On the quietest night of the sports calendar, the UFC made some noise.
In the middle of baseball's All-Star break and with NFL training camps still several days away, it was the deadest of dead spots for sports fans. Unless, of course, you were an MMA fan, in which case the main event at Wednesday's UFC Fight Night 45 promised on paper to be one of the wildest scraps of the year.
That one featured extraordinary lightweight brawlers Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller, both of whom are mounting solid streaks, with three and two consecutive wins, respectively, and all by knockout or submission.
At the same time, neither man has yet been able to take that definitive step out of the UFC's upper-middle class and into true contender territory. A win Wednesday could signal a new era for the victor.
That was only one of the points of interest on the 11-fight slate. The UFC women's strawweight division officially began with the evening's opening bout. Who was the first 115-pounder to have her hand raised in the Octagon, and how did that fighter look in the effort?
As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from Fight Night 45.
