Some bizarre upsets and surprising performances paved the way to a better than expected UFC card.
The general prognosis on this card was not good at all, but the gods of combat ensured we’d get plenty of weird to make up for it. What we got was an event that wasn’t exactly “can’t miss” material, but had a bit of everything with a lot of surprises for anyone that put money on these fights.
- Winners
John Lineker – Regardless of what you may have thought of the judges and their decision here, Lineker beat a former flyweight title challenger that has looked fantastic in his return to bantamweight when he dismantled Manny Gamburyan. It was a close fight with some interesting exchanges but a lot of lulls, but it was tactical and Lineker’s balls-out approach got him the nod. However, his move upwards in the division is limited by his missing weight yet again. If he can’t remedy that, he might be at risk of eating himself out of yet another division.
Zak Ottow – Man, that’s a hell of an upset. Frankly, Ottow had faced far lesser opposition, but his approach and timing laid the groundwork for him to end up notching a win over an established veteran that still has a degree of respectability despite not being a major name. That works in his favor as an introduction to the UFC, and good for him.
Brandon Moreno – From getting submitted on TUF 24 to getting a submission win over a very dangerous Smolka is absolutely massive. Add to that the fact that he’s an aggressive Mexican fighter and you can almost guarantee that the UFC will put some promotional muscle behind him as well. This season of TUF isn’t even over and they’re already reaping the benefits to round out flyweight, as a new grappling threat makes his arrival in impressive fashion after being another massive underdog.
Nate Marquardt – I’m having some difficulty understanding how a guy that had a towel thrown in for him can end up with finishes like this. He snapped a three fight losing streak, lost two straight after that which led to a win over Dollaway, a KO loss to Thiago Santos, and now this. The man refuses to go away quietly. While we should be concerned about his health after fighting, it’s becoming much more difficult to find where that line is for a fighter to call it quits. Nate defended well against a very crafty and agile grappler and did an excellent job on the feet to seal the deal. Just hope that he doesn’t take too much more damage between now and the time he finally decides to call it quits.
Curtis Blaydes – Still not impressed with the nickname, but his fight game is strong. Tremendous elbow finish and a big statement to bounce back from that UFC debut loss to Francis Ngannou back in April. This performance was probably what the powers that be wanted from Blaydes, and we got to see what he is really capable of now. In a division as unpredictable as heavyweight, this does very good things for him.
Luis Henrique da Silva – Frankenstein gets his second UFC win after starting off in a fight that got a bit ugly but had a pretty nice transition from rear mount to armbar. Andre Fili got a decision win where his striking seemed more polished and his ability to make more things happen from top position earned him a win from the judges. Ion Cutelaba levels out at 1-1 with a wily performance in an exciting fight that had a hiccup with the groin shot, but it certainly helped when he got his hand raised. Ketlen Vieira used her grappling and control to notch a decent win for her UFC debut, but will truly be tested in her next outing.
Daniel Cormier – For a guy that hasn’t really done live commentary very often, Cormier’s done really well. Certainly not perfect, but he’s better than someone in his position could be and rivals many that have done commentary for years. He’s improved from his previous commentary stints, and it’s great to have more people like him and Stann that know the game from experience but can convey a lot of it to fans.
- Losers
John Dodson – That’s a rough loss, especially with such an athletic performance. Judges don’t reward straight-up turning your back and running to reset, though. This wasn’t a Condit/Diaz performance, where Condit was retreating while striking and resetting in the center of the cage. Dodson repeatedly broke off engagements to end up on the opposite side of the cage with his back to the fence again. After a while, that certainly affects the scorecard regardless of anyone’s opinion on the efficacy of the approach.
Will Brooks – Brooks didn’t turn many heads when he finally came over to the UFC and got a decision win over Ross Pearson, but this fight could have been his coming out party. Instead, he was crippled by a rib injury that led to him being taken apart and finished on the ground by Brazilian Cowboy. With his talent, drive and ability to evolve in the game still strong, I have no doubt Brooks can bounce back better from this loss like he did when he got KO’d by Saad Awad. Still, it doesn’t look great. At least he’s only 1-1 in the UFC and looked great for much of the fight. Battling through injury is something that often gets a degree of sympathy from management, so his stock won’t take that big a hit here.
