Author: Luke Thomas

This is the Promotional Malpractice Live Chat and today should be a fun one.

UFC 189 is in the books and what an event it was. Arguably the best main card for any mixed martial arts event ever, it offered everything any fight fan could want, including a KO of the Year, one of the best title fights in UFC history, the ascension of Conor McGregor, an assortment of otherwise amazing finishes and more. Something was in the air or the water or wherever that night. We’ll break down every angle of what we saw and why it all mattered.

The train doesn’t stop, though. Frank Mir and Todd Duffee battle tonight on Fox Sports 1 at UFC Fight Night 71. That card also features Holly Holm vs. Marion Reneau and more. There’s also a Saturday event as the…

The best UFC (and potentially MMA) main card ever is over and it’s time to take a look back. UFC 189 was everything I’d hoped it would be. We’ll talk about Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor, Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald and the rest of the main card plus all the incredible things the UFC did right.

UFC welterweight Stephen Thompson didn’t just notch the biggest win of his career Sunday night at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale when he stopped Jake Ellenberger in the first round, he also claimed $50,000 with a Performance of the Night bonus. The bonus was made official at the event’s post-fight press conference.

Thompson faced adversity early, getting dropped with a right hand from the power puncher in Ellenberger, but Thompson – showing a more complete wrestling game to neutralize Ellenberger’s attacks – dropped his opponent not once, but twice with a spinning hook kick. Ellenberger was able to scramble after being dropped the first time, but it was too little, too late. Thompson threw it again after they returned to their fight, planting Ellenberger back on the canvas. Thompson followed up with two punches, prompting a referee stoppage at 4:29 of the very first round.

He wasn’t the only fighter to claim $50,000 and a Performance of the Night bonus. Jorge Masvidal, Josh Samman and Kamaru Usman all earned identical honors.

Masvidal made his return to the welterweight division on Sunday night, besting Cezar Ferreira with a first-round stoppage of his own. ‘Mutante’ was able to partially control Masvidal, scoring an early takedown and pressing him against the fence. The American Top Team fighter was able to adjust and cracked Ferreira with an elbow from the clinch followed by a series of strikes that sent the Brazilian to the canvas and ultimately out of the fight. The official time of the stoppage is 4:22 of round 1.

Josh Samman continued his winning ways, stopping Caio Magalhaes with a rear naked choke. Samman controlled the contest from the get go, scoring with outside leg kicks and proactive punches. After a grappling exchange, Samman was able to find his way to the Brazilian’s back where he secured both hooks and a deep rear naked choke. Magalhaes tried to peel Samman’s hands apart, but it was all for naught. The end came at 2:52 of the very first frame.

Last, but certainly not least, Kamaru Usman not only won a bonus, but helped the Blackzilians beat American Top Team for season twenty one of The Ultimate Fighter, besting Hayder Hassan by submission. Usman, a decorated amateur wrestler, used his skills from the get go, mostly avoiding Hassan’s powerful right hand by taking the fight to the floor. While Hassan was able to occasionally land and made it to the second round, Usman’s takedowns and passing were too much as the Blackzilian passed to side control where he scored with a head and arm triangle at 1:19 of the second round.

The Ultimate Fighter 21 took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bouts discussed here aired on Fox Sports 1.

UFC middleweight Caio Magalhaes was submitted by Josh Samman at 2:52 of the first round during their bout on the preliminary card of The Ultimate Fighter 21. After losing, however, Samman went to shake Magalhaes’ hand. The Brazilian refused and as Samman walked off, Magalhaes spat blood at him. The video above shows the finish of the fight as well as Magalhaes’ post-fight actions.

“He came up and apologized after the fight,” Samman said of Magalhaes at the post-fight press conference. “It was just in the heat of the moment and so, I can’t speak for him, really.”

“We’re going to talk about that tomorrow when we get back,” said Dave Sholler, UFC Vice President of Public Relations. “I know they cleared the air back stage. We’re just…

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — UFC welterweight Rory MacDonald was taken to the hospital after losing to UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 on Saturday night. MacDonald suffered a fractured right foot and nose, MacDonald’s coach Firas Zahabi told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani.

MacDonald, 25, suffered a fifth-round TKO loss to Lawler in the co-main event of UFC 189. The official time was 1 minute of round 5, but the stoppage came after four rounds of a back-and-forth battle. In addition to the injuries mentioned by Zahabi, MacDonald visibly suffered serious cuts and bruising on his face as a result of the fight with Lawler.

UFC 189 took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

I often talk of the promoter-fighter handshake. That’s the arrangement where both the fighter and promoter work together to create the best possible outcome in terms of generating interest. In all my years of covering fight sports, I’ve never seen a better handshake than the one UFC and Conor McGregor share. He is, by far, the best promoted fighter I’ve ever witnessed.

