Following UFC 223, Khabib Nurmagomedov is your new undisputed lightweight champion, dethroning former champion Abeyance Iaquinta. It was a competitive fight in the eyes of Joe Rogan and came down to a razor close 50-43 decision on the judges scorecards.
Following the bout, Nurmagomedov issued a challenge to Georges St-Pierre for no real reason. There brief talks that St-Pierre could drop to 155, but those rumors were silenced when logic intervened. Despite missing weight a handful of times, Khabib has never opening discussed moving up to 170 lbs.
All of this is to say, nothing was settled at UFC 223 in the lightweight division.
The long-awaited and highly-anticipated bout between Nurmagomedov and former interim undisputed champion Tony Ferguson fell apart for a fourth time. The UFC will need to book the bout at least one more time to see who wins the best of five series. Featherweight champion Max Holloway stepped up in Ferguson's place, but was deemed unfit to compete by the same Athletic Commission that cleared Thiago Alves trying to cut to 155 lbs.
More weight cutting shenanigans, Anthony Pettis rightfully wanting more money, and someone taking the UFC rankings too serious led to Al Iaquinta being slotted in the main event.
Oh yeah, Conor McGregor won his first fight since November 2015. Against a bus, no less.
Even Dana White got in on the action, claiming the company is too broke to pay six guys their win bonus after they were pulled off the card. Those six guys were Michael Chiesa (cut from the McGregor-Bus incident), Anthony Pettis (Chiesa's opponent), Alex Caceres (scheduled to fight Artem Lobov, who was pulled for his role in the McGregor-Bus incident), Paul Felder (left without a fight when Iaquinta was moved to the main event), Ray Borg (victim of the McGregor-Bus incident), and Brandon Moreno (Borg's opponent).
Paying all six their win bonus would have cost the company roughly the same as having to pay Tony Ferguson had he fought on the card. So, if you think about it, the company caught a huge break with Ferguson's injury. They may have gone bankrupt had he fought.
McGregor's antics landed him in jail, but that didn't bother the UFC president. As bad as the Irishman's actions were, they were nothing compared to what happens in other sports. The biggest star in the sport getting arrested for organizing gang warfare is Mickey Mouse club when you have Tom Brady deflating footballs or LeBron James tweeting at the US president.
Everything that happened leading up to the event and comments following the event made you forget that there were actual fights on Saturday night.
In fact, there was a highly important fight.
Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk engaged in what might be the greatest female fight of all-time. It's not a long list when you factor in competitiveness and importance, but their rematch is at the top of the list.
Namajunas shocked everyone last November when she stopped the women's strawweight queen with strikes. Many, including Jedrzejczyk, pointed to a tough weight cut. Others simply believed Namajunas just caught her Polish opponent. Any woman with two hands has a fighting chance.
The rematch at UFC 223 left little doubt as to who the better fighter is.
Namajunas spent 25-minutes trading strikes with Jedrzejczyk, which was thought to be career suicide a year ago. For many, the fight came down to the final round. Jedrzejczyk played the long game, chopping the champion with leg kicks in order to limit her movement. But Namajunas was undeterred, taking the kicks and firing back with counters. The judges had "Thug Rose" up 3-1 heading in the final frame, so her late takedown didn't matter as much as initially believe.
As most losers in a close decision feel, Jedrzejczyk thought she won the fight. Even though she didn't get the nod, the self-proclaimed queen of the strawweights didn't lack for confidence following the fight. That's probably not a good sign for future opponents.
From multiple main event changes to the biggest star in combat sports losing his mind to one of the best female fights ever. UFC 223 had everything that makes MMA the best and worst sport in the world.
