The UFC 178 pay-per-view was one of the best of 2014 thus far, and the results from the card headlined by the championship match between Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso made for an unforgettable event.
As if Johnson retaining the UFC Flyweight Cha…
The UFC 178 pay-per-view was one of the best of 2014 thus far, and the results from the card headlined by the championship match between Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso made for an unforgettable event.
As if Johnson retaining the UFC Flyweight Championship wasn’t enough, the co-headlining Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez and ConorMcGregor vs. Dustin Poirier fights lived up to the hype. Add in Dominick Cruz’s dominant return to the Octagon, and UFC 178 was worth the purchase price.
Here are the full results from Saturday’s PPV, the bonus award winners and the biggest winner and loser from the marquee UFC event.
Biggest Winner: Dominick Cruz
The biggest winner from UFC 178 was former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. After almost three full years away from the sport, Cruz returned to the Octagon and looked even more dominant than ever when he knocked out TakeyaMizugaki in the first round.
Cruz looked to have regained his old form, and he told Ben Fowlkes of MMAJunkie.com about his reaction to the fight and how he could be better than before:
It’s a weird thing when you’re out there … it’s all just reaction. I felt like I had to do what I did after all this time. That’s the only thing that would’ve felt right. It was an amazing feeling and I have so much thanks for the fans who helped me through all this difficult time off. I think I’ve grown into my body and I’m faster and powerful than I was before.
For the rest of the bantamweight division, Cruz’s dominant performance was bad news.
Cruz has not lost a fight since March of 2007. While multiple knee surgeries and a torn groin had temporarily derailed his career, the former champion is back to regain the title the company stripped from him while he was recovering.
Dana White and the UFC officials will likely give Cruz one more warm-up fight on PPV (possibly a rubber match against Urijah Faber, teased in the video above), but the stage will soon be set for an eventual return to the title scene.
It’s just a matter of time before Cruz is once again bantamweight champion.
Biggest Loser: Dustin Poirier
The battle between ConorMcGregor and Dustin Poirier was arguably the most anticipated fight of the night, but it was McGregor who proved to be the more dominant fighter. For Poirier, it was an utterly disappointing performance.
Poirier had won three fights coming into his matchup against McGregor, and the chatter before the fight had anticipation through the roof. Many expected Poirier to back up his talk with an elite performance—getting knocked out in the first round is not what fans expected.
MMA insider Mike Chiappetta talked about the lopsided matchup:
Shaheen Al-Shatti of MMAFighting.com talked about the look on Poirier’s face:
After coming into the fight as the fifth-ranked competitor in the featherweight division, via UFC.com, he was dominated by the ninth-ranked fighter in McGregor. Poirier needs a bounce-back performance, and a matchup against Cub Swanson would be ideal.
Swanson beat Poirier in 2013. If Swanson loses to Frankie Edgar at UFC Fight Night 57, a rematch between the two men could be a marquee fight that would add depth on any major PPV card.
Through all the gossip and storylines, the thing that made UFC 178 so compelling was that it was going to tell the truth about people. It was where a lot of fun speculation was going to crystallize into something like fact.
Dustin Poirier was either going to prove Conor McGregor a fraud, or act as exhibitive proof that he’s the real deal. Cat Zingano was either going to show up like a husk of her No. 1 contender self after the injuries and emotional tolls, or she was going to reinforce herself as a viable challenge to Ronda Rousey. Eddie Alvarez was either going to show the world that he’s always a top-five talent, or that the UFC is a different animal altogether from what Saturday night’s broadcasters referred to as “Other Promotion.”
And then there was Dominick Cruz, who was returning after three years on the frontlines of an internal battlefield that we could scarcely fathom. How would he look, nearly 1,100 days later, against Takeya Mizugaki?
Heading into the bout, the idea that Cruz would make it to fight night was in itself an abstract one after those years of bait-and-switch. He was supposed to face Renan Barao back in February after two ACL procedures, but then tore a groin, adding to the skepticism. Yet he did make it. It felt real when the pay-per-view broadcast showed him warming up in the back. It got more real when Jay-Z’s voice declared, “Please allow me to re-introduce myself” into the PA for his walkout.
And if Cruz was haunted by banana peels on the walk, he didn’t show it. He was announced as a “former champion” during the introductions, but it felt more like a “returning champion,” because he never ceded his belt in the cage. It was taken by them bad breaks, boys, and the relentless passage of time.
