It was fun to dream about Derrick Lewis becoming UFC heavyweight champion, but Daniel Cormier reminded everyone that he’s one of the greatest MMA fighters of all-time, while Lewis... he’s just not. Cormier was able to minimize the risk of Lewis’ vaunted power, took him down with whatever wrestling moves he felt like using, then took his back for the second-round rear-naked choke finish to cap off the UFC 230 main event.
You could sense the Madison Square Garden crowd was actually disappointed, as they obviously bought into the underdog story of “The Black Beast,” and I get that, but it really is unfortunate how often Cormier has basically been treated with such indifference throughout his amazing career. He tried being entertaining on the mic and the crowd barely reacted, even when he cut a promo for the Brock Lesnar fight. Yeah I get that he comes off like “the daddest man on the planet,” but something about the fans not warming up to him feels... well it doesn’t feel right. Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva, and now Derrick Lewis are such notable fighters he’s beaten who clearly commanded more cheers from the crowd than himself.
Anyway, I suppose with UFC 235 set for March 2nd, that’d be the ideal date for the Lesnar bout, then Cormier can ride off into the sunset. It’d be a big money fight and a matchup you’d favor him to win, and I think that one more sizable paycheck and a win over a high-profile former UFC champ and WWE and MMA star would be a nice way to retire after such phenomenal achievements throughout his time in combat sports. Yes, there’s still the “...but Jon Jones!” cloud hanging over his head, but that shouldn’t completely whitewash how damn great he is and has been for so long.
More thoughts on tonight’s action:
Main Card
- Derrick Lewis has free Popeye’s chicken for life... he is still a winner in my book.
- Despite Dan Miragliotta’s refusal to believe that Chris Weidman was knocked out by Jacare Souza, he finally got around to stopping the fight after Jacare hesitantly threw hammerfists while Weidman was half-conscious (at best) and shooting for a takedown out of pure instinct. Jacare has to be given massive credit for winning that striking war with Weidman and not fading in the final round despite a busted nose, but the absurdity of Tan Dan’s late stoppage irks me greatly. It’s certainly not the first time Weidman has been the victim of a bad stoppage, either. That was gross incompetence from Miragliotta, even by his lofty “Mir vs. Carwin” standards.
- Souza keeps himself afloat in the title picture, while Weidman has to be considered firmly out of it. Sure, he showed off good offensive striking, but his defense was just not there, and those body shots Jacare was ripping him with were lethal. He also ate a ton of right hands, and it’s fitting that one more (albeit to the top of the head and not the side) sent him down. Weidman has some key decisions to make for the rest of his career, as four losses in five tells me he’s not going back to the top of 185.
- Jared Cannonier made the most of his short notice opportunity to fight a top-10 contender at Madison Square Garden, as he TKO’d David Branch in his middleweight debut. After getting taken down repeatedly in round one, the Alaska native rocked and dropped Branch with a straight right, then pounded him out with right hands on the ground. That’s a major feather in his cap and now we have a new face in the 185 lbs rankings heading into the next year.
- Karl Roberson had a tough loss to Cezar Mutante in his last appearance, but he took apart Jack Marshman for a one-sided decision even with an injured left knee. Marshman was tough as hell, eating a billion counter left hands and just losing an overwhelming majority of the striking exchanges, as well as getting taken down twice. Roberson fared well and I look forward to seeing him develop his skillset some more.
- Israel Adesanya is legit. Derek Brunson couldn’t get any takedowns on “The Last Stylebender,” even with the grabbing of the shorts in the early part of the fight, and then it was a no contest on the feet. He turns takedown defense into instant offense, he punishes you for reckless wading forward, and Brunson found out the hard way with that well-timed knee when he came charging at him in the final minute of round one. About six billion knockdowns later, the striking phenom was victorious again. He is no doubt a top-10 middleweight at the very least, and he seems to be destined for big things in 2019 as a potential superstar. Adesanya is an outstanding talent and that was almost a flawless performance, despite his own B- grade.
Preliminary Card
- Jordan Rinaldi shut down Jason Knight’s scrambling and aggressive guard grappling abilities, winning a lopsided decision to get himself a win in his move down to featherweight. Knight has lost four straight after winning his first four UFC bouts, and his future is very much in doubt. As I said late last year, he wanted to be “Hick Diaz” but turned into the second coming of Jimy Hettes.
- Sijara Eubanks missed weight on Friday, but the women’s flyweight contender at least salvaged the weekend with a shutout victory vs. Roxanne Modafferi, and even get an interview with Joe Rogan, who presumably knows who she is now. That wasn’t an overly impressive win though, so giving her a title shot against either Joanna Jedrzejczyk or Valentina Shevchenko seems like a one-way ticket to an ass kicking for her.
- Featherweight Sheymon Moraes probably caused Julio Arce to lose more than half of his entire supply of blood thanks to a vicious second-round elbow, and the Brazilian was able to get the upset win by split decision. He scored two knockdowns of Arce off straight right hands, survived a standing rear-naked choke in round one, and Arce’s late third-round charge. Doug Crosby bizarrely gave round three to Moraes, but the right man won. Great fight to watch!
- When Ben Saunders got into that clinch with Lyman Good, it was a good news/bad news situation. The good news was that Saunders loves the clinch and he was landing a lot of knees. The bad news is he left himself wide open for uppercuts, and Good capitalized accordingly by knocking him down, then rendering him unconscious with hammerfists. A good win for Good after more than a year away from the Octagon, and sadly a fourth loss in five fights for Saunders, who’s basically Bloody Elbow family given how long he’s been a member of this site.
- How can you not love watching Lando Vannata? He is guaranteed excitement, and with someone like New York lightweight prospect Matt Frevola across him, we saw a ridiculous amount of fireworks. There were three knockdowns (two by Vannata and one by Frevola), incredible toughness displayed by both men, and just a series of brutal strikes thrown and exchanged at a high-pace. The bout ended in a draw, and frankly I don’t mind that even though I gave Frevola the win, that was sensational stuff that you wish was higher up the card so more fans could’ve enjoyed it. Vannata has just one win in six UFC fights, but with his style of fighting he’ll be around for awhile.
- Exciting featherweight prospect Shane Burgos was rocked and dropped by a Kurt Holobaugh left hook-right hand combination, but in a matter of seconds he secured an armbar and became the first man to tap Holobaugh. What a crazy two minutes and eleven seconds of fighting that was! This division is just so deep, and it’s great to see Burgos bounce back from the Calvin Kattar TKO to get a dramatic win after being in a bad spot.
- Marcos Rogerio de Lima dominated short-notice opponent Adam Wieczorek in the heavyweight opener, winning a shutout unanimous decision in a truly dreadful fight that won’t get any more thought beyond this bulletpoint.