Something to Prove in Sioux Falls
Fighting in the UFC is all about one thing, getting the attention of the men in charge in order to continue moving up in the rankings.
The UFC is full of amazing talent and the week that was showed that exactly as two new champions emerged along with an interim champion.
The championships have consistently changed over the last year making it that much harder to get the attention of the fans and the matchmakers.
That task will only be made tougher this week for the two bantamweights headlining UFC Fight Night 91.
Only a week ago the UFC hosted the biggest week of fights during International Fight Week, the busiest week for the UFC.
Every year the UFC hosts a week-long celebration of all things UFC with massive conventions and three fights.
This time, that week featured the biggest fight in UFC history as UFC 200 closed out the fight week.
It can make things difficult this week as the excitement from a week ago has worn off and many are looking for a break.
That won’t bode well for many of the fighters heading to Sioux Falls as much of the media has moved on and won’t even realise that another fight is happening.
Although that all might be true there will be some very important people watching for this fight.
That will be the members of WME-IMG who will see their first fight as the new owners of the UFC.
After years under the Fertitta brothers and Zuffa, the UFC was sold this past week bringing new owners into the fold.
The purchase was one of the largest in sports history as the new ownership group paid a total of $4-billion to purchase the promotion.
With the purchase the group will keep Dana White as the president and he will remain a part owner of the promotion.
They will have a lot to deal with as the new owners with issues surrounding pay and the constant issue of putting on so many fights in such a small time.
They will be watched closely to figure out how they might solve these issues but for now they are likely just going to get the lay of the land with their new property.
The new era in the UFC all started with UFC Fight Night 91 and for the fighters, the sale gave the entire card a new life.
Although many may have ignored a fight night with no titles on the line and so many big cards less than a week ago the new owners were watching closely.
For the main eventers, it was a good chance to make a good first impression as Michael McDonald and John Lineker tried to show that they are two fighters that deserve a shot.
Both had been on that path before and now are on their second attempts to get there and they hope to take full advantage.
McDonald was returning for the first time since January which was his first fight in six months after returning in January from a two-year layoff.
He has not fought often enough to be in the real title conversation but is hoping that this is the start of a better run.
Lineker is fighting in the bantamweight for the third time after he struggled to make weight at Flyweight.
Now he looked to take a third win in his new division and show that he could be a professional and make a legitimate run at the title.
Both fighters came out like most thought they would with neither looking to take this fight to the ground.
They felt each other out for the first few minutes until each began landing more and more shots.
Eventually, Lineker began finding his range and landed some massive shots against McDonald.
The heart of McDonald showed as he remained standing throughout the onslaught although more than once he looked to be out on his feet.
McDonald fought back with some great strikes of his own but there was little doubt that Lineker was set to finish things off soon.
That is exactly what happened as the power of Lineker was simply too much for McDonald who was eventually knocked out.
The loss was not great for McDonald as he seems set to just remain in the middle of the division unless he can start to put together some big wins.
For Lineker, the win was massive as he announced his arrival in the bantamweight division with the return of the power he showed in the flyweight division.
Now with a weight class that suits him better, he is sure to be only a fight or two away from a title fight.
With the new owners watching he made an impression but he certainly wasn’t the only one as a new era begins even in a somewhat forgotten fight card.
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