The race for supremacy in the UFC’s featherweight division has never been hotter than it is in 2015.
No. 1 contender Conor McGregor literally chased long-reigning champion Jose Aldo around the world during the promotional tour for this summer’s UFC 189, and a collection of top fighters in the 145-pound ranks are lined up to make their bids to be the next championship contender in the featherweight fold.
And off those showdowns, the main event at UFC Fight Night 63 in Fairfax, Virginia, was perhaps the most crucial.
Chad Mendes and Ricardo Lamas squared off in the main event to determine who would remain in the hunt and who would be pushed to the back of the pack in the elite tier of the division. The Team Alpha Male staple came into the tilt fresh off his second failed attempt to dethrone Aldo, in a bout where he took the Brazilian phenom into deeper waters than any previous opponent had before. Yet, in order for him to get back to a championship opportunity, he needed to derail The Bully, who came into Saturday’s bout with a full head of steam.
After his loss to Aldo at UFC 169 back in February 2014, the Chicago native had collected back-to-back victories over tough competition. Those wins led to his scrap with Mendes at Fight Night 63. With both fighters determined to become the next No. 1 contender, the main event in Fairfax was almost guaranteed to be a barnburner, but that’s not what Mendes had in mind.
The Sacramento-based fighter felt Lamas out early and then dropped him with a crisp shot as the MMA Masters product attempted to close the distance. Once Lamas was hurt, Mendes pounced and poured on the heat until the referee stepped in to end the bout, which put the cap on another incredible performance from the perennial title contender.
Let’s take a look at the good, bad and strange from Fight Night 63.
The Good
Chad Mendes wants another shot at the featherweight title.
After falling short in both of his previous opportunities to snatch the 145-pound strap, Money came into his bout with Ricardo Lamas at Fight Night 63 determined to jump back into the title hunt. That said, many figured The Bully to be one of the toughest tests of his career, but the Team Alpha Male staple answered the challenge with ease.
Mendes caught Lamas in an early exchange, and the Chicago native was never able to recover. Mendes stayed on task with intensity until Lamas gave up the ghost, and the referee was forced to step in. It was another impressive victory for a fighter who has made a career out of impressive showings, and it will create an interesting situation atop the featherweight division.
With Mendes being one fight removed from a title opportunity, his victory over Lamas on Saturday doesn’t necessarily guarantee another title shot. Fellow top-ranked contender Frankie Edgar is set to step in against Urijah Faber next month, and champion Jose Aldo will settle his feud with Conor McGregor in July.
The divisional situation has a lot of moving parts, and things could play out a number of ways, but regardless of how things shake out, Mendes once again proved he’s the man to beat in the featherweight ranks.
*** There was a solid amount of tension between Michael Chiesa and Mitch Clarke in the buildup to their tilt in Fairfax. The two men started with a heated pre-fight staredown and continued that friction inside the Octagon on Saturday.
That said, the opening two rounds of the fight were all Chiesa. The Spokane-based fighter used his pressure and control to dominate throughout the first 10 minutes of the bout as he came close to putting Clarke away several times. While the MMA Lab representative would rebound to duke it out in the final frame, it was too little, too late. Chiesa picked up the unanimous-decision victory for his third win in his past four outings.
*** A knee injury put Julianna Pena out for a lengthy stint, but The Venezuelan Vixen didn’t appear to miss a beat against Milana Dudieva. The Ultimate Fighter Season 18 winner recaptured the momentum she had pre-injury by putting a beating on her opponent on Saturday. As has become her calling card, Pena’s pressure was too much for Dudieva, as the referee eventually stepped in to call off the ground-and-pound drubbing the Washington State native was handing out. With the victory, Pena not only marked a triumphant return but re-established herself as a formidable presence in the women’s bantamweight ranks.
*** Fan favorite Clay Guida changed things up before his bout with Robbie Peralta at Fight Night 63. The longtime staple at Jackson/Winkeljohn’s in New Mexico decided to take his preparation to Team Alpha Male due to the plethora of lighter-weight fighters in the camp’s stable. That decision paid off, as The Carpenter returned to form against Peralta.
Guida put his notoriously heavy pace on the Californian early and kept it cranked up until the final bell. The end result was a unanimous-decision victory and his second win in his last three showings inside the Octagon.
*** Despite having found success at a high rate as a featherweight, Dustin Poirier wanted to start a new chapter in his career as a member of the talented lightweight fold. The Diamond made that jump in Fairfax against talented grappler Carlos Diego Ferreira to kick off the main card at Fight Night 63. Where the Louisiana native’s tenacity and aggression were crucial elements to the victories he earned at 145, those elements were still intact and on display in his new weight class.
Poirier battered Ferreira early and often until he eventually put him away with strikes from top position to get the win. The American Top Team product’s performance was not only strong enough to melt his Brazilian opponent but earned him a quick turnaround when the UFC touches down in his home state for Fight Night 68 in June.
*** After two rough outings in the welterweight division, Alexander Yakovlev made his official lightweight debut at Fight Night 63. The Thunder of the North was looking to finally gain some traction under the UFC banner and had a tough test in former title challenger Gray Maynard in front of him. That said, the rangy Russian came to fight Saturday and got the job done against the Xtreme Couture representative, working behind his length and counterwrestling skills. While the bout wasn’t necessarily action-packed, defeating a name like Maynard is a great first step into 155-pound waters for Yakovlev.
