Winners and losers of UFC Fight Night: OSP vs. Teixeira

UFC Fight Night: OSP vs. Teixeira proved to be a card with a mix of entertaining fights and fights that left the Nashville crowd booing. We saw a new contender emerge at women's bantamweight, an old contender revive their career at Light Heavyweight and an extremely poor decision by the judges that makes the Lightweight division even more unclear than it already is. Here are your winners and losers:

Winners

Amanda Nunes is definitely the big winner of the night. Finishing a veteran fighter in Sara McMann by submission after a big knock down gives the UFC another possible opponent for Ronda Rousey. Nunes had a very competitive fight against Cat Zingano and has finished every one of her wins in the UFC. If Cyborg doesn't end up as Rousey's next challenger after her third fight with Tate, it would be good news for Nunes as she now looks like the next best option.

Glover Teixeira could not drop two straight fights against rising contenders at Light Heavyweight and still remain at the top of the division. Many thought that the more athletic OSP would end up getting the tough fought win, but Teixeira showed himself to be on another level. A loss would have put Teixeira a long ways away from another title shot, but now with a dominant win can start planning another title run. The Light Heavyweight division is in a constant state of flux, and one injury to a headliner and another good performance could give Teixeira another crack at the championship sooner than later.

Michael Johnson won against Beneil Dariush, despite what the judges said, so this review is with that in mind. Johnson showed that he has similar qualities of all of the successful Lightweight fighters. Every fighter at the top of the division either has extremely strong wrestling or a great striking game with good grappling skills. Johnson did fade in the later rounds against Dariush, but showed that for a couple of rounds he can implement a strong game-plan and slowly stalk down a fighter with technical striking. Cardio is a big problem for most of the Blackzillian fighters (Anthony Johnson, Vitor Belfort) and I suspect he will have many future fights going 5 rounds that will test this. Again though, a very impressive fight for Johnson and proof that he belongs at the top of the division.

Derek Brunson was pinned as the favorite over Alvey, and had all of the tools to give Alvey his toughest test to date. Brunson avoided Alvey's counter strikes and was able to land powerful uppercuts in the clinch that put Alvey on wobbly feet. Alvey took about 10 hard shots before falling to the canvas, where Mario Yamasaki stepped in to put an end to the punishment. Although some have argued that the stoppage was early, Alvey was not answering Brunson's heavy hits. Alvey was tough, but Brunson showed that toughness is never enough. A great showing for Brunson, who can now set his sights on some Top 10 ranked opponents.

Ray Borg put on a mechanical beat down on Geane Herrera. He short circuited Herrera's game by keeping him on the ground and controlling him for a unanimous decision victory. His takedown attempts came at cyber speed and his avoidance of the submission terminated all hopes for Herrera. I am all out of horrible cyborg related puns, so I will move on now.

The Tennessee Athletic Commission for using what sounded like a cowbell for the 10 seconds left sound. Way better than the clap-board, and a lot more country. Hee haw!

Other notable winners: Dustin Ortiz and the Nashville crowd.

Losers

Ovince Saint Preux has done was most Light Heavyweight prospects have done in being unable to crack the top fighters of the division. Almost every top fighter in the division has fought and lost to Jon Jones, and the division seems incomplete with his absence and with Cormier as champion. If OSP won against Teixeira, it would have been a great opportunity for a new face and someone who hasn't been defeated by Jon Jones to get a shot at the title. Now with a loss, OSP will likely have to regroup with an easy win against a fighter outside of the Top 10 so that he can begin a second run at cracking the top of the division. What he showed in the fight was that he is not yet ready for the elite.

Judges Richard Bertrand and Douglas Crosby for scoring the fight for Dariush. Not only did they absolutely rob Michael Johnson of a win, but I had already wrote both the winner and loser paragraphs for both fighters before the decision was made, and I'm way too lazy to re-write anything. I have decided to leave what I initially wrote as the UFC will most likely treat the fight as a win for Johnson, but I will forever hate both of the judges for making me look lazy.

Beneil Dariush extended his win streak to 5, but anyone with any experience watching MMA knows that he lost the fight. Dariush's biggest problem is that he has success against fighters with one specific strength. Dariush is amazing on the ground, so if he's against a one-dimensional striker, he can take them down and submit them. If he's against a wrestler or submission artist, he can out-grapple them. Against Michael Johnson, a very well rounded fighter, Dariush couldn't get him to the ground and was forced to stand and trade, which is one of Johnson's strongest areas. Dariush will be able to develop his striking game to make another run at lightweight, but for now he'll continue to have a tough time against strong wrestlers who know how to technically strike, which the lightweight division is full of.

Sara McMann was the favorite going into her fight with Amanda Nunes but was finished as though she was the heavy underdog. McMann was not able to take Nunes down and folded when Nunes started landing strikes. At 34 years old and having competed in combat sports at a high level since 2000, the loss could be the beginning of the end for McMann's career. A quick loss to Rousey and two more losses against top competition puts McMann at a spot where she most likely won't get even close to another fight at the top of the division.

Jared Rosholt vs Timothy Johnson could only be described in one tweet.

This is like watching two drunk uncles fight at a family BBQ. #UFCNashville

— The Spartan (@EliasTheodorou) August 9, 2015

Willie Gates looked like a fish out of water against the 11th ranked flyweight Dustin Ortiz, who got the TKO finish late in the 3rd round. It's not the fact that Gates looked terrible that put him into the loser column, and he did take the fight on short notice, which gives him a little bit of an excuse. He gets put into the loser column for having my new favorite nickname in "Whoop Ass" and not doing anything to live up to it. I really expected more Mr. Whoop Ass. Very disappointed.

Other notable losers: Sam Alvey and the Chris Camozzi vs. Tom Watson fight.