UFC Superfight Weekend Fallout

It took three nights thirty four fights sixty eights fighters and thirteen seconds to pull off the biggest weekend in MMA history. Two new champions were crowned potential next title challengers were determined and the entire UFC was shaken up.

The Fights-

UFC 194- There isn't a whole lot to break down about eh main event. It's simple McGregor slipped a punch and landed his own knocked Aldo out in a mere thirteen seconds. We can speculate on how much Aldo was affected by the trash talk and mind games. What we can see is that movement and speed beats brute force. McGregor antics often take away from the fact he is a very talented fighter with an amazing mix of both. Writing my predictions I said Aldo needed to do what he always does pace the fight and land leg kicks. Out of character he went for a big punch early. The very thing that played to McGregor's advantage. In the Co-Main Event Chris Weidman battled Luke Rockhold. Early on Weidman took the back of Rockhold. But the challenger never panicked he manged to take over late and never really let up. The second round saw Rockhold start hitting hard power kicks. When it went to the ground it was all Rockhold. Weidman appeared to be winning the third until an ill timed spinning head kick. Rockhold took him down and punished him. To the shock of many Herb Dean allowed the fight to go on. In the fourth Rockhold took him down again and finished the job. An emotional Rockhold broke down in tears of joy while Weidman slumped.

Once again Yoel Romero wins a fight on a big card and once again a dirty move appeared to have added him. Early on Romero landed a spinning back fist that badly injured Jacare Souza. On auto pilot Souza went for submissions but Romero landed viscous ground and pound. In the second Romero was clearly already tired and Souza went for a takedown only for Romero to grape the fence and land on top. Referee Mark Goddered stood the fight back up but many felt it wasn't enough and that a point should have been taken. Souza did win the third round but it wasn't enough. Maia was Nelson was a classic Damien Maia fight. He controlled potion with his superior grappling skills. Gunnar Nelson got a few reversal but never truly got control.

In the opening contest of the PPV Max Holloway outpointed Jeremy Stephens. Holloway looked great and has been near perfect since his loss to McGregor. In the featured contest of the prelims Urijah Faber won but looked awful badly gassing vs. Frankie Sanez. Honestly if Sanez had thrown more combos he might have won. Tecia Torres finally showed flashed of the excellent fighter we know she can be. Her UFC career has been under whelming at times. Warley Alves and Leonardo Santos both scored impressive finishes.

The Ultimate Fighter Finale- Frankie Edgar made his Featherweight debut against Aldo and lost a very close fight since than he's chased a rematch. He's watched this year as McGregor was granted a title shot in part due to his mouth and Mendes getting an interim title shot over him. Edgar has always had good boxing but isn't know for power. Managing to land a perfect hook he dropped Chad Mendes. For Mendes the loss is a huge set back. Ryan Hall smoothed Artem Lobov with the Russian Hammer seeming like he was looking for one perfect shot instead of combinations. An illegal upkick might as been the difference in Tony Ferguson vs. Edson Barboza but Ferguson got the win. All night appeared to the better fight. Evan Dunham manged to outpace Joe Lauzon. Lauzon seemed a step to slow and behind Dunham all night. After a rough couple of years Dunham has had a great 2015 with three big wins.

UFC Fightnight- For Paige VanZant she finally ran into the fighter she simply couldn't out muscle or out work. Rose Namajuanes like PVZ loves to push the pace but she brought a level of technical skill that the VanZant lacks. Namajuanes dominated the fight outstirking and time and again trapping VanZant in submission. To PVZ's credit it took a lot to break her she kept trying no one would have blamed her for tapping earlier. Namajuanes moves back into title contention while VanZant know knows she needs to learn. In other key fight from the weekend Sage Northcutt battled Cody Pfister. Early on Pfister scored a takedown exposing the very basic ground game of Northcutt. But a some what controversial stand up gave Northcutt new life. In the second round the 19 year old locked in a choke and improved to 2-0.

Biggest Winners

Conor McGregor- Do I really need to explain this? McGregor came to the UFC declared he was something special. Declared he would be champion declared he would easily beat Aldo. And he's done it all. In the many months leading up to this fight McGregor played Aldo perfectly time and again upsetting him getting the champion to act differently that normal. Even the “calm” Aldo this week was different from the normal killer we are used to. Aldo came out head hunting and McGregor made him pay. Had he failed the haters would have pounced instead McGregor silenced them and has made history. He's now a champion and might just wind up being the top PPV act in all of MMA.

