BEST WINNERS
LOMA LOOKBOONMEE. This split decision was a travesty. Loma dominated the fight from beginning to end. She didn’t seem to be in trouble at all. Loma landed more strikes in every round, and they both had 1 takedown. How 1 judge had that scored for Albu is beyond me. My only guess is that the judge is sexist (not really), but an observation I noted, there were 2 split decisions. Both of those split decisions were in the women’s fights. Both times, the hotter fighter clearly lost, but one judge scored it for them. Albu got off to a bad start when she kept pulling on Loma’s shirt, causing it to eventually tear and Loma removed it for the last two rounds. Loma was the first Thai fighter in UFC history, and is the first Thai fighter to get a win in UFC history. She looked good. Her Muay Thai is excellent, her takedown defense was solid. She looked like she belonged. My one concern is her size. She was an atomweight before coming to the UFC, and while size doesn’t always matter, I think it might be tough for her to break through the top of the division at her diminutive size. Joanna Jedrzejczyk is a skilled Muay Thai fighter as well but has 5 inches of height and 4 inches of reach on her.
RANDA MARKOS. Randa Markos had a fun fight against Ashley Yoder. Randa was able to control the fight on the feet, and was able to avoid any submissions Yoder threw her way. Randa fought a smart fight. She tried to keep the fight at a distance, and to avoid going down to the mat where Yoder thrives. Markos had a good all around performance, and kept her streak of alternating wins and losses alive (barring one draw). Markos has been a gatekeeper, I would like to see her get a 2nd consecutive win so she can break her alternating wins and losses streak. I think she is a good fighter, but will let her opponent dictate the location and pace of the fight. She didn’t let that happen here and she had a great fight.
SERGEI PAVLOVICH. Sergei Pavlovich debuted in the UFC as a co-main event against Alistair Overeem as a last notice replacement. He was TKO’d in the first round. Not the best start to a UFC career, but not a shocker since this was a huge step up in competition, and it shouldn’t be counted against him. Next, he faced off against Marcelo Golm (which should be considered his first UFC fight) and KO’d him in the first minute of the first round. He showed some serious power. Saturday, he went up against Maurice Greene, who would have been a logical second fight in his UFC career. I thought Maurice Greene would be too awkward and long for him. I thought Greene would be able to eat Pavlovich’s best shots and out point him. I was dead wrong. Pavlovich came out like a bat out of hell and started walloping Greene. Two minutes into the first round, Pavlovich was pulled off Greene with a TKO victory. It was a solid performance. I personally want to see him face Ciryl Gane in his next fight. That would be a fun clash of young heavyweights.
MUSLIM SALIKHOV. Muslim Salikhov put on a clinic against Laureano Staropoli. Salikhov easily won all 3 rounds. There wasn’t much in dispute. This was a striking battle and both guys threw everything they could. Salikhov was able to just put everything together. Staropoli could not break through. This was a step up in competition for Salikhov and he rose to the occasion taking the decision on all 3 judges’ scorecards. I’d like to see another step up in competition for Salikhov. His striking is impressive. A fight against Niko Price could be fun.
MOVSAR EVLOEV. Undefeated Movsar Evloev went up against his biggest competition to date in Enrique Barzola. Barzola looked good, and this was a battle for both fighters. It was a striking battle, but Evloev did land 4 takedowns and Barzola was able to get 1 takedown. They kept up a fast pace up until the final bell. It was an excellent fight and Evloev keeps winning and keeps impressing.
WORST WINNER
STEVIE RAY. This was a tough one. I thought the fight was excellent. There was a lot of action and it was back and forth. My issue, I thought Michael Johnson won or tied at the very least. I didn’t see Stevie Ray winning two rounds. For those people that say, “Stevie Ray out struck Michael Johnson,” he did, but only in the 3rd round. Each round is supposed to be judged independently and the total from the 3 rounds is the final score. Stevie Ray dominated the 3rd round. Johnson controlled the first 2 rounds. So, even if you give Ray a 10-8 in round 3, it should have been a draw. One judge did have it a draw and it gave Ray a majority decision win.
BEST LOSER
MICHAEL JOHNSON. See above. I had it a draw 28-28, but thought if there was a decision, it had to be for Johnson. He won the first two rounds. I thought he lost the 3rd round 10-8. Michael Johnson has had some of the worst luck in the UFC. He’s lost a couple of fights in the last seconds, then he’s lost some questionable decisions. His unlucky streak continues here as Ray gets a lucky decision in his favor.
ASHLEY YODER. Ashley Yoder had a solid fight against Randa Markos. It was not surprising. Yoder was more comfortable on the mat, working to get a submission, which she was close once or twice. She was able to keep up with Randa and not get overwhelmed. It wasn’t the best performance, but I thought it was a good fight and Yoder showed some heart. It also doesn’t hurt that she might have been added to my MMA crush list. I am looking forward to her next fight.
