On Saturday in Abu Dhabi, 24 fighters collaborated to show us examples of just about every stop on mixed martial arts’ life cycle.
From the retirement fight of an all-time lightweight great, to a hard-to-watch stomping of a shopworn former heavyweight contender; from a longtime also-ran earning herself a likely title shot, to a proud former champ making a case for a rematch with his successor—as well as some fairly extreme examples of good and not-good Octagon debuts, UFC 254 had a little bit of everything. On such a rich and varied night of caged combat, it goes without saying that some fighters elevated their stock while others took a hit.