Many fight fans believed UFC 174 was pretty underwhelming, but plenty of new storylines still developed from the card.
One of the UFC’s most underrated champions again showcased his utter dominance, while a perennial welterweight contender showcased he’s ready to enter elite territory.
At light heavyweight, a dark horse title contender has emerged while a former Ultimate Fighter winner showcased that he still has plenty of good fights left in him.
BIGGEST WINNER
Rory MacDonald – “Ares” looked every bit the part of Georges St-Pierre’s protégé on Saturday night, beating surging contender Tyron Woodley in every aspect of the game.
Woodley looked slow and confused and MacDonald pumped him with his jab all night long, setting up combinations and putting the icing on the cake with a takedown late in the third round.
MacDonald is now one win away from a title shot and a showdown with Hector Lombard certainly sounds intriguing about now.
WINNER
Demetrious Johnson – The flyweight champion did it again, notching his fourth successful title defense against Ali Bagautinov and making it look easy.
“Mighty Mouse” showed a big improvement with his clinch game and, as usual, set an impossible pace for his Russian counterpart to keep up with. While the champ may not like it, a rematch with John Dodson is the only fight that makes sense right now.
WINNER
Ryan Bader – The season 8 winner of The Ultimate Fighter looked excellent against ex-Strikeforce champ Rafael Cavalcante, executing slick punching combinations and scoring takedowns at will.
Bader has now won three of his past four and while he is yet to breakthrough as an elite talent at 205 pounds, he is clearly still a top 10 competitor.
WINNER
Ovince St-Preux – OSP made it five wins in a row this weekend, utilizing yet another inventive submission against Ryan Jimmo – locking up a chicken wing-style kimura from top turtle position.
St-Preux’s hand has been raised in 13 of his past 14 matchups so it looks like he’s ready for a “name” opponent in his next fight.
BIGGEST LOSER
Tyron Woodley – In all likelihood, Woodley probably just had to get through Rory MacDonald to get a crack at UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks.
Unfortunately, “T-Wood” never showed up this weekend, as he got jabbed into oblivion by “Ares” and looked completely lifeless for the entire 15 minute matchup.
Woodley is a dangerous competitor, but the blueprint is out there to beat him now and it will be interesting to see how he rebounds from such a lopsided loss.
LOSERS
Andrei Arlovski and Brendan Schaub – Not exactly the homecoming Arlovski wanted, looking timid and out of shape for this one, but it’s not like Schaub looked much better.
Despite being a highly-touted Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, Schaub couldn’t get anything going on the ground and didn’t do much on the feet, either.
At the end of the day, it looked like a clear decision for Schaub, but apparently the judges were more enamored by the damage Arlovski did as he was puzzlingly awarded a split decision.
LOSER
Ali Bagautinov – Even after 11 straight wins, no one was giving Bagautinov a chance against Demetrious Johnson … and now we know why.
“The Puncher King” had no answers for the champ’s speed and versatility, so it’s back to the drawing board for the gutsy Russian fighter.
LOSER
Rafael Cavalcante – The Brazilian slugger, with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black to boot, is now just 2-3(1) since winning the Strikeforce light heavyweight title from Muhammed Lawal in August 2010.
“Feijao” has a questionable chin and weak takedown defense: two characteristics that aren’t going to get you far in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.