UFC 327: 5 big takeaways from one of the wildest, weirdest nights we’ve seen in years

UFC 327 gave us one of the wildest nights of cage-fighting so far this year, with twists and turns galore.

Here are the five key takeaways from Saturday night’s weird and wonderful outing at Miami’s Kaseya Center.

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1. Imagine what a bad feeling it must be to stand across from Jiri Prochazka on one good leg with the UFC title on the line. A normal person might be given to panic in such a moment. Failing that, he might get at least a little concerned. Carlos Ulberg somehow kept his cool and his confidence long enough to clip the former light heavyweight champion with a fight-changing left hook, and seconds later he was the new champ.

In the weeks and months to come, Prochazka might wish he’d attacked this wounded foe a little differently. His samurai code almost seemed to demand that he limit his own movement and stand in front of Ulberg to even things up. Afterward, Prochazka admitted he felt some combination of sympathy and mercy for Ulberg — which, clearly, was a mistake. Turns out that dude can still hurt you badly even with a blown-out knee.

So now we have a light heavyweight champion who probably needs surgery and a defeated challenger who broke our hearts with his own vulnerable humanity. This sport, I tell ya. Never really know what you’re in for, do you?

2. If you’d told me yesterday that Josh Hokit and Curtis Blaydes would go all three rounds, I would have prepared myself for a sleepy disappointment of a fight — with Blaydes inevitably winning. Imagine my pleasant surprise, then, to see one of the wildest heavyweight slugfests in years.

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Who’d have thought they had it in them? Hokit is still an unknown quantity at this point in this career, and Blaydes has seemed like he’s on a slow ride down the mountain. But on Saturday it seemed as if Hokit’s grating gimmick made Blaydes gut his way through the meat-grinder out of pure spite, blinking away the blood to fire back at a foe who barely had the energy to stand by the end.

That win is a serious statement for Hokit in just his third UFC fight. You have to think he just entered the upper half of the heavyweight division (also known as the only part that matters) by beating Blaydes to a bloody pulp. Maybe most impressive of all is that he did all that and still remembered all his rhyming couplets at the end.

Now we learn that he’ll turn right around and face Derrick Lewis at the UFC White House event, so apparently this star turn is going to be tested right away. Hokit had better improve his defense quickly, though. Standing there and trading with Lewis the way he did against Blaydes is a good way to get all those memorized poems knocked right out of his skull.

3. The last time we saw Paulo Costa at light heavyweight in the UFC, it was because he just didn’t feel like making 185 pounds. When his opponent pointed out that it was in his bout agreement, he replied: “That your own personal problem.” Then he went out and lost the decision anyway and it seemed, more and more, like Costa’s days as a relevant fighter were numbered.

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Now it’s nearly four years later and Costa just polished off a previously unbeaten, ranked contender in a UFC co-main event. Somehow, it’s just weird enough to be fitting for Mr. Secret Juice, the chiseled adonis who never seems to be taking any of this too seriously but can still summon the dog within when you least expect it.

Is this a blip? A second wind? It’s so hard to tell with this guy. But I just sat through a Dominick Reyes vs. Johnny Walker fight where Daniel Cormier started reminiscing about a shepherd’s pie that Walker’s wife had made for him and the boys once, and that was honestly one of the most memorable moments of the fight. So yeah, I’ll take some bizarre Costa fun at light heavyweight right about now.

4. Cub Swanson’s retirement fight was as perfect as he deserved. Do you have any idea how long 22 years is in this sport? It’s multiple eras. It’s roughly two-thirds of the UFC’s entire existence. At the rate MMA has evolved, it’s basically like being the last dinosaur left, out there weaving past the skyscrapers of the modern age. To still be around at all is a colossal achievement. To be as sharp as Swanson was in his flawless first-round knockout of Nate Landwehr is practically unthinkable.

A good retirement fight is a lot tougher to pull off than people realize. If you overmatch the guest of honor, you make everyone sad. If you give him a squash match he can’t possibly lose, you risk encouraging him to continue. This was a perfect pairing in every way, and still Swanson made it look like it was just highlight fodder.

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Swanson leaves behind a lengthy body of work, but also a legacy of respect and honor and love. You simply won’t find anyone in this weird little world who has anything bad to say about this man. In a selfish, backstabby sport like this, that’s nothing short of a miracle.

5. In one of those how-did-Bellator-never-make-this-fight moments, Aaron Pico got a much-needed UFC win over Patricio Pitbull. He also reminded us that he’s still just 29 years old and has a ton of potential when he can keep his chin out of the blast zone. The thing about Pico is, if he doesn’t get his head knocked off, he’s probably going to win. It’s just the sporadic reappearance of that “if” that’s kept him from becoming the terror he once seemed destined for.

Is he finally turning a corner? Or is this the corner before he hits another wall? Hope springs eternal in the hurt business. But so do heartbreak and pain.