Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Here’s the real winners and losers from a weird night of fights out of Boston.
UFC Boston is a tough card to judge. The co-main event delivered and the main event – despite a quick finish—felt depressing. However, it was the Greg Hardy contest that overshadowed everything after he used his inhaler in between rounds, a big no-no. In the process, what was originally a Hardy win was overturned into a no contest. While Hardy can’t seem to escape controversy, at least the controversy this time around stems from actions in the cage as opposed to out.
Nonetheless, Dominick Reyes secured a KO win over an increasingly shopworn Chris Weidman and Yair Rodriguez came out on top in his feud with Jeremy Stephens in the headlining contests.
Winners
Yair Rodriguez: I could nitpick if I really wanted, but the bottom line is that he walked out of a heated feud as the victor and looked amazing early in the contest. Launching a varied attack heavy on kicks, Rodriguez kept Stephens guessing so much early in the contest that Stephens was largely frozen. It’s almost like there was a method to his madness! Rodriguez did exhaust himself looking for the finish in the second, allowing Stephens to take control over the second half of the contest, but Rodriguez had done enough by that point to ensure he only had to survive to take the decision. While this contest proves Rodriguez’s gas tank isn’t endless, it also helped quiet those who claim his win over the Korean Zombie was a fluke.
Joe Lauzon: There isn’t a real MMA fan that wasn’t happy to see Lauzon emerge victorious. The longtime vet showed he can as good as he ever was for at least a couple of minutes. Fortunately for him, that was all he needed to truck over Jonathan Pearce. From the bombs on the feet to the uncompromising position Lauzon put him in – damn near yanking Pearce’s shoulder out of socket – Lauzon put on an epic beatdown. Dana White says he’s going to ensure this is Lauzon’s last contest and I hope it is. If that’s the truth, he couldn’t have gone out in a better way.
Macy Barber: Barber’s goal of becoming the youngest champion in UFC history just got a major boost. Not only did she defeat a tough opponent in Gillian Robertson, she absolutely steamrolled her. Barber’s power has always been obvious, but her boxing was incredibly accurate. This was easily the best version of the 21-year old we’ve seen up to this point, indicating she’s on schedule if she’s going to become a champion on her timeline. I get there is a lot that could happen before that point, but Barber isn’t giving us any reason to doubt she could do it.
Darren Stewart: I have to admit, I didn’t see this version of Stewart coming. A reckless clinch fighter when he first entered the UFC, Steward has become a savvy vet with enough youth to continue climbing the ladder. Knowing Deron Winn would come out of the gate strong, Stewart forced him to expend a lot of energy early before picking apart the pint-sized middleweight with his boxing over the final two rounds. I don’t see Stewart becoming a contender, but he looks like he’s going to be a fighter on the fringe of the rankings at the very least.
Charles Rosa: Not bad for someone who was getting their ass kicked the entirety of the contest. Granted, the contest wasn’t even three minutes long, but Manny Bermudez took Rosa down early and landed several heavy shots as Rosa laid on his back. However, determined to find a triangle or armbar from that position as long as Bermudez remained in his guard, Rosa eventually got Bermudez in a compromising position and had the submission specialist screaming in pain. I do worry about his fortunes moving forward, but it’s happy to see him come back after such a long layoff to secure a victory.
Molly McCann: I almost didn’t put McCann here. Not that she didn’t deserve her victory or that she didn’t look good. No, it’s because I expected more out of her. Loading up on every shot, it could be argued she gave away the opening round as she allowed newcomer Diana Belbita to outland her. McCann rebounded to clearly secure then final two rounds and even showed a little bit of submission prowess. In other words, she’s clearly getting better despite my criticism, thus I’ll admit she deserves to be in this column.
Sean Woodson: Sure, his gangly frame looks a bit goofy, but damn me to hell if Woodson doesn’t know how to use it. I can’t recall someone using so many step-in knees in the course of a contest and the debutant did so to great effect. There wasn’t an area where Woodson wasn’t piecing up Kyle Bochniak. Hell, Woodson even stuffed his takedowns. Given many believed Woodson’s takedown defense is/was his Achilles heel, that’s very impressive. I doubt he can stay at 145 for very long, but he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with as long as he’s there.
Randy Costa: If Costa didn’t secure a stop in the first round, he probably wasn’t going to win. Fortunately for the Bostonian, he did just that, but not without coming close to going down himself. Exchanging in a tradeoff of bombs, Costa slowly got the better of Boston Salmon, landing multiple bombs, putting Salmon on his ass twice. The ref had seen enough after the second occasion, declaring the youngster a victor. Costa still has a lot to learn, but this win showed there’s plenty to work with… including toughness.
