Some final thoughts on this card..
It seems like the general thoughts from media is that this was a "good" main event. I was thinking about it a bit, and I actually don't think it was a good or entertaining fight. Was it somewhat compelling between two high-level guys? Sure. I just can't say fights that have basically no damage are good - it's the main judging criteria for a reason - and this fight basically had none. The compelling part about fights shouldn't be "I don't know how the judges are going to score it", it should be stuff that happened in the cage.
I had two things I felt really good about coming into this card that hit:
First, Kron Gracie sucks. He's actually pretty tough/durable for a guy so bad on the feet but this isn't a UFC level fighter. Jourdain is a pretty solid test but for Gracie to look that bad? Time for the UFC to move on.
Second, Ikram Aliskerov is elite. Said it coming in but this guy's only loss is to Chimaev. He is going to be ranked and is going to be a problem for a ton of guys at middleweight. I think the UFC will fast-track this guy and get him a Muniz/Tavares level guy sooner than later.
Couple things I was wrong about:
Said it during the card but I thought Evloev would run over Lopes and I think eventually it happened but man was does Lopes present some problems on the ground. I think he finishes most of the division who aren't as strong as Evloev. We'll say where Lopes goes from here but really fun first fight for him.
The other thing I was wrong about was something that I don't even think I really posted - I've really not thought anything abotu Yan Xiaonan. She's had a really forgettable UFC run and I've kind of lumped her in with a dozen other nameless WMMA fighters who put on boring. I think Andrade gave her the same respect I did. This was a seriously impressive showing by Yan and it seems like she's really improved.