The UFC returned to the KeyArena in Seattle, Washington on Saturday night, highlighted by an action-packed flyweight title fight between champion Demetrious Johnson and challenger John Moraga.
Additionally, lightweight power puncher Melvin Guillard showed he may have one last title run left in him, while two lesser-known middleweights put on a heck of a show for anyone who tuned into the preliminary card.
Those highlights are just the tip of the iceberg, read on to see who the biggest winners and losers are from Saturday night.
BIGGEST WINNER
Melvin Guillard – While the casual fan saw “The Young Assassin” simply knockout an inferior opponent on Saturday evening, the story is far more complicated than that.
Guillard, who tied BJ Penn’s record for most knockouts at lightweight (7), missed his grandmother’s funeral in order to fight Mac Danzig on UFC on FOX 8, so obviously he could’ve used the issues he was dealing with outside the Octagon as an excuse.
Danzig is also a decent grappler, with 10 submissions on his resume, Guillard’s Achilles heel in the past. However, he remained patient, picked his spots, and dropped the former Ultimate Fighter with a jab in the second round. Guillard needs a big name opponent in his next outing.
WINNER
Demetrious Johnson – Diehard fans know that “Mighty Mouse” is extremely skilled and brings the fight every time he steps in the cage, but casual viewers weren’t going to be satisfied until the champ finished a fight.
After outclassing John Moraga for 23-minutes, Johnson put the exclamation point on the bout by executing a beautiful armbar to secure the tap out. Like it or not, Johnson is one of the elite competitors in the UFC right now.
WINNER
Robbie Lawler – At 31-years-old, Lawler looks like a new man ever since making the cut back down to welterweight.
Dropping down from middleweight for the first time since 2004, “Ruthless” has lived up to his nickname and scored back-to-back knockouts over Josh Koscheck and Bobby Voelker. Lawler desperately needs to be matched up with a top 5 opponent next.
WINNER
Ed Herman – After an embarrassing one-sided loss to Ronaldo Souza back in January, “Short Fuse” really needed an impressive performance against Trevor Smith. Boy, did he deliver.
Herman put on an instant classic with the Strikeforce veteran, playing rock ‘em, sock ‘em robots for 15 minutes before Herman was announced the victor. He also left the arena in an ambulance, so no one is going to argue he earned his $50,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus.
BIGGEST LOSER
Jake Ellenberger – “The Juggernaut” was relentless in his promotion for his co-main event bout with Rory MacDonald, mocking his style, appearance and level of competition.
However, it turned out the heavy-handed wrestler was all bark and no bite. Ellenberger stood opposite “Ares” looking completely lifeless for 13 minutes, content to get jabbed and front kicked in the face every once in a while.
By the time he woke up and scored a takedown late in the third frame, it was too late. Ellenberger has now come up short against two top contenders in his past four fights, so it looks like he’ll never make it to a title fight inside the UFC.
LOSER
John Moraga – Moraga get dominated by Demetrious Johnson for the better part of five rounds as many expected, but he never stopped pushing forward and trying to win.
To his credit, he even broke the champ’s nose in the fourth round. Despite the lopsided loss, Moraga is still a top talent at flyweight, especially considering he’s only been beaten by John Dodson and now Johnson.
LOSER
Mac Danzig – There’s no shame in getting knocked out by Melvin Guillard, but it now seems safe to say that the 33-year-olds best days in the sport are behind him.
The season 6 winner of The Ultimate Fighter has now lost three of his past four fights and has just a 5-7 record inside the Octagon. Danzig should be getting his pink slip after the devastating loss.
LOSER
John Albert – Entering the UFC on the strength of a 6-1 record in December 2011, Albert has now lost four in a row, getting submitted in each losing effort (three of which were rear-naked chokes).
A Washington native, it certainly had to sting for Albert to lose at home, but it can’t feel any worse than it will when he gets his pink slip.