Now that the dust has settled somewhat on UFC 68, let's take a look back at some of the night's biggest winners and losers.

Winners

UFC

While I typically like to hand out superlatives for individual performances, the UFC as a collective whole shined the brightest on March 3.  UFC 68 featured an excellent fight card in a town that was clearly hungry for top-notch MMA action.  On a weekend that featured at least two other major events in Columbus, Ohio -- the Arnold Classic as well as the Ohio high school wrestling tournament -- UFC 68 not only sold out Nationwide Arena, but the fans packed the place before the undercard bouts began.  The crowd was enthusiastic and the fights showcased the best of mixed martial arts action.  With one title fight and three former UFC champions (including a Hall of Famer) on the card as well as a number of fighters from in and around Ohio, the UFC showed some nice depth in its fight card lineup.  And, of course the atmosphere was absolutely electric during the Couture-Sylvia heavyweight title match. 

With UFC intent on taking its show on the road, UFC 68 was a very promising harbinger of good things to come.  UFC 69 is in Houston and UFC 70 is in London.  So, it won't be until May 26 at UFC 71 when the circuit returns to the friendly confines of Las Vegas.  However, UFC 68 showed everyone that the promotion will likely be OK as it takes its product to fans who otherwise may not be able to make the trek to Vegas to attend their events.

Honorable Mentions

Randy Couture

There is no doubt that Randy Couture's victory over favored incumbent Tim Sylvia was the biggest individual story of the night.  In his first fight since coming out of retirement, Couture looked quicker than Sylvia (despite being over 10 years older), Couture was more accurate with his punches, and Couture was more active defensively, bobbing and weaving and ducking and dodging Sylvia's punches all night.

Couture had a very good gameplan and executed it to perfection.  He was in control from the moment he landed the early right to Sylvia's face and looked comfortable standing up as well as shooting Sylvia's legs and taking him to the ground.  Couture won every round of the match and deserves to be the new champion, despite what many (including this reporter) said before the fight.

Matt Hamill

Matt Hamill -- a Cincinnati native -- had the crowd on his side from the moment he entered the arena for his fight against Ohio State graduate Rex Holman.  The fans clearly appreciated the efforts of Hamill who perseveres despite the handicap of being deaf.  In fact, Hamill appears to embrace his deafness, accepting it for what it is, but not allowing it to define who he is.  He showed that same toughness in the Octagon in his fight against Holman. 

Though Hamill -- the former TUF 3 fighter -- came into the UFC with the reputation of being a strong wrestler, he showed in UFC 68 that he is becoming more and more comfortable on his feet.  He looked very willing to stand up against Holman, but when he decided to take the fight to the ground, he did so effectively and finished the fight easily, throwing undefended punches while on Holman's back.

Hamill showed after the match that he has a great rapport with the fans, treating them to what has become a trademark whoop at the end of his interview with Joe Rogan.  His charisma and his unique story as well as his development as a fighter have Hamill pushing his way up the ranks, on the verge of joining Rashad Evans, Keith Jardine, and Michael Bisping as TUF light heavyweights who appear to be an integral part of the future of that division in the UFC. 

Losers

Tim Sylvia

The old adage says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."  Unfortunately, for Tim Sylvia, the former champion not only fell hard in the Octagon but also in the court of public opinion Saturday night.  Sylvia trains with the Miletich Fighting Systems in nearby Iowa, while Couture grew up in the Pacific Northwest and has spent much of his career fighting out of Oregon (though he now resides in Las Vegas.)  Yet, Sylvia enjoyed absolutely no home-field advantage -- he was booed when he entered the Octagon and he was booed in his post-fight interview.  What made matters worse for the deposed champion, though, was his post-fight comments about having an injury coming into the fight.  That comment was clearly a mistake, as even UFC President Dana White admitted in the post-fight press conference.

Still, even that transgression could be forgiven if Sylvia had been able to endear himself to the fans during the fight.  However, what fans saw was the same fighter they had seen in Sylvia's two previous title defenses against Jeff Monson and Andrei Arlovski.  Sylvia seemed very hesitant to attack and allowed Couture to dictate the tempo of the match, which Couture was very willing to do.  Even in the final round, when Sylvia must have known he would need a knockout or submission to win, there appeared to be no sense of urgency in Sylvia's approach.

It will be interesting to see what Sylvia does going forward.  How will he recover from this loss?  Will he change his game plan going into fights and attack the way he did when he was coming up the ranks?  And, what will he do to repair his "image problem" -- as Dana White called it -- with the fans?