UFC 201 was a fight card that flew under the radar. Turns out, it deserved attention.
This was July's sixth UFC show and followed an historic UFC 200 and its surprising loss by Holly Holm. UFC 201 carried potential to be exciting and delivered. Of the 11 fights staged at Atlanta, six ended by stoppage.
In the main event, Tyron Woodley knocked out Robbie Lawler to win the welterweight title. The co-main event saw Karolina Kowalkiewicz defeat Rose Namajunas by split decision.
Jake Ellenberger stopped Matt Brown in the first round, Erik Perez defeated Francisco Rivera by unanimous decision and Ryan Benoit did enough to beat Fredy Serrano by split decision.
Here are the highs and lows of UFC 201.
The good
— Women warriors. A lot was on the line in the co-main event. The winner would likely get the next crack at women's strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Namajunas looked on her way to victory after a stellar opening round as Kowalkiewicz looked tentative.
But, Kowalkiewicz started to use her Muay Thai skills to batter Namajunas with knees and elbows inside the clinch and sapped the energy out of her.
Kowalkiewicz set up an all-Polish title fight — possibly in Poland, which would make most sense.
"I want the fight with Joanna," Kowalkiewicz told media members after the fight. "I am ready for her. She said that I'm not on her level. I think that I am good enough to fight with her. I want a fight with her. Let's do this. Polish power versus Polish power."
— Job security. This was the proverbial do-or-die for Ellenberger, a 16-fight UFC veteran. After January's loss to Tarec Saffiedine, Ellenberger had won one of his six previous fights. So, Ellenberger flew to UFC headquarters to beg Dana White for one more fight.
White said OK, pitting Ellenberger against Matt Brown, who was among mixed martial arts' most exciting fighters.
Ellenberger responded. Right from the opening bell, "The Juggernaut" went at Brown and landed an overhand right to drop him that nearly finished him. Brown came back and started to gain his footing. Ellenberger was having none of it and threw a perfectly placed liver kick to send Brown down for the count.
What a great win for Ellenberger. Once a top talent in the deep welterweight division, he has the second chance he craved.
— New blood among light heavyweights. At one time, the 205-pound division was UFC's deepest. Lately though, it was a recycling bin. Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, Ryan Bader, Anthony Johnson, Glover Teixeira, "Shogun" Rua and Rashad Evans clogged the pipeline. All those fighters were getting older; and younger fighters had no chance to break through.
That is changing. You have Corey Anderson and after Saturday's UFC 201, Ukraine's Nikita Krylov entered the party.
Krylov's first two UFC fights were at heavyweight. When he dropped to light heavyweight, he lost to former interim title challenger Ovince Saint Preux. Krylov thens found his groove and won five consecutive fights, all by stoppage. He was ranked No. 11 entering his fight against Ed Herman. A head kick knockout later against a UFC verteran, Krylov will rise in the new rankings.
It is time for Krylov to get a top-10 opponent.
The bad
— Down goes the champ. To dethrone Lawler, Woodley had to do it early. He hadn't fought in 18 months. The longer the fight went, the advantage would go to Lawler. But for reasons that are baffling, Lawler didn't throw a punch for the first 45 seconds and was content to let Woodley pick his spot and exert energy.
And that's exactly what happened. What Lawler was trying remains a puzzle. He is a pressure fighter and putting pressure on Woodley was the right thing to do. Woodley isn't known to have great stamina. Instead for reasons only Lawler knows, he went away from who he is and we have a new 170-pound champion.
— What happened to "The Immortal"? Brown was on the verge of fighting for the welterweight title. He won seven consecutive fights and was one fight away from getting his shot. Then he lost a "Fight of the Night" to Lawler in July 2014 that began a downward spiral.
Brown has now lost four of his past five fights and is now in the territory that Ellenberger left. While Brown is exciting, but one more loss could be the end.
The dirty
— Save the best for last Few observers gave Woodley a shot at beating Lawler. He hadn't fought in 18 months, he tended to tire quickly and in his lone title fight in 2012 under the Strikeforce banner, he was knocked back to Missouri by Nate Marquardt. Has anyone seen Marquardt lately?
Woodley relied on his best assets, using his powerful right hand to send Lawler back to Florida without a belt.
Woodley's win was quickest welterweight title win in UFC history. Of his six UFC wins, five have been by stoppage. Now big-money fights loom for "The Chosen One." He has Stephen Thompson, who many believe deserves the next title shot. You have Nick Diaz, who Woodley called out for UFC 202. And he ended his callouts by challenging Georges St-Pierre for UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden. UFC's 170-pound division now belongs to Woodley.
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.
