Saturday night's UFC 199 card looked great on paper, and it delivered in practice with a card full of action, exciting finishes and shocking upsets.
In the main event, underdog Michael Bisping pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UFC history as he dethroned newly crowned champion Luke Rockhold in the first round. Dominick Cruz lived up to his nickname by dominating the overmatched Urijah Faber in a one-sided decision.
Outside of the evening's two title fights, Max Holloway put on a show against Ricardo Lamas, Dan Henderson flatlined Hector Lombard with a head kick and Dustin Poirier iced Bobby Green in the opening frame.
Each bout offered compelling action, and in this piece, we'll break down what we saw on the main card.
Dustin Poirier vs. Bobby Green
This fight highlighted Poirier's continuing evolution into the most dangerous puncher in the lightweight division. He's a monster in the pocket with great vision, combination flow and the power to seriously hurt anybody he touches.
What stood out most about Poirier's performance was his improved defense. By virtue of wanting to be in the pocket, Poirier is consistently there for his opponent to hit.
As a young fighter, he was genuinely below average in terms of his defensive skills, with little head movement and too much emphasis on a double-forearms guard to block his opponent's shots.
Especially since moving up to lightweight, Poirier's defense has gotten better by leaps and bounds. Though he's still there to be hit, Poirier slips his head to the side and rolls under punches more, parries strikes and can still fall back on the double-forearms guard when necessary.
Perhaps counterintuitively, this makes Poirier much more dangerous offensively because it allows him to add layers to his exchanges in the pocket—precisely where he wants to be.
In the past, Poirier might have had to pull out of the pocket after throwing and then getting countered. Now, he can counter his opponent's counter with much less risk of eating a large dose of leather. This was how he repeatedly caught Green at UFC 199.
Poirier's 15 fights in the UFC make him seem like a veteran, but he's still only 27 years old. If he continues to make these kinds of improvements, he might emulate the division's champion, Rafael Dos Anjos, and make a late run for the belt.
Dan Henderson vs. Hector Lombard
Like most fans and analysts, I gave Henderson little chance against a faster, less shopworn and equally if not more powerful puncher in Lombard.
The American looked good in the early going, however, repeatedly timing right-hand counters and beating the Cuban Olympian to the punch on several occasions.
When Lombard knocked Henderson down with a vicious counter left hand, though, it looked like the predicted outcome would indeed come to pass. Lombard piled on the shots and nearly finished, but Henderson somehow survived into the second round.
The American buzzed Lombard with a high kick and then clipped the Cuban with a sneaky back elbow behind the ear that left him out on the canvas.
#UFC199 Highlights: Dan Henderson vs. Hector Lombard https://t.co/uYuty1ngBG
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) June 5, 2016
Two things stood out about Henderson's performance: his skill and timing on the counter, and his emphasis on kicks. In his worst performances, Henderson has lumbered forward loading up on the right hand, giving opponents nothing to worry about aside from dodging a telegraphed overhand.
Against Lombard, by contrast, the better version of Henderson—the one who blasted Bisping and Rafael Cavalcante and went to war with Shogun Rua for five rounds—showed up.
He let Lombard lead and timed accurate counters.
Stinging low kicks kept Lombard standing in front of him instead of circling at a pace Henderson couldn't match, and the flush head kick that preceded the elbow only landed because Lombard expected the kick to go low.
In sum, this was a more varied and sharper game than we've seen from Henderson in quite some time.
Max Holloway vs. Ricardo Lamas
Holloway's dominant win over former title contender Lamas ran his hot streak in one of the UFC's toughest divisions to nine wins. The 24-year-old Hawaiian gets better in every outing, and this was no exception.
This victory highlighted the soundness of Holloway's process. He can and does finish fights, but if he can't find the finish, Holloway's commitment to striking volume and excellent defensive wrestling skills means that he's a master at winning rounds.
#UFC199 Highlights: Max Holloway vs. Ricardo Lamas https://t.co/5vypcIqVaz
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) June 5, 2016
"He just doesn't do anything dumb," color commentator Joe Rogan said on Saturday night, and that's an excellent way of summing up his game.
While he's an exciting fighter with a penchant for engaging in action fights, he does so on his terms, using his length, footwork and command of angles to land a high volume of strikes without putting himself in unnecessary danger.
