UFC 186… what can I say about it? Well, this card has it all. And I don’t mean that in a good way. A main event cancelled due to an injury, a mismatch of a title bout, a fighter pulled out of a scheduled bout due to a legal injunction, a couple of fights with that are virtually guaranteed to go to a dull decision, a matchup that looks like it came from a time machine tuned to 2005, and a handful of fighters you’ve never heard of. Oh, and don’t forget the long-awaited UFC return of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson… oops, strike that. Bellator filed a lawsuit to dispute Jackson’s contractual status, and an injunction was granted to stop Rampage from fighting on this card. Instead, we get the long awaited UFC debut of retired Canadian minor-league hockey enforcer and MMA fighter Steve Bosse… oops, strike that again. The injunction has been lifted by an appellate court, and now Rampage is back on the line-up. Le sigh… this is why I try to publish these blogs at the last minute, and even that doesn’t always guarantee that all the fights will actually take place as scheduled. Yeah, this card pretty much has it all.
Main Card (Pay-Per-View)
Main Event: (C) [#1 FLW] Demetrious Johnson vs [#8 FLW] Kyoji Horiguchi for the UFC Flyweight Title
Worth: $10
Why: This PPV was originally planned with two title bouts, but an injury prevented the bantamweight champ TJ Dillashaw from defending his title against Renan Barao, marking the second time that a scheduled rematch between the two fell apart and bumping the flyweight title fight to the main event slot. I’ve grown to enjoy watching ‘Mighty Mouse’ fight over the years; while some champions stagnate and fight not to lose after they’ve held the title for a while (Georges St.Pierre and Tim Sylvia come to mind), DJ has been improving ever since dropping down to 125 lbs and winning the inauguaral title. So I now look forward to his fights… I just wish UFC could find him a good challenger. Kyoji Horiguchi is not it. The 24-year old is 4-0 in the UFC, but his competition so far has been nowhere near championship level. Like several other recent flyweight challengers, he is only getting the title shot because Johnson has to fight someone… preferably someone he hasn’t already beaten. So when Ian McCall lost to John Lineker, who in turn failed to make weight for the fight and was banished to bantamweight, that left us with Horiguchi as the only viable Top-10 opponent. I just don’t see the guy who went the distance with Luis Gaudinot in his last fight as presenting much of a threat or challenge to Johnson. Barring a huge upset, this fight’s purpose is to keep DJ warm until a rematch with John Dodson, or until Henry Cejudo can be built up as a contender.
[#4 LHW] 
[#10 LHW] 
[#9 LW] 
[#14 LW] 
[#4 W105] 
[#20 W105] 
