UFC 244 delivered one of the best cards I’ve ever seen. I remember a couple of months ago Dana White saying a non-title fight couldn’t main event a pay-per-view. He was definitely wrong on that one. This card was incredible and the main event was great. The prelims were all finished in great fashion. The main card had good fights too. The co-main event was the only fight that had real slow points, but it was still a pretty good fight. President Donald Trump even showed up, Masvidal’s former best friend Colby Covington will be upset when President Donald Trump doesn’t show up for his fight against Kamaru Usman on December 14th. The Rock was there and put the belt on Masvidal. It was a great night of fights.
BADDEST MOTHERFUCKER
JORGE MASVIDAL. Holy shit did this feel like a big fight. This had the electricity of a title fight, which isn’t something we often see for non-title fights. On the biggest stage he has been on, Jorge Masvidal showed up and put on the performance of a lifetime. Masvidal was ripping Nate Diaz apart. Bullshit Doctor stoppage aside, Masvidal clearly won all 3 rounds up to that point, including a probable 10-8 for at least one of those rounds. It was not even close. Masvidal has never looked that good. He always had the well rounded game, but he lacked the confidence to enforce his will on his opponent. He seems to have put it all together in the biggest fight of his career. Masvidal definitely put his name in the running to face the winner of Kamaru Usman v. Colby Covington. For all of our sakes, let’s hope Colby beats Kamaru. Former best friends facing off for the welterweight title sounds like an epic fight and build up to a fight.
BEST WINNERS
STEPHEN “Wonderboy” THOMPSON. Wonderboy has had a rough stretch heading into his fight with Vicente Luque. After starting 13-1 in his career, he was on a 1-3-1 stretch. Granted, I thought he beat Darren Till and thought he won the first Woodley fight. He was coming into this fight off a nasty KO loss to Anthony Pettis, his first KO loss in his career. Many wondered whether that was the end of Wonderboy. Heading into this fight, I was nervous for him. He is one of my favorites and he was going up against a young and hungry Vicente Luque. Luque was on a six fight winning streak, and five of those wins were finished early. His “Silent Assassin” nickname is an apt one. Even still, Wonderboy showed up and put on one of the best fights I’ve seen him have. He was very dominant. He was picking Luque apart. Luque couldn’t get much going without being hit by Wonderboy. It was a great fight. Wonderboy wants the title, and this puts him one step closer to getting a shot at the title.
COREY ANDERSON. Corey Anderson came into this fight as an afterthought for the light heavyweight division. He hadn’t fought in 2019, and he has been yelling for a title shot. He was on a 3 fight winning streak, but the inactivity of 2019 was definitely holding him back. Anderson came into this fight knowing most people had written him off as a stepping stone for hype train prospect Johnny Walker to march to the top of the division. Walker had been spectacular in his UFC appearances. But on this night, Anderson shot out like a bat out of hell and just destroyed Johnny Walker. Anderson did not let Walker get started. Walker landed only 1 strike during the 2+ minutes this fight lasted. Post fight antics aside, Anderson put his name on the map and fans will remember his name next time he gets a fight, spoiler alert, it won’t be for the title.
DERRICK LEWIS. Derrick Lewis was on an interesting stretch of fights coming into this one against Blagoy Ivanov. Lewis was on a 2-2 streak. The two wins were: the lackluster (understatement), worst fight of 2018, win over Francis Ngannou, then the win over Alexander Volkov, a fight Lewis was losing for 14:49 before he landed a devastating one punch walk off KO. That earned him a title shot against Daniel Cormier, which he lost by second round submission, and he followed that up with a 1st round TKO loss to Junior dos Santos. I thought Lewis was done, especially going up against a tough Blagoy Ivanov who has stamina, a strong chin, and a solid sambo base. The fight wasn’t spectacular, and Lewis did not blow Ivanov out of the water. Ivanov actually landed more strikes, had more takedowns, and nearly got Lewis to submit. But Lewis’ strikes were doing a lot more damage. This was a fight the judges correctly gave more credence to damage over quantity. Not the best fight by any stretch of the imagination, but Lewis looked healthy and was able to go 3 rounds without issue.
KATLYN CHOOKAGIAN. Katlyn Chookagian took a tough fight against a skilled grappler in Jennifer Maia. Chookagian knew a win here could get her a title shot against Valentina Shevchenko. She went on to put on a great fight and completely dominated the fight. She was very effective striking and was able to avoid any trouble on the ground. She knows how to use her height/lankiness to her advantage. I think she earned her shot at flyweight gold against Shevchenko …good luck Katlyn.
