5 biggest takeaways from UFC on ESPN 7: Rozenstruik's comeback, Miragliotta's rough patch, Mitchell's twister
What mattered most at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. MMA forever remains ridiculous
That main event between Jairzinho Rozenstruik (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and Alistair Overeem (45-18 MMA, 10-7 UFC) encapsulated everything that makes this sport so unpredictably wild.
After more than 24 minutes of forgettable fight time between the heavyweights, fans inside Capital One Arena started to hit the exits in sizable doses. Even I was convinced the fight had given us everything we were going to see. But then a ho-hum affair turned into one of the most memorable outcomes of the year in the span of one punch.
Not only did Rozenstruik score the third-latest stoppage in UFC history with a leaping left hand that finished Overeem with just four seconds left in Round 5, but the impact of the blow led to the one of the nastiest injuries in recent memory.
Overeem’s lip was split open in sickening fashion by Rozenstruik. It’s perhaps the worst injury of its kind in the sport’s history, largely erasing the fact the main event wasn’t all that great before the finishing blow.