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Analysis: Great fights, big announcements and media bans complicate UFC 199

Few cards in UFC history more eventful than Saturday’s

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Hans Gutknecht / Los Angeles Daily News via AP

Michael Bisping, left, fights Luke Rockhold during a UFC 199 at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on Saturday.

With his chest puffed out, a new championship belt slung over his left shoulder and an unlabeled beer in his right hand, Michael Bisping strutted into the UFC 199 post-fight news conference fashionably late Saturday night.

The timing of Bisping’s arrival at the media center of the Forum was as impeccable as the left hook he used to knock out Luke Rockhold at 3:36 of the first round in their main-event middleweight championship bout. Rockhold had just recounted how Bisping taunted him after the fight, and was in the middle of disparaging the new champion’s character.

“That guy is a piece of (expletive) and I want to (expletive) come kill him the next time around,” Rockhold seethed. “He’s just a maggot.”

Once Bisping had taken a swig of his beverage and understood the situation, he was all too eager to counter.

“Hate to say, ‘I told you so,’” Bisping yelled out before taking a seat. “Some say revenge is sweet. I disagree. I say it’s better than sweet.”

Thus began nearly a half-hour of unrestrained gloats from Bisping, excessive hubris from Rockhold and sophomoric insults from both fighters. The whole episode was equally engrossing and embarrassing, as messy as it was memorable.

That made it the perfect way to conclude a card that wound up exhibiting the same characteristics.

Nothing should have stopped Saturday night from going down as anything other than spectacular. Year-end columns are destined to deem UFC 199 at least among the nominees for “event of the year”.

Bisping’s massive upset was only the latest in a line of transcendent fight moments. There was also Dan Henderson, perhaps in his last career bout, knocking out Hector Lombard with an elbow that will be immortalized in montages for years to come. There was injury-derailed Dominick Cruz extricating himself from a trilogy with rival Urijah Faber four years after it was originally scheduled with a flawless unanimous-decision victory.

Far-reaching future fights were also announced in the arena and on television. The UFC unveiled that Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, in a rematch that grew in stature after April’s stalemate between the star and the promotion, would meet at UFC 202 on Aug. 20 at T-Mobile Arena. In a more shocking development, a commercial confirmed former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar would return at UFC 200 against a to-be-determined opponent.

Ariel Helwani, six-time MMA Journalist of the Year at the World MMA Awards, broke both bits of news shortly before the UFC’s reveal. Presumably for the non-offense of doing his job, Helwani tweeted he was escorted off the premises along with colleagues E. Casey Leydon and Esther Lin and given a lifetime ban from covering UFC events.

It's only presumably because UFC President Dana White, who has served suspensions and bans to media members in the past, didn’t discuss the incident. He left the handling of the post-fight news conference to Vice President of Public Relations Dave Sholler, who provided no update.

“Out of respect to all the parties that were involved in that conversation, I’m not going to delve into the details,” Sholler said.

Helwani is a more popular mixed martial arts personality than the vast majority of fighters on the UFC roster, so his removal immediately became an overpowering topic. It soured the rest of the night.

The UFC evidently hoped Lesnar would be its own surprise, for obvious reasons. McGregor wants everyone to believe he’s the all-time pay-per-view king in mixed martial arts.

He’s not. Lesnar still holds the record after recording more than 1.5 million buys for his rematch victory over Frank Mir at UFC 100 in July 2009.

Luring Lesnar, who’s currently with the WWE, out of retirement was the major coup White had hinted at over the past couple of months to bolster UFC 200. The UFC came commendably close to keeping it all concealed, as even Sholler said it was the first bit of news in eight years with the company that caught him off-guard.

White and the rest of the UFC brass should have celebrated afterward with a confidence level beyond Bisping’s. Combined with re-booking Diaz vs. McGregor II, they created two monster events for the summer where there barely used to be one — and did it on the same night, no less.

Turning that moment of joy negative with an unnecessary punishment is bewildering. Then again, maybe it shall all pass and the UFC will reinstate Helwani, Leydon and Lin when it cools down.

The scenario can’t be any more far-fetched than Bisping and Rockhold putting aside their differences, as they momentarily appeared to near the end of the news conference.

“Let’s be honest: He’s an incredible champion,” Bisping conceded. “Pound-for-pound, one of the best in the world. I did well tonight.”

The friendliness didn’t last, as Sholler separated the two as they yelled at each other leaving the stage. Let’s hope the UFC comes to a more amicable agreement with the feud it has started.

UFC 199 was too outstanding to be overrun by pettiness.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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