Sean Brady: It wasn’t flawless, but Brady did what he needed to do to in order to walk away the victor over Court McGee. Early on, Brady’s timing was impeccable, touching up McGee and even dropping the durable vet at one point. Brady did fade down the stretch, but stayed in there despite McGee’s pressure. I’m still leery about Brady’s ceiling, but this was a good start.
Brendan Allen: I can’t recall too many people who were picking Allen to upset the janky Kevin Holland, but Allen pulled off the upset. Even more impressive, he overcame some bad situations, getting opened up by elbows and a deep RNC. Allen fought out of it though and had several near-finishes of his own before finally getting one to stick in the latter half of the second round. He scored some points in the hearts of many when he asked for a bonus to get his paralyzed brother a standing chair. Unfortunately, he didn’t get it. How about the UFC just donate the money for the chair given they have a massive profit margin anyway? Just sayin’….
Tanner Boser: The ceiling for volume-striking heavyweights is always going to be limited, but Boser showed he can make it work to a certain degree. Navigating the length of his taller opponent, Daniel Spitz, Boser outlanded his opponent somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-to-1. It’ll be hard to do the same thing to someone who has an idea of what they’re doing on their feet, but it was nonetheless a solid showing from the Canadian in his UFC debut.
Losers
Chris Weidman: Two minutes. Weidman couldn’t last two minutes before once again going down to strikes. Sure, Reyes caught him with a clean shot – and it didn’t cleanly put Weidman to sleep – but the ground shots didn’t appear to be powerful enough to make someone count sheep. And yet, Weidman counted an entire flock. I get strikes aren’t always what they appear, but the five KO losses in six appearances doesn’t lie: Weidman’s chin is gone. I like Weidman. He’s a family man. He’s funny. He’s charismatic. But he’s also delusional if he wants to say he can continue to fight at a high level and he did say in his post-fight interview that he would be back. Much like Chuck Liddell at the end of his career, I have no interest in seeing Weidman continue to fight. Hopefully, Dana White is willing to have that conversation with him.
Ben Sosoli: I don’t want to be too harsh on Sosoli. He gave Hardy the best challenge of his career thus far and went for it in the final round when it was clear he was down on the scorecards. In the end, he didn’t officially end up with a loss either. However, he still came up short – prior to the decision being overturned — in a performance that wasn’t particularly spirited. He did what he was supposed to do by pushing Hardy, but it felt like he could have done a bit more.
Jonathan Pearce: Pearce was in a no-win situation. If he beat Lauzon, he was beating up on a shopworn veteran in his hometown. If he lost – which he did – he lost to… well, a shopworn veteran. Pearce not only lost, he was blown out of the water by him. Losses like that also have a tendency to ruin a fighter’s confidence. I wouldn’t be surprised if this loss effectively proves to be the end of Pearce’s career… if you get what I mean.
Gillian Robertson: Credit to Robertson’s toughness as she never dropped from Barber’s brutal onslaught. She stood there and took everything the youngster could throw at her. The problem is, she didn’t do much else as she was stunned by Barber’s power. Even when she wasn’t, Barber didn’t seem to feel Robertson’s return fire. I still think Robertson is one of the top prospects in the division, but this hurts her progress in a big way.
Deron Winn: I expected Winn to hit a ceiling sooner rather than later given the limitations his mini-frame presents, but this was even sooner than I expected. Though Winn did get his wrestling going this time around – something he didn’t do in his UFC debut – Winn didn’t do much with the takedowns once he got them. Winn gassed pretty hard and the judges preferred Stewart’s offense on the feet to Winn’s mat control.
Manny Bermudez: There may not be a bigger loser on the card. Not only did Bermudez miss weight after moving up to featherweight, the submission specialist was subbed. Not that Rosa is helpless on the mat, but the ground is supposed to be Bermudez’s world. I guess not. I don’t think Bermudez will be cut as his talent was obvious even in this contest, dominating Rosa up until the finish. But Bermudez needs to reset his mindset as the combination of missing weight and losing in this manner in combination signals there’s something amiss with his preparation.
Kyle Bochniak: No one can ever deny Bochniak’s toughness. Even before his contest with Woodson, the Bostonian had endured several beatings inside the Octagon and was always there until the end. He did the same thing against Woodson, eating kne after knee. However, his overall skill level has been tried and tested and the only outcome we can make is that it has come up short. He couldn’t navigate Woodson’s reach without taking a lot of damage and couldn’t get him down either. At 2-5, I’m sure Bochniak’s UFC ride is over.
