Dennis Bermudez hit the cage at UFC 189 looking to right the ship of his featherweight contendership, as his 30-month run of seven consecutive wins came to a halt with a loss in November of last year.
His opponent, Jeremy Stephens, was in the process of enjoying a featherweight surge of his own before a couple of losses derailed him and left him in a must-win situation on Saturday night. It started poorly for him by missing weight, but he turned it around in a big way with a flying-knee knockout in the third round that left the MGM Grand crowd in a frenzy.
Here’s what we learned from the matchup.
What We’ll Remember About This Fight
On a night where a theme of spectacular flying knees seemed to be clear, Stephens might have bested Thomas Almeida’s work earlier in the evening. Falling away from a charging Bermudez, he tagged his opponent with a textbook strike to end the bout.
It was a remarkable way to end things and showed Lil’ Heathen still has some gas in the tank.
What We Learned About Bermudez
That he’s still close to the top of the division despite the setback. He looked good at times but was perhaps too eager to get into a wild scrap with a man built to fight that way, and it cost him. With his wrestling, Bermudez will never be totally out of contention, and his athleticism will allow him to continue to round out his skills with a bit of hard work.
After some time back at the drawing board, he can still move up the ranks.
What We Learned About Stephens
He might still have it.
His losses coming into UFC 189 were close ones, and he hung with a fired-up Bermudez for the entire fight on Saturday until a chance to end the fight presented itself. He fought through some big shots and a couple of severe cuts to score his biggest win at featherweight, and he’ll hope to notch another big win his next time out.
What’s Next for Bermudez
He should meet a fellow wrestler in the back half of the top 10. A fight with Nik Lentz makes sense for Bermudez.
What’s Next for Stephens
Ricardo Lamas is coming off a loss and has been floating near the top of the weight class for a while. He’d work for Stephens.
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