UFC 262: In Focus
The UFC’s 262nd PPV event saw the lightweight belt change hands for the first time in three years. After Khabib Nurmagomedov’s retirement earlier this year, Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira were put in the fortunate position to fight for UFC gold, a first for both men. The card took some unfortunate hits in the lead up to the event. The May 15th card was originally meant to sport Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz as the co-main and young prospect Edmen Shahbazyan vs perennial contender Jack Hermansson, unfortunately these two tantalizing ties were pulled for various reasons.
1: British Disappointment
While from a neutral viewpoint this fight and indeed result may not be so significant, from the British fan perspective Mike Grundy’s loss was a bitter pill to swallow. The former commonwealth freestyle wrestling bronze medallist failed to stamp his authority on wiry contender, Lando Vannata. Coming into the bout, it may have been the first time that a Brit had a clear wrestling advantage over an American counterpart, on paper at least. Lando Vannata wrestled for Division I school, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the American used this to his advantage stuffing a mightily impressive 17 of 20 takedowns attempted by Mike Grundy. Vannata forced the fight on the feet where he knew Grundy lacked the finesse and skill to compete with him. The repeated failed takedowns from the scouser began to sap the energy from his body, rendering him ineffective for two thirds of the fight. Attempting to land one Hail-Mary shot with the right hand was not sufficent. Vannata pushed through the second half of the fight and won a clear 29–28, if not 30–27 scorecard, however, this narrative was clearly not one Patrick Patlan was subscribed to. The judge gave all three rounds to Grundy, a story-line which even for a Brit, is absurdly farfetched. It further reenforces the lack of consistency regarding judging, an issue we have seen explode in recent years over in boxing, it needs to be quelled before the problem arises any more. Grundy’s wrestling showcase was rather disconcerting, that said I believe he still has a fulfilling career left in MMA’s leading promotion. The former BJJ European champ (Blue Belt) has gone 1–2 in his maiden three fights with the UFC, yet none of those losses have been overwhelming, none of them have demonstrated Grundy being out of his depth. The Team Kaobon member stole the first round off Movsar Evloev in his last bout, an impressive feat considering the hype around the Russian. And there is no shame losing to Vannata, the man has fought the likes of Tony Ferguson, Drakkar Klose and Yancy Medeiros.
2: The Alligator gets Snapped
In recent times it seems legends have been falling off left, right and centre. Cowboy Cerrone, was finished early this month, Tyron Woodley was sent packing from the promotion after his fourth loss in a row, and we are all aware of the Diego Sanchez saga. It seems it is time to add another icon to that list, Jacare Souza. Souza has lost 6 of his last 8 fights, including his last four. I am in no position to ever tell a fighter to hang up his or her gloves, however at 41, father time catches up to us all. For me, the manner of the defeat is all the more worrying, for the first time in his 36 fight career, the fourth degree BJJ black belt was submitted (Technical) by an armbar. Of course Andre Muniz is no slouch on the ground, holding his own third degree BJJ black belt, however it is the principal, coin this with his KO loss to Kevin Holland at the back end of last year and the picture painted is not a pretty one for Souza and his team. The Brazilian has now become a gatekeeper for promoting new prospects, a position which should always be avoided in my opinion. Muniz threatened with a Rear Naked Choke but slipped to the side and managed to snap his opponents arm in a matter of seconds, Souza, being as tough as they come didn’t even react, contrary to everyone packed inside the Toyota Centre that evening. I would personally like to see the 41 year old retire. While he is still a perennial threat, it is clear he will never reach the UFC summit he once dreamed of, consistently getting fed to these up and coming hungry contenders is only going to accentuate any long term damage to his mental and physical health. The fight game does not always finish like a film, a happy ending does not always come to fruition, for every Michael Bisping story, there are five Diego Sanchez stories. MMA is a world of brutality and ruthlessness, the game does not wait around and if you aren’t up to scratch, the sport will move on, period. Also, a quick shoutout to Andrea Lee who pulled of a beautiful submission against Antonina Shevchenko.
3: You can’t Teach an Old Dogs New Tricks
Sadness. Sadness was most certainly the consensus reaction to Tony Ferguson’s lacklustre performance last Saturday night. “El Cucuy” looked a fraction of his past self, but should we surprised? The former interim UFC Lightweight champion is 37 years old in an absolute shark tank of a division, furthermore, the lighter weight divisions are never kind to older fighters. Tony has been through murderers row to get to his previous twelve fight win streak: Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Kevin Lee, Edson Barboza, RDA, and the aforementioned Lando Vannata make up the highlights of a remarkable six year undefeated run. Add to this list his three losses to Justin Gathje, the champion Charles Oliveira and the new third ranked Lightweight, Beneil Dariush. Can we really be shocked at the seeming lack of inspiration or ideas from the American. Ferguson was completely out-grappled and to be brutally honest out muscled in the Octagon, Dariush looked much larger and leaps more confident when the contest hit the floor. I think the logical step for the former High school wrestler is a move up to 170 lbs, I think he should try and fill out slightly and tackle the fighters up at Welterweight, any Lightweight title aspirations are most certainly over. In hindsight there probably hasn’t been many more unfortunate athletes to grace MMA, a title was never realised for Ferguson, which is a huge disservice to the mans talent.