Luke Rockhold- When it became clear that Rockhold would be the next challenger to Weidman many fans and analyst got excited. Many were expecting a very close and exciting fight between two great fighters. Many thought Rockhold's advantage was to stay standing and he certainly landed hard powerful kicks. But his dominance on the ground was truly amazing. Repeatedly he managed out grapple and out power the superior wrestler. Post fight Rockhold shed light on struggles in his recent camp with a staff infection that affected his training camp. Rockhold had the talent and skill to dominate the division for years to come.

Frankie Edgar- Many thought a win over Chad Mendes would net Edgar another title shot. Many thought if the fight ended via knockout it would be Mendes KO'ing Edgar. Instead Edgar landed a picture perfect hook to Mendes Jaw. In many ways Edgar is the most intruding match up against McGregor. Edgar has beaten much bigger fighters, he pushes an amazing pace. His boxing and footwork could pose an issue to McGregor. While there reports McGregor might already want to move up reports have suggested Edgar would still get a title shot or fight for the vacant title.

Biggest Losers

Jose Aldo- No matter how much Aldo wants to claim “It wasn't a real fight.” Or his supporters will claim it was a fluke that McGregor could never do that again. The fact remains it happened. And this could be considered the most humiliating loss in combat sports history. For well over a year McGregor mocked and called out Aldo. He got in his face he pestered him, touched him, stole his belt and looked him in the face telling him “Your going to die.” And when Aldo finally got his chance to shut McGregor up he was knocked out and woke up watching McGregor celebrate. Aldo was clearly devastated after the fight and I won't be shocked if he never fight again.

Chad Mendes- Mendes is now 1-3 in his last four fights. You can say the 3 are the elite and one of those losses can on very short notice but the fact remains that is a very poor record. Mendes has also been knocked out in two straight fights. Mendes is now in that difficult spot he's still very good but out of title contention. For some fighters this would be the time to move up or down in weight. Mendes doesn't seem to have that option. He would be a very small lightweight and would have to kill himself to make bantamweight.

Yoel Romero- Romero got the victory but it wasn't a good win. The controversy due to his cage holding reminded everyone of his controversial win over Tim Kennedy. Once again Romero gassed out as the fight went on even though he was clearly trying to conserve energy. One has to wonder if Romero would have anything if he ever had to go to a forth or fifth round epically against someone like Rockhold who can push a pace and punish the body.

Ronald Souza- “I'm always one fight away from title shot...” “If I don't get one after a win at UFC 194 I'm going after Dana White...” Jacare made not effort to hide his frustration with not getting a title shot already. Not that I can blame IMO he was more desrdrtbinh of a title shot than Belfort and had to watch Rockhold leap frog him. And why again you can argue he should have won the fight the judges didn't give it to him. The former Strikeforce champion will now once again have to work his way towards title contention while the road seems short given his past success you just never know

What comes next

At this stage Conor McGregor can pretty much call his own shot. Most people agree if he stays at featherweight he will defend the title against Frankie Edgar. With his footwork and pressure Edgar might be the perfect foil to McGregor. Also Edgar never gets to up or to down meaning the mind games may not work. Of course McGregor has already openly spoke of moving up to Lightweight and Dana White has said he would be given an automatic title shot. I think it will depend on who wins the title fight on Fox. If Cowboy wins than McGregor moves up if Dos Anjos than he fights Edgar.

For Edgar all he can really do it wait. He should get the neck shot at Featherweight. McGregor has said he wants to keep both titles. White said on FS1 that he would have McGregor vacate the title. If the title was vacated Edgar would have to be one of the men fighting for it. If the UFC allows the new champion to keep his title and go after 155 gold and Edgar wants to fight the perfect opponent would be Max Holloway. Holloway is on a long winning streak. At 23 Holloway has the rare mix of youth and experience. But beating Edgar would establish him as true contender.

Jose Aldo made it clear he wants a rematch with McGregor. But that would be an awful idea. Why many are screaming “Ronda gets a rematch so should Aldo.” But those people are comparing apples to oranges. Ronda made a major strategy mistake and than panicked. Aldo fell to a single punch and looked mentally shot. McGregor clearly got to him and I don't think rushing into a rematch is going to help. Aldo needs time away from McGregor to not thing about McGregor or deal with McGreorg's mind games. Watching him after the fight its clear he needs to fight to rebuild his confidence. A perfect option Cub Swanson. They fought back in the WEC with Aldo wining easily. Since than Swanson made himself a top contender but has dropped two in a row. This would be a perfect fight to let Aldo get his footing back.