Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Here are the real winners and losers from UFC Fight Island 4: ‘Holm vs. Aldana’
Let’s hear it for the veterans, as Carlos Condit, Germaine de Randamie and Holly Holm all scored victories on Saturday night at UFC FIGHT ISLAND 4.
Holm surprised with a very aggressive style that I’m sure left many a bit slack-jawed and open-mouthed. Her one-sided win over Irene Aldana showed the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion is still a force to be reckoned with. Holm also showed Aldana that she has a few things to work on before she can be considered a legitimate title contender.
I won’t say that De Randamie’s reputation has recovered from her being stripped of the UFC women’s featherweight title for her unwillingness to face Cris Cyborg, but I will say she looked very good in submitting Julianna Pena with a surprising guillotine choke.
As for Condit, he scored a badly needed victory over Court McGee, ending a five-fight losing skid that dated back to January 2016.
Read on for all the winners and losers from UFC Fight Island 4.
Winners
Holly Holm: Holm fought Irene Aldana like she had something to prove and perhaps she did. Before the fight, Aldana was in line for a shot at women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes if she won. Holm? Well, she didn’t receive the same respect. Perhaps feeling a bit out of the picture, Holm fought her most aggressive contest since she won the title from Ronda Rousey in November 2015. Holm’s significant striking rate for this contest dwarfed her previous high. In 2017, Holm landed 77 significant strikes in a loss to Germaine de Randamie. Against Aldana, she racked up 154 landed significant strikes on 301 attempts. Holm’s total strikes landed was 187 of 342. She also landed a career high five takedowns.
Holm’s performance reminded fans just how good she can be. It was just a great all-around performance from the former champion and a reminder to the rest of the division that the soon to be 39-year-old is still a top contender.
Germaine de Randamie: De Randamie is one of the better strikers in the women’s ranks and her opponent, Julianna Pena, was reminded of that fact in the first round. The second round was Pena’s as she scored a takedown and worked ground strikes and a choke late in the stanza. However, De Randamie recovered from that five-minute stretch and got back to her striking in the final stanza. When she found herself against the cage, De Randamie remained calm and when Pena shot for a single leg takedown, De Randamie saw an opening and latched onto a guillotine choke that put Pena to sleep. The finish was the first submission win of her career.
The choke showed a good sense of awareness and emphasized that fighters, no matter how experienced or good in one aspect of the fight game they may be, need to keep learning and developing all-around skills.
Kyler Phillips: Phillips racked up some leg kicks in the early going of his bout against Cameron Else. He then did some nice work on the ground, with a slick back take and a lot of movement and strikes on the mat in the later moments of the first stanza. Phillips scored an easy takedown to open the second round. He wasted little time taking the back of Else and wrapped things up with ground strikes.
Phillips is a ball of energy and will move up the ranks with his win over Else.
Dusko Todorovic: Todorovic used strong striking in close during the first round, while he looked to avoid the kickboxing of Dequan Townsend. His single strikes were heavy, but where he really scored was with his combinations. Todorovic’s corner warned him that Townsend would be more aggressive in the second round. He was, and so Todorovic took the fight to the mat and moved to mount where he wrapped things up with ground strikes. This was an excellent performance from Todorovic
Carlos Condit: Heading into Saturday, Condit, the former interim UFC welterweight champion, had not won a fight since he defeated Thiago Alves in 2015. Condit’s losing skid ended when he scored a decision victory over Court McGee. Condit and McGee spent the first 4:59 of the first stanza feeling each other out. That ended when Condit crushed McGee’s nose and sent him to the mat at the bell with a potent punch.
Condit looked more relaxed and confident after he dropped McGee, but he never overextended himself or put himself in danger. I can’t say Condit looked like he did when he was on the run that lead him to the interim title, but he got the win and that had to be an enormous weight off his shoulders.
Nassourdine Imavov: Imavov and Jordan Williams got after it early in their matchup. While the fighters were still fresh, Imavov got hurt on two occasions (one by a clash of heads) and showed good awareness and ability to go straight for a takedown when he was hurt. Near the end of the first stanza Imavov went for a couple guillotines and had some success, but he could not force his opponent to tap. Williams began to fade in the second round and Imavov’s skills began to show through a lot more. Imavov was much more confident in the third round. He kept his hands low and made Williams come to him and that served him well on his way to the win.
I can’t say this was a technical masterpiece from either fighter, but it did have some fun moments.
Loma Lookboonmee: Lookboonmee earned her second straight win by overwhelming her opponent Jinh Yu Frey in the clinch. She used excellent elbows in close and knees to the body to get a solid lead on the scorecards. Once she was comfortably ahead, Lookboonmee forced Frey to come to her and that was a smart move because she was also a better counter striker than Frey. Lookboonmee played a very smart game in this contest and left with the unanimous decision win.
