Mookie Alexander recaps a finish-filled night of fights that took place on the UFC Fight Night: Dos Anjos vs. Lee card in Rochester, New York.
UFC Rochester wasn’t exactly a star-studded card or one filled with matchups between top-15 fighters, but failing that, this show was fun to watch. Lots of finishes, a couple of upsets, and in the end it was a spoiled welterweight debut for Kevin Lee. It was an absolutely grueling fight between him and Rafael dos Anjos, I had no idea how to score it through three rounds, but all three judges had it 29-28 RDA. Then with Lee fading late in round four, dos Anjos was able to get to full mount and tap Kevin with an arm-triangle choke.
This was a huge win for RDA, who is no doubt a tremendous fight and has been for a long time. Stylistically, this wasn’t a favorable matchup. Especially considering how we’d just seen dos Anjos lose twice in a row to wrestlers who like to pressure and be aggressive. Lee, however, obviously doesn’t have (among other things) the cardio of either Colby Covington or Kamaru Usman, and dos Anjos was able to do more than hang with him in wrestling and grappling exchanges, while trading some good shots on the feet.
As for Lee? That’s 1-3 in his last four spread across two weight classes. He’s got a lot to think about, because it’s pretty conclusive that it’s not just the weight cut that has plagued him.
More thoughts below:
Main Card
- It wasn’t quite the Dan Kelly fight all over again, but Antonio Carlos Junior’s cardio could not hold up against Ian Heinisch, who outworked him over the final two rounds and picked up an upset decision win. That will absolutely pump the brakes on Shoeface’s title aspirations, while Heinisch has two very credible victories against two notoriously dangerous grapplers in the middleweight division.
- Felicia Spencer had the grappling advantage against Megan Anderson, it was just a matter of whether or not she’d be able to get the fight where she wanted. Mission accomplished. Anderson was so far out of her depth and Spencer wins her UFC debut by rear-naked choke. Women’s featherweight barely exists, so either she’s getting Amanda Nunes at the end of the year or the ole’ interim title, which I suppose would be Cris Cyborg by default. Either way, what a win by Spencer and a damaging defeat for the Australian.
- Derrick Krantz never really had a chance against Vicente Luque. He took the fight on short notice in place of Neil Magny and despite a promising start, he got mauled and stopped in a round. Props to Krantz for taking this one, but Luque is way too good and should be getting top-ten opposition next time out… and hopefully no USADA violations this time.
- The trilogy nobody asked for saw Charles Oliveira stop Nik Lentz with strikes in a largely dominant performance. Lentz got pieced up, but round two was weird. Oliveira almost got Lentz to tap to a guillotine, then he illegally upkicked him, and no point was docked. No worries, as Lentz got properly decked with a straight right. This ends with Oliveira beating Lentz 2-0 (1 NC) in the “rivalry.” Can he get a top-15 opponent now?
- Lightweight BJJ standout Davi Ramos sure fired away some heavy shots on newcomer Austin Hubbard, and while Hubbard clearly lost, he did well to survive that onslaught in round three, as well as any grappling exchanges that could’ve seen him tapout. Ramos is 3-0 in the UFC and uh… no, you’re not getting Khabib. Keep on winning, though!
Preliminary Card
- Damn! Aspen Ladd and Sijara Eubanks put on a hell of a scrap. The grappling exchanges were as good as hoped, then they really threw down in the final frame. It was a back-and-forth battle, with Ladd once again bettering Eubanks on the scorecards (the 30-26 for Ladd was… questionable). Very entertaining win by the rising women’s bantamweight contender, while Eubanks falls short in her return to 135.
- The scorecards in the Desmond Green vs. Charles Jourdain fight do not really reflect how well Jourdain performed. He was unlucky to be on the wrong end of two 30-27s, as he showed off a good gas tank and landed plenty of good strikes, but Green connected on a few of his own and completed multiple takedowns to get the decision nod. The Rochester native excited the crowd with that win, his eighth in his last eleven.
- I don’t really care whether or not Michel Pereira ends up being a contender, this dude is must-see TV (or must-see… stream?). If you didn’t know about him prior to the UFC signing him, may I suggest this lunacy? Well against Danny Roberts, he lived up to his reputation as a crazy whirlwind of violence. He started out by crying on his way to the Octagon, having realized his dream of fighting in the big time. Then he did breakdancing during the intros. When the fight happened, he had multiple “Showtime kicks” and scored a spectacular finish by stunning Roberts with a flying knee, then wrecking him with a straight right. More of Michel Pereira, please! MORE, I SAY!
- Canadian featherweight Grant Dawson handed TUF 27 winner Mike Trizano a second-round rear-naked choke loss. Dawson’s grappling is really good and that trip into mount spelled the beginning of the end for the New Yorker.
- The start of the prelims was ridiculously hot fire and gave us a glimpse for the rest of the night. Featherweight Julio Arce melted Julian Erosa with a head kick in the final round (of a fight he probably would’ve won anyway). Welterweight veteran Zak Cummings moved up to middleweight and pulled off a dramatic club-and-sub guillotine win over Trevin Giles, with two scorecards even entering the third frame. Light heavyweights Patrick Cummins and Ed Herman inflicted plenty of damage on each other in just a single round, but it was “Short Fuse” who turned back the clock, landed a knee that short-circuited Cummins, and let to the KO win. Herman snaps his three-fight skid while sending Cummins to his own third consecutive defeat.