(C) Jon Jones *W* vs. Anthony Smith

In a fight where most (including myself) expected to see Jon Jones clock out of work early with a finish, we were met with a not-so-surprising gritty performance from Anthony Smith, who put up a respectable first round before being purely out-classed by Jones the rest of the way. Smith said it himself – he allowed the champ to sit back and do what he wanted to do. Jones utilized his leg kicks well, in addition to walking the challenger down against the fence multiple times. I also don’t think anyone in their right mind even thought that Smith accepting a DQ for that knee to the head was a remote possibility in his mind. And that’s for two reasons. One, the guy fought way too hard to get to the position he was in to cop out like that, and two, a guy with that many mismatching tattoos doesn’t go, “Heyyyyy that’s not fair!”, take his ball, and goes home.

(C) Tyron Woodley vs. Kamaru Usman *W*

Have we ever seen a more impressive performance from a challenger in a title fight? Kamaru Usman completely out-performed Tyron Woodley in every aspect of this bout. He put on a wrestling clinic, and was even more impressive from the clinch, landing 78 significant strikes. I can’t imagine a world in which Woodley get’s a rematch anytime soon, not because his lack of chemistry with the UFC brass, but because that fight was utter domination from start to finish. And while Tyron says the extracurricular ventures aren’t a distraction, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him more singularly focused going into whatever his next fight is. (I stand corrected on him being able to multi-task for this fight.)

Ben Askren *W* vs. Robbie Lawler

Probably the fight that caused the most buzz both before and after it actually happened. If someone can recall another fight where there was SUCH a discrepancy in looks. In one corner, you got a guy who looks like if Howard Stern was at the beginning stages of trying out for a role to play the guy from Supersize Me in a biopic. And across the cage, you got an absolute mack truck who looks like the love child of Bane and the Hulk, (without the whole gas mask for a mouth). With all the controversy surrounding how this one ended, I think it might be a good idea for the UFC matchmakers to almost treat both fighters as if they won this fight. Everyone except Askren wants the rematch, so if he can’t be budged, I wouldn’t necessarily punish Robbie by giving him a much lower ranked opponent, let alone punish Askren. If Askren gets his wish to fight the winner of Till vs. Masvidal, I wouldn’t mind seeing Robbie fight the winner of Thompson vs. Pettis.

Cody Garbrandt vs. Pedro Munhoz *W*

This one hurt to watch. Not because of who won, and certainly not because of the entertainment aspect. It wasn’t that Cody lost for the third time in a row, and it wasn’t even that he got knocked out for the third time in a row, but it was HOW he got knocked out. There are two habits he seems to have – he can get overly emotional in a fight, throwing caution to the wind, and even more costly, he tends to drop his left hand when swinging his right. The moment he got clocked looked exactly like the first time he got KO’d by Dillashaw. Credit to Munhoz, though. He showed he had the power to throw down when he needed to, and his chin held up well. Pedro probably won’t get a title shot after this, only because there are several other options for T.J. Dillashaw, but should be one fight away. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Grabrandt take some time off after getting knocked out for the third straight fight. However he did say he wants to come back soon, as him and Aljamain Sterling could make for a fun one.

