UFC 189 – A card of flying knees, shattered noses and acts of sportsmanship

When Alex Garcia and Mike Swick left the octagon we were fearing for the worst, having just seen the fifth consecutive decision of the evening.

We were left worried that UFC 189 could pass us by and fail to back up the hype that the UFC had spent millions to generate. But then Matt Brown came out in the final fight of the prelims and put on a typically Matt Brown performance against Tim Means that made everyone sit up and think "hang on a minute." The Immortal overcame some early danger to sink in a guillotine choke and get the tap from Means with just fifteen seconds left in the first round. Slowly pictures starting filtering out from the Irish contingent who had already lost their fights when Neil Seery and Cathal Pendred both tweeted some tremendous shows of respect in which they congratulated their respective opponents on being the better men on the night.

That's the way it goes no bad blood here pic.twitter.com/HmXPlNwnRB

— Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) July 12, 2015

John was the better man tonight. No excuses.Thanks for the support. Failure defeats losers, but it inspires winners. pic.twitter.com/S65YRXJVZE — Cathal Pendred (@Pendred) July 12, 2015

Then came the main card and, my God, what a main card it was. Thomas Almeida was in serious trouble against Brad Pickett after the Englishman shattered his nose in the first round but the undefeated Brazilian rallied and landed one of the most beautiful flying knee KOs in UFC history in the second round. Shockingly, there wasn't a broken nose or flying knee in the fight between Gunnar Nelson and Brandon Thatch but there was a slick submission on the part of Gunni as he locked in a rear naked choke in the first round. We were certain that Dennis Bermudez and Jeremy Stephens had put on a fight of the night display when the pair of featherweights went back-and-forth for two rounds, with both fighters throwing exclusively knockout strikes. 'Lil Heathen endured a horrific cut to throw a Hail Mary flying knee at the jaw of Bermudez and finished with ground-and-pound to complete the unlikely comeback. The fight of the night was snatched from the hands of Stephens/Bermudez in the co-main event when Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald put on a clinic of heart for over four rounds. MacDonald's nose was horrifically broken in the first round but the Canadian continued to come forward and it looked like he was going to get the finish. It was a bloodbath that rightly received the fight of the night bonus and the pain that MacDonald was in was clear after he dropped to his back when Lawler landed a stiff jab square on his nose. You won't be surprised to learn that they've since gone to hospital. In fact, it emerged that MacDonald had no idea what the year was after his gruelling bout. Then came the main event and it looked like being a terrible evening for the travelling Irish support when Conor McGregor was taken down four times in two rounds. But The Notorious showed incredible determination and mental toughness to scramble back to the feet and land a one-two that put Mendes down. But all the beef was squashed when McGregor and Mendes as they embraced after the fight. Frankie Edgar even got involved in the love-in as he jumped up to the octagon to congratulate the new UFC featherweight champion.