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Penick's Take
Penick's UFC 178 Notebook: Reactions and musings out of best UFC pay-per-view of 2014
Sep 29, 2014 - 10:55:39 PM
Penick's UFC 178 Notebook: Reactions and musings out of best UFC pay-per-view of 2014
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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Saturday's UFC 178 event was far and away the best card of the year, as the top six fights on the card delivered almost exactly what was promised. Though the prelims held a few duds, once the Fox Sports 1 broadcast closed out with Dominick Cruz's massive return, the pay-per-view followed through in a big way. Here's some lasting thoughts from Saturday night's card from the top down:

-Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson is so good that it's just a complete shame that he and the UFC can't find a way to capitalize in a meaningful way for business. There is so much to like about what he does in the cage, but he hasn't captured the imagination of fans, and the UFC's insistence on pushing the brand over individual personalities hasn't really helped. There are so many guys delivering highlights, and Dana White has anointed so many different fighters as the "best" or the "biggest" or the "next breakout star" that it's brought about diminishing returns overall. Johnson is the best 125 lb. fighter in the world, and he's one of the most talented fighters the UFC has on the roster. He's worth watching, is the point, but they have to find a way to make a larger segment of the fanbase understand that.

-Eddie Alvarez might not be an elite three-round fighter. Give him a full 25 minutes and a big platform, Alvarez is going to find ways to pull things out, and to fight his damnedest from start to finish. Unfortunately for him he has a tendency not to stay consistent for the first 15 minutes, and that's kind of what cost him against Cerrone. He got hurt in that third round, but if he'd have had a fourth and fifth to work with, it's absolutely possible he could have come back strong. Now, he's got the skills to stop a lot of people within a 15 minute fight, but against the best of the best in this division, he's going to have to find a way to be better through 15 minutes than he was against Cerrone. On the flip side, give Cerrone credit for taking over in the final half of the fight to secure yet another win. This could have been a fight in which he stumbled, but instead he passed another test and finds himself potentially a fight away from a title bout in the UFC.

-The UFC has something special in Conor McGregor, but they have to be careful in going overboard with things. Dana White calling him bigger than Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre is just asinine and unnecessary, and only serves to make people step back and shake their heads at such a preposterous notion. He proved he's very good against Poirier, and he might just be able to hang in there with the elite of the elite at 145 lbs., but let's not get ahead of ourselves. He's earned the right to call himself a top 5-10 guy, and he might even get that next title fight, but let's see him bring in the type of attention and money that Lesnar, St-Pierre, Silva, Liddell, Ortiz, Jones, Rousey, etc., have brought in before we start talking about him as the "biggest" the UFC's ever seen.

-While the confusion surrounding the in between round controversy regarding Yoel Romero had people irate on Saturday night, it's a situation that just can't be held against Romero. It wasn't the only illegal thing from either fighter that night, and with a gap in communication - both with the language barrier and in instructions after the UFC cut man put on too much vaseline - not to mention John McCarthy's part in things, it's just not on Romero alone. Regardless, Kennedy also benefited from things not getting called by the referee, and there's not much more to be said at this point.

-Seeing Cat Zingano survive that first round onslaught from Amanda Nunes only to come back, take the fight over, and finish it herself in the third was fantastic to see after all she went through in the last 18 months. Now, I have doubts about how effective she can or will be against Ronda Rousey in January, but she got a feel good return moment on Saturday night that can't be taken away from her.

-Cruz is in the same boat, as the way things played out against Takeya Mizugaki couldn't have been any better. To not only look as fast and smooth as he did before injury, but to score that beautiful takedown and stop an insanely durable Mizugaki in just a minute was incredible. He came back looking no worse for having been out three years, and though it didn't test him into deep waters, he got that first fight under his belt to set up his shot at regaining the title. Given he never lost the belt to begin with, it's absolutely deserved, and that fight with T.J. Dillashaw will be fantastic.

-The UFC has to work to book their pay-per-views closer to how this event was put together as often as possible. Set up a title fight on top, and fill the main card with meaningful fights that can capture the attention of fans. There were storylines galore on this one, with title ramifications in just about all six of the top fights, and though some of it can't be helped or manufactured, the UFC has to build the biggest cards as if they're the biggest cards. They did that with UFC 178, and it's something they're not doing at UFC 179 or UFC 180, even if those cards remain still above average. UFC 181 may feel a bit more like that, and UFC 182 and 183 could potentially as well, but UFC 178 absolutely stands out from the rest of the pack from 2014 to date.


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