UFC Sydney Scorecard

1 – Frank Camacho and Damien Brown
Had to put this pair of Fight of the Night winners together because separating them defeats the point. Yes, Frank Camacho missed weight and he emerged victorious, but Damien Brown can’t be listed as 1a or 2 on this list because it takes two to put together a war like these lightweights delivered in Sydney, and while Brown didn’t get a win bonus, calling him the loser of this fight just doesn’t feel right. Bottom line, fights like theirs is why we watch combat sports. No, it wasn’t because they were swinging hammers at each other – though that helps. It was because you don’t find this kind of gritty determination in any other sport. Both guys left it all in the Octagon in search of victory, not worrying about how sore or banged up they’dDan Hardy, who stood and clapped at Octagonside in the final seconds of the bout. Or ask Camacho, himself, who told me before the fight, “For me as a martial artist, I love adversity, I love getting pushed to that limit, and I love those battles where you have to dig down and you have to get up when you can’t get up.”

2 – Nik Lentz
Nik Lentz has had his share of, let’s say, less than thrilling performances over the years. But if you look at his body of work since his UFC debut over eight years ago, and there are three Fight of the Night awards, four finishes and last Saturday’s Performance of the Night submission of former teammate Will Brooks. In beating Brooks, Lentz made it wins in three of his last four since returning to the lightweight division, so he’s in the mix in a tough division. But more importantly, in a post-fight interview in which he said he would fight his mother if she was in the Octagon and then called for his former American Top Team squad to face him one by one, Mortal Kombat style, “The Carny” created some significant buzz when it comes to what’s next for him.

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3 – Elias Theodorou
I don’t want to toot my own horn (honk, honk), and maybe I was sitting on the fence when breaking down Elias Theodorou’s bout with Daniel Kelly, but I did write last week that the potential was there for one of two things: an ugly grappling affair or an entertaining brawl. There was no middle ground, but luckily, we got the entertaining brawl. More importantly, it looked like Theodorou entered the fight with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove against sudden rival Kelly, and he delivered with one of his more focused performances. That should be a sign to the rest of the division to not get “The Spartan” angry because you won’t like him when he’s angry.