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The UFC 208 card was likely beyond redemption when middleweight Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza submitted journeyman Tim Boetsch in the first round Saturday in Brooklyn, New York. Before the perennial contender did his thing, and thank goodness he did, 14 fighters had spent 105 minutes inside the UFC Octagon doing nothing of note.
When he was done darn near wrenching Boetsch's shoulder out of its socket, four more fighters, ostensibly the best on the card, spent 45 more excruciating minutes teasing high-octane action that never materialized.
It was UFC at its absolute worst, arguably the least-impressive showing on pay-per-view since the dark ages before The Ultimate Fighter gave the sport a national platform and started a journey that turned a $2 million investment into billions of dollars for former owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.