Standing in adjoining ballrooms that serve as the Media Room for UFC events at the MGM Grand with videographer extraordinaire E. Casey Leydon of MMA Fighting shortly after Saturday night’s main event concluded, Brett Okamoto of ESPN asked us whether the two upset finishes that closed out the action in the Octagon was good or bad for the sport?
I didn’t have an answer at the time – the outcomes were too fresh; I hadn’t had enough time to process what I had just witnessed.
In the previous hour, Miesha Tate completed a desperation takedown in the center of the cage and choked out Holly Holm to win the women’s bantamweight title before Nathan Diaz took the best Conor McGregor had to offer, scowled and rallied to finish the featherweight champion in a battle of natural lightweights contested at welterweight.
It was a lot to take in. A day after telling Matt Sekeres and Blake Price of TSN 1040 Radio that a Conor McGregor loss, not a Holly Holm loss, would be the “worst-case scenario” for UFC President Dana White, both had happened to bring UFC 196 to a chaotic conclusion.
Now more than 48 hours removed from the finish and Okamoto posing his question, I’m finally ready to answer.
Saturday night was a great night for the sport in numerous ways.
First, these were amazing performances that got everybody talking and any time that happens, it’s a good thing.
Bill Simmons doesn’t kick off his Monday podcast with a discussion about UFC pay-per-view results very often, if at all, but that’s what he did this week, bringing on Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports to analyze the outcomes and what they mean for the promotion going forward. Wetzel wouldn’t have made my Top 10 list of people to have on to discuss the impact of this event, but the fact that Simmons was leading off the week with UFC 196 tells you how much this event resonated outside of the MMA bubble.
Even if the mainstream focus is on McGregor and Holm, Diaz and Tate are automatically a major part of the conversation as the victors and that elevates their profiles with the segment of the audience that didn’t necessarily know much about them prior to last weekend. McGregor and Holm don’t suddenly cease being stars as a result of their setbacks on Saturday, but both Diaz and Tate will get a significant increase in attention and recognition by beating the two big names most of the casual fans tuned in to see over the weekend.
Tate pulled off one of the more improbable comebacks in recent memory to claim UFC gold and her first title defense is expected to come against her long-time rival, former champ Ronda Rousey. If you don’t think this win coupled with that impending match-up is going to elevate her profile with casual fans, you’re pretty much crazy.
As for Diaz, he beat the biggest star in the UFC right now and he did it with his signature swagger, marching down and ultimately finishing McGregor after getting touched up early before telling everyone that he wasn’t surprised by the outcome, motherf—ers.
That kind of performance should earn Diaz a major opportunity next time out and has a carryover effect with fans. Whenever he takes to the Octagon again, more people will be tuning in simply because they watched Diaz do the unexpected.
UFC 196 was also good for the sport in the literal sense of the word, as these two results showed that when the cage door closes, it’s performance that matters above all else, the same why Holm showed that when she upset Rousey for the title last year in Melbourne.
These weren’t the results that were the best for the UFC – having McGregor and Holm win in impressive fashion and set up even bigger fights later in the year would have been ideal and was expected, but that’s not how things played out.
Instead, the plans that had been penciled in for UFC 200 and beyond were erased by a pair of unexpected, gritty performances from the two underdogs, reminding everyone that hype doesn’t guarantee results and you really never know what’s going to happen when the cage door closes.
That uncertainty – the legitimate possibility that any champion or elite competitor could fall at any time – is something intrinsic to mixed martial arts and separates this sport from most others because you don’t get the combined drama and significance of Saturday night’s final two contests in any other setting.
And when it happens, it reinforces how unpredictable this sport is and hits you with a jolt of excitement that you don’t get anywhere else.
A night that elevates two competitors to new heights and reminds everyone that nothing is certain once the cage door closes may be chaotic, but it’s also good for the sport.
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