Boston Salmon: When Salmon made his appearance on DWCS two-plus years ago, he was one of the hottest prospects in the sport. After a long-delayed UFC debut, Salmon now owns two first round KO losses. Can’t say I saw that coming. My theory is the former boxer has taken too many shots over his combined combat career and can no longer take the shots he once could. Chins aren’t eternal; they can only take so many shots before they crack. It seems Salmon’s reached that point sooner than any of us anticipated.
Court McGee: It’s hard not to respect McGee. From drug-addict who was legally declared dead from an overdose to staunch family man and longtime UFC vet, he’s got one of the best stories in all of sports. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s at the end of the line. He’s lost four of his last five and that lone victory was debatable. I will admit McGee’s boxing looked sharper than ever, but he’s physically slower than ever… and that’s saying something. If this is it, it was a lengthy run for McGee. If not, I’m not sure I want to watch.
Kevin Holland: I was hesitant to put Holland here as he put in one of the more entertaining contests of the night on with Allen. However, this was a fight Holland could have, and should have, won. He did more damage in the first round, giving him an early lead on the scorecards. He got top position in the second round. Then he seemed to fall off a cliff and gave up the RNC to Allen. What the hell? I’ll credit him in always being entertaining, but this stings, especially given he took this contest on short notice.
Daniel Spitz: I’ve never liked what I’ve seen out of Spitz on the feet. Nothing from this fight has changed my mind. In fact, it actually makes things worse as I didn’t see any improvement out of him despite having 16 months between contests to work on things. While I think Sikjitsu does an excellent job of honing their fighters ground game, I haven’t found a fighter from their camp whom I feel is accentuating their striking. Given successful ground based heavyweights is a rarity – especially one without any notable wrestling – I think Spitz would be better off finding a new camp.
MSAC: There appears to be a fracture in the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission on the rules. Some seem to believe inhalers are permitted during a contest, others seem to believe they’re illegal. I get that no one could have predicted inhaler-gate arising, but wouldn’t the member who gave permission think it wise to lean on the side of caution and say no? We all know there is no punishment for not using the inhaler. Instead, MMA gets another ridiculous scandal that could have been avoided. At least they did what they could to make up for their error in declaring a no contest.
Neither
Dominick Reyes: Originally, I had Reyes in the winner’s column. However, the more I thought about it, I felt it more appropriate to put him here. Shocking, I know, but give me a bit to explain. Is there a fighter with more big names under their belt who continues to fly under the radar than Reyes? Think about it. His last four wins have come against Weidman (former champion), Volkan Oezdemir (former title challenger), Ovince Saint Preux (another former title challenger), and Jared Cannonier (major contender at middleweight). And yet, his callout of Jon Jones felt premature. And while his win over Weidman should be impressive, it feels more depressing, like he beat a shell of a man compared to what he once was. Basically, if Reyes had delivered several hard shots to Weidman only for the former champion to remain upright in a decision loss, this would have felt far more impressive. In a weird way, the quick KO finish was the worst way Reyes could have secured the win. Reyes isn’t here because of what he did. He did what he was supposed to do and did it very well. Reyes is here because of the perception around both him and Weidman. Unless he gets that shot at Jones next, I’ll stand by putting him here.
Jeremy Stephens: There’s no doubt he’s more disappointed in this loss than usual given the bad blood that simmered between him and Rodriguez, but Stephens reversed a fight that was going wrong for him in almost every conceivable way. Flummoxed by Rodriguez’s creative attack, Stephens, perhaps for the first time ever, looked scared to pull the trigger in the first. Fortunately, Stephens woke up after the second round, proving he isn’t washed up after 33 UFC contests. It won’t be a surprise if Stephens falls off a cliff at some point – it looked like he did for a while here – but he’s still the definitive gatekeeper in the top ten of the division.
Greg Hardy: I’ve thrown this caveat out there before, but I know I have to do so again: this listing is solely in regards to what happened at the event. Nothing outside of that. Hardy proved he can go the full 15 minutes and take a decision. It wasn’t a flawless performance, but it was enough to take a unanimous decision over Ben Sosoli. As for inhaler-gate, Hardy’s blame in this situation is low. Even though most would imagine Hardy would be aware he’s not allowed to use an inhaler in the midst of a fight, it never ceases to amaze me the rules fighters are negligent about. However, the member of the commission that said it was alright has zero excuses.
Diana Belbita: Given everyone expected McCann to steamroll Belbita, I’d say the Romanian acquitted herself very well in her UFC debut. She showed excellent diversity in her striking early, only for her hard pace to catch up to her, leading to a much slower pace late with little mustard behind her strikes. Nonetheless, she went the distance with one of the more acclaimed strikers of the division and showed she could be a solid action-fighting addition to the division sooner than many believed.