UFC 218 is in the books, and now it’s time for Reebok to pay the fighters their sponsorship money. UFC 218 took place on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The main card aired on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card aired on FOX Sports 1 […]
UFC 218 is in the books, and now it’s time for Reebok to pay the fighters their sponsorship money.
UFC 218 took place on Saturday, December 2, 2017 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The main card aired on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET while the preliminary card aired on FOX Sports 1 at 8 p.m. ET and the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, at 6:15 p.m. ET.
A UFC featherweight championship bout between Max Holloway and Jose Aldo served as the main event. Francis Ngannou vs. Alistair Overeem in a heavyweight bout served as the co-main event. Rounding out the five bout main card was Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis in a flyweight bout, Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje in a lightweight bout, and Tecia Torres vs. Michelle Waterson in a women’s strawweight bout.
The full UFC payouts include:
Max Holloway: $40,000 Jose Aldo: $30,000 Alistair Overeem: $10,000 Francis Ngannou: $5,000 Henry Cejudo: $5,000 Sergio Pettis: $5,000 Eddie Alvarez: $5,000 Justin Gaethje: $2,500 Tecia Torres: $5,000 Michelle Waterson: $2,500 Charles Oliveira: $15,000 Paul Felder: $5,000 Alex Oliveira: $10,000 Yancy Medeiros: $10,000 David Teymur: $2,500 Drakkar Klose: $2,500 Felice Herrig: $5,000 Cortney Casey: $5,000 Amanda Cooper: $2,500 Angela Magana: $2,500 Sabah Homasi: $2,500 Abdul Razak Alhassan: $2,500 Jeremy Kimball: $2,500 Dominick Reyes: $2,500 Justin Willis: $2,500 Allen Crowder: $2,500
After back-to-back knockout wins over featherweight great Jose Ado, Max Holloway is making quite a case for being the greatest 145-pound fighter to ever grace the Octagon – but one man may have something to say about that. Prior to “Blessed,” McGregor became the first man to ever defeat Aldo under the UFC’s banner back […]
After back-to-back knockout wins over featherweight great Jose Ado, Max Holloway is making quite a case for being the greatest 145-pound fighter to ever grace the Octagon – but one man may have something to say about that.
Prior to “Blessed,” McGregor became the first man to ever defeat Aldo under the UFC’s banner back in December of 2015 in the main event of UFC 194. The Irishman starched his Brazilian counterpart in just 13 seconds with a flush left hand. McGregor would never compete at featherweight again after that bout, going on to capture the lightweight championship after a welterweight rivalry with Nate Diaz.
Since McGregor left the division Aldo recaptured the 145-pound throne before dropping the title to Holloway in his own home country of Brazil back in June. Prior to their championship accolades, however, McGregor and Holloway previously went head-to-head inside the cage back in August of 2013.
“The Notorious One” handled Holloway rather easily, with a torn ACL halfway though the fight, en-route to a unanimous decision victory. Since suffering the defeat, Holloway has racked up 12-straight wins that include a title victory and defense over Aldo.
Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Now that Holloway is making a case for being the greatest featherweight of all time, it may prompt McGregor to drop back down to his former championship weight-class and solidify his place amongst the greats. UFC President Dana White was asked about a possible rematch between McGregor and Holloway at the UFC 218 post-fight press conference, and here’s what he had to say:
“Again, like I said to everybody last week that was at my office, you know, who knows if Conor is even going to fight again? So I’m rolling like he’s not. So, yeah, if Conor comes back and defends the title, then – you know – anything is possible.”
Coming into the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., December 2, 2017) UFC 218 from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, touted heavyweight hype train Francis Ngannou was pegged as the next big thing in an aging division when he met longtime top contender Alistair Overeem. And the fight did not fail to deliver on […]
Coming into the co-main event of last night’s (Sat., December 2, 2017) UFC 218 from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan, touted heavyweight hype train Francis Ngannou was pegged as the next big thing in an aging division when he met longtime top contender Alistair Overeem.
And the fight did not fail to deliver on that promise in any way, shape, or form, as “The Predator” felled “The Demolition Man” with one of the scariest knockouts ever witnessed in the UFC Octagon that had Overeem out cold – and stiff – just a minute-and-a-half into the first frame.
It was a shocking changing of the guard, one that could result in the legitimate creation of a new star and future champion, something that the new UFC regime is badly in need of right now. Watch the thunderous knockout punch right here:
Bonuses for UFC 218 have been revealed. Last night (Dec. 2), UFC 218 took place inside Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The main card aired live on pay-per-view. Preliminary action was also seen on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. The main event saw M…
Bonuses for UFC 218 have been revealed. Last night (Dec. 2), UFC 218 took place inside Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The main card aired live on pay-per-view. Preliminary action was also seen on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. The main event saw Max Holloway retain his featherweight title against Jose Aldo, earning a […]
UFC 218 brought the violence.
That was the expectation, and it didn’t fail to deliver. In all, there were nine finishes out of 13 fights from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Chamatkar Sandhu of MMA Junkie summed up the night of violence:
That was the expectation, and it didn’t fail to deliver. In all, there were nine finishes out of 13 fights from the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Chamatkar Sandhu of MMA Junkie summed up the night of violence:
The main event brought about one of the most impressive performances of all.
Max Holloway once again defeated former featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo to retain his UFC featherweight championship belt via third-round TKO.
Aldo came out looking like he was primed to put on a vintage performance. He once again turned to the leg kicks that made him famous as a dominant WEC and UFC champion. It didn’t matter.
Holloway just walked right through everything Aldo had to offer and kept slinging combinations to body and head. Eventually, the volume and pressure paid off.
After two back-and-forth rounds that were difficult to score, Holloway broke through. Once Aldo’s counters turned into simple survival, Holloway smelled blood and went in for the finish. Although the Brazilian nearly held on to see the fourth round, Holloway swarmed and drew the TKO before the bell.
After the fight, Holloway gave credit to boxer Vasyl Lomachenko for the inspiration, per MMA Fighting:
Wherever he got the inspiration from, he needs to keep going back to that well. The champion is only 25 years old and now holds two wins over the greatest of all time in his weight class. That’s a strong start to a title reign that looks as though it could last a while.
Holloway wasn’t the only one getting in on the violence, though. Here’s a look at the complete results and a closer look at all the main card action.
Main card
Max Holloway def. Jose Aldo via third-round TKO (4:51)
Henry Cejudo def. Sergio Pettis via unanimous decision
Eddie Alvarez def. Justin Gaethje via third-round TKO (3:59)
Tecia Torres def. Michelle Waterson via unanimous decision
Undercard
Paul Felder def. Charles Oliveira via second-round KO (4:06)
Yancy Medeiros def. Alex Oliveira via third-round TKO (2:02)
David Teymur def. Drakkar Klose via unanimous decision
Felice Herrig def. Cortney Casey via split decision
Amanda Cooper def. Angela Magana via second-round TKO (4:34)
Abdul Razak Alhassan def. Sabah Homasi via first-round TKO (4:21)
Dominick Reyes def. Jeremy Kimball via first-round submission (rear-naked choke, 3:39)
Justin Willis def. Allen Crowder via first-round KO (2:33)
Alistair Overeem vs. Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou will be in every heavyweight’s nightmares.
Overeem was supposed to be the one to test whether the 31-year-old’s meteoric rise was legitimate. The Cameroon native was 5-0, but his most impressive win was over an aging Andrei Arlovski.
Ngannou passed with flying colors.
It only took one powerful left hook to put Overeem out. After a bit of clinch fighting against the cage, the powerful heavyweight ended the night as soon as referee Dan Miragliotta broke up the wall-and-stall action.
The fight likely puts Ngannou in the driver’s seat for the next shot at champion Stipe Miocic. It’s a challenge the devastating striker believes he’s ready for:
Miocic is one of just five heavyweight champions in UFC history to successfully defend the belt two times in a row. It looks like defending it a third time just got much more difficult for the current champion.
Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis
It’s beginning to look like Henry Cejudo is a flyweight contender again. The former Olympic gold medalist put on a comprehensive performance against Sergio Pettis en route to a unanimous-decision victory.
Cejudo wrestled Pettis to the mat early and often as he dominated the position. Pettis had little to offer on the feet but even less to offer on the ground.
After a rousing start to the card, this one was a ho-hum one-sided affair. Cejudo never came close to finishing Pettis, but he was clearly in control of the fight.
As Shaheen Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting noted, it wasn’t the kind of win that will get Cejudo the next title shot against Demetrious Johnson, but the rematch might not be far off:
Defeating a fighter of Pettis’ caliber and making it look easy is a pretty quick way to ensure he’s second in line for that title shot—especially with Mighty Mouse all but cleaning out the division already.
Justin Gaethje vs. Eddie Alvarez
The lightweight showdown between Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez looked to be the odds-on favorite for Fight of the Night on paper. It didn’t disappoint.
The brawling Gaethje and former champion Alvarez put on a striking battle in all three rounds. Alvarez—who is equally adept at plying a wall-and-stall grinding style as he is at brawling—obliged in a slugfest with the very hittable Gaethje, but he also absorbed tons of leg kicks.
While Gaethje was able to land leg kicks at will and scored some ripping uppercuts throughout the fight, Alvarez was just a bit more technical, which turned out to be the difference. After throwing everything he had at his ultra durable opponent, a hellacious knee to the face in the clinch finally buckled Gaethje to the mat, and a few follow-up strikes brought about the end of the fight.
After the bout, Alvarez acknowledged the leg kicks were something he had to fight through.
The loss is the first in Gaethje’s career, but this was a matchup fans wouldn’t mind seeing again at some point. For Alvarez, this is the perfect result to get him back in the lightweight picture after a loss to Conor McGregor and a no-contest against Dustin Poirier due to illegal knees from Alvarez.
Regardless of where both men end up, this fight was everything it was cracked up to be.
Michelle Waterson vs. Tecia Torres
In a battle of highly ranked women’s strawweights, Tecia Torres made a statement against Michelle Waterson in taking a unanimous-decision victory to kick off the main card.
From the jump, it was clear Torres was the more athletically gifted fighter. Her speed and power advantage was clear as the two exchanged strikes on their feet. The UFC passed along some of the early highlights from the Tiny Tornado:
Waterson was able to score an early takedown that defined the second round. She was able to maintain top control for the majority of the round but landed very little of substance in stealing the round from the eventual winner.
Torres was too much for The Karate Hottie in the third and final frame once again. Torres continued to get the better of the feet and turned a Waterson takedown attempt into an advantageous position, taking Waterson’s back.
Although she couldn’t get the finish, Torres established her place in the women’s strawweight hierarchy. It might not be long before she has a title shot to prepare for.
In terms of pure skill and technical wizardry, Friday night’s fight between Nicco Montano and Roxanne Modafferi was possibly the worst title bout in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But at least the card itself improved on the previou…
In terms of pure skill and technical wizardry, Friday night’s fight between Nicco Montano and Roxanne Modafferi was possibly the worst title bout in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. But at least the card itself improved on the previous weekend’s atrocious Shanghai offering; that was an event so terrible it was nearly unanimously declared one of the worst, and most insufferable, in promotional history.
Thankfully, Saturday’s UFC 218 in Detroit was the opposite.
On both counts.
And then some.
Mere hours after Yancy Medeiros defeated Alex Oliveira in one of the greatest fights we’ve ever seen, Eddie Alvarez and Justin Gaethje topped it by upping the violence quota in a third-round TKO victory for Alvarez. Oh, and Francis Ngannou sent Alistair Overeem rocketing from this mortal coil with one of the most brutal knockouts in UFC history.
And then Jose Aldo and Max Holloway capped off a scintillating evening of violence with a fight that was both predictable and the official changing of the featherweight guard.
Thanks to a third-round TKO, Holloway retained his 145-pound title in much the same way he wrested control from Aldo in the first place: by luring him into a sprinting, pace-laden brawl that the former pound-for-pound great could not maintain. It’s not that Aldo is not a great fighter. The former champion might still be one of the best featherweights on the planet and capable of beating the best the division has to offer on any night.
It’s just that Holloway is the future and the present.
Aldo couldn’t keep up. His trademark leg kicks were there, wobbling Holloway upon landing. His staunch defense and his excellent head movement were there. But his gas tank wasn’t. He faded quickly upon the beginning of the third round. Holloway, a man built for such moments, swarmed. One gets the feeling while watching Holloway do his brand of work that the Hawaiian doesn’t start kicking things into a higher gear until the third round begins; Aldo had nothing left in his reserve tank. Holloway overwhelmed him.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan was quick in his attempt to anoint Holloway as the greatest featherweight in the history of the sport. Such a notion is absurd. Aldo reigned as the divisional champion for years across the changing landscapes of two separate mixed martial arts promotions.
Aldo won the WEC featherweight championship in 2009 and defended it even as it became the UFC featherweight championship. Aldo essentially ended the contending careers of multiple fighters, including Mike Brown and Urijah Faber. Counting both WEC and UFC, he defended that championship nine times.
To his credit, Holloway instantly shut down Rogan’s fawning by noting he has a long way to go before he can assume the mantle of the best ever.
“At the end of the day, it is what it is! All due respect to Aldo. He is a hell of a technician, but this is the blessed era,” Holloway told Rogan after the fight. “This is something new. He kicks very hard, but I think we passed the test.”
These are all true statements.
What is also true is this: Holloway has ended Aldo’s time on top of the featherweight division, and a changing of the guard has indeed taken place.
Here is another true statement: It is hard to look at the featherweight landscape and imagine anyone with the style and vigor to put an end to Holloway’s reign. Frankie Edgar was supposed to be in Detroit on Saturday, standing there where Aldo stood, but he was forced to pull out due to a facial injury. I can’t say I’d have given the Jersey native a better chance than Aldo had. Ricardo Lamas? Cub Swanson? Brian Ortega? None of them would’ve given me much confidence in an upset.
“All of these guys are cupcakes, and I love cupcakes,” Holloway said in the post-fight interview. “I look forward to the new flavor, but I’m going to eat them all.”
Dessert references aside, Holloway’s sublime, darting, dashing style makes it all the more sad that we’ll never see the one fight that truly offers any kind of intrigue: a bout against former champion Conor McGregor. The Irishman already owns a win over Holloway, but it was so long ago and against such a different Holloway that we’d go into the fight labeling it a toss-up.
But McGregor will never return to featherweight, if he returns to the UFC at all. Which means Holloway will likely line up next against Edgar, and then perhaps Swanson (if he can come to terms on a new contract with the UFC).
And all of that means Holloway will likely keep that big gold belt sitting around his waist for a long time.
