I have to say, I enjoyed UFC Boston. It delivered a pretty solid slate of fights. There were some new guys that got solid wins to show Dana they belong. A lot of Boston fighters got to fight before hometown crowds, some delivered, some didn’t. We got to see Greg Hardy be a cheating scumbag. There were submission wins, there were TKO wins, there were decision wins, there was a no-contest. Some title contenders made statements. This card had it all.
BEST WINNERS
MAYCEE BARBER. I was very excited for Maycee’s fight against the Savage Gillian Robertson. Maycee is an undefeated hype train. Robertson was rising up the prospects to watch list, especially since all of her UFC wins have been finishes. This was the first fight in what I think can be a long feud. They are both young and they are both very talented. I picked Maycee to win, but I was hoping Robertson would be able to pull off the upset. Well, Maycee made sure Robertson didn’t get a chance to win the fight. Maycee came out swinging haymakers. She was landing heavy shots. Robertson tried fighting through them to get a takedown, but Maycee made her pay for coming in close. Two minutes into the fight, Maycee’s shots were too much and she got the TKO win. Maycee looked great and powerful. I think she will be a force in this division. Valentina might have to keep an eye on her.
DARREN STEWART. Apparently, I don’t remember this fight as well as I thought. I thought Stewart dominated, but it was a split decision win. I wasn’t that impressed with Winn. Maybe the height difference got me thinking it was a blowout. Either way, I liked what I saw from Stewart. I think he fought well and looks to be improving. This was his second straight win, and I am sure he wants to build on that and move up the rankings.
CHARLES ROSA. Charles Rosa was going up against the ultimate hype train of the moment in Manny Bermudez. Bermudez is a stud grappler that fought at bantamweight, but had issues making weight. He took his last fight on short notice at featherweight and lost. He took this fight on short notice at featherweight and lost again. Not only did he lose, he missed weight again. When you miss weight in 3 out of your first 4 fights, especially after moving up a weight class, that is a bad sign. Even still, Rosa did not call off the fight and went into the octagon to square off against the hyped prospect. The first 2 minutes, Bermudez was working well on his feet. He was touching Rosa up and looked to be on the way to a strong win. Then Bermudez went for a takedown and got it. Unfortunately, Rosa worked well off his back and was able to catch Bermudez in a submission. It was Bermudez’s first submission loss. This was Rosa’s biggest win yet. He continues to trade wins and losses, and maybe this will be the win to start his first winning streak in the UFC.
RANDY COSTA. Randy Costa was fighting in front of his hometown crowd and he wanted to put on a show for his fans. Lucky for him, he was facing off against Boston (not actually from Boston) Salmon, who likes to stand and trade in the middle of the octagon. And even luckier for Costa, Salmon tends to leave himself open to eating big shots and he doesn’t have the strongest chin. Costa was able to put him away for a first round TKO. Costa has a lot of power for a bantamweight. I am curious to see where he goes from here.
BRENDAN ALLEN. I had never heard of Brendan Allen before this fight. When I saw him in the octagon, I thought he was an ass clown. His hair was in a mullet and braids kind of thing. I didn’t think he would do much. I’ve liked Kevin Holland. I think he shows some promise. His grappling is solid, his striking is decent. I thought he could make a name for himself in this division. Well, Brendan Allen disagreed with me. Brendan Allen was standing his own on the feet, but you could tell he wanted the fight on the mat. The last half of the 1st round was an amazing display in grappling. They were back and forth in dominant positions and submission attempts. It was a fund first round. In the 2nd round, Holland and Allen went back to the mat, and Allen showed a bit more technical skill and got the submission win. It was an impressive show of grappling.
SEAN BRADY. Undefeated Sean Brady was making his UFC debut against tough veteran Court McGee. I could not tell Brady was making his UFC debut. He dominated the entire fight. He was landing combos and just beating McGee up. Brady was even able to stuff all 6 of McGee’s takedown attempts, while landing 2 of 3 takedown attempts of his own. It was a fun fight, but it was never in doubt, Brady led the fight from beginning to end. He looked very good, and Court McGee has to be wondering what he could have done differently.
