UFN 105 in Canada promised competitive matchmaking, and a Derrick Lewis interview. To that end, the show in Halifax was a reasonable success. Shows tend to live and die by the main event, and luckily for the UFC, the main event delivered in spades.
The prelims kept the show at a breezy pass, showcasing a number of solid performances. But it was the climax of the main event that everyone remembers and will continue talking about, so let’s keep talking via the tweetdown.
Trigger warning: bad puns, fast food analysis, and legal subject matter to follow.
Smack Feast
Derrick Lewis earned this fight, but Phil and I were pretty hesitant to pick him given the technique disparity. Lewis had looked effective against fighters who had the strange habit of wrestling with him, but on the feet, there was still work to be done.
This was evident in the fight itself, as Browne stuck to an outfighter gameplan, chopping the Black Beast up to the guts with front kicks that ostensibly stung him, until Lewis revealed in the postfight interview that he just had to lay a little brick. As rare as it is for a fighter to be disrupted by their own punch bowl troll biscuits, Lewis found a window to disregard his need to grow a monkey’s tail and ended up finding daylight as he released a payload of a right hand directly onto Browne’s forehead.
Yamasaki decided Browne’s journey away from waking life wasn’t enough, and turned into a voyeur, watching Lewis bake a cake out of his brain cells from a distance long after Browne’s obituary had been written. Mario Yamasaki’s performance was questionable, but Lewis’ was not. He displayed resolve, toughness, and ultimately, candor in what should be a star making turn. And that’s not even the half of it...
Taking the Brownes to the Super Troll
MMA media gave Derrick’s postfight interview with Brian Stann the epic seal of approval. In case you’re wondering if Breen is being figurative above, he’s not.
In the aftermath, Lewis called out Ronda Rousey, his own stomach for not keeping his food down correctly, and eventually Browne’s domestic violence charge.
I’ve seen people take issue with that last part (mostly from fans). Browne’s DV charge was found to be inconclusive thanks to an independent investigation on the UFC’s part. Except DV cases are notoriously hard to prosecute. Even the judicial element, morphing evidence based prosecution in 2004 to be sufficient only with the accuser present in a court of law (which affects the victim’s testimony to the police), is murky. Whatever Browne’s indiscretions, innocence is not a term any of us will ever know. To that end, Lewis crossed the line, but it’s easy to see how sympathetic Lewis might to be Browne’s ex-wife given his personal history seeing domestic violence up close as a child.
Lewis may not be the character MMA deserves. But Lewis is the character MMA needs.
MiddleFate
The fight between Hector Lombard and Johny Hendricks was pretty ho-hum. Hendricks looked a lot better, stepping in with knees that repeatedly caught Lombard to the mug, chambering his left moving forward as well as backward.
However, it was still a middling bout. Lombard’s unwillingness to punch to the body cost him more than those knees probably did. Tactically, the fight was interesting. But both men are still too close to questionable performances to demand respect against the middleweight elite, and this bout didn’t feel like the necessary progress in proportion to recent failures. Thankfully for them, the division is running out of elite fighters, so who knows. Maybe Hendricks has it in him to make a run at 185 after all.
McManners
McMann will now have to return the favor by sharing finishing secrets to Elias Theodorou. McMann made quick work of an emotional Gina Mazany. McMann was even kind enough to give Mazany a verbal pick-me-up in the immediate aftermath.
It was a nice gesture. But McMann is clearly gearing up for a potential run toward the title. She’s spent her developmental years against the elite, and it seems like she’s finally found her rhythm and identity as a pugilist. Even though Mazany was a late notice opponent, another win against an experienced opponent will put McMann back on the contender map.
Chop Suey
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen a good action flick. Besides John Wick 2, and the upcoming Headshot, you can’t do any worse than Paul Felder’s step-in elbow. If you blinked, you would have missed it. Alessandro Ricci seemed tough, and he’ll get some more fights, but for now, Felder is back on the divisional map, currently sitting at 3-1 in his last four.
The great northern trendkill
Randa Markos did just enough to beat Carla Esparza, and I’m not sure it was enough, but I thought Markos had the more effective offense in the rare bursts of offense. Still, Markos isn’t active enough to be the potential mainstay in the division she has the potential to be. Esparza actually won exchanges on the feet. I hope Randa is actually thinking about that statement because Esparza is not a fighter who should be winning exchanges on the feet. In other news:
- Todd Grisham sounds a lot like TJ DeSantis. I don’t know that I can add much more to any thoughts on Grisham except that it was hilarious when he yelled “get out of there Travis!”.
- Gavin Tucker put on a technical show, but I think he was more impressed by his dance moves than the audience was.
- Aiemann Zahabi vs. Reginaldo Vieira was the most technical, mechanic refined slopfest I think I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen punches look so swift and technical in grungier contexts. I loved the fight, but both fighters have a long way to go.
- The UFC has some questionable upcoming shows (looking at you, UFN 107), but UFC 209 is not one of them. In the immortal words of Bart Scott, “can’t wait!”.