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This past week was unlike any other in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

It included three events on consecutive days, over thirty fights and fan events every single day. And all of it capped off with the best on-paper card in UFC history.

They billed it as “This Is How We Do Vegas,” and how they did Vegas was with an abundance of riches for those who traveled from near and far (mostly far) to take in the experience.

It all kicked off on Tuesday, which feels like a lifetime ago now. Most Las Vegas residents rarely visit the strip unless they have to work—or unless they have friends or relatives in town who want to take in the sights. I imagine it is much the same for people who live in cities with big tourist attractions; Orlando residents are not likely to visit Disney World on a regular basis, for example. The famed strip is a thing that is here, it is cool, and it is available if we want to go there.

But most of us are content to stay as far away as possible.

So, yeah—spending 10 hours per day for five consecutive days on the strip is not usually my idea of a good time. But this was a week where it felt borderline criminal to miss the open workouts, the media days and everything else. All of it was building to a big moment on Saturday night—when Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor would finally settle their long-simmering rivalry in the Octagon.

But first, we journeyed over to the Cosmopolitan. Thursday night’s UFC Fight Pass card was built around Paige VanZant and Sage Northcutt, two prospects who have a world of potential for the UFC. They are attractive, and they are young. But there are many questions surrounding them.

Northcutt, a smiling and genuinely nice 19-year-old kid, picked up his second win in just over two months. He has a good striking game honed by training that began when he was just five years old, but we still don’t know a lot about his overall game. His athleticism is off the charts, though, and he is unlike anyone else in the sport when it comes to his attitude. As long as the UFC brings him along slowly and resists the urge to throw him against big names too early, he could develop into a true star.

Northcutt‘s victory over Cody Pfister was a win for the UFC, but they lost in the main event. VanZant was pushed as a star nearly from the moment she first stepped in the Octagon, but there were questions about her actual fighting skill.

It turns out—the questions were answered; they just weren’t the answers the UFC was hoping for. Dominated by Rose Namajunas, VanZant was exposed as being utterly out of her league when facing the top-tier competition in her division. She can still be a hit, but she has a lot of development to go through before that can happen.

Then we moved on to Friday—still at the Cosmo—for The Ultimate Fighter finale, where two men made statements of their own.

Tony Ferguson, a product of another season of The Ultimate Fighter back in 2011, came into the night with a seven-fight winning streak. When his bout against Edson Barboza was over, Ferguson had stretched his streak to eight wins. But more importantly, he cemented himself as a potential contender in the UFC’s talent-rich lightweight division.

When the main event rolled around, it was Frankie Edgar—a man who has seemingly done everything possible to earn himself another crack at UFC gold after wearing it years ago—putting an emphatic stamp on his contendership with a blistering knockout of Chad Mendes. Edgar, denied and passed over in favor of newer talent, finally got the win that put him back in contention.

That win became even more important the next night when McGregor—the fastest-rising star in the history of the sport—cemented himself as not just one of the two biggest draws in the game, but also one of its best fighters.

In knocking out Aldo, McGregor reached the end of a journey that started when he signed with the UFC in 2013. He called his shot so many times that it grew far beyond repetitive, and then he went in the cage and did exactly what he said he’d do.

Now, for perhaps the first time in history, the UFC has a star on its hands who has the ability and the clout to control his destiny. McGregor may stick around and defend his championship against Edgar, but it is more likely that he’ll move up a division and challenge the winner of next Saturday’s UFC Fight Night matchup between Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone on FOX.

If McGregor gets his wish and is allowed to retain the featherweight title while doing so—though I am skeptical the UFC will allow such a thing, no matter what McGregor says—the UFC will have another first: a dual-division champion who can bring big-money fights to two separate divisions.

It’s crazy to consider that this was a night when Luke Rockhold handed Chris Weidman his first lost, yanking away the middleweight championship in dominant fashion. On any other event, that co-main event between Rockhold and Weidman would’ve been the fitting end to a huge event.

But UFC 194 was different. It was the very best the UFC could offer at that moment. There were no major injuries affecting the card; it is rare that a fight card drawn up on paper ends up going off mostly as planned. But that’s what happened on Saturday night. It was a special moment, and it was the perfect conclusion to a week when the UFC put their best foot forward.

Holding fight cards on three consecutive nights—in the same city—was a bold idea. It was an exhausting one in execution. At 1 a.m. on Sunday, the faces of many UFC staffers resembled zombies more than human beings. We all felt their pain.

But in retrospect, this week has to be considered a big win for the UFC. Even if McGregor continues to grow in stature, and even if he continues to wrest control away from the promotion in a way they are not used to, there is simply no denying that this past week was an example of the best this sport has to offer.

They did Vegas, indeed, and they did it the right way. But here’s to hoping they don’t make a habit of it.

Jeremy Botter covers mixed martial arts for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.

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