WORST WINNERS
YAIR RODRIGUEZ. This is probably just my bias. I am not a fan of Yair. I think he is an asshole. He poked Stephens in the eye, Stephens tried his hardest to fight, but couldn’t open his eye. He then has the gall to call Stephens a coward. The guy couldn’t open his eye. The fight was rebooked almost immediately, and he kept calling Stephens a coward. Then in this fight Yair hit Stephens in the balls a couple of times and he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He is a dirty fighter and an asshole. I thought this fight was a draw. I was not that impressed with Yair. His biggest win was a lucky elbow thrown after getting his shit pushed in for 24:59 of a 25:00 fight. I get it was an awesome KO, and one of the best we’ve ever seen. But that does not make him a good fighter.
BEST LOSERS
JEREMY STEPHENS. I thought this fight was a draw. I didn’t think either fighter really stood out over the other one. I thought it was a good fight, but I thought it was even. As you can tell above, I was pulling for Stephens and was hoping he would get the decision. Stephens got a lot of good shots on Yair and landed a couple of takedowns, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. It’s a shame this wasn’t a 5-round fight, because I think Stephens would have taken the last 2 rounds. Yair was slowing down towards the end.
DIANA BELBITA. Diana Belbita was making her UFC debut against Meatball Molly McCann. I don’t think it was a mismatch at all, but Belbita was out of her element. She tried to keep up, and she put on a solid performance. She was just a bit outclassed by the Meatball. Belbita shows some promise with her striking. If she can add a few grappling wrinkles to her game, I think she can improve and move up in the division.
KYLE BOCHNIAK. Of all the fights on UFC Boston’s card, Kyle Bochniak v. Sean Woodson looked like the biggest mismatch. I know there were some incredible knockouts, but that’s not always due to a mismatch. Some KOs are just plain luck. This fight though, Woodson destroyed Bochniak. But no matter how bad the beating got, Bochniak just kept moving forward. There were 1 or 2 spots that I thought Bochniak was done. But lo and behold, Bochniak made it back to his feet and started moving again. The guy showed an insane amount of heart and determination. I hope this fight isn’t the end of his UFC career. He is too fun to watch.
MY FIGHTER OF THE NIGHT
MEATBALL MOLLY McCANN. If you haven’t been able to tell by now, I am a big fan of Meatball Molly McCann. She tries to put on fights that fans will appreciate and love. So far, she has succeeded in that. In this fight, she faced off against a solid kickboxer in Diana Belbita. Meatball was still able to outbox Belbita, out striking her and controlling the pace and location of the fight. Meatball even added takedowns to her repertoire as she landed 5 takedowns during the fight. Meatball was not in much danger in this fight. Meatball knew her game plan and stuck to it. I was thoroughly entertained during this fight and I was quite happy with the results.
PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT
SEAN WOODSON. Holy shit. Sean Woodson put on a clinic against Kyle Bochniak. Woodson is insanely big for a featherweight. I don’t know how long he will be able to compete there, but as of now; he looks like a force. He landed 100 more strikes than Bochniak and was able to stuff 14/15 takedown attempts. I thought the takedown defense would be the difference in this fight, and while I was right, I didn’t think Woodson’s takedown defense would be able to stop Bochniak. Woodson proved me wrong, and he dismantled Bochniak. He picked him apart and I honestly don’t know how Bochniak survived to make it to the judges’ scorecards. He was systematically beaten down, but he is one tough son of a bitch. Woodson’s performance was eye opening and I am curious where he goes from here.
SAVAGE OF THE NIGHT
MAYCEE BARBER. Sorry Gillian Robertson.
DOMINICK REYES. Man, did Dominick Reyes show up or what. That was an absolutely brutal KO of former middleweight champion Chris Weidman. Reyes came out hot and firing, and immediately caught Weidman and finished the fight. I don’t think there’s any question that Reyes should be the next title challenger with this win.
MOMENT OF THE NIGHT
JOE LAUZON. His 1st round TKO was just awesome. He had been on a bad skid and got a big win in front of his hometown crowd and looked great. I still hope he retires though.
