UFC 199 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from Los Angeles
Another card in the books (UFC 199, in particular), another lineup of winners and losers. While there's usually some nuance and room for creativity when it comes to picking out the luckiest and unluckiest competitor on an MMA card, this one is incredibly clear-cut.
The biggest winner was Michael Bisping. For 10 years now, the Count has been MMA's greatest B-plus player. Good enough in the cage to get wins. Good enough to make his smack-talking shtick work...but not really good enough to headline big events, and most certainly not good enough to be a champion.
It took a small miracle for him to even get a title shot, winning three razor-thin decisions in a row to build his resume before having Chris Weidman and Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza get injured just two weeks ahead of UFC 199. It took a big miracle for him to put the champ, Luke Rockhold, onto wobbly legs, knock him out and take his belt.
The line Bisping used in the commercials for UFC 199 was that he was "destined" to win the UFC title. Apparently he was right.
The biggest loser, on the other hand, was Urijah Faber. Faber has been around the block more than a few times, but UFC gold has eluded him with a strange consistency...and it happened again at UFC 199.
In what was arguably the worst performance of his recent career, The California Kid struggled to even make Dominick Cruz uncomfortable. Every scramble and every exchange would fit into a Cruz highlight reel. Faber was just along for the ride and could hang them up in the next month.
So who else walked away a winner at UFC 199? Who wasn't so lucky? Read on and find out.
Real Winner: The Power of Positive Thinking
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Nobody gave Michael Bisping a shot to win the UFC title at UFC 199. I know I didn't.
He was too small to beat Luke Rockhold. Too slow. Too old. Too soft-handed. This was supposed to be a pit stop on the way to Rockhold's rematch with Chris Weidman.
But here we are. Bisping is the UFC middleweight champion. It was an amazing moment straight out of a storybook and, while he may not hold onto the belt for long, this is still the validation of a decade-long UFC career.
Real Loser: Urijah Faber
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Here we are yet again. For the sixth time in seven years, Urijah Faber entered the cage looking to win gold, only to walk away empty-handed.
Facing Dominick Cruz for the UFC bantamweight title, Faber struggled to generate any level of offense and failed to maintain momentum once he gained it. Time and again, Cruz out-struck and out-scrambled The California Kid. Nearly every punch Faber threw caught nothing but air, and few takedown attempts tripped Cruz up.
It was a clear, lopsided, devastating loss for Faber, and there's nothing therein to feel good about.
He hinted at retirement in his post-fight speech and, really, he probably should retire. There's nothing left for him in the UFC.
Real Winner: Happy Endings(?)
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Dan Henderson was supposed to be a sacrifice for Hector Lombard at UFC 199. With a 2-6 record since 2012 and at the age of 45, getting freely knocked out by anyone with pop in his hands and submitted by everyone else, Hendo just hadn't shown anything to make fans or pundits believe he had a chance against the former Bellator champion.
So what did he do? Simple. He did something new.
After miraculously surviving a hellish beating in the first round, Hendo uncorked a surprisingly hard head kick that landed flush. As if that wasn't strange enough, Hendo followed it with a hard back elbow (no, that is not a typo) that sent Lombard to the canvas. Lombard was out cold and Hendo, similar to his UFC 100 win over Michael Bisping, immediately went to unload more punishment, nailing two hard elbows before the ref pulled him off.
It was a win nobody saw coming. It also may have been his last one. Speaking with Joe Rogan in his post-fight interview, Henderson teased that he may be retiring. If so, there isn't a better ending to his story.
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Real Loser: The Other Dong Hyun Kim
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MMA is a brutal sport and the curtain-jerker between "Maestro" Dong Hyun Kim (not to be confused with "Stun Gun") and Marco Polo Reyes was a great demonstration of that.
For 11 minutes, Kim pushed forward, slung leather and landed some hard shots but absorbed more than he dished out. At 1:52 of the third round, he was smashed with two right hands that took his legs out from under him and was declared the loser via knockout.
By fight's end, both his eyes were swollen shut. He had multiple cuts on his face. He absorbed a total of 135 significant strikes. He was officially knocked down twice but was visibly staggered from punches on several other occasions...
All that, for a low five-figure payday.
Sure, that's what he signed up for. Sure, he probably made fans out of the handful of people that tuned in for the internet prelims. Sure, he's one step closer to a jump up to the next Reebok deal pay bracket.
