Matt Brown may never quite reach the peak of the mountain, but he has already gotten an awful lot closer than anyone could have predicted.
Brown’s UFC 185 loss to Johny Hendricks highlighted the limitations that will likely prevent him from ever …
Matt Brown may never quite reach the peak of the mountain, but he has already gotten an awful lot closer than anyone could have predicted.
Brown’s UFC 185 loss to Johny Hendricks highlighted the limitations that will likely prevent him from ever getting his hands on a UFC title. However, The Ultimate Fighter veteran can take solace in the fact that his value to the organisation goes beyond his performance ceiling.
The former UFC welterweight champion shut down The Immortal’s game almost entirely, so it’s perhaps not the best example to highlight Brown’s upside. Still, the self-described “technical brawler” has accumulated plenty of goodwill in the minds of the fans and UFC brass from past performances.
With his title aspirations fading, it’s possible that the 34-year-old will soon serve as a gatekeeper for the welterweight division’s Top 10. With that said, let’s speculate on Brown’s more immediate future.
After 17 fights inside the Octagon, and a UFC career spanning seven years, Rafael dos Anjos is the lightweight champion of the world. He rocked Anthony Pettis early with a punch that caused him to lose sight in his right eye, and he kept an unrelenting…
After 17 fights inside the Octagon, and a UFC career spanning seven years, Rafael dos Anjos is the lightweight champion of the world. He rocked Anthony Pettis early with a punch that caused him to lose sight in his right eye, and he kept an unrelenting amount of pressure on Pettis en route to a unanimous-decision victory in UFC 185’s main event. And he did it with a torn MCL, as per SB Nation’s Anton Tabuena.
The night’s other newly crowned champ, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, didn’t need the judges to award her the victory, as she finished Carla Esparza with a Wanderlei-esque barrage on the feet in the second round.
The two new champs weren’t the only fighters to perform impressively at UFC 185, as Alistair Overeem and Johny Hendricks were victorious in their main card fights, and “Irish” Joe Duffy put the lightweight division on notice with his first-round dismantling of Jake Lindsey.
There was a lot to love about UFC 185, and the show will undoubtedly have lasting implications. Let’s take a look back at what went down at UFC 185 with The Reaction.
Welcome to the (dos Anjos) Show
The UFC lightweight division is a dangerous place. The title has changed hands several times over the past few years, and it did so again at UFC 185. The road that dos Anjos has taken to become UFC champion included back-to-back losses to start his UFC career. He went 4-4 in his first three years fighting for the UFC. He was seen as anything but a future champion.
He has quietly been improving his game over the last few years, and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt has vastly upgraded his striking game under the tutelage of Rafael Cordeiro at Kings MMA.
The overall MMA game that was on display from dos Anjos at UFC 185 was leaps and bounds ahead of where he was when he first stepped inside the Octagon in 2008. He stifled the offense of Pettis with hard kicks to the body and big power shots.
Dos Anjos gave us fair warning of what he was capable of going into this fight, and a lot of people (myself included) still chose to overlook him. He had won eight of his nine fights coming into UFC 185, and his assent to the title included plenty of wins over high-level competition.
He knocked out Benson Henderson and won impressive unanimous decisions over Donald Cerroneand Nate Diaz. Pettis ended up being no match for the Brazilian. Dos Anjos was throwing some serious heat throughout the entire fight and was much stronger and more adept on the mat than Pettis.
He was truly the superior fighter, and he welcomed all of us to the Rafael dos Anjos show. Just how long the show will last is another story.
Pettis will now have to go back to the drawing board and take on a few Top 10 lightweights before he gets a chance to reclaim his title. Fights with Michael Johnson or Edson Barboza would be nice for Pettis to start his climb back to the top.
Dos Anjos will now wait for the winner of Donald Cerrone vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 187 in May. If Nurmagomedov emerges victorious, we may see yet another title change before the year is out, as “The Eagle” dominated the new champ in their first encounter last April.
Joanna Champion
In the lead-up to her strawweight title fight with Carla Esparza, the Polish striker exuded confidence, and on Saturday night we found out why. Jedrzejczyk woman-handled Carla Esparza at UFC 185, defending every takedown attempt and absolutely lighting her up on the feet.
She proved to be too much for the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion, and she finished the fight with a vicious barrage in the second round that caused Esparza to collapse in the referee’s arms upon the stopping of the match.
UFC 185 was the true coming out party for Joanna “Champion”, and she put an end to Esparza’s title reign in emphatic fashion. Her 60-fight background in muay thai and superb takedown defense will be very problematic for the rest of the newly established UFC women’s strawweight division. I’m excited to see her defend her title, as challengers like Joanne Calderwood and Tecia Torres present interesting matchups.
Cejudo is on the Path to Gold…Again.
In a flyweight landscape where Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson has vanquished every foe put in front of him with relative impunity, fresh challengers are always welcome. So welcome, in fact, that some guys wind up opposite the cage from Mighty Mouse before they are ready. The UFC shouldn’t make that mistake with Cejudo.
He dominated Chris Cariaso for the entire three-round affair, and he said post-fight that he was a bit fatigued from the weight cut. He didn’t look very fatigued, but if he felt less than 100 percent in that fight, imagine how he’ll look if he actually masters the cut to 125 pounds.
The UFC will most likely give him one or two more fights before a fight with Johnson, but timing may necessitate a quick ascension to a title shot for the Olympic gold medalist. He may end up facing Mighty Mouse before he hits his true stride as a mixed martial artist, or he may rise to the occasion and be the man to take the title from Johnson. A fight with someone like Ian McCall or Joseph Benavidez would give us a clear idea of whether or not Cejudo is ready for the champ.
The Irish Invasion Continues
Known most notably for being the last man to defeat UFC title challenger Conor McGregor, Joseph Duffy’s reputation preceded him going into UFC 185. He submitted McGregor in under a minute in 2010, and all but one of his 13 victories came by way of a stoppage. All but one of those stoppages came in the first round.
Duffy didn’t waste any time in his UFC debut, finishing Jake Lindsey in the first round. Every strike he threw was precise and efficient, yet still powerful enough to bring about the finish fairly quickly. The rib roaster at the end was too much for Lindsey, and now Duffy might be setting his sights on the featherweight division, as Duffy’s coach Firas Zahabi told UFC commentator Joe Rogan (h/t MMAJunkie.com’s Dann Stupp and John Morgan).
Whichever division Duffy fights in next, he is a welcome addition to the UFC roster and the latest Irishman to impress on the big stage.
What to Make of Benoit’s Butt-Kick
In the Fight Pass prelim portion of UFC 185, Pettis’ younger brother Sergio took on Ryan Benoit. Pettis was looking like the better fighter in the first round, staying composed and avoiding the wild punches Benoit was throwing. Midway through the second round, that all changed.
Benoit landed a powerful looping hook that floored Pettis, and he rushed in for the finish. Pettis turtled up but Benoit kept pouring on big punches on the mat, and the referee jumped in to stop the attack. But right as he was getting up, Benoit added insult to injury by soccer-kicking Pettis while he was down.
The crowd caught it on the replay and the arena filled with boos for Benoit’s momentary lapse in anything resembling good judgment. Benoit was immediately apologetic, and that is what seemingly got him off the hook for his egregious behavior.
There’s no excuse for putting your hands on your opponent after the fight ends, or for landing a cheap and disrespectful kick after you’ve just won. Punishments for unsportsmanlike conduct vary by jurisdiction and are arbitrary to say the least. Just ask Johnny Eduardo, who was suspended for 30 days by the Ohio Athletic Commission for throwing his mouthpiece into the crowd after his victory at Fight Night Cincinnati last May.
It’s tough to know what to make of Johny Hendricks at this point in his MMA career. It seems strange to criticise a fighter who just dominated Matt Brown, but an honest assessment of the former champion’s UFC 185 performance must acknowledg…
It’s tough to know what to make of Johny Hendricks at this point in his MMA career. It seems strange to criticise a fighter who just dominated Matt Brown, but an honest assessment of the former champion’s UFC 185 performance must acknowledge the palpable disappointment of the home crowd.
Whatever happened to the Big Rigg who could stiffen opponents with a mere whiff of his left hand? Then again, this flattering perception of his power may simply be the product of our innate selection bias.
The images of Jon Fitch and Martin Kampmann toppling like they’d been felled by a lumberjack are not easily forgotten. Hendricks’ unspectacular wins over the likes of Josh Koscheck and Mike Pierce don’t enjoy such premium placement in the collective memory of the MMA fanbase.
Previously more famous for looking happy while sporting a beard than for anything he did inside the Octagon, Hendricks had finally turned a corner in the eyes of the fans with his wins over Fitch and Kampmann. He was the welterweight division’s answer to Dan Henderson, or so it appeared.
Even his wrestling-heavy win over a game Carlos Condit at UFC 158 was utterly compelling. And as he proved against Georges St-Pierre and in his title-winning effort against Robbie Lawler, Hendricks didn’t even need to starch opponents to bring the crowd to its feet.
Something has been missing from his past couple of outings, though. There is an element of safety to Hendricks’ recent performances that I am loath to begrudge, but few would deny how disappointing they were to witness.
Hendricks struggled to make weight for his UFC 181 title defence against Lawler, so his poor showing in the championship rounds was easy to rationalize. However, his buzz-killing performance against Brown wasn’t the return to form we anticipated and even drew mild criticism from UFC President Dana White.
In both fights, Hendricks had numerous opportunities to let his hands go and search for a finish. Instead, he seemed content to drop for a double leg the moment he had his man pressed up against the cage. One could argue that he is fighting smart and putting points in the bank.
One could also look at it as a habit of passing up fight-ending opportunities. Hendricks possesses rare power, yet he seems reluctant to use it when his opponents are at their most vulnerable. His combinations against the cage are no longer delivered with ill-intent and serve more as a distraction to set up a level change.
It is intensely frustrating to watch.
However, in scrutinising his performances and caviling over minor details, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Hendricks may still be the best welterweight on the planet. On merit, there is no question he deserves a shot at the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald.
The problem is the UFC is only part meritocracy. Success generally requires the approval of the fans, and Hendricks’ approval rating arguably resides just above that of Congress.
In the end, the former champion may benefit more from the 170-pound division’s lack of viable contenders than his own in-cage performances. And that’s a perception he should be motivated to change.
The UFC has its newest star. They weren’t even trying to find her. She made herself impossible to ignore, though, and by the time the arena had cleared after UFC 185, she’d staked her claim with a vicious beating and a big gold belt for her…
The UFC has its newest star. They weren’t even trying to find her. She made herself impossible to ignore, though, and by the time the arena had cleared after UFC 185, she’d staked her claim with a vicious beating and a big gold belt for her trouble.
The young lady in question is Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Polish kickboxing sensation and now second women’s strawweight champion in UFC history. If it wasn’t for the astounding success Rafael dos Anjos had only moments later against Wheaties model and then-champion Anthony Pettis, she’d have been the biggest story of the event as the UFC’s newest champion.
The fact that people are talking about her anyway, after the biggest shocker of 2015, indicates as much.
Jedrzejczyk has been in the UFC for upwards of a year now, believe it or not. With the 115-pounders prepping to populate the house for The Ultimate Fighter 20, the promotion took to starting a quiet bracket of non-housemates to jump-start the division and prepare contenders for when a champion was crowned.
Jedrzejczyk joined the likes of Tina Lahdemaki, Claudia Gadelha and Juliana Lima (who she beat in her July debut) in kick-starting the division prior to the titleholder coming out of TUF in December. That titleholder was eventually proven to be Carla Esparza, and once Jedrzejczyk defeated Gadelha, she become the first true top contender.
She was stoic and focused in interviews, concretely confident that she was destined to become the next strawweight champion but projecting herself in a way that never crossed the line into arrogance. Despite Esparza having been a dominant force in Invicta, a horrible stylistic matchup on paper and a more experienced mixed martial arts competitor, Jedrzejczykbelieved. And after a few days of watching her, you kind of did too.
Then came the fight. After a weigh-in staredown that was as intense as it was bizarre, where an expired cookie was handed from the challenger to the champion who sometimes goes by “Cookie Monster,” the two women entered the cage in Dallas to far more anticipation than anyone would have predicted when the fight was booked.
Esparza, never known for vibrant energy prior to throwing down, was even more reserved than usual. Her foe stood across the cage, intense but oddly loose, clearly prepared to dole out violence in double helpings in the name of becoming champion.
Still, the reality existed that Esparza was a tireless wrestler and the challenger was a stand-up expert from Europe, where wrestling is often neglected at the behest of creating a more spectacular highlight reel of strikes. MMA knows how striker and grappler come together; it’s been proven a thousand times. It felt like the buck was, for all intents and purposes, stopping here for Jedrzejczyk.
And then it started. A cycle of failed shots, sprawls and all manners of counter-violence from Poland’s new favorite daughter that led to a demoralized champion looking for a way out. By the end of the first round, everyone knew the fight was over—it would simply be a matter of when it would be made official.
Four minutes and seventeen seconds of the second round turned out to be the answer, as Jedrzejczyk wailed on Esparza for the duration of the round before finishing her with the type of technical lethality rarely seen in MMA. The strikes came with power and fury but were smartly and carefully chosen, and it was happening in a scintilla of time.
The ref saved the now-former champion from further damage while the two combatants were still standing, but as soon as he did, Esparza crumpled like a discarded rag while the new queen celebrated in the center of the cage.
It was a masterful performance from start to finish, start being the minute Jedrzejczyk signed on for this title fight and got to work shoring up her wrestling game, finish being the final time leather touched body before the ref decided enough was enough.
It was all perfect, and it created a new star for the UFC as it continues its quest to dominate global sports. For however ill-advised that quest is, it is the quest that the promotion has embarked upon and having a flashy, exciting champion with a knack for drawing interest in her fights is intensely valuable—even moreso when that champion is European and she’s crowned 28 days before the promotion hits her home country for the first time.
