10 memorable moments from UFC on FOX 22: Waterson, Gall and uncensored Cruz vs. Garbrandt

Now what?

That question had to pop into the minds of both Michelle Waterson and Mickey Gall following Saturday’s UFC on FOX 22 event. After all, they’re the ones who defeated the UFC’s handpicked would-be superstars of the future in the headlining bouts of the fight card.

Waterson, fighting for the first time since July 2015, submitted Paige VanZant in the first round of the main event. In the co-main event, Gall forced Sage Northcutt to tap in the second round. Now Waterson and Gall wait and see if those dominant wins elevate them to needle-mover status with the UFC marketing department.

While we ponder just what those victories mean, let’s take some time to look back on the event as a whole. Here are 10 memorable moments from UFC on FOX 22, which aired on FOX from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif.

After 17 months on the sidelines, Waterson made short work of VanZant. After a beautiful head-and-arm throw put VanZant on the mat, Waterson (14-4 MMA, 2-0 UFC) quickly took her opponent’s back and attempted to lock in a rear-naked choke. VanZant (7-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) did her best to fight the submission, but she eventually went limp, forcing referee John McCarthy to wave off the fight at the 3:21 mark of the first round.

It was a nearly perfect performance from Waterson, who absorbed less than 10 total strikes on her way to victory.

The loss is likely to set back VanZant a few steps, but that’s not a bad thing. If the UFC takes a breather and tones down its promotional push of VanZant, she could develop into a special fighter, but she needs time, training and a step down in competition. At 22 and with four years of pro experience, she’s not ready to face top-tier strawweight fighters, but she’s shown a willingness to learn and a desire to develop into someone who will challenge those fighters.

As for Waterson, she showed that she is ready to challenge a top-10 fighter in her next outing.

Gall moved to 3-0 in the UFC with his second-round submission win over Northcutt in their welterweight bout. Did the fight answer any of the questions we had about these two? Not really. At best we learned Gall (4-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is doing the right things to steadily improve and progress, namely, finding coaches who will make him a better fighter, while Northcutt (8-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) remains all raw potential.

We still need to see more from Gall before we’ll be able to get a good handle on his overall upside, but there does seem to be one. As for Northcutt, he’s an athletic specimen, but he’s shown no real growth since he joined the UFC in October 2015. Northcutt’s best bet might be to take a decent amount of time off and focus on shoring up his overall fight game with a top-notch camp somewhere far away from Texas.

There was one official TKO at UFC on FOX 22, and that came during the UFC Fight Pass Prelims when Eddie Wineland stopped Takeya Mizugaki in the first round.

But there was also an unofficial knockout during the FOX-televised portion of the event. That KO came when bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) verbally laid waste to his upcoming UFC 207 opponent, Cody Garbrandt (10-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC), during a split-screen interview segment.

While the broadcast version of the exchange was heavily censored, an uncensored version has surfaced.

It’s hard to pinpoint the knockout blow, but it might have come when Cruz referenced his wins over Garbrandt’s cohorts at Team Alpha Male.

“I was able to buy a house with all of the wins I have over your team,” Cruz said. “Who do you think is going to teach you how to beat me?”

Cruz’s broadcast partner, Jon Anik, eventually stepped in, but the stoppage was a little late.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Urijah Faber’s walkout song, but damn if I didn’t wake up on Sunday morning with “California Love” stuck in my head.

At the conclusion of the FS1 prelims, the UFC sent Faber into retirement with one of its better tribute packages, showing highlights from Faber’s WEC and UFC career while fighters and broadcasters paid tribute to the 37-year-old fighter before he met Brad Pickett in his retirement fight.

Faber (34-10 MMA, 10-6 UFC) delivered an inspired performance, doing everything he could to finish Pickett (25-13 MMA, 5-8 UFC) before the end of regulation time.

Faber didn’t get the finish in front of the hometown crowd, but he did walk away with the unanimous-decision win.

In the aftermath of the bantamweight fight, even Cruz, Faber’s biggest rival, paid his respects, giving Faber an autographed poster from their WEC 26 fight during the FS1 post-fight show. Yes, the poster that inspired a feud that lasted almost 10 years.

Alan Jouban did exactly what he needed to do to defeat Mike Perry. He stayed calm, avoided Perry’s heavy hands and effectively used leg and body kicks to set up his power punches.

While Jouban (15-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) adjusted his game plan, Perry (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) was unwilling or unable to do the same, continuously looking for that one big punch that would Jouban’s off switch.

Jouban’s unanimous-decision win in the welterweight bout should lead to a step up in competition in his next outing. As for Perry, it’ll be interesting to see if this loss, the first of his career, will humble him in either his personality or his one-dimensional approach to the fight game.

Paul Craig entered the UFC’s light-heavyweight division with eight stoppage victories. He picked up his ninth when he stopped Luis Henrique da Silva early in the second round with an armbar.

Craig, the former BAMMA light-heavyweight champion, looked comfortable and confident in his UFC debut. Making the win more impressive is the fact that Craig (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) had been out of action for more than a year before facing da Silva (12-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC).

If Craig can stay healthy he’ll be a welcome addition to a division in need of competitive fighters.

In his first fight in more than a year, Mizuto Hirota earned a dominant unanimous-decision win over Cole Miller. Despite significant advantages in height, reach and ground fighting, Miller (21-11 MMA, 10-9 UFC) failed to give Hirota (18-7-2 MMA, 1-2-1 UFC) much of a fight.

This contest was the final bout on Miller’s contract, and after 20 fights with the promotion, it could very well have been his last.

Outside distractions had led to questions about Miller’s mindset ahead of this fight, and judging from his performance, he struggled to put those things behind him on fight night.

After two upset wins, Bryan Barberena met his match in Colby Covington. As expected, Covington (11-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) used a wrestling-based attack to shut down Barberena (12-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC), racking up double-digit takedowns on his way to a unanimous-decision victory.

Despite the dominant win, Covington was unsatisfied with his performance.

A lot of that disappointment came from the fact that Covington entered the fight with a “little MCL tear.” Covington said the injury and rehab affected both his wrestling and striking.

After seven UFC fights, we know Covington has solid wrestling. We also know it’s difficult for wrestling-heavy fighters to climb the rankings and pick up fans. The boos after this fight ended were a reminder of that fact. Covington promised that we’d see better performances from him in the future as he attempts to climb the welterweight ranks.

In May Leslie Smith told MMAjunkie that she was “totally happy with being a gatekeeper for a little bit.” At UFC on FOX 22, Irene Aldana attempted to make her way through that gate, but Smith (9-7-1 MMA, 3-3 UFC) stepped forward, locked the gate behind her, and pushed Aldana (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) off her property, earning a unanimous-decision win.

Smith’s aggression, volume and pressure proved to be too much for Aldana over the course of the women’s bantamweight contest.

Smith, in what might have been the best performance of her UFC career, served notice that she’s more than capable of testing the mettle of any fighter in her division, newcomer or veteran.

There are a handful of things that are great about MMA. One is that it’s a truly international sport. Another is that the fighters remain approachable and easygoing.

Sometimes those two things overlap in a fortuitous manner, like when someone is attempting to transcribe an interview from a fighter with a thick Scottish accent and a co-worker just happens to be sitting across the airport bar from that very fighter at that exact moment. That’s when things like the below happen.

Thanks to Craig for the assist.

For more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Events section of the site.