But does anybody think that Kim got a good return on investment in that fight?
Real Loser: The Tom Breese Hype Train
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British finisher Tom Breese was turning a lot of heads entering UFC 199. Undefeated in his professional career and 3-0 in the UFC, many were looking at him as someone who could have a Conor McGregor-like rise straight to the title picture. He was, quite simply, the next big thing.
Guess how that worked out?
Facing the unheralded-yet-talented Sean Strickland, Breese played the matador to Strickland's bull and came out on the wrong end of a close split decision. Like Paige VanZant, Uriah Hall, Phillipe Nover, Josh Grispi, Todd Duffee and so many others, Breese's hype train hit a bump and came off the rails.
In reality, it's not that big of a deal. While Breese was scoring impressive wins on the regular in the UFC, he remains young, talented and hungry.
For the ever-sadistic MMA fandom, however, this was yet another opportunity to call someone overhyped. Breese will most likely bounce back emphatically later this year. Let's just hope this loss doesn't linger with him in the same way Alexander Gustafsson was haunted by Phil Davis for years.
Real Winner: The Brian Ortega Hype Train
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While Tom Breese's hype train came off the rails, Brian Ortega's stayed on track and is chugging better than ever following a great win over Clay Guida.
Early on in the fight, it seemed as though Guida was going to pull one over on fans. A crafty veteran with solid grappling, he seemed to have an answer for everything Ortega did and decisively took the first round.
While Ortega was steadily gaining momentum through the second, it was anyone's guess as to how the judges saw it. Ortega knew he needed a finish to guarantee victory and, with 20 seconds left in the fight, he got it with a gorgeous knee to Guida's face.
It was an important win for the 25-year-old, who likely jumps into the top-10 hunt and possibly the title picture. Keep an eye on this guy, folks.
Real Winner: The Glow
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Alex Caceres wasn't being given too much of a shot against Cole Miller. While Caceres had some good wins at 135 pounds, his struggles against high-level competition locked him far outside of title contention. Add to that how he was fighting a longtime lightweight in Cole Miller, and it was easy to look at this as a squash.
Well, Bruce Leeroy proved everybody wrong at UFC 199.
Shortly after the first bell, Caceres cracked Miller with a hard right hand and did a great job of maintaining that momentum. He won nearly every exchange standing, repeatedly took Miller down and did a great job of handling the crafty grappler on the mat. While there were tense moments, particularly Caceres miraculously escaping a completed armbar in the third round, this was an excellent performance by the TUF12 alum.
Where is Caceres' ceiling? That's a tough call, given how he was riding a three-fight losing streak less than a year ago. Still, this is a pretty promising start to his return to 145 pounds.
Real Loser: The Entire UFC Strawweight Division
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Jessica Andrade was a solid bantamweight. Scrappy, opportunistic and tough as nails, she gutted out wins over tough competition despite being radically undersized at 135 pounds. At UFC 199, however, she dropped to 115 pounds and instantly became a contender by destroying Jessica Penne.
In a fight eerily reminiscent of Penne's failed title shot in 2015, Andrade muscled Penne to the cage, shrugged off takedown attempts and worked striking in the pocket. Eventually, she was unleashing devastating combinations without any difficulty, and Penne could barely even defend them, never mind fire back. The mercy stoppage came two minutes and 56 seconds into Round 2 and, despite remaining on her feet, Penne offered no argument.
It was a scary, impressive win, and every strawweight in the UFC needs to be afraid. Very afraid.
Real Loser: Max Holloway's Title Aspirations
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Tough men keep getting lined up in front of Max Holloway, and Holloway keeps knocking them over. The latest victim was former featherweight title contender Ricardo Lamas.
From bell to bell, Holloway got the better of Lamas standing, using his long punches to keep him at a manageable distance and out-hustling him in nearly every scramble. As if that wasn't enough, Holloway taunted Lamas in the final seconds of the third by pointing to the ground and demanding a slugfest which, again, Holloway won decisively with his reach and accuracy.
He earned the win via unanimous 30-27 decision and...well, that's it.
Yes, he gets himself a win bonus. Sure, he gets another stamp on his Reebok "Frequent Fighter" card.
Does he get more money now, though? Nope. Sweet new contract? Probably not. Title shot? Don't make me laugh. Holloway will keep fighting, and probably keep winning, but his career to this point has basically been a testament to how detrimental the UFC's matchmaking system is.
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