5 Rounds with Jonathan Snowden: Best and Worst from UFC 187

UFC 187, on paper, was one of the very best combat sports cards of the year. With two title fights on top and exciting fighters sprinkled throughout, I had every hope this event would deliver a solid night's entertainment.

Best card of the year, it turns out, was faint praise.

By the time Anthony Johnson tapped the mat and Daniel Cormier sent a succinct message to deposed UFC champion Jon Jones, we were no longer looking at one of the best cards of 2015—we were looking at one of the most entertaining UFC events of the decade.

Most UFC cards, even the best ones, end up having at least one match that ends up being a dull slog. This show, starting with the exciting flyweight bout between Joseph Benavidez and John Moraga and culminating with Cormier's coronation, was a roller coaster ride throughout. There was hardly a slow moment during the entire pay-per-view, something so rare it's hard to think of a comparable card in recent memory.

While no card is ever perfect, this one was pretty close, at least during the pay-per-view portion of the evening. In a new post-fight series, we'll look at the card as a whole and choose the five best and worst moments—the handful of things worth talking about in the event's aftermath.

Want to extend the bout from five rounds into forever? Enter the comments, if you dare, and make your voice heard.

Round 1: An Old Lion Can Still Roar

John Locher/Associated Press

More than 10 years after first winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship, 36-year-old Andrei Arlovski, inexplicably, unbelievably, once again finds himself on the verge of title contention.

In an absurdly entertaining one-round bout, Arlovski knocked out towering Hawaiian Travis Browne, the younger (32), bigger and favored fighter who went into the bout as the third-ranked heavyweight in the world. It was a fight that made everyone forget entirely about their seat—the edge or otherwise.

Arlovski caught Browne with a hard, fast right hand in the first minute of the fight. A minute later he landed a sneaky backfist that shook Browne, who didn't ever quite recover.

But even on noticeably wobbly legs, Browne proved dangerous. With 1:09 left, a barely standing Browne landed a haymaker of his own, dropping Arlovski and nearly snatching victory from certain defeat.

Arlovski, however, rallied back to his feet and scored three hard rights to force a referee stoppage.

"I think we have a new favorite fight of all time," announcer Mike Goldberg screamed.

For once, I can't disagree.

Round 2: The Cowboy Cruises to a Likely Title Fight

John Locher/Associated Press

If we're being honest, John Makdessi didn't belong in the cage with Donald Cerrone. This was a mismatch—an understandable one, considering it wasn't the original plan, but a mismatch nonetheless.

Cerrone was supposed to be in a title eliminator against the great Khabib Nurmagomedov. Makdessi, with respect, was a poor replacement. A glance at the UFC's rankings showed Cerrone sitting third in the lightweight division. Makdessi, by contrast, was nowhere to be found.

The disparity showed as Cerrone, despite being plagued by injuries during his training camp, still managed to outclass Makdessi with an ease that should disturb potential opponents in the division.

Makdessi was never in the fight as he attempted to maintain his distance and counter the favorite. That's a bad strategy against Cerrone, who has struggled against opponents who were willing to take the fight to him but has consistently eaten for dinner those foolish enough to stay on the outside.

By the time Makdessi attempted to call timeout after a head kick apparently shattered his jaw, we had seen more than enough. Cerrone was clearly the better fighter—of course we already knew that, rendering this fight, for the most part, pointless.

Round 3: Journalists or Company Men?

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The focus leading into UFC 187 was on just about everything but the action in the cage. The questions were multitudinous and only loosely connected to athletic competition.

How would Vitor Belfort perform post-testosterone replacement therapy? Would fans embrace the winner of the main event as a true champion? Was the swirling controversy surrounding Anthony Johnson's domestic-violence past a distraction in the days leading into the bout?

None of those things, as noted by Bloody Elbow's Mookie Alexander, ever made their way into the UFC broadcast: "Anyone else noticed that the UFC went out of its way to NOT mention Vitor Belfort's past TRT use? [Joe] Rogan was listing some of the reasons Belfort was still competing at a high level and that wasn't brought up once."

In most sports there is at least a modicum of objectivity in the broadcast booth. The announcers work for the television network, not the sport or league, which allows them to discuss the event as honestly as necessary.

The UFC, however, produces its own broadcasts. Because of that, viewers have learned the hard way that they can't quite trust the announce crew.

Fighting, by its nature, is the most honest of all sports. Truth is revealed in the cage. Too bad the same isn't true of the broadcast booth.

Round 4: Chris Weidman Reveals the New Belfort Is the Same Old Vitor

For about one minute, Vitor Belfort appeared to be on the verge of something special. One of the last men still standing from the UFC's early days, the 38-year-old Brazilian turned back the clock and flashed the fast fists that made him famous. More than 6,000 days after his UFC debut, he appeared ready to reclaim his status as one of the sport's very best.

But when he cracked a hard elbow right off champion Chris Weidman's head and the champion never even changed expression, the writing was on the wall. When the takedown came, the fight was essentially over before it ever really got started.

Despite the dominant win, you could feel the simmering dissatisfaction emanating from the champion after the fight. Weidman doesn't feel he gets the proper respect—but after UFC 187, it's hard to deny he's one of the best middleweights ever.

"It's frustrating," Weidman told Fox Sports 1 after the fight. "I've beaten Anderson Silva twice, I beat Lyoto Machida, now I beat Vitor Belfort, and you still got so many doubters and haters. ... I want to become the greatest of all time. I want to retire undefeated. I want to completely dominate this weight class and maybe even go up a weight class at some point."

Round 5: Cormier Impresses After the Fight

Daniel Cormier withstood the storm that is Anthony Johnson, recovering from a big right hand that dropped him to the mat in the first round to win the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. He maintained his composure in the face of haymakers that seemed to send him flying back three feet every time Rumble landed, using his wrestling to ground his opponent and eventually tire him out.

"Not only does this dude punch hard, he's fast," Cormier told Fox Sports 1 after the fight. He said his first-round strategy with Johnson was to "take him down, and when he's getting up, hang on his head, make him carry me the whole time. ... In the second round, I landed a really good elbow, and then he actually didn't look like he wanted to really come out in the third round."

Looming over the new champion, however, is the enormous shadow cast by the great Jon Jones. Arguably the best fighter in MMA history, Bones never lost the title in the cage. Instead, a series of legal problems forced the UFC to suspend its young star indefinitely.

Until someone beats him, many UFC fans will consider Jones the rightful champion—a point underscored by Jones' unanimous-decision win over Cormier in January. To DC's credit, he seemed to understand just where he stood.

His post-fight speech in the ring was succinct and perfect.

"Joe Rogan, no disrespect to you or the 16,000 people in this arena," Cormier said. "But I have a message for one man.

"Jon Jones, get your s--t together. I'm waiting for you!"

I speak for all MMA fans when I say, "Me too."