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Sure, it could have been better. But it also could have been much, much worse.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) just featured one of the best fight cards in recent memory, or at least one of the most violent, courtesy of the UFC 244: “Masvidal vs. Diaz” pay-per-view (PPV) event last night (Sat., Nov. 2, 2019) inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Get complete results and play-by-play here.
The main event between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz was being contested for the title of “Baddest Mother Fucker” in all of mixed martial arts (MMA), though for some bizarre reason, the ESPN+ broadcast would not allow anyone to say “fucker,” so commentators and pre-packaged videos all said “Baddest Mother Effer.”
Sure, we were privy to the bloody, lacerated face of Diaz, thanks to a wicked elbow from Masvidal in the opening frame, but OH MY GOD DON’T SAY THE F-WORD. Fortunately we’re not governed by the same unwritten rules, so I’m just going to give it to you straight.
“Gamebred” is a bad motherfucker.
He wounded Diaz early in the fight and never took his foot off the gas and as you would expect with any showing from the Stockton slapper, including his UFC 196 bloodbath against Conor McGregor, he never stopped fighting back, even throwing up a couple of slick submissions to keep Masvidal honest.
It simply wasn’t enough.
New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) called a halt to the contest before it could reach the championship rounds, based on the cumulative damage incurred across the first 15 minutes of action. Not surprisingly, the fans in attendance were mad, Diaz and Masvidal were mad, and promotion president, Dana White, was mad.
Even “The Rock” look bummed out.
Disappointment aside, I think we need to get away from this habit of measuring the integrity of wins and losses against a fight’s entertainment value. Sure, Diaz wasn’t knocked out and could have probably kept going, but he got busted up so badly the cageside doctor ruled him medically unfit to continue.
It was a definitive finish and I’ll take that over a wonky split decision any day of the week.
I know there was immediate talk of running it back, but since the BMF title was designed to be one-and-done, it’s probably best we just leave that thing at home for their next go-round. Besides, the gods love to fuck with us on this stuff and if we trot the BMF belt out for a second time, it will probably end in a draw or disqualification or some other goofy thing.
It’s also fair to suggest that emotions are running high after the fight and once we get some distance between this event and the main event of UFC 245, featuring Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington for the welterweight title, we may be ignoring the Diaz do-over for a Masvidal title fight.
Assuming nothing moronic happens on Dec. 14 in Las Vegas.
The BMF title was created to honor the legacies of veteran warriors like Masvidal and Diaz, while also being worked as an effective marketing tool to sell the UFC 244 PPV event. And playing the combat sports game is like betting the stock market. You can usually predict how these things are going to play out and hope for a solid return on investment.
Five rounds in the UFC 244 main event would have been better than three, but considering how kick-ass the fight card turned out to be, I’d say the investment of both time and money was worth it. And hey, the 15 minutes we did get was wall-to-wall action.
Trust me, we’re gonna need that juice to get us through this.
For complete UFC 244: “Masvidal vs. Diaz” results and post-fight coverage, including videos, recaps, reactions, and more, head over to our comprehensive event archive by clicking here.