Much of that is his own doing. His brash talk, stirring nationalism, soaring rhetoric, tireless work ethic, unique fighting style and camera-ready persona have carried him to incredible heights in record time. He is unusual, which he knows and flaunts to fantastic effect.

The UFC knows it, too, which is why they’ve carefully made the right fights for him along the way. That is, just the kind of guys he needed to beat to get the right experience while he could look good doing it. He’s beaten very legitimate fighters, but there is an art to getting the right fights at the right time, something McGregor’s benefitted from. More than that, though, they’ve raised their own game to make sure they boosted McGregor’s profile. When he needed a stage, they built one. They’ve taken him around the world and back to Dublin to help McGregor make himself more than what he was just yesterday or the day before. They knew what they had and never took their foot off the gas once he got going.

The UFC typically makes calculated risks. Saturday is unusual in that the choice to have McGregor face Mendes poses the unusually high risk UFC likes to avoid. If Mendes wins – or worse, makes McGregor look bad – so many potential record-setting events or opportunities evaporate. But you have to admire the UFC’s gall here. If McGregor wins, the world is his oyster as it is the UFC’s. The rewards are so massive that taking any other approach seems foolish despite the potential backfire. It’s high risk, high reward, but the UFC’s desire to bet on themselves as well as their surging talent from Ireland could produce incalculable rewards. That they’ve done it every chance they’ve had with McGregor along the way is something we may never see again. It’s about as close to the perfect handshake as can be found in fight sports.

That is, unless the entire thing is an illusion and McGregor simply cannot compete at this level. Because if he can’t or is made to look ineffectual, they were only ever building a bridge to nowhere.

How fitting this fight is in Vegas. The UFC’s gamble is the biggest bet in that town on Saturday night.

Chad Mendes vs. Conor McGregor

At stake: the Conor McGregor referendum. This fight’s been analyzed to death, so I’ll just comment on the overarching issue at play. The best part about Jose Aldo dropping out is that McGregor’s challenge didn’t really change. Yes, Mendes is an entirely different opponent, but the central question of McGregor’s legitimacy is still in play. Is he championship material or not? Can he beat a top of the food chain fighter or not? We couldn’t get that answer against Aldo this time, but a fight with Mendes pushes McGregor in the same direction. Given how lackluster substitute fights are, this is such a rare treat.

As for Mendes, a loss here wouldn’t be all that bad. He’s already solidified himself as a top talent, albeit one where he cannot best the absolute king. Losing to McGregor wouldn’t change that much, especially after crushing Ricardo Lamas. McGregor would move ahead, but it would dramatically alter the way Mendes is viewed.

Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald

At stake: a coronation. Lawler is the champ and hopes to remain that way, but doubts linger about his ability to hold sustained dominance over the division. Sure, he’s good, most agree, but how good? Could he defeat Johny Hendricks again? Will he beat MacDonald for the second time? Some believe he will, but it’s not a foregone conclusion. This bout is not just silencing doubts, but putting together a run of dominance that officially cement him as the welterweight of the moment.

For MacDonald, he can’t worry about dominance until he captures the title, but it’s that title he needs to make good on expectations or promise. He’s young and his yet more time to climb, but losing twice to Lawler would be a hard spot to come back from. Still, what MacDonald is trying to achieve is the greatness everyone expects from him, including himself. There is a void in Canada and while MacDonald alone cannot fill it, his ascension to welterweight king would go a long way towards filling it.

Gunnar Nelson vs. Brandon Thatch and Dennis Bermudez vs. Jeremy Stephens

At stake: being a real contender. The hype behind both fighters is very much deserved, but so are the questions. Nelson has shown brilliant ground attacks and unusual striking, but couldn’t handle the orthodox (if powerful) boxing of Rick Story. Thatch is huge and highly creative, but came up short against a lightweight moonlighting as a welterweight. Both need to get back on the winning track and prove the better parts of their games are what truly define them, not the underlying questions.

Bermduez and Stephens aren’t quite in the same position. Stephens is trying to breathe more life into his career with a suspect weight class change. He’s also dropped two in a row and failed to make weight for this bout. Bermudez fell short badly in his last fight where he was easily defeated by Ricardo Lamas. Still, both have the potential to do more and be more than they are. Bermudez has dramatically improved since his early UFC fights and Stephens’ potent striking always keeps him in fights. If they want to climb the ranks, winning here is imperative.

Brad Pickett vs. Thomas Almeida

At stake: a future. Pickett has been and still is a respected competitor, but the miles on his career are beginning to show. He’s returned to bantamweight after an unsuccessful run at flyweight. Yet, this contest is a bit of referendum on him as well as Almeida. The key is whether the young Brazilian can continue to advance in his burgeoning career or if Pickett has enough left in the tank to still be a top contender.