UFC 178 took place tonight live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the card overall was one of the best of the year as it featured a number of excellent, high-level fights from a number of the sport’s best athletes. Overall from a betting perspective, eight favorites and three underdogs won based on the closing odds at Several Bookmakers. Here’s a quick recap for each fight. UFC 178 Favorites That Won In the main event of the evening, Demetrious Johnson defeated Chris Cariaso via second-round submission (kimura). Johnson was able to outstrike Cariaso on the feet and use his wrestling to beat him up on the ground in the first before sinking in a kimura in the second to easily take home the title. Johnson cashed as a -1500 favorite (bet $1500 to win $100) while Cariaso lost as a +1200 underdog (bet $100 to win $1200). In the co-main event of the evening, Donald Cerrone defeated Eddie Alvarez via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3). Alvarez looked terrific in the first round as he was able to rock Cerrone with a number of vicious clinch strikes, but Cerrone started to use his muay Thai in the second and began to eat away at Alvarez’ legs. And the third was more of the same as Cerrone was able to smash Alvarez with some huge strikes to rock and nearly finish his opponent. All in all, another great outing from “The Cowboy” and he cashed as a -135 favorite, while Alvarez lost as a +125 dog. In a featherweight bout, Conor McGregor defeated Dustin Poirier via first-round TKO (punches). As expected, McGregor had the striking advantage as well as the edge in power, and he was able to clip Poirier early behind the ear and put him right out. The win moves McGregor to 4-0 in the UFC and he is very deserving of a No. 1 contender’s fight, or maybe even a title shot. McGregor was -260 while Poirier was +240. In a women’s bantamweight bout, Cat Zingano defeated Amanda Nunes via third-round TKO (elbows and punches). In the first round, Nunes was able to land top position and Zingano was absolutely brutalized by some heavy ground and pound. There were times the fight could have been stopped but the ref let it continue, and it turned out to be the right call as Zingano mounted an amazing comeback in the second that led to a brutal TKO victory from elbows and punches from the mount in the third. An amazing performance by Zingano, and she earned herself a title shot at UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey with the win. Zingano cashed at -215, while Nunes lost at +195. In a bantamweight bout, Dominick Cruz defeated Takeya Mizugaki via first-round TKO (punches). Cruz was able to land a nice takedown on Mizugaki early in the first round and then started unleashing some vicious ground and pound en route to a brutal first-round stoppage. Cruz scored as a -560 fav, while Mizugaki lost as a +475 dog. In a lightweight bout, Jorge Masvidal defeated James Krause via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27 x 2). Masvidal is plain and simply a better mixed martial artist than Krause and was easily able to outstrike and outwrestle him en route to victory. Masvidal cashed at -320 while Krause lost at +290. In a welterweight bout, Stephen Thompson defeated Patrick Cote via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27). Although Cote tried his best to make it ugly, Thompson’s striking and movement gave him problems all night long and he just wasn’t able to do enough to grind out the win. Thompson, who has now won four in a row, scored as a -380 favorite while Cote lost as a +430 dog.
UFC 178 Underdogs That Won In a middleweight bout, Yoel Romero defeated Tim Kennedy via third-round TKO (punches) in one of the best fights of the year. Romero looked good in round one, nailing Kennedy with some nice left hands and taking him down as well. In the second round, Romero started to gas and Kennedy started to come on late. At the end of the second Kennedy hit Romero with some vicious uppercuts and nearly finished him, but Romero somehow made it to the end of the round. There was some controversy in between rounds as Romero was sitting on the stool longer than he should have, which could have easily been a disqualification or even a DQ. But Romero was allowed a few extra seconds to recover with no penalty. And then in the third Romero came out like a bat out of hill and smashed Kennedy with punches, becoming the first man to stop Kennedy with strikes ever. It was an amazing fight, and I’ll never forget it. Romero was a -133 dog, while Kennedy was a +123 favorite.