Casey Kenney: Kenney spent 15 minutes pushing forward and tagging Heili Alateng up and down his entire body with strikes. By the time the fight ended, Alateng’s right side was a bruised piece of meat and his right arm, which he used to block as many body kicks as he could, was also red and raw. Kenney showed a great gas tank and superb striking in his one-sided win.
Luigi Vendramini: Vendramini made an emphatic return to the octagon on Saturday night. He had not fought since a second-round knockout loss over two years ago. There was no cage rust to be found in Vendramini’s performance. He caught the much taller Jessin Ayari with a nice counter right during an exchange in close and then drove his opponent to the fence before uncorking a perfect head kick and finishing the fight with strikes on the ground.
After the win, an emotional Vendramini said he felt like a UFC fighter with the win. He should.
Losers
Irene Aldana: It’s hard to tell what went wrong for Aldana, but Holly Holm made her look unprepared and unable to to adjust in their main event contest. Perhaps she wasn’t expecting Holm’s aggression — I know I wasn’t — but once it became clear Holm was fighting in a unique style, Aldana’s corner should have been able to come up with a different plan for her. I don’t know if they did that or not, but Aldana did not adjust. She failed to stop Holm’s movement, she failed to cut off the cage, she failed to stop her opponent’s takedowns. In short, Aldana just failed. I don’t know if this bout exposed Aldana, but it sent a message to her future opponents. Aldana’s next fight will be a very telling one.
Yorgan de Castro and Carlos Felipe: The most memorable part of this fight was the terrible job of referee Kevin Sataki, who seemed to think he was working a kickboxing bout as he broke things up almost as soon as the fighters went to the fence.
Julianna Pena: Pena had a good second round against Germaine de Randamie when she was able to take the fight to the mat and work a choke. In the third round, Pena went for a takedown, but she left her neck exposed and was left unconscious from a guillotine choke. As De Randamie is mostly a striker, Pena might have underestimated the submission skills of her opponent. If that was the reason for the loss, Pena learned a valuable lesson.
Cameron Else: Else made his UFC debut on Saturday on the strength of six straight first round finishes. He learned there are levels to this game when Kyler Phillips stopped him in the second round. This fight, which Else took on short notice, should serve as a rough learning experience for the 29-year-old.
Dequan Townsend: Townsend dropped to 0-4 in the UFC with his TKO loss to Dusko Todorovic. He took a lot of shots, but showed a strong chin and an ability to recover quickly recover and push forward. However, once the fight hit the mat in the second round, Townsend was overwhelmed and the referee waved things off.
Court McGee: McGee fell to 1-5 in his past six outings when he dropped a decision to Carlos Condit. McGee, who has only one knockout loss on his record, got dropped at the end of the first round, but recovered well between rounds. However, McGee could never put Condit in any danger after he hit the mat. McGee’s low pay and his toughness will probably keep him on the UFC roster.
Jordan Williams: Williams gave as much as he could against Nassourdine Imavov, but his gas tank was empty by the midpoint of the second stanza. From there he was sloppy and undisciplined. If Williams wants to move up in the UFC, he needs to improve his cardio and pacing.
Jinh Yu Frey: Frey could not find consistent offense in her matchup opposite Loma Lookboonmee. She did land from distance, but Lookboonmee overwhelmed her in the clinch and that forced Frey to pursue her opponent, which didn’t serve her well either. She did score a takedown in the third round, but that did not help her as Lookboonmee got back to her feet and escaped before Frey could do any damage on the mat. Frey simply fell behind too far too early in this contest to mount a comeback.
Heili Alateng: If there is one thing that can be said about Alateng is that he is tough and anyone who fights him in the future should be prepared to go the full 15 minutes. Casey Kenney spent the entire fight looking for a way to put Alateng away. He never found that finish, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Alateng didn’t come close to getting the win, but I believe he left the octagon with some new fans because of his toughness.
Jessin Ayari: Ayari was the taller man during his fight opposite Luigi Vendramini, but he did not do much with that advantage. The result was a first-round knockout loss. With that, Ayari’s losing skid reached three. His most recent win came over four years ago.
Dave Tirelli: Tirelli scored the Casey Kenney vs. Heili Alateng bout as a 30-27. C’mon now!
Kevin Sataki: Sataki did not perform well as a ref on this card. He was off and overly aggressive in breaking fighters in the clinch and calling for them to fight back when there was really no reason to call for it.
Neither
Charles Jourdain and Josh Culibao: Jourdain was the more aggressive fighter in his matchup opposite Culibao. He was not the better technical fighter, but his aggression and ability to threaten Culibao forced his opponent to shoot takedowns when he felt he was in trouble and that put Culibao in some bad positions on the mat.
As for Culibao, he used Jourdain’s aggression against him and did a good job landing his counters. Culibao’s coaches warned him that Jourdain would come out aggressive in the third. That is what happened, but Culibao could not keep Jourdain from getting the advantage on the ground.
The fight ended in a split draw.