Alex Oliveira – Yes, he managed to land some takedowns on a much-lauded MMA wrestler that is a physical specimen. Still, that didn’t happen until after the aforementioned rib injury. Also, his striking didn’t look as clean (save for a few leg kicks) as it had in the past, nor did he look as accurate or impressive until the finishing sequence. Top that off with the fact that Brooks isn’t exactly established as a top-level guy in the division and the fact that he missed weight and seemingly unrepentant about it, and it’s not a great look. Then there’s the antics post-fight. It’s not like he had the moral high ground there to be making much noise after the match. The win itself won’t propel him that much in the divisional standings, and the behavior after it won’t do him any favors considering he missed weight. Any good this win may have done for him is pretty much nullified by everything else in the grand scheme of things.
Louis Smolka – With wins over Ben Nguyen, Neil Seery and Patrick Holohan, this was a real heartbreaker. Smokla just couldn’t keep that pace with the grappling and was bested here. Not that this isn’t something he can rebound from, but it slows a lot of the prorgress he made thus far. He’s still a reliable action fighter that can hang with some very tough opposition, this just wasn’t his night and he still stays at 5-2 in his UFC run.
Tamdan McCrory – Tamdan drops to 1-2 after a long winding road that led to his return to MMA via Bellator and eventually the UFC. He looked great for much of the fight and stayed busy off his back attempting to set things up for a submission win that never came. That and his style could get him one more fight, and the UFC brass seem to like the guy enough to believe in him and give him another chance. Personally, I hope that’s the case. He’s good, but he’s had some rough outs in these last two fights.
Josh Burkman – Big upset here, that puts Burkman behind the 8-ball. His current run in the UFC is almost certainly ending here and now with 4 losses, a lone decision win over KJ Noons and a no-contest to Hector Lombard where he got battered and bruised but Lombard tested positive for a banned substance. He had a long and interesting path back to the UFC, but it all sadly ends here.
Victor Rodriguez – Still beating myself up for not including Francisco Trinaldo last week due to some idiotic oversight. Seriously, how the hell does that happen? Currently on one of the best and most entertaining win streaks at lightweight, and still showing growth and great fight IQ in each outing. Sure, the fight ended in a doctor stoppage, but it only adds to Trinaldo’s record as he continues to do far better than I and many others initially expected from his time on TUF Brazil – all while having the most fun nickname to come along in a while. So yeah, I done goofed.
Hacran Dias – Dias now drops to 3-4 in the UFC with losses to Nik Lentz, Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson and now Andre Fili. He holds decision wins over Iuri Alcantara, Darren Elkins and Levan Makashvili, but those last two consecutive losses are the ones that get him cut. From losing to higher-level grapplers to losing to middle-of-the-pack fighters, it’s unfortunate that Dias’ run ends like this.
Cody East had some hype after being on the Looking For A Fight episode that brought him into the fold, but being 0-2 and with a string of controversies attached, the UFC is more than likely to part ways with him here, especially with how sloppy this performance was. Sure he had some moments, he still ended up outgunned and finished.
Kelly Faszholz is a tough but still-maturing fighter, but she may get the axe here. She’s 3-2 overall, both losses being consecutive losses in the UFC including a loss here against a fighter making her debut in a division that the UFC has been very reluctant to add talent for a long time.
Walt Harris – Currently at 2-4 in the UFC, he’s looked great in his wins but dreadful in his losses. He’s getting cut. Jonathan Wilson drops to 1-2, and despite his best efforts may not get another shot in a very uneven 205lb division even if the fight had some exciting moments, seeing as he was behind the curve for most of it.
- Neither
Elezeu Zaleski dos Santos – Yes, he got the win, but Nakamura’s grappling and control really showed how lacking he was in this department. It’s a win, but it won’t get him much traction here.
Shamil Abdurakhimov – Another situation in which a fighter wins the bout, but ends up with very little but experience to gain from it. Two decision wins after his TKO over Timothy Johnson in his UFC debut, without much that was memorable or impressive. Heavyweight is a tough class to rate, but Shamil has some work to do to move up the ladder.
Joachim Christensen – A loss in the UFC doesn’t usually spell doom these days. Joachim has a decent record against pretty tough guys, so he gets another shot. This loss won’t look bad for him unless he really looks bad in his next bout.
Keita Nakamura is now 2-2 in the UFC and didn’t look that bad in this loss. One more and he could be gone, but his strong grappling style makes him a tough matchup for a lot of people in his division currently within the UFC.