UFC Fight Night 91 Results: The Real Winners and Losers from McDonald vs Lineker
You didn't think the UFC was taking a break, did you?
Oh, no. After a busy week that saw three events in three days, culminating with Saturday's hyped but star-crossed UFC 200, the Octagon was erected Wednesday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The cynical—and not incorrect—among us might argue UFC Fight Night 91 is an afterthought thrown together to take advantage of what is historically the slowest day on the sports calendar. With the 2016 ESPY Awards really the only other major or semi-major sporting or sporting-related event on the calendar Wednesday after the MLB All-Star Game, the UFC essentially has the floor to itself.
That may all be true and accurate, but don't sleep on this card. It had some solid potential for entertainment.
In the main event, two of the bantamweight division's hardest hitters did battle. That would be Michael McDonald, the 25-year-old who recently returned after missing more than two years with various injuries, and John Lineker, the Brazilian who recently moved up to 135 pounds after missing weight four times at flyweight.
There were plenty of other interesting fights on the card, and several fan favorites—Josh Samman, Lauren Murphy and Sam Alvey, to name a few—were in the house.
As always, the final stat lines only go so far. These are the real winners and losers from the UFC's first visit to the Mount Rushmore State.
Winner: John Lineker
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Michael "Mayday" McDonald is 5'8". John Lineker is 5'3". I'm no mathematician, but that feels significant.
It wasn't. John "Hands of Stone" Lineker lit up the crowd and McDonald with his cinderblock hands en route to a first-round knockout in the main event.
Pinpoint hooks dropped Mayday once and then again and ultimately left McDonald lying prone on the canvas. That right hand is just devastating.
It's the 12th knockout win of Lineker's career, and it's his first since returning to the bantamweight division. It probably won't be the last.
It seems Lineker may also have just punched himself into contention. Lineker certainly seemed to think so.
"Dominick Cruz," Lineker said, addressing the champ in comments to broadcaster Jon Anik in the cage after the fight. "I'm coming for you, baby."
I've heard worse ideas.
Loser: Michael McDonald
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McDonald just got clipped; simple as that.
He returned the punches and even appeared to wrest away the upper hand for a time. This was an excellent slugfest between two excellent sluggers, and McDonald held up his end of that bargain.
But he still came up short, and has lost two of his last three dating back to before his two-year injury layoff.
Does this knockout loss mean his chin is going? Considering this was the first knockout loss of his pro career, probably not. And he's still only 25. But he'll have to wait at least a little while longer to break out of his extended rut.
Winner: Lando Vannata
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Lando Vannata made his UFC debut Wednesday on less than three weeks' notice.
He made the most of the opportunity.
In a back-and-forth fight that garnered surprise Fight of the Night honors for both men, Vannata used remarkable quickness and confidence to dazzle Tony Ferguson and even win a round before finally succumbing to a D'Arce choke in the second round.
Ferguson won his eighth straight and called out new champ Eddie Alvarez in the cage after the fight, but the winner's impressive effort was overshadowed in this case by that of the loser.
“I thought that fight was amazing," Ferguson said in a statement the UFC released to MMA media members by the UFC. "We gave the crowd what they wanted. I knew Lando would come out swinging, so I gave him exactly what he wanted. ... Lando showed up and I want to thank him for doing that."
It was Vanatta's first defeat as a pro fighter, but only if you don't believe in moral victories.
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Winner: Louis Smolka
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Louis Smolka established himself as a contender in the flyweight division.
Standing 5'9"—the same height as Conor McGregor—Smolka is certainly physically noticeable in the cage. But his skills have been earning him equal attention for some time now.
That was the case against another notable in Ben Nguyen. They put on a great fight early, but it quickly became increasingly uneven. Smolka used his long reach, along with some slick jiu-jitsu, to pound Nguyen on the feet and the ground.
Eventually, Nguyen's corner threw in the towel just as referee Herb Dean was calling what was probably a late stoppage. In any case, Nguyen showed great toughness and, in the beginning, great technique. A jiu-jitsu seminar appeared ready to break out at one point.
If it wasn't for Ferguson-Vannata, this would have been the fight of the night. As MMA Fighting editor Luke Thomas put it, the fight was "everything that's great about MMA."
Winner: People Who Wait Until the Last Minute
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Keita Nakamura joined a very elite club Wednesday night. He joined the 4:59 club.
If they counted rounds in milliseconds, he might be in a class by himself.
At the very moment the horn sounded to end the second round, Kyle Noke tapped to a rear-naked choke to hand Nakamura the victory. Several fighters have notched a literal last-second victory, but it's certainly not a common occurrence, particularly when the action ends on a fighter tap.
Noke offered some explanation after the fight, taking to Twitter (NSFW language) to note that "[I] don't even remember tapping. [I] just remember waking up in the cage." Well that sucks.
At least Noke wasn't alone in Sioux Falls. Four of the evening's 12 bouts ended inside the final minute of a round. What's more, another one was stopped with only three seconds remaining when Alex Nicholson knocked out Devin Clark in the evening's first contest.
UFC Fight Night 91 Full Card Results
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Main Card
John Lineker def. Michael McDonald by 2:43, Round 1
Tony Ferguson def. Lando Vannata by submission (D'Arce choke), 2:22, Round 2
Tim Boetsch def. Josh Samman by TKO, 3:49, Round 2
Daniel Omielanczuk def. Alexey Oliynyk by majority decision
Kyle Noke def. Keita Nakamura by submission (rear-naked choke), 4:59, Round 2
Louis Smolka def. Ben Nguyen by TKO, 4:41, Round 2
Preliminary Card
Katlyn Chookagian def. Lauren Murphy by unanimous decision
Sam Alvey def. Eric Spicely by submission (standing guillotine choke), 2:43, Round 1
Cortney Casey def. Cristina Stanciu by TKO, 2:36, Round 1
Scott Holtzman def. Cody Pfister by unanimous decision
Rani Yahya def. Matthew Lopez by submission (arm-triangle choke), 4:19, Round 3
Alex Nicholson def. Devin Clark by KO, 4:57, Round 1
Scott Harris covers MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.
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