Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone as UFC on ESPN 15 blew the roof UFC APEX last Saturday night (Aug. 22, 2020) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds including Marcin Prachnio, who was knocked out by Mike Rodriguez in the very first round (highlights) in the co-main event of the evening.
And Timur Valiev, who was upset by Trevin Jones after getting knocked out in the second round (see it again here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Pedro Munhoz.
Coming into his first-ever headlining bout, Munhoz was looking to upset another former world champion in Frankie Edgar, much like he did by knocking out ex-Bantamweight title holder, Cody Garbrandt, a few years ago (see it again here). And he needed a win to prevent falling further behind in the 135-pound pecking order after losing to Aljamain Sterling in his previous bout.
What ensued was an all-time classic between two talented and scrappy fighters who refused to give an inch. When it was all said and done, “The Answer” walked away with a razor-thin split-decision victory, ending his two-fight skid.
As for Munhoz, he was left with his own two-fight losing streak and downright baffled at the scoring from the judges, who he feels seemed to favor “The Answer” based on his resume and popularity.
“I just want fair things, you know what I mean? I just don’t wanna lose to people that have a better reputation than I do or people that is a former champ, things like that. That’s my point. I want it just fair. Fair scores,” he added during the post-fight presser before mentioning a rematch.
“I never chose any opponent, I’m down to fight anyone any time. That would be good to get the rematch. Right now just go back home and be mad for a couple days. I’m very grateful for what I do and the people around me,” he said.
While an instant do-over won’t happen, Munhoz has proven time and again that he is indeed one of the best 135-pound fighters on the planet. He already has a big knockout win over an ex-champion, went toe-to-toe with the division’s current No. 1 contender before coming up short, and now his instant classic against another former champion.
As for what’s next for the Brazilian bomber, a showdown against Raphael Assuncao seems to be in order. Raphael is on a horrid losing streak himself after dropping consecutive bouts to Marlon Moraes, Cody Garbrandt and Corey Sandhagen.
Assuncao had long been the dark horse of the division, the overlooked contender who never even got a whiff of a title shot despite winning 11 of 12 fights inside the Octagon at one point in his UFC career. Now he’s just looking to get a win in the worst way to put an end to the bleeding of the roughest stretch of his career.
Any objections?