Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza is the wild card in a suddenly wild UFC middleweight division.

That is, he would be with a win over Jack Hermansson on Saturday at UFC on ESPN 8. Their bout was the highlight of the card, which went down from Sunrise, Florida.

Souza has some of the best jiu-jitsu on the planet, and the rest of his game isn't far behind. But for all his success in MMA and beyond, Jacare is on the outside looking in at 185 pounds. New interim champ and overall MMA sensation Israel Adesanya is widely expected to face lineal champ Robert Whittaker fairly soon for the undisputed strap.

Yoel Romero, Kelvin Gastelum and others are not far behind in the official rankings. Souza has had to take a number.

Meanwhile, Hermansson's at No. 10 in the same ranking. He can finish anywhere under the right circumstances. Would the nine-year age advantage (39 years for Souza compared with 30 for Hermansson) be a factor?

It was an interesting main event. But perhaps the co-main event could be even more intriguing? That's where former NFL defensive end and controversial new UFC fighter Greg Hardy appeared.

In his UFC debut, the immortal Allen Crowder knocked out Hardy. Would Hardy, in his sophomore effort, find a way to prevail over a tomato can someone cherry-picked for this express purpose?

As always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. These are the real winners and losers from UFC on ESPN 8. For the literal-minded among us, final stat lines appear at the bottom.

Winner: Jack Hermansson

Souza was the bigger name. Hermansson was the better fighter.

The Swede took his profile up a notch or three with his unanimous-decision win over Jacare. Hermansson stayed far busier early, with a couple highlights including a tight guillotine choke in the first. He tired quite a bit as the bout wore on but seemed to get the better of every exchange.

Souza never seemed to get in gear, almost content to let Hermansson dance on the outside and tag him with shots almost at will.

It wasn't the most memorable of performances, but it was Hermansson's biggest win to date. We'll see what the future holds for him at middleweight. Meanwhile, this is a bit of a rock slide for Souza. It's hard to know how far he'll tumble or, at age 39, whether he will get back to the top of the hill.

Loser: Greg Hardy

This was it. It finally happened.

Congratulations to all involved, because Greg Hardy (3-1) has a UFC victory. Which heavyweight did he knock off the ladder? Dmitry Smolyakov (9-3), whose last UFC contest, a first-round knockout loss to Cyril Asker, came two years ago.

Hardy's win came after his previous hand-picked tomato can, Crowder, took a DQ win on an illegal knee.

But let's pretend that never happened. Saturday, during a sequence along the fence, Hardy found an opening and slammed home an uppercut on Smolyakov. It was academic from there.

A reason to rejoice? Not for everyone. Hardy has never publicly stared his past squarely in the eye. He seems to continually double down on his innocence without offering any real defense other than, in essence, "critics are jealous of me."

The UFC broadcast team, frankly, enables the I'll-show-the-haters narrative with nary a mention of Hardy's later-expunged conviction for assaulting and communicating threats against his former girlfriend

Until any stakeholder can demonstrate that Hardy is, at the very least, worth a UFC roster spot based on his MMA talents, this is going to be a sore thumb on the payroll.

Loser: Cory Sandhagen

In a back-and-forth battle, Cory Sandhagen beat the betting underdog John Lineker by split decision. 

So why is he a loser here? Because there's a case to be made that the judges got it wrong.

Sandhagen was the busier fighter throughout, but Lineker—the cult hero and odds-on biggest knockout threat in the flyweight division—likely did more damage. Sandhagen was able to manage range throughout and seemed to outscore Lineker on the feet. Lineker landed some massive counter hooks that may well have dropped another guy.

The judges saw it for Sandhagen. It was a relatively low-output, low-damage fight, so it's hard to argue too vociferously if you're on Team Sandhagen. The winner appeared to feel the sting, though, as the boos rained down over him after announcer Bruce Buffer read the cards. Here's to bulletin board material.

Winner: Takashi Sato

Welcome aboard, Takashi Sato.

He came into his first UFC fight with a 14-2 pro record. His ledger was enough to earn him a battle with company stalwart Ben Saunders.

After a solid scrap all over the cage and in the homestretch of the second round, Sato threw a rock-solid left cross that dropped Saunders on his backside. Still, the issue wasn't certain until Sato began to hurt Saunders in earnest with a barrage of elbows that Saunders couldn't answer.

Sato isn't in the UFC top 15 with this win. But in beating, Saunders he's earned a step up.

UFC on ESPN 8 Full Card Results

Main Card

Jack Hermansson def. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47).

Greg Hardy def. Dmitry Smolyakov by TKO, 2:15, Rd. 1.

Mike Perry def. Alex Oliveira by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Glover Teixeira def. Ion Cutelaba by submission (rear-naked choke), 3:37, Rd. 2.

Cory Sandhagen def. John Lineker by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).

Roosevelt Roberts def. Thomas Griffin by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Preliminary Card

Takashi Sato def. Ben Saunders by TKO, 1:18, Rd. 2.

Augusto Sakai def. Andrei Arlovski by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 28-29).

Carla Esparza def. Virna Jandiroba by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Gilbert Burns def. Mike Davis by submission (rear-naked choke), 4:15, Rd. 2.

Jim Miller def. Jason Gonzalez by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:12, Rd. 1.

Angela Hill def. Jodie Esquibel by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27).

Scott Harris covers MMA and other things for Bleacher Report and other places.