Make note: UFC 241: Cormier vs. Miocic 2

A stacked card does not always bring the fight night.

Gathering all the biggest names and the best matches on a single event does not guarantee the type of fights that leave the fans present and those who watch at home are convinced that they have spent their hard earned money.

Fortunately, the UFC 241 has not only paid name value, but has been the best card to date in 2019.

At the top of the series, Stipe Miocic fought back with an incredible KO in the fourth round to finish Daniel Cormier and recover the title of the heavyweight that he coveted so much. Miocic suffered serious bumps and bruises in the first three rounds before changing his game plan in the fourth round, which ultimately paid off with a late arrival.

In the main event, Nate Diaz proved that he was absolutely moving the needle and that he was still one of the biggest stars in the UFC roster after taking him to Anthony Pettis for 15 minutes for return to the column of victories. Diaz had not fought for three years, but he did not seem to have missed a stage by dissecting Pettis in turn before winning a unanimous victory.

There is still a lot to unpack from the Saturday night card. So let's talk about what happened and what failed at UFC 241: Cormier vs. Miocic 2.

PAST

Cleveland Rocks!

Stipe Miocic waited more than a year to get the title of the UFC heavyweight, and he took full advantage of it.

After struggling for the first two rounds while appearing timid and unable to handle the speed and power of Daniel Cormier, Miocic made adjustments to go back with a solid performance in the third before finishing the night in the fourth.

Miocic's ability to change his game plan in the middle of the fight by targeting Cormier's body, who was then preparing the finishing shots on the head, added more and more evidence to the fact that Ohio was the best heavyweight fighter of all time.

Beyond Miocic's curriculum vitae, perhaps his most important skills are strategy and execution. That's why he broke away from him in this mythical conversation about the biggest heavyweight in the history of the sport. What he did at Cormier Saturday night is nothing short of impressive, especially considering how he was knocked out in the first round the last time they met. When you think about how Miocic prepared the fierce KO artist, Francis Ngannou, and how easy it seemed to him to be compared to him for five rounds last January, the legend tells how the defending champion heavyweights did during his career.

Of course, the argument that Miocic would be the biggest heavyweight of all time would be Fedor Emelianenko, former PRIDE champion, but if you dive into their achievements, you'll better understand why the UFC heavyweight champion has surpassed the Russian legend.

Despite all the great achievements of Emelianenko during his career – and there were many – his greatest victories were eventually won by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop. At the same time, Miocic demolished a list of many former champions and contenders, including Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, Junior Dos Santos, Francis Ngannou and now Daniel Cormier.

The old school purists will continue to argue in favor of Emelianenko and he remains undoubtedly a great player, but putting his CV in perspective in relation to Miocic makes it easy to understand why probably the greatest Sports history fighter aka Jon Jones considers the reigning UFC heavyweight champion as the best to do it.

Do not be surprised, mom …

Esther Lin, MMA Combat

Three years later, Nate Diaz did not slow down his return with the biggest fanfare of UFC 241, then an incredible performance to beat Anthony Pettis at the main event.

Diaz really feels like the kind of fighter that thrives in the spotlight and even UFC President Dana White had to admit after Saturday night that he was a superstar who moves the syringe.

Clearly, Diaz exists better in the space where he is the scathing anti-hero at the head of the UFC, but it is hoped that the gaiters on the surface will not prevent the promotion of keeping the Stockton, California , busier now that he's back.

The fact that Diaz called for a fight against Jorge Masvidal after his victory on Saturday night proves that he is motivated to stay active and busy. The UFC would be criminally stupid not to respond to Diaz's demands, especially given the lack of star power at the top of the sport at the moment.

There are very few fighters on the list right now who could play a UFC untitled pay-per-view and Diaz is absolutely one of them. Perhaps he needs to portray the UFC as a villain to maintain his bad boy image but hopes that the promotion will give him a blank check as well as a combat contract to immediately organize his next fight.

Conor McGregor making more headlines on TMZ than on what he does in the Octagon, the UFC needs someone like Diaz to stay active in the biggest fights possible. At the moment, it's a showdown against Jorge Masvidal and, with the exception of injuries, the UFC should accelerate the fight by the end of 2019.

Next man

Paulo Costa won the biggest win of his career Saturday night with a unanimous decision against Yoel Romero in the 'Fight of the Night' at UFC 241.