So what did he do after so many physical and psychological crap hands? He exceeded the wildest expectations.
Cruz unleashed the three years of tension he had pulled back on the bowstring over 61 seconds of demolition work. He deked, feinted, exploded for the takedown, then slammed home a series of rights on Mizugaki, whose wits parted him like music notes as the referee Chris Tognoni took his time in intervening. Cruz said afterwards he was unconscious as Mizugaki, just throwing coup de grâces in the blackness of the moment, just happy to “hit something again.”
Next thing he knew, Joe Rogan had a microphone in his face expressing the world’s own wow. For anybody still on the fence about joining the UFC 178 PPV party, Cruz was just the right kind of aperitif.
And on a night where just about everything went perfectly for the UFC in the realm of expanded possibility, Cruz stole the show. Here was a one-time pound-for-pound champion that was slowly deleted from the conversation through a merciless spell of bad luck. If he didn’t finish fights back in 2011 when he was wearing the belt, the new Cruz does. Mizugaki has been finished once since 2007, and that was to Cruz’s old nemesis Urijah Faber at WEC 52.
And speaking of Faber, the first thing Cruz did was throw the entire lot of Sacramento’s finest under the bus by referring to them as “Alpha Fails.” If Cruz was possessed during his onslaught of Mizugaki, he recovered his bearings moments later to play the fight game the way it should be played.
He called his next shot.
Now Cruz re-enters a picture that was getting on in mysterious ways without him. Barao had his brief run as the bantamweight champion before T.J. Dillashaw took his belt at UFC 173. The rematch was scotched when Barao had a bad weight cut at UFC 177, and he wasn’t going to get that shot again. With Raphael Assuncao slated to fight Bryan Caraway in early October, Cruz slid back into the pole position by reminding everyone, with unmistakable emphasis, that it’s his division.
That it’s always been his division.
That everyone else was masquerading while he was away.
That Assuncao is a mile for the sun, and Faber is still on the decks, and Barao shouldn’t have blown his inheritance, and that Dillashaw is operating on borrowed time.
According to Dana White, Cruz and Dillashaw will be the next title fight, and what Saturday night did was make that the biggest bantamweight title bout in the promotion’s history. Why? Because Cruz is in a position to do his own justice. And because both are defending the belt.
For a card booked on a premise of revelations, in which McGregor legitimized his top five space, and Zingano made her case for a January title fight with Rousey, and Cerrone set himself up to make it 5-0 in 2015, Cruz was the biggest reveal of all.
It wasn’t that he returned so much as he’s back. Dominick Cruz is back. And suddenly the bantamweight division begins to revolve around him again.
Through all the gossip and storylines, the thing that made UFC 178 so compelling was that it was going to tell the truth about people. It was where a lot of fun speculation was going to crystallize into something like fact.
Dustin Poirier was either going to prove Conor McGregor a fraud, or act as exhibitive proof that he’s the real deal. Cat Zingano was either going to show up like a husk of her No. 1 contender self after the injuries and emotional tolls, or she was going to reinforce herself as a viable challenge to Ronda Rousey. Eddie Alvarez was either going to show the world that he’s always a top-five talent, or that the UFC is a different animal altogether from what Saturday night’s broadcasters referred to as “Other Promotion.”
And then there was Dominick Cruz, who was returning after three years on the frontlines of an internal battlefield that we could scarcely fathom. How would he look, nearly 1,100 days later, against Takeya Mizugaki?
Heading into the bout, the idea that Cruz would make it to fight night was in itself an abstract one after those years of bait-and-switch. He was supposed to face Renan Barao back in February after two ACL procedures, but then tore a groin, adding to the skepticism. Yet he did make it. It felt real when the pay-per-view broadcast showed him warming up in the back. It got more real when Jay-Z’s voice declared, “Please allow me to re-introduce myself” into the PA for his walkout.
And if Cruz was haunted by banana peels on the walk, he didn’t show it. He was announced as a “former champion” during the introductions, but it felt more like a “returning champion,” because he never ceded his belt in the cage. It was taken by them bad breaks, boys, and the relentless passage of time.
So what did he do after so many physical and psychological crap hands? He exceeded the wildest expectations.