DUMBASS OF THE NIGHT
GREG HARDY AND TEAM. In between the 2nd and 3rd round, Greg Hardy looked at someone and asked if he could use his inhaler. The unidentified person asked if it was sanctioned. Hardy said it was USADA approved. The guy said yes. Hardy used his inhaler. INHALERS AREN’T LEGAL. This was such a stupid move. The guy ended up not being a commissioner and had no authority to let him use his inhaler. It was another stupid mistake in Hardy’s young career. Just another point against UFC constantly putting him in spotlight fights. I don’t agree with people upset at UFC handpicking cupcakes for him, this is how you should treat raw but talented prospects you want to push. My issue is with the placement of Hardy on UFC cards. He should not be on any main card. He should be on prelims or early prelims. But not all the blame should be on Greg Hardy. Hardy trains at American Top Team, quite a strong and established gym. How did they not know that was illegal? They were right there and listened and handed Hardy the inhaler. That was such a stupid moment. They must be killing themselves over this. Hardy had the best overall fight of his UFC tenure, and went the full 15 minutes looking good the entire time. He added low kicks to his arsenal. He looked improved, but this bonehead decision cost him the win.
DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE NIGHT
DERON WINN. There has been a decent amount of hype behind the young middleweight. He is a mini DC. His wrestling is outstanding, he has power, and he has a gas tank. Winn put on a great performance earlier this year against Eric Spicely (who took the fight on short notice). The one negative aspect of him that people thought would hold him back, is his size. He is a 5’6” middleweight. That is insanely short for the weight class. It is hard to find a middleweight shorter than 6 feet. His opponent, Darren Stewart, is 6 feet. That is a 6-inch height advantage. Winn needs to get up close to do damage. On Friday, he couldn’t do it. He looked slow and sluggish and unable to move in without getting touched up. He gassed out and it was just not the best performance overall. I remember finding out Alexander Volkanovski weighed over 200 pounds when he played rugby. But at 5’6” he knew he couldn’t fight at that weight and he lost weight and fights at 145. After watching Winn v. Stewart, I understand why Volkanovski made that decision.
MOMENT OF SILENCE
CHRIS WEIDMAN. Chris Weidman is a Long Island guy. I love the Long Island guys, especially the Serra-Longo guys. I remember Weidman beating Anderson Silva for the title, then beating him again in the rematch. It was awesome. He was able to defend his belt against Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort. He was undefeated and looked unstoppable. Then he squared off against Luke Rockhold, I thought Weidman had it in the bag. Weidman had beaten one of the best of all time, had beaten 2 more all-time greats, and was now facing off against a pretty boy model. Well, Rockhold beat the shit out of Weidman for 3+ rounds before putting him away for good in the 4th. He followed that fight up with a battle against Yoel Romero. Weidman was winning the fight, until he shot in for a takedown and ate a flying knee that knocked him out cold. He had a similar loss to Mousasi; it was a little fluky since the ref stopped the fight because he thought it was an illegal knee. Then when it was determined not to be an illegal knee, the ref called the fight because it shouldn’t have been paused. I hope that ref was fined, it was all his fault. Weidman bounced back from that with a submission win over Kelvin Gastelum. The good vibes lasted until his next fight, 1.5 years later due to injury. He was beating Jacare until the third round when Jacare caught him and put him to sleep. Weidman took a year off before moving up to light heavyweight to face off against Dominick Reyes this past Friday night. We know how that went. Weidman started off his career with 13 straight wins. Now, he has lost 5 of his last 6 fights. His chin has completely dissolved. He could win a fight with his wrestling, but if he couldn’t wrestle, he had to avoid getting hit at all costs. It is hard to see one of your favorites become a shell of himself. Sadly, I think Weidman’s UFC career should be done. He doesn’t need to fight for anything. He has beaten one of the best in his division’s history, one the title, defended it 3 times, and proved himself to be a great fighter.
TRAGEDY OF THE NIGHT
Not having Rob Font on the card was a tragedy. I can’t believe they couldn’t find anyone to fight him on this card. Very disappointing.
NOT FIGHT OF THE NIGHT
GREG HARDY V. BEN SOSOLI – an actual not fight with the no-contest result.
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT
1a. MEATBALL MOLLY McCANN V. DIANA BELBITA
1b. YAIR RODRIGUEZ V. JEREMY STEPHENS