Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) staged its latest event last night (Sat., May 4, 2019) at UFC on ESPN+ 9 live on ESPN+ from Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In the main event of the evening, Donald Cerrone put on masterful performance against AL Iaquinta to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision win (highlights), while Derek Brunson earned a decision win over Elias Theodorou in the co-main event (recap).
Biggest Winner: Donald Cerrone
“Cowboy” continued his resurgence by putting one one of the best performances of his career against a very tough opponent. Not only did he piece up “Ragin’” Al throughout the five-round affair, but he dropped him on a couple of occasions, something few have done before. For Cowboy, the win earned him his first three-fight win streak since 2016 and will more than likely shoot him up the rankings coming next week.
And though “Cowboy” recently declared he’d given up his pursuit of a big-money fight against Conor McGregor, business picked up once again after his win, saying he’d love to get his hands on the money-making Irishman later this year if he doesn’t get a title shot next. And after everything the Cerrone has done for the promotion over his career, he deserves for UFC to at least bring that fight to Conor’s table.
Runner Up: Shane Burgos
Burgos picked up the biggest win of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career by edging out longtime veteran Cub Swanson with a razor-thin split decision victory. The win gives Shane a 5-1 mark inside the Octagon and with a name like Cub on his resume, he can shoot for bigger fights moving forward. First things first, though, as Burgos needs a well-deserved spot in the top 15, which I fully expect to happen following this win.
Aside from getting the win, Burgos showed the rest of the division that he can takes some punches to deliver some of his own, as he took a few good licks from Swanson. Shane can be a guy that can pump some new blood into the 145-pound weight class, and last night proved that.
Biggest Loser: Cub Swanson
Cub has always been a fan-favorite, and though his loss to Burgos was close in a truly thrilling bout, the fact of the matter is Swanson has now dropped four in a row. Still, I don’t personally believe Swanson is completely done, but the countless wars he has been in have to be taking a toll on him.
At 35 years of age and after 36 professional fights, Swanson can still crack and does have fight in him to put up a challenge to anyone who stands in front of him. The loss, however, might cost him a few spots on the official rankings list, which means the fights won’t be as big moving forward. Interestingly enough, three of of his losses have come after signing a new UFC deal, which means his pay won’t be affected moving forward since his agreement is already air-tight. So there’s that.
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