Cruz unleashed the three years of tension he had pulled back on the bowstring over 61 seconds of demolition work. He deked, feinted, exploded for the takedown, then slammed home a series of rights on Mizugaki, whose wits parted him like music notes as the referee Chris Tognoni took his time in intervening. Cruz said afterwards he was unconscious as Mizugaki, just throwing coup de grâces in the blackness of the moment, just happy to “hit something again.”
Next thing he knew, Joe Rogan had a microphone in his face expressing the world’s own wow. For anybody still on the fence about joining the UFC 178 PPV party, Cruz was just the right kind of aperitif.
And on a night where just about everything went perfectly for the UFC in the realm of expanded possibility, Cruz stole the show. Here was a one-time pound-for-pound champion that was slowly deleted from the conversation through a merciless spell of bad luck. If he didn’t finish fights back in 2011 when he was wearing the belt, the new Cruz does. Mizugaki has been finished once since 2007, and that was to Cruz’s old nemesis Urijah Faber at WEC 52.
And speaking of Faber, the first thing Cruz did was throw the entire lot of Sacramento’s finest under the bus by referring to them as “Alpha Fails.” If Cruz was possessed during his onslaught of Mizugaki, he recovered his bearings moments later to play the fight game the way it should be played.
He called his next shot.
Now Cruz re-enters a picture that was getting on in mysterious ways without him. Barao had his brief run as the bantamweight champion before T.J. Dillashaw took his belt at UFC 173. The rematch was scotched when Barao had a bad weight cut at UFC 177, and he wasn’t going to get that shot again. With Raphael Assuncao slated to fight Bryan Caraway in early October, Cruz slid back into the pole position by reminding everyone, with unmistakable emphasis, that it’s his division.
That it’s always been his division.
That everyone else was masquerading while he was away.
That Assuncao is a mile for the sun, and Faber is still on the decks, and Barao shouldn’t have blown his inheritance, and that Dillashaw is operating on borrowed time.
According to Dana White, Cruz and Dillashaw will be the next title fight, and what Saturday night did was make that the biggest bantamweight title bout in the promotion’s history. Why? Because Cruz is in a position to do his own justice. And because both are defending the belt.
For a card booked on a premise of revelations, in which McGregor legitimized his top five space, and Zingano made her case for a January title fight with Rousey, and Cerrone set himself up to make it 5-0 in 2015, Cruz was the biggest reveal of all.
It wasn’t that he returned so much as he’s back. Dominick Cruz is back. And suddenly the bantamweight division begins to revolve around him again.
For Dominick Cruz, it would appear the hard part is over. Just making it into the cage at UFC 178 was a victory for the former bantamweight king. After then going on to steamroll Takeya Mizukagi within a matter of seconds, it almost felt like Cruz had …
For Dominick Cruz, it would appear the hard part is over. Just making it into the cage at UFC 178 was a victory for the former bantamweight king. After then going on to steamroll TakeyaMizukagi within a matter of seconds, it almost felt like Cruz had gone 2-0 for the evening.
There have been few upsides to the 29-year-old’s absence, but one was the opportunity to watch him break down the minutiae of the fight game, giving us a fresh appreciation for Cruz’s mind for violence.
But boy was it good to see him back putting both his mind and body to its best use.
In truth, no one really knew what to expect from Cruz after almost three years on the sidelines. We are constantly reminded by UFC President Dana White that “ring rust is a real thing,” so it was difficult to imagine any fighter returning after such a lengthy absence and picking up right where he had left off.
As a member of the media, you always want to try and remain outwardly objective. However, it was difficult to not openly root for Cruz to make a successful return to the cage.
Most wanted him to look something like the fighter from 2011, even if that seemed like a fantasy. More improbable still was what actually transpired.
Cruz surpassed his previous self, making our ambitious expectations appear modest.
Impressive though he is, few would have considered the former champion “dangerous.” With only one legitimate stoppage in his previous 10 fights, Cruz’s record supported the prevailing perception that he is an extremely effective point fighter.
It’s hard to know whether Cruz was being propelled by sheer adrenaline at UFC 178, but he seems to have added a more aggressive dimension to his game, in addition to a few extra watts of power in his fists.
Perhaps it was just a product of the occasion, but one can only hope that it’s a lasting change to “The Dominator’s” game.
Those of you who frequent Bleacher Report MMA likely know that we put out “X Fights for ‘Fighter A’ to Take Next” articles after these events.