You can now discuss the whole day about the decision – it was tightly scrutinized and you could say that Romero won but there was no robbery. Regardless of the outcome, the fact that Costa has clashed with the most dangerous middle weight of the sport, and not only lived to tell it, but also done on Romero during many exchanges, is pretty incredible.

Prior to Saturday night, Costa had been hit at Costa by the fact that he had never faced elite competition, but in a difficult situation against Romero, the Brazilian had done his best to Michael Phelps made his way to a gold performance.

There is no doubt that Costa has imposed itself as the No. 1 to face the winner of the next main event of UFC 243 between Robert Whittaker and Israel Adesanya. It's unfortunate for a guy like Jack Hermansson, who could potentially have argued his own argument for a title shot with an extra win, but beating Romero outweighs any other debate.

Costa is the guy and I hope that the UFC will drive him to the other side of the world to sit at the forefront to attend Whittaker against Adesanaya so that the promotion that allows him to facing the winner can start immediately afterwards.

FAILED

Lateral

The UFC has been producing its own shows for decades, but it's nice to see it work in tandem with ESPN to organize the best TV show possible for each card. One of the most critical critics of the UFC era on FOX was that each show was essentially the same and nothing had really evolved from the viewer's point of view.

Recently, a journalist standing near the entrance, a fighter is about to go out and tells a story about the training camp or about something that may interest that athlete while he's at it. directs to Octagon. It's a fun addition to the broadcast that also provides an indispensable background to the story about to unfold in the cage.

If it's a success, ESPN's decision to talk to corner players in the middle of a fight is definitely a failure.

Let's be clear first: sending Megan Olivi in ​​a corner to talk to Brandon Gibson and Eliot Marshall was planned and approved by both coaches before the start of the competition. Olivi has become a senior journalist working in the field, interviewing fighters and talking to coaches and officials behind the scenes. None of these critics is a critique of his work or the way coaches behave.

The problem was the segment as a whole, because a fight is a game of thumbs that can change the mind from one moment to another and try to get clarification from a coach in the middle of the chaos is only a distraction. Imagine that Cory Sandhagen was injured during the interview when one of his head coaches answered several questions from a reporter in the corner rather than paying attention to what was going on in the cage.

Coaches play a huge role for their fighters during a fight and there is no room for error. The slightest distraction could potentially prove disastrous and no one wishes it.

Congratulations to ESPN for breaking new ground, but it may be a segment that may be the subject of many other ideas.

EPIC FAIL

Paid

Esther Lin, MMA Combat

The question of the remuneration of combatants is an issue that comes up often and generally for a good reason.

At UFC 241, Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier led all salaries with a combined total of $ 1.25 million. It's not bad at all, but it's also minimal compared to the damage these two heavyweights have done each other in three rounds and more. It seems really terrible compared to the recent boxing battle between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz.

Joshua would have won north of $ 25 million while Ruiz, who was a late replacement, had won about $ 7 million.

Now, the argument against boxing salaries is that if the headliners earn millions, a lot of card fighters under earn pennies at home in comparison, but the combined purses of all those who are fighting at UFC 241 ($ 3.3 million) did not account for half of the total. what Ruiz did for his victory over Joshua.

Nate Diaz earned $ 250,000 for his victory over Anthony Pettis, which once again does not look like a lot of money, but a small study will show that he earned $ 2 million for his revenge against Conor McGregor in 2016. Yes, it was much bigger to fight and it was also the main event, but still, a reduction of $ 1.75 million on salary can start at you make it clear why Diaz stayed in school for the last three years.

Then there are Paulo Costa and Yoel Romero, who earned $ 270,000 after beating hell against each other for three rounds. The middleweights got more than 240 significant strikes in 15 minutes in a war of absolute wear that deserved a standing ovation at the end of the fight.

It's hard to imagine what Costa had to endure to fight with $ 120,000 and if he was caught off guard, he would have left UFC 241 with a guaranteed $ 60,000 grant.

Listen, anyone who wins a paycheque will always want more, but given his athleticism, determination and determination last night, it's hard to say that Miocic, Cormier, Diaz, Pettis, Costa and Romero are worth less. $ 2 million combined a card that brought in more than $ 3.2 million at the door alone.