MY FIGHTER OF THE DAY
BENEIL DARIUSH. Three fights ago, Beneil Dariush lost to Alexander Hernandez and he came to the realization that he needs to fight to his skills more. He wasn’t using his wrestling/grappling nearly enough. He wanted to change that. He won his next fight by unanimous decision over Thiago Moises. Then his last fight, he implemented his wrestling/grappling even more and got a 2nd round submission win over brawler Drew Dober. Dariush came into this fight, against another brawler in Frank Camacho, wanting to use his wrestling/grappling yet again. He succeeded as he was able to pull off a 1st round submission. He didn’t let Camacho get going. He moved in quickly, threw some strikes to get in close, then got a takedown and took his back and worked towards the rear naked choke for the win. Dariush has shown some strong/aggressive grappling. I would like to see Dariush take a step up in competition. His wrestling/grappling can provide some interesting matchups in lightweight division.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY
DEMIAN MAIA. I, like many others, thought Demian Maia would be overpowered by Ben Askren’s wrestling. Maia had lost 3 in a row to Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington, and Kamaru Usman. All three of those guys are strong wrestlers that controlled Maia. I thought Askren was destined to do the same. Holy shit was I wrong. Maia looked like a damn wizard. Askren would muscle Maia to the ground, but Maia would somehow slip out of his grasp and escape. Maia also looked great on the feet. He was tagging Askren and looked like a competent boxer, which might not have been hard considering Askren has zero striking ability. Sorry if its hyperbole, but I think I could beat Askren in a boxing match. Maia was calm and never looked like he was in trouble. He was able to eventually take Askren’s back and choked Askren out, leaving him unconscious on the mat. It was great seeing Maia using his otherworldly Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills to get another win. The guy is one of the last true specialists that is still good. Askren is a wrestling specialist, but he couldn’t overpower Maia’s BJJ.
SAVAGE OF THE DAY
CIRYL GANE. Ciryl Gane is one scary motherfucker. Holy crap, the dude hits like a truck and is also a submission specialist. He trains with Francis Ngannou, so you know he is tough and has to be good. But man, he looks like an absolute killer in the heavyweight division. I hope we can one day see him square up against Ngannou, but I don’t know how close they are. Rory MacDonald and GSP never faced each other, so I won’t get my hopes up about this one. Don’tale Mayes did not look like he belonged in the octagon with Gane. Gane outstruck him in all three rounds, with the biggest differential being in the third round. Gane was 3 for 3 on takedown attempts. His grappling is pretty impressive. He never tried to coast to the end of the fight. You could tell by the fact that he was working towards a submission in the last minute of a fight he was absolutely dominating and was able to get a heel hook with 14 seconds left in the fight. Quite an impressive performance all around.
HONORABLE MENTION
RAPHAEL PESSOA. Raphael Pessoa looked good in his unanimous decision win over Jeff Hughes. Pessoa wanted to show that heavyweights can be quick and last a full 15 minutes without gassing out. He proved both of those points in his dominating win over Jeff Hughes.
RAFAEL FIZIEV. Rafael Fiziev put on a solid performance against his toughest competition yet in Alex White. Fiziev dominated this fight, he stuffed all 11 of White’s takedowns. Fiziev outstruck White. Fiziev controlled the entire fight.
HOT TAKE OF THE DAY
UFC did not lose the Mighty Mouse for Ben Askren trade. While some people were quick to jump on the “Ben Askren sucks” or “I bet the UFC regrets the trade” or “ONE Championship must be thrilled they trade raped the UFC” bandwagons, I decided to look at the trade from a bigger perspective than in ring performance. If you haven’t noticed, UFC has been shifting to a sports entertainment model. They don’t care about the talent of each fighter as much as the selling power of each fighter. Ben Askren may be 1-2 in the UFC; he is a great salesman. His debut fight against Robbie Lawler, people wanted to see because they wanted to know if this dumpy, goofy looking guy was as good as his record and he says he is. It was a fluky win, I wouldn’t have been upset if they stopped it from Lawler’s pummeling, and I wasn’t upset when it was stopped with the choke. Even if Lawler wasn’t all the way out, there was no way he would escape that choke, but that’s besides the point. The ending to that fight did not settle any debate whether Askren was actually good or not. He then gets booked to face Jorge Masvidal. They both talk an enormous amount of trash to each other. The fight gets super hype, fans want to see it. And what happens? Jorge Masvidal runs out with a flying knee and gets the fastest KO in UFC history. That KO is probably the most watched UFC KO in history. I couldn’t escape that KO for weeks after the fight. It kept popping up in my twitter feed. That KO launched Masvidal into superstardom. It spawned the creation of the BMF belt (I fucking hate the BMF belt by the way), which is headlining a pay-per-view card at Madison Square Garden. The amount of money that fight will draw will be enormous. And you can say it is all hyped up because Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal are huge fan favorites. But you can’t deny Masvidal would not be there without that flying knee KO. Askren may have fallen to main eventing a card in Singapore that aired in the US at 1030 AM, but he was still the main event. Plus, he fought in Asia, so he probably had a bigger fan base there than the US. If I had to guess Askren’s next fight, I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s the loser of Colby v. Usman. He has talked a lot of shit about both of them, they are both wrestlers, and I wouldn’t be shocked if both of them want to end Askren for good. That will sell a fight. I think Askren has maybe 2 or 3 fights left. I would not be shocked if by the end of his contract, he drew more money for the UFC than Mighty Mouse did.
NOT FIGHT OF THE DAY
RAPHAEL PESSOA V. JEFF HUGHES
FIGHT OF THE DAY
LOMA LOOKBOONMEE V. ALEKSANDRA ALBU