UFC 205 Recap - What's Next

By Muk

Last night's UFC 205 card at MSG was every bit as exciting as the hype, as we saw some great fights start to finish, as the UFC really made a splash in its first trip to New York. 
The card started out with some solid prelims, with our first two FS1 prelim fights ending in knockout.
Then the fun started, with Khabib Nurmagomedov taking on Michael Johnson, and executed his game plan exactly how most expected, taking Johnson down repeatedly and imposing his will on him, dominating the ground with relentless elbows and strikes. Khabib has undoubtedly earned the next title shot at lightweight, and will be far and away Conor McGregor's hardest opponent. His wrestling is so far beyond anyone in the division that it makes it virtually impossible to force Khabib to fight your fight. He is also not the type of fighter to allow Conor's verbal warfare to force him to fight out of his element, like we saw with Eddie, who strayed away from his wrestling game plan.
Then, in a great featherweight matchup, we had Frankie Edgar and Jeremy Stephens go at it, and these two came out swinging, and Stephens caught Edgar a few times, even dropping him once, but Frankie rallied and pushed forward, and was able to hold on for the decision win. 
Then, in the first fight of our main card, we saw Miesha Tate lose to Raquel Pennington via unanimous decision, and subsequently announce her retirement. Miesha, the former UFC Bantamweight champ, who made her debut in MMA nearly 10 years ago, has decided to finally step away from the sport she has devoted everything too. In a rollercoaster 2016, we saw Miesha claim the title she had long strived for, and then lose it, now dropping another fight, she just decided her time was up. All the respect in the world for Miesha and I wish her success in her next life venture.
Next we had Chris Weidman and Yoel Romero fighting for a potential shot at Michael Bisping's Middleweight belt. The fight was slow, and back and forth for the first 2 rounds, until in round 3 when Romero caught Weidman with a flying knee and that was all she wrote. He finished him off with a few huge strikes, and just like that Chris Weidman sank to the lowest point of his career. Bisping has been very vocal about not wanting to fight the "juicer" Romero, but we will see if it is really up to him or not.
In the first of 3 straight title fights, we saw Joanna Jedrzejczyk prove just why she is an undefeated champion, as she was able to control the entire fight against Karolina Kowalkiewicz, surviving the one scare when Karolina rocked her, but quickly regaining her composure and control. Joanna is just too polished, all-around she is so crisp and clean. Her stand-up is relentless, she thrives in the championship 4th & 5th rounds, and her takedown defense is nearly perfect. I truly can't see anyone of the roster who is going to dethrone Joanna.
Next, in a bizarre series of events, Tyron Woodley and Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, went the distance and the fight resulted in a Majority Draw, which means two judges scored the fight as a draw, but the third judge gave Woodley the 48-47 victory, allowing him to retain and defend his welterweight title. This fight was a good one, as Wonderboy showed his toughness and heart, battling back and being able to rally from a few knockdowns halfway through the fight. Dana White said we will get a rematch of this fight, and I hope its immediate, because that was a fun one and I really want to see Wonderboy get that belt. 
We all know how the main event went, as I mentioned in my previous blog as well. Conor McGregor did what he does best, took Eddie Alvarez out of his gameplan and element, and finished him with the left hand like he does so often.