Robert Frost never had this in mind.
Instead of two roads diverging, we’ve got about 17. Standing in for that yellow wood, we have a desert outpost known as Las Vegas, Nevada, and a little blockbuster known as UFC 187.
Saturday night was thick with storylines, some of which actually managed to diverge from themselves. In the main event, two light heavyweights fought for a vacant title. With previous champ Jon Jones in exile after his alleged role in a hit-and-run collision, wildly talented and widely beloved Daniel Cormier took on Anthony Johnson, an incredible knockout artist whose own tale of professional redemption is marred by questions over his history with domestic violence.
But wait! That was only one of the two title fights on the slate. In the other, Chris Weidman, who spent the week hitting interviews out of the park like he was Bryce Harper in batting practice, seemed ready to take a big step forward into stardom by defending his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort, the aging former phenom who was once again accused just last night—by Weidman himself, no less—of under-the-board preparation practices.
Here’s the craziest part: Those are just the top two fights. There was intrigue up and down the card, from Fight Pass to finale. The word “stacked” is thrown around too often, but here, the term definitely applies.
Who got on the road to glory, and who took the primrose path? As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from UFC 187.
And for the literal-minded among us, full card results appear at the end of the slideshow.