Something which is key in a review of UFC 262 is to shine light on the consummately professional performance put on by Iranian international Dariush. As previously stated the former No-Gi BJJ world champ swallowed Ferguson on the ground and nullified any potential weapons the Mexican-American had. A fight with Gathje or the loser of the UFC 264 main event would be a tantalising affair. Beniel’s rise to the top has been rather secretive and has snuck himself into the top three, a wildly impressive feat for someone who two and a half years ago was winless in three.
4: A Scary KO
Perhaps the most hyped fight (apart from the main event), Shane Burgos vs Edson Barboza did not disappoint. The two men went toe to toe for just over eleven minutes, culminating in a rather bizarre knockout victory for Barboza. Burgos was fighting for the first time since his fight of the year contender against powerhouse Josh Emmet, where he came out on the wrong side of the scorecards. Barboza fought Makwan Amirkhani back in October, winning the bout on all three judges scorecards. The fight on Saturday opened up the main card and was a real 50/50. Barboza, known for his lethal kicks hammered the lead leg to a point where I was surprised Burgos was still standing, yet the American accentuated his perseverance as he kept fighting, landing numerous shots with his two fists. Both men landed 178 strikes between them, before a jab and right hook from Barboza sent his opponent crashing to the canvas. The finish itself was one of outright uniquity, something I have personally never seen before. Burgos ate the right hand and seemed to shake it off, but after a few seconds began to tumble back into a shell in the corner of the Octagon, a delayed reaction that is reminiscent of a body shot, not a blow to the head. It was certainly rather frightening from a spectators point of view.
Nevertheless Barboza collects the win and moves up to ninth in the Featherweight rankings. A matchup with either Calvin Kattar, Josh Emmet or even our very own Arnold Allen would be a fascinating affair. I firmly believe the UFC veteran has a serious chance of getting a title shot in the next 24 months.
5: And the New
A new era has dawned on the Lightweight division, after a long 3 year period of pure domination Khabib Nurmagomedov finally decided to leave his gloves in the Octagon after his imperious performance over former NCAA division I wrestler, Justin Gathje. Since that victory UFC president Dana White, attempted everything to keep the Russian fighting, yet through months of negotiations and teases a return became less and less feasible.
There was a large debate over who should fight for the vacated title left by Nurmagomedov, Dustin Poirier was offered the bout after his historic TKO victory over Connor McGregor at the start of the year, however the Louisiana native chose a lucrative trilogy with the Irishman passing up the chance to fight for the belt, a smart move in my eyes. Going down the pecking order, that left Charles Oliveira, Michael Chandler and Justin Gathje in the mix. With the latter coming of a title loss it made sense for Chandler and Oliveira to go toe to toe.
The fight was billed as American wrestling vs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I was pretty confident before the fight that the credentials of these two warriors on the ground would cancel each other out, yet it did not take long for Charles “Du Bronx” Oliveira to shoot a double leg on the former Bellator champion, before being wrapped up in a dangerous guillotine. Towards the end of the first round it seemed as if it would have been a fairy-tale move to the UFC for Chandler as he had his opponent sprawling on the ground eating head strike after head strike, yet the Wiley Brazilian came over any doubts of his toughness and survived the onslaught. Less than twenty seconds into the next round, the American was caught with a check left hook from third degree BJJ black belt, Oliveira and was finished soon thereafter.
The fight firmly lived up to the hype, I really do believe if you put those two in the cage ten times, they could easily win five each. In usual circumstances a 35 year old coming of a title fight loss would indicate the beginning of the end, yet in the case of Chandler it seems to be quite the opposite, the wrestler is in impeccable shape and another run at UFC gold is guaranteed. A fight with Justin “The Highlight” Gathje makes the most sense to me, or even a bout with BJJ ace Beniel Dariush. As for the champ, it is overtly obvious that he will face the winner of Poirier Mcgregor III. How long will Oliveira stay as champ? An undeniably hard question to answer, 155 is arguably the most stacked division throughout MMA’s premier promotion, nevertheless, Oliveira is incredibly well rounded and will forever pose a threat to even the most skilled and talented fighters on the roster.
