Did you complete the two-step?
It started at 2:30 a.m. Eastern Saturday morning and didn’t end until the wee hours of Sunday morning. It spanned 7,200 miles, from the subtropical climes of Auckland, New Zealand, to the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas.
It wasn’t the first time the UFC staged two cards in a day, and it won’t be the last. The MMA viewing market will ultimately determine whether this experiment has legs. In the meantime, let’s watch some freakin’ fights, huh?
Or at least read about them later and say we watched them. I, your intrepid MMA reporter, ran that marathon, watching both cards (with plentiful naps in between) and culling the day’s best and worst.
In New Zealand, the highly grizzled Nate Marquardt took on heavy-hitting local favorite James Te Huna. Marquardt has taken plenty of hits in his career, including two bad knockout blows in his past two engagements. Could his chin hold up?
In San Antonio, two of the featherweight division’s heaviest hitters, Cub Swanson and Jeremy Stephens, did battle with the next title shot very likely on the line.
As always, the stat lines only reveal so much. These are Saturday’s real winners and losers, from Down Under up to the U.S. of A. We also have full results from both cards at the end of the slideshow for your convenience and enjoyment.
Let’s get it on.