UFC 229 ended with a black eye for the sport with a brawl after Khabib Nurmagomedov defeated Conor McGregor. Nurmagomedov (27-0) was able to defend his 155-pound championship by submitting McGregor (21-4) at 3:03 of the fourth round. What happened afterwards is detailed here, and this fiasco starts to make the UFC look more like the WWE. How will Dana White fix this mess?

The battle between MMA darling Conor McGregor and 40-year-old boxing icon Floyd Mayweather ended as many expected, with Conor succumbing to the grueling demands of boxing which requires much more stamina than standard MMA fights.

Still, Conor started out strong, and gave hope to the many bettors who bet the underdog. This probably made many in Vegas sportsbooks nervous as a McGregor win would have been a disaster, but reality set in the Floyd started to engage more with every round.

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Everyone who follows the UFC is excited about the second meeting between Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks, which will take place in December. However from a UFC betting perspective, this is actually a pretty hard one to call, as there are factors that render it unusual. For starters few are used to evaluating Lawler as a challenger, as he has been defeated once in the last 18 months, with his only loss coming when Hendricks took him down at UFC 171 in February 2013. His record stands at 24-10-0, but he will seriously have to be at the top of his game to defeat the Bigg Rigg.

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Last night’s UFC event was certainly controversial. Johny Hendricks bloodied up Georges St. Pierre in their welterweight division fight and certainly believes that he beat him as you can see from the interview above. Dana White was furious with the decision and is looking to quickly book a rematch.

Last night at UFC Fight Night 28, Ronaldo Souza was able to pick up an impressive win over Yushin Okami in the middleweight division. That victory established Souza as a legit contender in the division, as he was able to beat the “gate keeper” of the division in Okami.

The “gate keeper” is a fighter that is good enough to be one of the top fighters in the division, but not good enough to beat the elite few on top. They will likely never be a champion, but they will never be without an important fight or spot within the UFC. Here are who I see as the gate keepers in the UFC.

Flyweight – Ian McCall: McCall is a great flyweight, but already has proven that he can’t compete with the likes of Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez. He just doesn’t have the skills to break into the top.

Bantamweight – Urijah Faber: Faber is a tremendous talent, but he was clearly outclassed by Renan Barao and lost his last fight with Dominick Cruz. Faber is just a step to slow to earn the title.

Featherweight – Dustin Poirier: “The Diamond” is a great fighter, but he hasn’t been able to get the job done in his toughest fights. He will always be in discussion as a top-5 featherweight, but not able to get any higher.

Lightweight – Jim Miller: Miller has tremendous heart and wrestling ability, but he can’t quite get to the mountain top. If a contender isn’t cut for the elite status, Miller will prove it.

Welterweight – Jake Ellenberger: Ellenberger seemed primed for a title shot with a win over Rory MacDonald, but he failed to take his talents to that next level. He can beat most of the division, but not the very best.

Middleweight – Yushin Okami: As said previously, Okami is a tough guy to get past, but if you can, it puts you in the 185-pound title picture.

Light Heavyweight – Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Lil Nog is a talented fighter, but doesn’t really show anything to make you feel like he could actually be the 205-pound champion. He has some big wins, but some bad losses. If someone is going to be a champ in this division, they have to get through him.

Heavyweight – Antonio Silva: Silva proved he can’t be the champion of this division, getting hammered by Cain Velasquez on two occasions now. However, he owns wins over guys like Fedor and Alistair Overeem. Silva is no easy victory, but he doesn’t have the total package to be champ.