With his performance Saturday, Cruz effectively took that option off the table. There is only one fight to make, and publishing a slideshow that consisted of a solitary slide probably wouldn’t have endeared me to my editor.
The fact that Cruz didn’t lose his title in the cage is reason enough to give him the next crack at current 135-pound champion T.J. Dillashaw. His demolition of Mizukagi merely reinforces the need for that fight to happen as soon as possible.
The good news? Dana White has already announced his intention to put that fight together. The only real question left is when and where it takes place.
If both men fight up to their potential, we may bear witness to the quintessential mixed martial arts bout.
Watch Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez full fight video highlights from UFC 178’s co-main event above, courtesy of FOX Sports.UFC 178 took place September 27, 2014 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Donald Cerrone (25-6, 1 no-conte…
UFC 178 took place September 27, 2014 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Donald Cerrone (25-6, 1 no-contest) looked to spoil the UFC debut of former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez (25-4) in the night’s co-main event, which aired live on pay-per-view. Catch the video highlights above.
For more on UFC 178’s co-main event, check out the play-by-play by MMAFighting.com’s own Chuck Mindenhall.
Round 1: Big John McCarthy is the third man. Longtime coming for former Bellator champ Alvarez to have this moment. Cerrone at center, and Alvarez orbits. Body shot from Alvarez, and Cerrone…
After dispatching Dustin Poirier inside of two minutes at UFC 178, even Conor McGregor’s most cynical critics would have to concede that he has something a little bit special. The Irishman isn’t all talk. The hype would appear to be real, at least from this writer’s perspective. Of course, there is still the question of […]
After dispatching Dustin Poirier inside of two minutes at UFC 178, even Conor McGregor’s most cynical critics would have to concede that he has something a little bit special. The Irishman isn’t all talk. The hype would appear to be real, at least from this writer’s perspective. Of course, there is still the question of […]
After dispatching Dustin Poirier inside of two minutes at UFC 178, even Conor McGregor’s most cynical critics would have to concede that he has something a little bit special.
The Irishman isn’t all talk. The hype would appear to be real, a…
After dispatching Dustin Poirier inside of two minutes at UFC 178, even ConorMcGregor’s most cynical critics would have to concede that he has something a little bit special.
The Irishman isn’t all talk. The hype would appear to be real, at least from this writer’s perspective.
Of course, there is still the question of how McGregor will hold up against an elite wrestler, but it’s time to admit that he has far more going for him than just the gift of the gab.
The 26-year-old’s popularity is starting to be reminiscent of Ricky Hatton’s in the mid-to-late 2000s.
The former two-weight boxing world champion from Manchester would routinely attract thousands of fans from around the UK and Ireland no matter where he fought. When “The Hitman” travelled to Las Vegas for fights against Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, it felt like the entire population of Manchester had descended upon Sin City.
As was the case on Friday, the weigh-in became an event in and of itself. Watching Hatton strip down to his skivvies and step on a scale would have been sufficient to attract several hundred thousand pay-per-view buys on its own.
Like the Mancunian, McGregor has a working-class appeal that strangely complements his cockiness. He is not, as some have suggested, MMA’s own “Prince” NaseemHamed.
Hameddidn’t possess the requisite charm to offset his ego. Consequently, he was promoted as a heel. Tens of thousands of fans weren’t travelling from Hamed’s hometown of Sheffield to cheer him on.
Even in the UK, a significant percentage of fans tuned in to see him get his comeuppance. When Marco Antonio Barrera slammed Hamed face-first into the corner post during their bout in 2001, half the country cheered in unison.
That clearly isn’t the case with McGregor. Not in the UK, and certainly not in Ireland. It’s doubtful that the majority of the MMA fanbase even view the Irishman as a heel.
Some athletes are so magnetic that you are willing to forgive their excesses. Imagine the words of Muhammad Ali being spoken by a lesser personality. You’d happily remortgage your home just to watch that man take a hiding.
Of course, McGregor will have to continue to back up his lofty claims if he expects the fans to stay on his side. No one wants to hear an ordinary fighter make extraordinary claims, even if he happens to be charm personified.
But as long as the Irishman looks as extraordinary as he sounds, the fans will continue to hang on his every word. The sport has a new star right when it needed it most, and we should all be thankful for that.
The UFC 178 pay-per-view was one of the best of 2014 thus far, and the results from the card headlined by the championship match between Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso made for an unforgettable event.