As Mike Easton and Jared Papazian were staring at each other across the Octagon, the scene was filled with intensity and everyone watching knew they were in store for some serious violence in the next 15 minutes.
Or they were wondering “who the hell am I watching, and why are they on the main card?”
However, pretty much every thought about whether these two were worthy of a fight on FX was immediately erased, as the two practically ran to the center of the cage and started throwing bombs.
For 15 minutes, Easton and Papazian traded big punches, had back-and-fourth battles for position against the cage and, at one point in the third round, stood right inside the pocket and started to exchange leather wildly.
It was an awesome, technically superior fight, which featured all of the excitement of a Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar bout with none of the sloppy aspects that have bugged purists for years.
In other words, it seemed like it was practically a lock for Fight of the Night honors once the event concluded.
Two short fights later (and short is really the best way to describe them), another night of fights was over. If the post-fight press conference started with any names other than Easton and Papazian coming out of Dana White’s mouth, it would be considered blasphemy.
But of course, the UFC threw the world a curve ball, opting to give the $45,000 reward to heavyweight sluggers Pat Barry and Christian Morecraft for a fight that, while entertaining, lasted under four minutes.
Simply put, that decision was insane.
If that wasn’t the Fight of the Night, then unknown fighters may as well give up, because there is no chance they’ll win it in future events.
Not only were Easton and Papazian the most exciting fight, not to mention the only one that gave fans enough time to fully digest what they were watching, but the two bantamweights were likely on the lower end of the pay scale compared to a UFC veteran like Barry.
While Barry’s knockout over Morecraft was a thing of beauty and Jim Miller and Josh Neer both pulled off some sick submissions, Easton and Papazian put on a bout that was twice as memorable, had half as much hype going into it, and the fight should have gotten the accolade it deserved.
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