Robert Whittaker def. Darren Till by unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)

Considering the form Whittaker and Till came into this fight with – a KO loss and a cagey, unconvincing win – there was an expectation that this would be a neurotic fight; guys fighting not to lose rather than to win. It was only three minutes before that got proved false as Till knocked Whittaker down with a crisp elbow to the jaw and peppered him with strikes from there, becoming more dominant as he found his range.

But if there's one thing Bobby Knuckles proved in those 10 rounds against Yoel Romero, it's that he can adapt on the fly and the tide began to turn early in Round 2. He was more aggressive and put Till on the back foot with a left before knocking him down later with an overhand right.

This then became the story of the fight. Whittaker pushed the pace a little bit harder than Till and kept finding gaps in his defense. By the end of Round 3, he was mixing it up with kicks to Till's lead leg, occasionally finding takedown opportunities, and mixing it up with plenty of fakes and feints.

This gap increased and by the main event rounds, Whittaker's performance looked championship caliber. This is the Bobby Knuckles who spent four years undefeated at middleweight, only now he's more patient and willing to be a counter fighter.

As for Till, the question of his confidence seems to be approaching an answer, and it isn't a happy one. After he took the aforementioned shot in Round 2, he looked scared to engage and the stats show in Rounds 2, 3 and 4, he landed three, six and nine total strikes respectively, and had an overall sum of 108 – 80 less than Whittaker.

In terms of actual damage delivered, it ended up fairly even, but this low output scuppered Till in the eyes of the judges. He shouldn't be counted out just yet, but he's no longer the steamroller he used to be. Whittaker, on the other hand, looked like a complete fighter and is surely headed to a well-deserved rematch with champion Israel Adesanya.

Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua def. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)

15 years after their classic at Pride FC Critical Countdown 2005 and five years after the rematch at UFC 190, both Shogun and Nogueira are way past their primes and barely in fighting condition.

It's impossible to not compare this to the classics Shogun and Nogueira put on before, and it's deeply upsetting to remember their ferocious pace as they lumber around the Octagon as men aged 38 and 44 respectively. There were 30 seconds of circling in Round 1 before Shogun even attempted a halfhearted leg kick, and then another 32 before he followed with a second.

If this inaction was sad to see, the action was even more depressing. The two men mostly alternated between feeble clinch work against the fence and slow, sloppy exchanges. Nogueira could barely string punches together and most of those missed; according to ufcstats.com, he threw a round 100 significant strikes in the fight and landed only 46 percent of them.

In the second frame, Shogun slipped while Nogueira swung at him and ended up on the bottom, but Lil Nog couldn't do much with his weak ground-and-pound. Shogun dominated the remainder of this and also Round 3 with punches, and even managed to take him down with two minutes remaining, but it's a far cry what the two have done before.

Nogueira goes into his retirement on a second loss and Shogun ends their trilogy with a clean sweep of 3-0.

Fabricio Werdum def. Alexander Gustafsson by submission (Round 1, 2:30)

The most ridiculous of the big fights provided the most ridiculous finish. Gustafsson came into his first heavyweight bout looking like his old self, only a little softer around the middle. He was up on the balls of his feet, springing around, testing the range with quick shots – and then he got taken down by Werdum, a jiu-jitsu master and former UFC heavyweight champion.

For a minute, Werdum worked his way around Gustafsson until he could lock in an armbar and force a tap. It might be the worst possible outcome for setting up the future of the division but it's a reminder that in the versatile world of modern MMA, a true specialist can be legitimately dangerous against a solid all-rounder.