UFC on FOX 15: Observations From the Press Room

NEW JERSEY

• The toll for even just winning an MMA fight can be a great one, and never was that more evident than with the victors last night who were escorted back to the press room for a media scrum. Aljamain Sterling held a bag of ice to his side and moved like an elderly person, the victim of a pulled muscle. Chris Dempsey looked like he'd been hit by a truck, and Gian Villante was an absolute mess. Even Diego Brandao was a little dinged up.
• Tim Means harshed on Bleacher Report for writing bad things about him, and when I was talking to Aljo, he brought up the time years ago when I had predicted Sean Santella was going to beat him (Sean didn't). Yes, fighters care what the media says about them.
• When Diego Brandao elbowed Jimy Hettes in the ear, thereby tearing it open, Brandao literally smelled the blood.
• No one in the press room had expected Max Holloway to so thoroughly kick Cub Swanson's ass, nor did they think Paige VanZant and Luke Rockhold were going to run through their opponents like that. Surprises are fun.
• Everyone who doubted VanZant before are pretty sold on her now.
• We watch the fights on monitors backstage, but have to ignore them when fighters come back for interviews. Except when the fighters being interviewed suddenly exclaim, "Oh shit! That was awesome, did you see that?" and point to the monitors mid-scrum. Then we look.
• Lyoto Machida took a serious beating and looked like hell when he was escorted backstage to the medical station, and though he eventually was sent off to the hospital, he seemed to be in okay spirits. I mean, sure, he lost, but he was upbeat about it.
• Luke Rockhold versus Chris Weidman in a main event at Madison Square Garden would be a giant cake made of Awesome with Awesome Sauce on top of it.