BEST LOSER
VICENTE LUQUE. Vicente Luque is definitely someone to keep an eye on in the welterweight division. This division is so stacked. Luque is an absolute killer and one of the toughest SOBs in the UFC. This guy went to an absolute war against Mike Perry less than 3 months ago. He follows that up with taking the hardest fight of his career and going the distance against Wonderboy. He was overmatched, but he stayed in the fight the entire time. There was no quit in him, he took a beating and never gave up. He showed a lot of grit and toughness. He is still young at 27 years old, and I imagine he will be a fixture in the top of the welterweight division for a while.
MY FIGHTER OF THE NIGHT
NATE DIAZ. Nate Diaz is everything I love in a fighter. The guy is tough as hell, will fight anyone and anywhere, always brings the fight, never has a boring fight, talks endless trash, and partakes in an occasional smoke. I picked Diaz, and I thought he could take it, but you could tell he did not bring his A game. He seemed hesitant and couldn’t get into a rhythm. He mentioned hurting his leg during training, and if he said he was hurt, it was probably a bad injury. I think he could have continued with that cut, and there was a chance he could have come back to get a finish. But Masvidal definitely won the first 3 rounds, two of the judges had 30-26 and one had it 30-27. I would love to see this fight again, but Dana didn’t seem too interested in it. I am still hoping for the Conor trilogy. Let Nate finish the job of putting Conor into retirement.
PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT
SHANE BURGOS. Shane Burgos had a great night. He dominated Makwan Amirkhani. He outstruck Amirkhani 161-23. He was controlling the fight and barely taking shots. He stuffed 16/19 takedowns. Burgos beat Amirkhani senseless for 14 minutes and 35 seconds when he landed a head kick that put Amirkhani out for good. It was a statement and I think he gets a ranked opponent next.
SAVAGE OF THE NIGHT
JAIRZINHO ROZENSTRUIK. Jairzinho Rozenstruik is not one to mess with. I understand the gimmick of the BMF belt was between Masvidal and Diaz, but let’s be real, Rozenstruik was the baddest motherfucker on this card. He is an absolute monster. He just got his biggest win, over Andrei Arlovski, a 29 second KO. His 3 UFC fights have lasted a combined 5 minutes and 44 seconds. Five minutes and six seconds of that time was in his UFC debut against Junior Albini. His last two fights have lasted a combined 38 seconds. I wanted to see another step up in competition for Rozenstruik, and I was not disappointed. He already signed on to fight Alistair Overeem in place of Walt Harris. I feel terrible for Walt, but this is a huge opportunity for Rozenstruik to make a true statement in the heavyweight division.
ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN
EDMEN SHAHBAZYAN. Edmen Shahbazyan did what Gregor Gillespie couldn’t do. He was able to beat the stepping stone in front of him to propel himself to the top of the middleweight division. I guess you can add that Shahbazyan did what middleweight champion Israel Adesanya couldn’t do and that was finish Brad Tavares. The KO win over Tavares brings Shahbazyan’s record to 11-0, 4-0 in the UFC. He is on a 3 fight finish streak. And he’s only 21 years old. I think he will fight for the chance to become the youngest champion ever. I don’t know if he’ll win that fight, but I can’t imagine him never winning the belt at one point in his career. This guy is good.
HOLY SHIT MOMENT
KEVIN LEE KICKING GREGOR GILLESPIE INTO 2020. I, like many others, thought Kevin Lee was done. He had not looked good in a while. He was going up against a top prospect in Gregor Gillespie. I thought Lee would be the stepping stone for Gillespie to get up to the top contenders in the lightweight division. Kevin Lee proved me wrong in an astounding fashion. It was one of the most vicious KOs I’ve seen. Gillespie looked like he died. Kevin Lee moved to Tristar to improve his game, and so far it looks like it’s paying off.
BEST MOMENT OF THE NIGHT
JORGE MASVIDAL FAKING THE RUNNING, FLYING KNEE TO OPEN THE FIGHT.
NOT FIGHT OF THE NIGHT
DARREN TILL V. KELVIN GASTELUM
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT
STEPHEN THOMPSON V. VICENTE LUQUE