UFC Fight Night 59 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from McGregor vs. Siver
UFC Fight Night 59 was not all it was billed to be, but it did enough to set up future key bouts and storylines.
Conor McGregor defeated Dennis Siver by TKO in the second round in a training exercise. McGregor did whatever he wanted in that bout before taking off to taunt UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo in the front row.
In the co-main event, Donald Cerrone defeated Benson Henderson by a contentious decision. Cerrone continues to inch closer to a UFC title shot of his own, but the performance left a lot to be desired.
The Boston crowd was hot all night long in the face of some lackluster action.
This event will provide plenty of talking points moving forward. It assists the UFC in building a strong 2015 campaign, and the featherweight tilt between Aldo and McGregor will be a nice pay-per-view for the top MMA organization.
Here are the real winners and losers from Sunday's fight card.
Winner: UFC Graphics Department
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There are some new graphics for this fight card, and that is a refreshing change.
It's not that the previous graphics were bad. However, they were stale. From time to time there have to be updates to keep the product fresh. We see this time and again in television. The UFC, or Fox Sports, realized this and put together some new Fight Night tale-of-the-tape graphics.
The fight clock and other graphics remained the same throughout the night. The new tale-of-the-tape graphics offered some new colors along with the overall change. The small facelift helps keep things from being stagnant.
You can see the new color scheme on the official UFC on Fox Twitter page.
We will see if this continues for future UFC events.
Loser: Sean Soriano
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Sean Soriano is a loser in three instances.
First, he lost the fight. It moves him to 0-3 in the UFC and puts him in position to potentially be cut by the organization.
Secondly, his tap at the end of the fight could have been construed as not tapping. It was questionable at best and a poor show by the referee to stop the bout at worst. Soriano didn't put up too much of a protest when the referee explained it to him, so maybe it wasn't the worst call we have ever seen.
However, there was plenty of time for tides to change in the waning seconds had Soriano survived. The referee did make the right call as Soriano admitted it was a singular tap in his post-fight interview (via MMA Fighting's Marc Raimondi), saying, "I tapped once, and I went to move. It wasn’t really a tap, but the ref called it."
Lastly, Soriano is a loser because he showed poor Fight IQ. He has a lot of raw ability that has earned him the prospect tag, but he will never be a top-tier fighter with Fight IQ like he showed Sunday. Soriano was doing good work on the feet, damaging Charles Rosa's leg and scoring repeatedly. Then he would randomly start going for takedowns when Rosa clearly was winning the fight in those positions.
Any believer in Soriano is now probably questioning him following that performance. He doesn't deserve a fourth UFC fight.
Winner: Lorenz Larkin
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Lorenz Larkin was a big middleweight prospect in Strikeforce. He beat Robbie Lawler while making his way up the ladder. Then the wheels started to come off, and he failed to live up to the expectations everyone had for him.
For UFC Fight Night 59, Larkin made his welterweight debut. He looked outstanding.
Larkin dropped John Howard with a straight right and then followed up on the ground. A big elbow seemingly put Howard out, but referee Herb Dean told them to keep fighting. A flurry of unanswered shots followed before the bout was finally called.
Larkin looked like the bright prospect we saw years ago. The move down in weight could pay off, and we may have yet another top-flight 170-pound fighter to add to the fold. He will have a lot of work to do to get to the top, but this was a great way to start his ascent.
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Losers: Fans Who Watched the Prelims
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This was a big sports day with the NFL's conference title games, and if you chose to watch the UFC instead you made a grave mistake.
The ending to Seattle-Green Bay was phenomenal, and the New England Patriots' domination of Indianapolis gave you a fat-man touchdown. Meanwhile, the UFC gave you few things to be excited about.
Lorenz Larkin may have been the saving grace of the undercard. Paddy Holohan had a good singular performance, but his fight dragged on for what felt like an hour. And in the featured preliminary contest, Cathal Pendred took a decision that was a straight robbery.
UFC Fight Night 59's preliminary card was not very entertaining. It was almost a chore to watch at times.
So, if you chose some combat sports over football you missed out on quality action in favor of some sleep-inducing contests.
Loser: MMA Judging
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This could be a slide for nearly every MMA event in the history of the sport, but once again it was on display.
Why is judging so bad in this sport?
There were several questionable cards on this night, but thankfully most of the right people won their bouts. Gleison Tibau picked up a split decision that was not truly that close. However, no fight was as bad as Cathal Pendred's decision win over Sean Spencer.
Not only did he win, not only was it unanimous, but there were also two 30-27 cards.
Donald Cerrone won a unanimous decision in a close bout against Benson Henderson. It wasn't a robbery, but it was a bit surprising in its own right. It is less objectionable due to how that fight played out.
I don't have an answer for how to fix MMA judging. Yet, here we sit in 2015 with it still being as bad as ever. Something has to change.
Winner: Uriah Hall
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Uriah Hall started slow and let the fight come to him. And when it did it was violent.
Hall dropped Ron Stallings and pelted him with a few more punches. The fight was halted to check on some cuts that opened up on Stallings, and the ringside doctor said they were too deep for him to continue. Stallings' face was also starting to swell up.
Hall will start to nab some of his hype back after a rough start to his UFC career following The Ultimate Fighter.
This is the type of performance folks predicted Hall would have. He is dynamic and violent with his striking. He has all the tools to be a UFC star. Next up will be a much stiffer test than Stallings, but should Hall continue this trend, expect big things for the middleweight prospect.
Loser: Cerrone-Henderson Trilogy
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That was not the fight we all expected.
When two friends fight, we worry that it'll turn into a glorified sparring session, and that is almost what you could call Cerrone and Henderson's third bout that took place in Boston. There was not a lot of action, and their strikes never really came as violently as they routinely throw them.
Part of the reason could be that they respect each other so much they don't want to make a mistake. Another is that they care about each other. One or both makes for a less-than-thrilling fight which is disappointing considering how good this could have been. We need only look at their first fight in the WEC.
Cerrone, ranked No. 3 in the lightweight division, could have cemented himself as the next title contender with an emphatic win. With the performance Sunday, the UFC still has to favor Khabib Nurmagomedov over Cerrone. And Henderson, on the wrong end of the decision, dropped his second consecutive fight.
It was a disappointing co-main event between two elite fighters.
Winner: Ireland
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Paddy Holohan, Cathal Pendred and Conor McGregor were all victorious Sunday. It was a big night for Irish fighters.
Holohan had a quality performance in his victory, and Pendred was gifted a decision by some inept judges. Regardless, Ireland started the night 2-0 with McGregor coming up in the main event.
Obviously, McGregor was the star and why there was such a large Irish contingent besides the event being held in Boston. He is a fan favorite. McGregor dominated Siver as expected. He was calm inside the cage and picked him apart. Siver was never in the bout.
After the fight, McGregor leaped out of the cage and went right to Jose Aldo. He tried taunting the champion, but the title-holder simply laughed at his antics.
Now McGregor and the legion of Irish fans will draw Aldo for the featherweight championship. Be careful what you wish for.
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