**1. Matt Mitrione has emerged as a darkhorse in the heavyweight division. **After Meathead’s victory over Joey Beltran, he’s now 3-0 in the UFC, with victories over TUF 10 housemates Marcus Jones and Kimbo Slice. A former football player turned MMA fighter, his football experience has really helped him. Additionally, he’s light on his feet, and has good kicks and heavy hands. A couple of more wins could have him in the thick of the heavyweight contender discussion. Plus firing his agent in front of millions of people was interesting.

**2. Evan Dunham (although he should have won) is a dangerous fighter. **Dunham, coming into the fight undefeated in his MMA career, faced a tough test in former UFC lightweight champ Sean Sherk. He had some really deep guillotine chokes sunk in on Sherk the first two rounds, but Sherk was able to escape all of them. Even though he lost via a controversial split decision, Dunham has shown he can hang with the best in the lightweight division. Look for him to rebound quickly.

**3. Matt Serra may be done. **Serra engaged in a good battle with Chris Lytle, but he looked slow and out of it. At 36, he knows his fights are limited, and I don’t see him fighting for the welterweight title again soon. Serra always gives the fans a good fight and was gracious in defeat. He seems to be more focused on his schools on Long Island, and may call his MMA career a wrap.

**4. Ryan Bader is legit. **Bader faced his toughest test in Small Nog, and handled him easily, earning a unanimous decision. His wrestling and pure strength proved to be too much for Noguiera. As Joe Rogan said, Jon Jones will probably be next for Bader. That will be a great matchup. I could see the winner of that fight either fighting Shogun for the title when he comes back, or fighting Rashad for an interim belt.

**5. The card was a true MMA enthusiast’s card. **This is a nice way of saying the card was pretty boring. Seven of 11 fights went to decision. Mir-CroCop pretty much went to a decision. Little engaging going on in a lot of the fights. I understand not all cards can be great, but this card was less exciting than other cards. The next few cards look great on paper, so it should be good. Regardless, MMA is a great sport, and these athletes lay it on the line every fight.