Thoughts & Shots From UFC 199

Let’s start off with the good: UFC 199 was one of the best fight cards I’ve seen in my 17-plus years of covering this sport. Surely, it is the leader in the clubhouse for “Event of the Year.” It had everything for which a fight fan could hope.

Michael Bisping went full Matt Serra on Luke Rockhold, and Dan Henderson eviscerated Hector Lombard with a crazy back-elbow. Add in Dominick Cruz’s mastery of Urijah Faber, Max Holloway and Ricardo Lamas throwing down, and Dustin Poirier’s dismantling of Bobby Green and you have one incredible pay-per-view card.

When you consider the organization was also able to announce the highly anticipated rematch between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz as the main event for UFC 202, as well as the addition of Brock Lesnar to UFC 200, it should have been a busy night for MMA journalists and fans alike, breaking down the card and the impending possibilities for all the participants.

The only problem is the promotion is going to have to put these great performances and announcements on the back burner while they do damage control after giving MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani the boot prior to Bisping’s astonishing upset. There has been a simmering feud between the UFC and their broadcast partner Fox’s former on-air personality for months, if not years. That feud boiled over Saturday night when Helwani spoiled the big Lesnar and McGregor-Diaz announcements by -- wait for it -- reporting said news.

Lance Pugmire of the L.A. Times tweeted that a UFC representative said “it’s not wholly accurate” to assume the removal was for breaking the news stories. While I understand there were some earlier issues that have flared up over the years, Helwani was credentialed as of this afternoon, and now he isn’t. What changed over that time period?

This is something that has obviously been brewing for some time, and apparently the powers that be felt that they’d seen and heard enough from Helwani after he ruined their big announcements. Perhaps we’ll get some kind of official word from the promotion in the coming days as to why this action was taken.

UFC boss and noted Helwani antagonist Dana White was not at the post-fight press conference to answer questions raised by reporters. Media relations chief Dave Sholler politely declined to address the situation.

I’ve walked the road Ariel is traveling on, and let me tell you, it’s not a whole lot of fun. People with little to no accurate information or insight into your situation commenting like experts on your work and your professionalism gets old really fast. Having to explain something that is as transparently vindictive and unfair as possible like you’re giving directions to your 90-year old grandmother with Alzheimer’s gets old after a while.

There are a whole lot more eyeballs on MMA now than there were in 2005. Hopefully the exposure the sport has gotten over the last decade or so will help to shine a disinfecting light on this unfortunate dispute. If there is a real and legitimate reason to expel a respected journalist and his colleagues, then let’s hear it. If not -- and I suspect it is not or we’d have already heard it -- I hope cooler heads will prevail.

If the big problem is a journalist being good at doing journalist things like breaking news and scooping the competition then the UFC hasn’t come as far as many of us thought they had.

Oh yeah, there were some pretty freaking awesome fights that happened at UFC 199, too.

Bisping’s win over Rockhold is going to go down as one of the biggest upsets the sport has ever seen. It ranks right up there with Serra’s win over Georges St. Pierre and Holly Holm’s knockout of Ronda Rousey. I was one of the many who gave Bisping approximately zero chance to get the win and secure the title.

Rockhold clearly underestimated Bisping, too, after tormenting him and easily finishing him just 18 months ago. If he didn’t know before, Rockhold better know now that the British middleweight has the heart of a champion, something he has shown throughout his career even in defeat.

In the other title fight, Cruz put Faber in the hurt box once again after dominating him for five rounds en route to another clear decision. Cruz’s mastery of Faber and his entire fight team has been an ongoing theme in the division and Urijah added another log to the fire in his post-fight interview. The Alpha Male leader said his young up-and-comer Cody Garbrandt, fresh off his destruction of previously undefeated Thomas Almeida, was ready to take on Cruz.

From what I understand, Garbrandt is being targeted to fight Brian Caraway at UFC 203 in Cleveland in September. Should he get past that test, then a date with Cruz would probably be in the works for late 2016 or early 2017. A lot needs to fall into place, but it is a fight I think we’ll see sooner rather than later.

Living MMA legend and all-around bad ass Henderson turned the clock back at least a couple of hours with his brutal knockout of Lombard. Henderson has had a rocky go of it over the last couple of years, but he made the most of his opportunity after surviving an early knockdown of his own. The roof damn near blew off The Forum when he pounced on the prone Lombard and finished him with elbows.

One of the most beloved fighters to ever grace an MMA ring or cage, Henderson hinted at the possibility of retirement after the big win. It was somewhat shocking to hear even for a guy who has been asked about it for at least seven or eight years. Henderson loves to compete, and I’m sure it will be a gut-wrenching decision either way, but I want to wish him the best whichever way he decides.

Henderson is one of the realest people I’ve ever met around this business and he deserves all the accolades he has received over the years. He’ll go down as one of the sport’s greatest, an honor that was well earned.

Greg Savage is the Executive Editor of Sherdog.com and he can be reached by email or via Twitter @TheSavageTruth.