Tyron Woodley's successful defense of his welterweight title vs. Stephen Thompson highlighted UFC 209 Saturday night a T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
In the co-main event, lightweight David Teymur defeated Lando Vannata by unanimous decision. Other action included Daniel Kelly beating Rashad Evans by unanimous decision and Alistair Overeem notching a third-round knockout over Mark Hunt.
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Prior to the second UFC pay-per-view of 2017, we posed four questions. The card gave us our answers.
1. Who is the best welterweight in the world? Woodley won his rematch with Thompson by majority decision, but the bout was lackluster. Neither fighter did much except for the fifth-round flurry by Woodley, when he knocked down Thompson and poured it on. The scorecards showed the final round determined the outcome and prevented another draw. Overall, the fight proved nothing. Woodley exited UFC 209 as the champion and, in theory the best welterweight in the world. The best welterweight in the world, however, is still Georges St-Pierre, who just returned to the UFC and is fighting Michael Bisping for the middleweight title.
2. A former world champ returns to fight in a new weight class, but will he be successful? Evans had big plans when he decided to move down to middleweight and face Daniel Kelly in his debut. He wanted to become the fourth fighter in UFC history to win two world titles in two different weight classes. Then the fight happened, and Evans didn’t look good at all. One judge had Evans winning the fight but Kelly was the aggressor and dominated much of the bout. The Evans of old would have taken care of Kelly. It might be time for the 37-year-old Evans to hang up the gloves after a third consecutive loss. The former light heavyweight champ doesn’t have anything left to prove at this stage of his career.
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3. Could Mark Hunt stay focused? Hunt had a lot on his mind heading into his fight against Alistair Overeem. In January, Hunt filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the UFC, Dana White and Brock Lesnar claiming, among other things, breach of contract, fraud, racketeering and negligence after it was revealed Lesnar failed two drug tests in conjunction with their fight at UFC 200 in July. Last week, the UFC and White filed a motion to dismiss the suit. During fight week, Hunt told MMAFighting.com the UFC “forced” him to compete. The Samoan won’t say the lawsuit was a distraction, but it had to be. It was talked about more than fight and Hunt really didn’t want to be in Las Vegas. When someone doesn't want to be somewhere, they aren’t completely focused. Maybe Hunt should have declined the fight and waited to see how the lawsuit played out.
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4. Would the broadcast team rebound after a shaky UFC 208? Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier were roundly criticized for their work in the first UFC PPV event in 20 years that Mike Goldberg didn’t announce. The UFC had decided in December not to bring back Goldberg. The UFC 209 team featured Anik, Rogan and former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Major improvement was expected, and that's what happened. The three jelled perfectly, they didn't step on each other's toes and it felt as though they had been working together forever. Cruz is a natural. He’s smooth and precise and he does his homework. He was seen at the UFC 209 media day interviewing fighters and tracking down all of the fight participants. He definitely is an analyst on the rise.
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA and boxing writer and contributor for Sporting News. You can find his podcast, "The Fight Club Chicago," and subscribe on iTunes . You can email him at [email protected] and can find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA .
