For the first time in his young career, Jordan Mein looked his age at UFC on Fox 7 on Saturday night.
After impressing in his UFC debut, the 23-year-old prodigy found himself completely overwhelmed by surging welterweight contender Matt Brown.
Part of the problem was Mein‘s striking defense. Instead of keeping his hands up and circling out of danger, Mein constantly dropped his hands in panic mode and moved straight back.
This eventually cost him in the second round, as Brown opened up with knees from the clinch and finished with elbows on the ground to earn the TKO stoppage.
Mein has a wealth of experience considering his age. He has competed in well over 30 professional MMA bouts. His coaches should be able to chalk this up as a learning experience and go back to the drawing board.
There is plenty of time for Mein to make the necessary adjustments to come back as a much improved version of the fighter who stepped into the cage on Saturday night.
Here are the five fights he should take next.