LAS VEGAS _ In the 72 hours between the Ultimate Fighting Championship's despair over a suspension that cost the organization a main-event fighter and the completion of UFC 200, everything changed.
Dismay over the loss of troubled former light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who'd tested positive for a banned substance, was replaced by the joy of new women's bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes.
Not only did Nunes stun Miesha Tate by first-round submission in the revised main event, she also delivered a resonating response when asked about being the first openly gay champion fighter.
For former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, the mountainous obstacle of being an underdog didn't prove too daunting after all, perhaps returning another lively personality to the sport.
And the uncertainty over proud former featherweight champion Jose Aldo's career after a 13-second knockout loss in December was answered convincingly by Aldo's five rounds of punishment of former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
"My chin is fine. I let the goatee grow so it'd be a little more stylish," Aldo (26-2) cracked. "There were no ghosts."
Aldo received more uplifting news after his unanimous-decision victory when UFC President Dana White said brash Irishman Conor McGregor, who knocked out Aldo seven months ago, is ordered to take a rematch with Aldo after McGregor's welterweight rematch with Nate Diaz on Aug. 20.
"We can fight right now, and if he doesn't show up (later this year), I'm going to see him somewhere else to fight him," Aldo said.
The feeling of revival at UFC 200 _ which produced an organization-record $10.7 million live gate _ carried over to the post-fight news conference, most vividly in an exchange between Nunes and USA Today reporter Martin Rogers, when he asked her about her girlfriend, UFC strawweight Nina Ansaroff.
"Nina is the best training partner I've ever had. ... She means everything to me. This girl, she helped me live again," Nunes said as Ansaroff looked on from the rear of the room.
"She's gonna cry ... I love her."
The moment moved Nunes' Brazilian countrymen on the dais, Aldo and former middleweight champion Anderson Silva, while light-heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez smiled.
In an earlier session with reporters, there was genuine emotion from World Wrestling Enterainment headliner Lesnar, who returned from a five-year absence from nonscripted sport to out-wrestle and pound the favored Mark Hunt with ground punches in a unanimous-decision triumph.
"I've been out of the game five years, people," Lesnar said. "To step into the octagon with a guy ranked No. 8 in the world, you can write what you want, but I think I'm the toughest (guy) ... There's not a guy in the division I can't take down. I'm a top-10 guy, it puts me right in the game, and if I want to make that decision to fight again, I will.
"I'm a 39-year-old man and I'm pretty proud of myself."
Lesnar said in a video segment before fighting Hunt that he couldn't have imagined not returning to the octagon. So how can he walk away now, despite some contractual obligations to WWE?
"My body's feeling pretty good," he said. "Never say never."
As for UFC 200's other bouts, Cormier was strangely booed by the 18,202 at T-Mobile Arena after relying on his Olympic-caliber wrestling to win a unanimous decision over Silva, who replaced Jones for a three-round, non-title fight.
Afterward, Cormier explained he went straight from the news conference about Jones' positive test to a workout, hoping he'd be given a new opponent.
When it came to the fight, Cormier said, he "did what I had to do" to eliminate the standup strikes, knees and kicks that Silva relied on to keep the middleweight belt from 2006 to 2013 and delivered in the final round.
Cormier said he expects to next defend his belt against the winner of the Aug. 20 Anthony Johnson-Glover Teixeira bout.
Velasquez knocked out Travis Browne in the first round and is poised to fight the Sept. 10 winner of Stipe Miocic's title defense against Alistair Overeem.
Nunes' victory was handled in just 3 minutes 16 seconds. She used hard, precise punches against Tate (who later said her nose "has to be broken"), then made her tap out in a rear naked chokehold. That made Nunes the third new champion in the division since November.
The depth of the women's bantamweight division is stunning. Ronda Rousey has lost to Holly Holm, who lost to Tate, who lost to Nunes, who's lost to Cat Zingano, who lost Saturday against Julianna Pena.
Though Rousey is said to be less than 50-50 to make it to the UFC's November debut card at Madison Square Garden, White has said her return bout will be against "whoever has the belt."
Surprisingly, refreshingly, that's Nunes.
