20/20 Hindsight : The Good, The Bad & The Weird At UFC 191
UFC 191 went down last night (Saturday September 5, 2015) in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, and was a mix of some of the very best, worst and weirdest action that most of us will have ever seen. There wasn’t a ton of pre-fight promotion for the PPV (pay-per-view) card from Sin City, but it flashed with moments of brilliant entertainment throughout the night, especially during the FOX Sports 1 prelims.
So, check out our UFC 191 in hindsight report:
The Good
How good was John Lineker vs. Francisco Rivera? We knew Cisco was worked up ahead of this one, but few expected this to be such an all-out FOTN winning war. For all 2 minutes 8 seconds, we were glued to the screen, watching them throw evil hooks with vicious intent. I could watch these two fight 50 times.
The flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson stretched his title defense streak to seven in his second win over John Dodson, and it’s now clear that the guy is going to be an all-time great down the line. Perhaps not the exciting finish we’d hoped for, but it’s time to drop the heightism among MMA fans and show this guy the respect he deserves.
Anthony Johnson wasted no time in taking out ‘Poster Boy’ Jimi Manuwa, sending out a clear message to the 205-pound division about his intentions. He also won amidst a cloud of controversy last night, as domestic violence protesters picketed the Las Vegas event. His second round KO over Manuwa also earned ‘Rumble’ a cool $50K bonus.
The Bad
This section has been reserved for a fight dubbed ’10 years in the making’, yes we’re talking about Andrei Arlovski vs. Frank Mir. It was simply a terrible fight to watch; sloppy, slow, boring and constantly stalling are some apt descriptions of what we saw, in a stark contrast of both their resurgent forms in recent fights. ‘The Pitbull’ won the UD in the end, but seriously don’t expect him to get the title shot off the back of that snoozer.
The Weird
Joe Riggs defeated Ron Stallings in one of the strangest finishes to a fight we’ve ever witnessed. The former WEC middleweight champion and old school UFC veteran ‘Diesel’ was in great shape, and seemed to be cruising towards a TKO win in his third fight back under the Zuffa banner.
A cut opened above his eye in the first round didn’t seem to slow Riggs down one bit, until an illegal upkick landed in the second frame by Stallings halted the action. Although it had landed on his chin but not really caused any damage, ‘Diesel’ indicated he was having trouble seeing due to the cut over his eye and, although that was caused by a first round punch, the fight was called off and Stallings disqualified.
The post-fight interview with Riggs did little more than add to the confusion, the one positive is that he did pick up his first UFC win since a 2006 decision victory over Nick Diaz.
Honorable mentions
Paige ’12 Gauge’ VanZant added to her hype train with a slick third round submission over Alex Chambers, ‘Rocky’ Pennington bounced back from defeat against Holly Holm with a dominant win over Jessica Andrade and Ross Pearson sent the previously hyped Paul Felder to his second loss in a row.
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