UFC 196 Recap: Night of Chokes

By Koby Wolfe | Writer   &   Max Jonnaert | Writer

UFC 196 was one of the most exciting paper views in recent history. Being called a night of ‘upsets’ and ‘chokes’, the outcomes of the main events came as a shock to many these past few weeks.

The UFC has been stunned this weekend as Holly Holm, the defending champion lost her Bantam Weight Championship to Miesha Tate in a great fight that could have gone either way. Fans went crazy, including junior Trevor Ankrom who claimed, “There is a new champion now.” Junior Kyle Marshall also pointed out “Holm underestimated Tate, now look where she is”. Many people can’t say they saw this outcome, but regardless this fight was a huge upset. 

In the first round, both fighters pranced around the ring, but no punches were landed early on. Around the middle of the round, Holm landed a large side kick to the body. Tate caught another one of Holm’s kicks, but Holm escaped the takedown, receiving punches to the jaw as result. Tate and Holm exchanged punches for almost the rest of the bout but Holm landed another side kick before the bell rings, winning the round 10-9.

In the second round, Tate took more of an aggressive stance and pressed Holm around, taking her to the ground  while elbowing her repeatedly. Holm tried to make her way to the fence but Tate has too much control keeping her pinned, almost submitting the champ early on, but Holm is saved by the bell. Tate won the round 10-9.

Later in the third and fourth rounds, Holm took over in these rounds throwing a flurry of punches and kicks from all directions, stuffing all of Tate’s take-downs and moves. These rounds were completely one-sided with Holm stopping Tate from making any move, thus winning both rounds 10-9.

In the fifth and final round, Tate pressured Holm and landed a nice left hook, but Holm threw a hard oblique kick with a nice left jab. Tate tried again from the outside, but made no progress. Holm was able to land another side kick to the body and tried it again, but Tate caught it and Holm stuffed it. Tate came around again from the outside and took Holm’s back. Holm tried to throw Miesha off her, but a lack of momentum left the fight with Tate still hanging on, now on her back. The oppressor pushes the guillotine choke and referee “Big” John McCarthy stopped the fight, ending with Tate winning by submission and taking home the gold.

The main event of the night featured McGregor vs. Diaz in the Welterweight Bout. McGregor (17-3), entered the welterweight bout as a favorite to win against Diaz (19-10). The current Feather-Weight Champion originally was scheduled to fight Rafael Dos Anjos for his Light Weight belt at 155, but was then switched to fight replacement Nate Diaz on two weeks notice due to the champion’s foot injury. Because of such short amount of time, McGregor agreed to climb up from 155 to 170 to fight Diaz, going up 25 pounds in a course of just a few months.

The fight started off relatively normal with both combatants were exchanging blows, but McGregor was winning more of the exchanges and landing more significant shots. A late-round jab split Diaz’s right eye lid open, drenching his face in blood. The first round definitively went to the Irish Man, however Diaz kept his composure and ate the shots he was delivered.

“McGregor was working Diaz in that first round, that was his fight, and I almost thought he was going to knock him out right then and there,” freshman Kade Irwin noted.

Going in to the start of the second round, not much was different from the first. McGregor continued his barrage of shots, which Diaz continuously absorbed. The fight went downhill when Diaz began returning big shots, and a taunting McGregor with his guard down could not take them as well as his adversary received his. He slowly started to fade and lose his grip on the match. In a final act of desperation, McGregor went for the take-down, but facing a jiu jitsu black belt, he was quickly outclassed and transitioned into a guillotine choke, throwing up a defiant middle finger before referee stoppage by submission ended the match.

“I was pretty upset about McGregor losing. It was a really really close and tough fight for both of them, but I can’t wait to see if there will be a rematch in the future,” junior Kyler Presho added when asked about the fight’s result.

After the matches, UFC President Dana White claimed that a Diaz title shot against the 170-pound Champion Robbie Lawler is a reasonable possibility.

The fight between Holm and Tate was a very close fight which could of had many different outcomes, yet many were shocked at the actual result. The bantam weight title is now in a “rock-paper-scissors” match of Rousey’s judo beating Tate’s wrestling, Tate’s wrestling beating Holm’s boxing, and Holm’s boxing beating Rousey’s judo. Many fans expect Rousey will be getting the next title shot and a chance back at her title. The UFC would lose a lot of money over the potential Rousey-Holm rematch that may not happen at this point. Yet, this past weekend played a huge role in dictating the future, and now UFC 200 will be a bigger giant then previously expected.