UFC 185 was a lesson in kicking down the door to stardom, and Jedrzejczyk was at the front of the classroom. Undefeated and undisputed at the top of the strawweight heap, the sky appears to be the limit for the UFC’s (almost) newest champion.
Johny Hendricks may have taken a clear-cut victory over Matt Brown at UFC 185, but many were dismissive of the former champ’s performance, including UFC President Dana White.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani of Fox Sports, White said that he “didn’t love th…
Johny Hendricks may have taken a clear-cut victory over Matt Brown at UFC 185, but many were dismissive of the former champ’s performance, including UFC President Dana White.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani of Fox Sports, White said that he “didn’t love the fight” when asked for his thoughts about the bout. Earlier in the night, he had tweeted his excitement and predicted it to be the event’s Fight of the Night. Immediately after the final bell, however, White expressed his disapproval regarding the bout.
The disappointment likely stemmed from Hendricks’ formidable wrestling game and Brown’s inability to stop it. While Hendricks was fairly dominant throughout the fight, fans were hopeful for Brown’s high-volume offense to be pitted against Hendricks’ powerful punching. Alas, much of the bout was contested on the mat, where Hendricks chewed up minutes en route to an unanimous 30-27 decision victory.
At the UFC 185 post-fight press conference, White shrugged off questions on Hendricks’ performance and how it relates to his future booking. When asked if Hendricks’ win was enough to ensure another crack at the title, White said (per MMAFighting.com), “A lot of different things happen. I’ve seen guys say, ‘hey, I want to sit out and wait for that belt,’ and they don’t end up fighting for that belt for two years.”
Not a good sign for sure.
Hendricks lost the welterweight title to Robbie Lawler by split decision at UFC 181. While Hendricks was at one point expected to receive an immediate rematch, the UFC would instead opt to attach Lawler to the on-paper top contender, Rory MacDonald, in the co-main event of UFC 189 in July.
Where Hendricks goes from here is unclear. Unless MacDonald suffers an injury ahead of UFC 189, the earliest Hendricks could realistically hope for a UFC title shot would be in November at UFC 193 in Melbourne, Australia. As such, another non-title fight in the coming months is a realistic possibility for Hendricks.
The UFC’s strawweight division is the newest group added to the largest mixed martial arts promotion in the world. Joanna Jedrzejczyk has snatched the title away from Carla Esparza to put herself at the top of the weight class. She dominated in h…
The UFC’s strawweight division is the newest group added to the largest mixed martial arts promotion in the world. Joanna Jedrzejczyk has snatched the title away from Carla Esparza to put herself at the top of the weight class. She dominated in her performance at UFC 185 to earn the second-round stoppage. Fans should be excited about what is to come in this weight class as it continues to work itself out.
Jedrzejczyk used a steady dose of takedown defense and striking to finish off Esparza. By the time their co-main event affair was over, she had proved she had the tools to stay on her feet while delivering punishing combinations. The confidence that she displayed in her skill set leading up to the fight proved to be well founded.
“I am a confident person and I said I was going to be a new champion,” Jedrzejczyk said during the UFC 185 post-fight press conference. “You didn’t believe in me. That’s why I’m here. I always believed in myself and that’s why I’m here.”
It will be interesting to see how the division sorts itself out from this point. Many individuals were impressed with Jedrzejczyk’s win and how effective she was from start to finish.
Going forward, there are a lot of questions as to what is next for the new women’s champion.
At UFC on Fox 13, Jedrzejczyk made it through a tough battle with Claudia Gadelha in which she took a split decision. Gadelha is currently ranked in the second position and is planned to compete on April 11 as the UFC travels to Poland. If Gadelha pulls out a convincing victory, she could set the table for the rematch with the current champion.
Beyond that fight, there are still a number of other questions within this weight class. Jessica Penne, Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres flush out the top five and would be interesting challengers if the opportunity sees fit. Jessica Aguilar is another name within the division, but she’s currently signed to the World Series of Fighting. If she were to become a free agent, she could immediately be added to the equation.
This is an interesting time within the development of the division. Women’s mixed martial arts still has an allure to it which allows it to grab attention in ways that does not occur on the men’s side. Even though there are far less “big name” women fighters than men, the strawweight division has a chance to quickly grow in comparison to the men’s flyweight division.
Joanna is just the type of fighter around whom the UFC can build this division. Her performance at UFC 185 is just the start of what will be a story worth watching.
After 17 fights inside the Octagon, and a UFC career spanning seven years, Rafael dos Anjos is the lightweight champion of the world. He rocked Anthony Pettis early with a punch that caused him to lose sight in his right eye, and he kept an unrelenting amount of pressure on Pettis en route to a unanimous-decision victory in