*** Although the heavyweight tilt between Shamil Abdurakhimov and Timothy Johnson was about as rough as a fight that ended in the first round can be, the mustachioed American came out the victor on Saturday. He struggled to close distance early but then caught a well-timed level change to put the Dagestan native on the canvas. Once there, he unloaded a flurry of shots from the mount, and referee Mike King waved off the action in the waning seconds of the opening frame.
While there was nothing pretty about the fight, props go to King for being the first official in quite some time to jump in and take a point from Abdurakhimov for repeatedly grabbing the fence. Even though the point deduction ultimately had no impact on the outcome, it was nice to see an official lay down the thunder for a blatant infraction of the rules.
The Bad
The past few years have brought rough waters for former two-time lightweight title challenger Gray Maynard.
The Las Vegas native went from being one of the best 155-pound fighters on the planet to the fringes of obscurity due to a three-fight losing streak against tough competition. The former standout wrestler from Michigan State University came into his bout with Alexander Yakovlev in desperate need of a victory but just didn’t get it done Saturday night. Despite a solid start, the Russian’s size was ultimately too much of an obstacle to overcome, as Yakovlev picked up the unanimous-decision victory on the judges’ scorecards.
With the setback at Fight Night 63, Maynard has now dropped four consecutive fights and five of his past six. While the UFC has kept several fighters on the roster despite having a four-fight losing skid on their shoulders, it’s difficult to tell what the future will be for The Bully. The 35-year-old Xtreme Couture product was a crucial element in bringing the lightweight division to prominence in the post-B.J. Penn era, and that aspect could land him one more chance at turning things around.
Then again, his bout against Yakovlev on Saturday could well be his final showing inside the Octagon.
The Strange
Lauren Murphy just can’t catch a break.
The MMA Lab representative came out on the raw end of a questionable split-decision loss to Sara McMann in her promotional debut last August, and that trend continued Saturday at Fight Night 63. The Alaska native traded leather with Liz Carmouche and took the fight to the former title challenger for the first two rounds. The former Marine would take the upper hand in the third frame, but it didn’t seem enough to sway the tide of the fight.
That said, MMA judging is a curious monster.
While it’s difficult to say any decision rendered by MMA judges these days is shocking, the way things fell with Murphy vs. Carmouche certainly qualifies. The 31-year-old Arizona transplant took the fight to her opponent for the opening 10 minutes, and when she wasn’t in physical control of the action, she was backing Carmouche across the Octagon. That element would change in the final round as Carmouche‘s game kicked into gear, but the final four minutes should not negate the 11 that came before them.
The judges saw Carmouche taking the fight, dealing Murphy her second consecutive loss inside the Octagon. She well could be 2-0 under the UFC banner, but therein lies the push in MMA. Just because it has become cliche to tout never leaving a fight in the hands of the judges doesn’t mean there isn’t truth there. Murphy is a great example of this strange wrinkle, but she’s far from alone. And while that too is unfortunate, as Gus Johnson once famously said, “Those things happen in MMA.”
Staying with the timeless words of Mr. Johnson, the baffling decisions rolled on to the co-main event between Jorge Masvidal and Al Iaquinta. Where Murphy vs. Carmouche could be debated, there is no way to explain the scorecards for this lightweight tilt. Masvidal dominated the first round and put Iaquinta in serious trouble late in the frame. While the Serra-Longo fighter would regain his footing and put together a bit of offense of his own, Masvidal shrugged off every shot and continued to press his offense.
When the bout concluded, things appeared to be clear cut for Masvidal, but two of the judges saw things working out exactly the opposite, awarding Iaquinta the split-decision victory.
Masvidal threw his hands up in protest and bolted out of the Octagon in frustration as the crowd at the Patriot Center rained down a chorus of boos. Uncertain of where the disdain was being directed at, Iaquinta earned his “Ragin'” nickname as he launched off on a tirade, berating the dissenters. While it was undoubtedly a fun fight, Masvidal—not Iaquinta—should have picked up his fourth consecutive victory in Fairfax.
While the strange happenings inside the cage were mostly limited to the judges’ table on Saturday afternoon, a few notables took place beyond the Octagon. Unless fight fans are also lovers of promotional advertisements, it would be safe to assume the constant barrage of commercials during the spaced out six-fight main card was widely regarded as brutal.
Yet, perhaps the only thing more painful than the bevy of ad spots was the remote interview with former light heavyweight champion and recent UFC returnee Quinton Jackson during the main card on Fox Sports 1. Jon Anik tossed questions his way, but background music drowned out Rampage’s responses, and the confusion of a botched live moment mounted.
The interview would eventually level out, and Jackson would talk about his upcoming fight against Fabio Maldonado at UFC 186, but there is still an elephant in the room in that regard. As has been widely reported, Jackson is currently entrenched in a breach of contract with Bellator—the promotion he competed for after the UFC cut him in 2013—and the hearing on those matters is set to go down Tuesday.
Should things not go smoothly, Jackson would not be legally permitted to compete in Montreal, which would put the UFC’s co-main event in shambles. The card already lost its original headlining bout when T.J. Dillashaw had to withdraw from his rematch with Renan Barao, and losing a recognizable name like Jackson would be devastating to the pay-per-view lineup.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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