Holloway's fight IQ played out in distinct ways against Lamas. He's a good counterpuncher in general, and he'll throw one or two shots back at practically any attack his opponent tosses in his direction before sliding out of danger on a crisp angle.
The Hawaiian only exchanged with Lamas, however, when Lamas' back was against the fence.
With his back against the cage, Lamas couldn't generate much power because his stance wasn't under him, and with Holloway's back to the open space of the cage, he had all the room he wanted to move in and out. This means that exchanging was relatively safe for Holloway but a terrible proposition for Lamas.
Holloway is one of the most exciting young talents in the UFC, and he has earned a title shot with nine consecutive wins.
Whether he gets one in the mixed-up Conor McGregor era at 145 pounds is another story entirely.
Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber
The bantamweight champion closed the door on his trilogy with Faber in emphatic fashion, taking a pair of 50-45 scorecards and one 49-46.
Cruz even knocked Faber to the mat in the second round and did his best to finish but settled for taking an increasingly one-sided decision as the fight wore on.
#UFC199 Highlights: Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber https://t.co/5ZtQlXWHzI
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) June 5, 2016
The rubber match highlighted the diversity of Cruz's outstanding footwork. He spent most of the fight against TJ Dillashaw fighting off his back foot, landing counters while circling and attempting to keep his back off the fence.
Against Faber, by contrast, Cruz still landed his counters when Faber led the dance, but more often the champion had to be the one pressing the action.
That's not necessarily Cruz's wheelhouse, and it's a big part of what made his 2011 meeting with Faber such a great fight. While Cruz could pile up volume with his in-and-out strikes and angles, Faber had opportunities to plant hard counters in the brief moments when Cruz found himself stuck inside.
Those moments were much fewer and farther between at UFC 199. Cruz has never looked this comfortable moving forward, and the occasional defensive lapses that gave Faber his chances in 2011 weren't there.
There's also the chance that the older Faber had more trouble pulling the trigger on those shots than his younger self would have.
Cruz also seemed to have placed additional emphasis on punching for power. He sat down on his shots, planting his feet and getting his weight into shots in a way that he hasn't in the past. The knockdown he hit in the second round and the shot with which he stumbled Faber later in the fight were the products of clean, technical punching mechanics.
Combined with his increasingly sharp counterpunching, Cruz's more dangerous offensive game and willingness to throw with power bode poorly for his potential bantamweight challengers.
Michael Bisping vs. Luke Rockhold
Bisping dethroned Rockhold in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. According to Odds Shark, the challenger came in as a 21-4 underdog, which was largely because of the champion's utter demolition of Bisping only 18 months ago.
However, a pair of flush left hooks and follow-up punches on the ground left the Manchester, England, native with the title.
This was an interesting fight before the finish. In the first round of their initial meeting in 2014, Rockhold was content to hit Bisping with kicks at range and line up counters. He gauged the space and timing necessary to commit to pressuring later in the round, and then in the second, he hit Bisping with a head kick before submitting him with a one-arm guillotine.
This time around, Rockhold followed much the same plan, but the pace picked up much more quickly—largely because both fighters were willing to exchange in the pocket.
Bisping had surprising success sticking in range and landing right hands as and after Rockhold threw. While Rockhold had a substantial edge in raw power and speed, Bisping was a little tighter technically in those ranges.
That's precisely what got Rockhold in trouble.
He cracked Bisping with a hard counter right hook and then pressed forward, throwing himself into a leaping jab that left him overextended, his back partially turned to Bisping. The Englishman stood his ground and replied with a straight right-left hook counter, and because of his overcommitment to the jab, Rockhold never saw the second punch coming.
It's essentially the same counter combination Bisping used to knock down Anderson Silva when they fought in February, and it's one of his specialties.
Rockhold got a bit overconfident, made a mistake and Bisping made him pay for it in the most shocking fashion possible.
Whether Bisping holds on to the belt for a while or not, his defeat of Rockhold will stand forever as one of the all-time great upsets and championship fight victories. This was Bisping's 26th time in the Octagon, and he crowned a long and productive career with the elusive title he has sought for the last decade.
