round. This was a bloody and violent win for Means. It was painful to watch Homasi getting beaten the way he was, much less endure it. Nice win for Means and I hope Homasi wasn’t injured too badly.
GOOD: Mike Perry stops Hyun Gyu Lim
Perry showed good power as he dropped Lim a few times before the ref finally stopped things. Very good debut for Perry, as he adds to the depth at welterweight.
GOOD: Donald Cerrone stops Rick Story
Cerrone’s combinations were pinpoint precision in this fight. They were on-target and devastating. Story is a tough guy, and Cerrone took it to him. I know he called for a title shot at lightweight, but Cerrone is making waves at welterweight. I don’t know what the future holds for him, but a title shot looks to be in his future regardless of what weight it comes at. When Cerrone fights like this, he’s extremely hard to beat.
GREAT: Anthony “Rumble” Johnson stops Glover Teixiera
Rumble caught Teixieira with a huge uppercut and about sent him to the moon, ending the fight in 13 seconds. That’s nuts. The power Rumble has is unbelievable. Teixiera is a tough guy. Anyone can get caught at anytime, but Teixiera has taken strikes from Jon Jones and survived. To get knocked loopy so early is nuts. Rumble vs. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier should be a good fight. It’ll be interesting to see what Johnson changes and what he’s learned from his first fight with Cormier. This was great.
GREAT: Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz
McGregor came out early and was landing some really hard leg kicks. He followed that up with a handful of knockdowns so you knew things were getting crazy. Diaz, though, came back in the third round and started punishing McGregor. This heated things up even further. Diaz was on McGregor and things started looking like their first fight. However, in an incredible display, McGregor came roaring back in the fourth round and they were trading shots and punishing each other. And the fifth round was more of the same. It was an incredible fight. The drama and tension is what really ratcheted it up for me.
McGregor won the majority decision. I haven’t rewatched the fight, so maybe I would change my mind, but I thought McGregor won rounds 1, 2, 4, and 5. Round five was really close and was almost a coin flip so I could see someone giving that to Diaz instead.
McGregor put on an amazing performance, and Diaz put on an amazing performance. I’m not saying this is Fight of the Year or anything, but this fight delivered and was an excellent way to close what was an outstanding card.
This, of course, will lead to a trilogy fight between these two. McGregor said he wants to do it at lightweight, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon so we’ll have to wait to see where it takes place at. For now, McGregor has to defend his UFC Featherweight Title against Interim UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo while Diaz can parlay his surging popularity into a big-money fight with just about anyone he wants.
Even after that, they still might not be able to put this fight together again. Obviously, if either loses you hold off until they string together wins, but you also have Max Holloway at featherweight who’s going to want his title shot. The UFC will probably want him to fight once more but if he wins again, how can you deny him? And Diaz might want to try for a lightweight title run himself. It’s hard to say for sure with him. Whenever their third fight comes around, though, you can bet that it’ll be eagerly anticipated. The hype for the fight will be off the charts and so will the buyrate.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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