It was meant to be the most historical night since the conception of the UFC, as it brought in a record-breaking £8.3 million to a sold out arena. However, in terms of the quality it wasn’t up to the mark, excluding Amanda Nunes who performed admirably to dethrone Miesha Tate to become the new women’s bantamweight champion.
We saw former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar return to the Octagon with a comfortable decision win over Mark ‘Super Samoan’ Hunt after a gap of more than 4 years, Jose Aldo restored his pride after losing his UFC title to Conor McGregor with decision win over Frankie Edgar, Daniel Cormier’s came through with a decision win over UFC legend and former champ and G.O.A.T Anderson Silva, and last but not the least Amanda Nunes’ demolition of Tate in 3 minutes and 16 seconds.
All the hype for UFC 200 was around Lesnar vs. Hunt. This fight was moved to the main event after Jon Jones was removed from the title fight against Cormier due to testing positive for drugs having instead the legend, Anderson Silva, fill in for him on 2 days’ notice. The WWE Star remained in complete control of the fight, and was handed a unanimous (29-27) decision by all three judges.
Lesnar said:“It took me a little while just to get acclimated,”
It was a difficult night for Cormier, as he prepared for a completely different fighter, but when UFC legend Anderson Silva stepped-in to save the card, the UFC fans expected a fiercely entertaining fight but it failed to live up to the expectations and that’s why Cormier was booed by fans after the win.
“I prepared the last eight weeks for a different fighter,” Cormier said. “Anderson Silva is one of the best fighters ever in the UFC, so it was very difficult to prepare for him in two days. Not many guys would have done this. I didn’t have to, but I needed to.”
The card was supposed to feature Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch, however it was moved to UFC 202 after the Irishman failed to comply with UFC’s promotional obligations. The absence of Ronda Rousey and McGregor from the UFC event was clearly evident through the lack of intensity and aggression we see in their fights. No doubt they still remain one of the biggest draws for UFC, but are they getting desperate that in a bid to keep the fans entertained, Dana White decided on flooding this card with high profile fights. What happens next with these fighters? With most top tier fighters either out of commission or healing after victory; when or where will all the good fights happen? Maybe this card wasn’t a good idea in the first place? Maybe it was because it was a desperate attempt to create some kind of historical and highly memorable event that would last the ages like those legendary WWE fights. Who knows? But so far, this year has been interesting for the fight world.
