Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall should not be fighting in the main event of Friday's UFC on FX 3 fight card at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla.
That's nothing against the fighters themselves. Their first encounter, at the UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann fight card in Sydney, Australia, was an absolute barn-burner that earned Fight of the Night Honors three months ago. "Mighty Mouse" got the better of the majority of the striking exchanges, but it was McCall who dominated the wrestling portions of the contest, culminating in a third-round surge that had him tantalizingly close to finishing Johnson before the final horn sounded.
It shouldn't have been the final horn, though, as an addition mistake initially led to Johnson being announced as the winner over "Uncle Creepy," when in reality, the fighters had battled to a draw and should have fought in a tiebreaker round to determine who would go on to fight Joseph Benavidez for the inaugural UFC Flyweight Championship.
Of course, that didn't happen, and now the two fighters will renew their hostilities in the main event of Friday night's fight card.
It may be an unfortunate setback for the fighters, but it's a great outcome for UFC fans, who will get to see another fast, furious, flyweight fight, which also happens to be the first flyweight bout to headline a UFC fight card.
One important element of the UFC's success as a promotion is the way in which Dana White and the rest of the top executives are able to roll with the punches wherever there are difficulties. Usually, that means reshuffling a fight card due to injuries. Sometimes, it means the ability to build up a feud based on a questionable judging or refereeing decision. While not every mistake can be turned into a positive -witness John Albert's "verbal submission" loss to Erik Perez at last week's season finale of The Ultimate Fighter - this one has given the fans in Florida a great main event.
The key to the fight will be what adjustments Johnson can make to stay off his back. Johnson is successful on 62 percent of his takedowns, but he was unable to bring "Uncle Creepy" to the ground, and was taken down four times himself. His crisp striking put him in position to win, but he was clearly saved by the bell at the end of the third round. Johnson will need to stay vertical to win this time around, and that will be the biggest question he faces.
