There’s a sort of abiding confusion around Anthony “Showtime” Pettis. What to make of him? Where to slot him? How to brand him?
But the confusion usually dissipates when Pettis does his thing. That thing being, namely, to wreck everyone he faces, every time, with an almost blinding combination of skill, panache and athleticism.
The reigning UFC lightweight champ has all the ingredients of a superstar but, for whatever reason, never seems to mesh into a finished dish. Despite four consecutive stoppage wins over elite opponents and a smooth demeanor outside the cage, the 28-year-old has yet to capture imaginations in the same way as someone like, say, Ronda Rousey.
Carla Esparza has a similar problem. Just a few months ago, she was brilliant in defeating Rose Namajunas to become the UFC’s first-ever women’s strawweight champion. But people were rooting for the more dynamic Namajunas. Esparza’s style is dynamic in its own way, but she has yet to silence her doubters.
Pettis had another chance to become “the man” Saturday night at UFC 185 when he faced a similarly skilled but infinitely lower-profile fighter in Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos, himself a winner in eight of his last nine.
Esparza had an opportunity to gain a stronger foothold in the MMA consciousness when she defended her belt for the first time, against a confident opponent in Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
These two title fights were only the beginning of a truly loaded card in Dallas. And as always, the final stat lines only reveal so much. Here are the real winners and losers from UFC 185.
For the literal-minded among us, full results appear at the end of the slideshow.