Sunday 10 July 2016 16:37, UK
Brock Lesnar, Daniel Cormier and Amanda Nunes were the big winners at UFC 200, so here’s five talking points from Las Vegas.
With the mitigating circumstances of Jon Jones' late withdrawal, UFC 200 was voluntarily headlined by a women's world championship fight. Nunes captured the bantamweight belt with a swift stoppage of Miesha Tate but the fight's significance will outlive any of the short-term effects.
Brazil's Nunes has become the first openly gay champion in the sport's history, advancing the cause of female competitors even further after women were introduced in 2013. The past three years have seen Ronda Rousey carry the torch but, in her absence, Nunes has taken the initiative.
And what about Rousey? She's barely been seen since November's shock loss to Holly Holm but perhaps her title reign will receive new recognition with the benefit of hindsight. In a division still finding its feet, Rousey was seen as untouchable and won three fights in a combined 64 seconds before losing to Holm. Since then the world title hasn't been successfully defended - Holm lost immediately to Tate, who failed to defend it against Nunes.
The WWE star's career has been so unique that is can be difficult to analyse - a three-year UFC experiment yielded the heavyweight championship but he dealt with accusations of preferential treatment.
Five years have passed since 38-year-old Lesnar's last UFC fight yet he rolled back the years seamlessly and delivered arguably his best ever performance, beating Mark Hunt by decision. Hunt was ranked at No 8 and had unsuccessfully challenged for the world title in 2014, so Lesnar had been truly thrown back into the deep end.
His ability to muscle Hunt to the ground - and keep him there - was a throwback to the skills that he first demonstrated in his first stint inside the Octagon. It raises the inevitable question of how good today's Lesnar could be. The man who kicked him into retirement, Alistair Overeem, is ready to receive a maiden UFC title shot, so logic suggests that the road back to the top would be difficult. But names such as Ben Rothwell and Andrei Arlovski, deep into their 30s, remain ranked in the top six and Lesnar's UFC 200 showing suggests he may cause them problems.
Jose Aldo, the great nemesis of Conor McGregor, was fighting to retain significance at UFC 200. Having been tormented for months by McGregor last year, culminating in a 13-second knockout, Aldo had been removed as featherweight king for the first time in six years.
He produced an impressive matador-like performance in defeating Frankie Edgar - the man that many tip to be McGregor's biggest threat - on Saturday night. Edgar had strung five wins together since a previous loss to Aldo but that form couldn't take him past the revitalised Brazilian.
He was quickly beaten by McGregor because of recklessly charging forwards but Aldo, who previously owned a 10-year unbeaten streak, remained on the back foot for 25 minutes against Edgar. With McGregor casting an eye from the front row of the crowd, the fire may have been lit for a rematch.
Cormier perhaps endured the most draining week of any fighter, having been demoted from the UFC 200 main-event. For 24 hours it seemed plausible that the light-heavyweight champion would be removed from the card altogether until Anderson Silva's timely arrival as a last-ditch replacement.
Cormier cruised to a one-sided victory over the legendary veteran but had hopes to avenge his sole career loss to Jon Jones. But, with the latter facing up to another potential suspension, it is time to move on.
Cormier, who must finally be regarded as the division's true champion in Jones' absence, has already beaten his two most viable challengers in Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson. But new contenders will emerge and Cormier must, for the time being at least, abandon hope of revenge in his bitter feud with Jones.
The constantly changing world of UFC means arguing over the pound-for-pound elite remains as fun as ever.
Not long ago, Jones was undisputed. McGregor, Luke Rockhold and Rafael Dos Anjos have all lost their previous outings while Rousey seems like a distant memory.
'Mighty Mouse' Demetrious Johnson and Dominick Cruz have avoided a slip down the pecking order and must now be regarded as two of the best. Robbie Lawler and Cormier would also be in the running but what about Joanna Jedrzejczyk? The Polish women's straw-weight champion thrillingly defended her belt on Friday night and remains an unbeaten world champion. Jedrzejczyk is currently as good as it gets.
