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The latest pay per view installment in UFC's classic 25 year history is in the books and was a great show from start to finish.
Headlined by a mouth watering clash between big hitter, Derrick Lewis and UFC Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Cormier, the show was highly anticipated.
In the main event, however there were to be no surprises, the experienced and only once defeated, veteran, Cormier successfully defended the title against his dangerous challenger.
Lewis did not come close to landing that big haymaker that could have won him the belt. Instead, Cormier, the talented all rounder showed all his Octagon guile to sink in a choke after taking Lewis down to the mat and that was all she wrote.
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With his victory, Cormier began the first man to successfully defend both the Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight Championships and in doing so has set up an exciting 2019 for himself and the UFC.
The original plan was for the co-headliner to be a re-match between Luke Rockhold and Chris Weidman. However, Rockhold was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury and Ronaldo Souza was inserted in his place.
Weidman/Souza had all the hallmarks of a classic clash too, as both men sought to repair the damage of recent losses and insert themselves back into Middleweight title contention. The bout didn't disappoint with three rounds of entertaining action and a surprise finish and victor.
There were three other Middleweight encounters on the main card as UFC's top fighters all jockeyed for position in earning a future title shot.
The high stakes led to more surprises up and down the card as the action shocked and thrilled in equal measure.
In the following slideshow, SK looks at the three biggest surprises from a memorable night of UFC action.
#3 Jared Cannonier has something left in the tank
Prior to the bout between David Branch and Jared Cannonier, virtually all observers had picked Branch to pick up the win.
That's because Branch, had won 12 of his last 13 MMA bout and Cannonier was on a woeful run of three losses in his past four fights.
Branch got the better of the first round with some good jabs which mostly kept his opponent at bay until a late flurry from Cannonier likely stopped him losing the round 10-8, instead going down 10-9.
The second round again began with Branch on top as the aggressor as he came out swinging but stunningly got caught with a huge punch that sent him down to the canvas. Smelling blood, Cannonier jumped on top of him for the TKO win.
A big upset and Cannonier has something to build on in the Middleweight division.
#2 No Brock Lesnar
Confusion reigned prior to the show, whether former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar would be in attendance.
Lesnar, had confronted Daniel Cormier, moments after he had won the UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 226 on July 7, 2018. After some verbal sparring, Lesnar shoved the smaller Cormier as the Champion challenged the current WWE superstar to a fight.
As part of the pre-match hype, Cormier had insisted Lesnar would once more be in the crowd. Shortly before the show however, UFC president denied Lesnar would be in attendance creating confusion.
As it turned out, Lesnar, fresh from regaining the WWE Universal Championship on WWE'S Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia was not there.
However, Cormier, following his big victory over Derrick Lewis ensured Lesnar remained in fan's thoughts as he again called him out and insisted he bring the WWE belt with him as Cormier would like to win that too.
It was a surprise not see Lesnar after Cormier had hyped up an appearance so much, but it was no surprise to hear him call out the former Champion once more.
Cormier vs Lesnar will happen in 2019.
#1 Chris Weidman loses to Ronaldo Souza
The former long reigning Middleweight Champion had recently snapped a three fight losing streak to apparently put his UFC career back on track when he submitted Kevin Gastelum at UFC on Fox in July 2017.
The first man to ever stop Anderson Silva was once one of the biggest stars in the promotion and when it was announced that UFC 230 would see him contest a re-match with Luke Rockhold, the man who gave him his first MMA defeat and snatched the Middleweight Championship away from him, the anticipation grew greatly among the UFC fan-base.
However, the re-match wasn't to be as Rockhold withdrew from the card due to injury and Weidman faced Ronaldo Souza instead.
Souza, the 38 year old veteran was once a contender in the division but his inability in his UFC career to put a run of wins together had ensured the likelihood of a title shot was virtually nil.
However, in a major surprise, Souza rolled the clock back in a brilliant performance to win the fight via TKO in the third round.
Weidman's UFC career, with four losses in his past five fights is now in serious jeopardy. There is every chance, the Rockhold sequel will now never happen.
