- John Lineker is a future UFC Flyweight Champion. It seems he learned from that Gaudinot fight where he got sloppy and has looked fantastic since then. He’s only 23, and he’s ready for the big boys. I got carried away and suggested Joe B for him, but not yet. The flyweight division is shallow and doesn’t really have a “young gun”, until now. Bring Lineker along slowly, and he can be the RoryMac of this division. Also, body shots make every MMA fan salivate.
- Aside from Vitor, a rather subdued Brazilian crowd. I know the UFC wants to go to smaller markets, but that was rather disappointing. I wanted the ruckus.
- Unrelated, but enough of Ken Jeong. Seriously.
- In Formiga, we might have our first high-level flyweight gatekeeper. Lineker is the next logical step, but I don’t want to rush him. Would be fun, though.
- I seriously do not have any words to describe the Fab-Hollett fight. Not being cute, if someone asked me “Yo BV, what happened in that Maldonado fight?”, I wouldn’t know what to tell them. Did that fight really happen? There’s no way a grown-ass man offered literally NO defense against another man’s boxing, right? Jesus, that was weird.
- Yuri is about due for the bantamweight gatekeeper gauntlet. In case you forgot, that means Mizugaki first, then Jorgensen, then Wineland. God, I love bantamweight.
- I thought Leon Roberts did an excellent job tonight across the board. Handled the hellacious Fab nutshot well, perfect stoppage on Rockhold, good standups and breaks in the action, just a good night from him.
- Paulo Thiago is one of my favorite fighters, but for whatever reason, it seems he’s lost something lately. He resorted to a 29-28 UD over a guy that had no business being in the cage with him. This was the same guy who turned Josh Koscheck’s lights out. I hope he gets back whatever he lost.
- Patron Saint.
- I am truly surprised by the Lentz-Dias fight. I thought, for sure, this was going to go like the Aldo-Mendes fight. A Nova guy thwarts a wrestler, who has to frustratingly keep it standing and bombs him on the feet. Very good showing by Lentz, someone I’ve always pulled for. There are some interesting matchups to be had there.
- I had it a firm 29-28 Dunham, the fact that all three judges saw it for RDA was a joke. I like RDA too and picked him to win, but that was garbage. As I tweeted, RDA’s combinations are like communism, great in theory, poor and misguided in practice, while Dunham kept his strikes and combos clean and easy. The 1-2 has worked since the first caveman fight and will always work. A damned shame. The kid seems to be in a lot of controversial decisions.
- The Jacare-Camozzi fight reminded me almost verbatim of the Palhares-Massenzio fight. An extremely skilled BJJ middleweight against someone who had no business in the cage with them. Ended about the same, too. Chomp Chomp
- Chomp.
- Jacare vs. Vitor in the 161 main event is a pretty solid idea. Unfortunately, it makes too much sense, so they’ll probably shine the Faber signal in the night sky and Urijah will headline another Canadian card.
- The Vitor stuff with TRT, admittedly, I’m not versed enough in the medical field to comment on it one way or another. Vitor has looked fantastic lately, but it blows that we need to attach a “yeah, but…” to it. But, as every athlete’s favorite cliche phrase goes, it is what it is. As of now, it’s legal, and Vitor has finished two of the most unfinishable middleweights in the world, and I, personally, would love to see him get another crack at Silva sooner than later.
Contributor: Nolan Howell
-Vitor Belfort is like a fine wine. He just gets better wirh age. TRT or not, you can also see a shift in Vitor Belfort’s style. Gone is the boxing blitz, with him now adapting a more calculated shotokan karate attack. If he keeps this in mind when he gets his next shot, I wouldn’t mind seeing him fight for a belt once again. He has earned it either way.
-As for Luke Rockhold, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. He’ll probably maintain an Okami/Boetsch level of contendership, where he’ll float around the bottom of the top ten and get some surprising wins. Either way, no need to close the door on Rockhold just yet.
-Ronald “Jacare” Souza chomped on Chris Camozzi in a predictable bout. “Jacare” has some beautifully brutal grappling and it is going to keep him at the top of the division for quite awhile, especially considering his standup looks crisp as of late. He should move into a top contender’s bout soon. Camozzi is a tough dude and he’ll be back to be the top low-level gatekeeper soon enough. Kudos for stepping up to him.
-I scored the Evan Dunham vs. Rafael dos Anjos 29-28 for Dunham, giving him the last two rounds. Robbery seems to be the cry when any decision goes against your scorecard, but this was a razor-thin decision and brought one of the best fights of the night. Dos Anjos should expect a top-ten guy or big name next. Maybe Jim Miller or Melvin Guillard? Dunham should get another fun scrap to give him a win. Guys like Matt Wiman or Danny Castillo come to mind.
-The less said about Rafael Natal’s win, the better. Natal is his own worst enemy it seems and he won’t rise onto the main card anytime soon, hopefully.
-Nik Lentz brought it to Hacran Dias in a fight I enjoyed immensely. Lentz isn’t boring like most write him off as, as I always seem him working for position and strikes. Time for Lentz to get some top guys at 145. Dias put in a great fight and should be back on track in his next fight.
-Francisco Trinaldo sonned Mike Rio with an arm triangle from half card. It might be a big step up here, but I think Trinaldo would do some bad things to Melvin Guillard should he get past Mac Danzig. That sounds like a good fight.
-A Gleison Tibau submission win? Man, crazy stuff. Fuck getting guillotined by that brick house of a man. I wouldn’t mind seeing Tibau moving up a rung in his next fight.
-Paulo Thiago put on a lackluster performance against Michel Prazeres. The fight was fun, but Thiago showed that beating Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick could have been a nice streak of luck.
-Yuri Alcantara just brutalized a flyweight in Illarde Santos. I say give him a shot at Eddie Wineland and move that fight down the card a bit. May not make the most sense, but it’ll do in a pinch.
-Fabio Maldonado is just the best fighter to watch. Sure, he may be mediocre, but his body shots bring me a lot of joy. Nothing like some “boxing” in MMA.
-Speaking of sloppy boxing, John Lineker hits like a semi-truck and he’s more the size of a Tonka. This guy will be a fan favorite if you give him the spotlight. Unbelievable fun and he should be inching to a title shot soon.
-Jussier da Silva displayed grappling brilliance against a master scrambler in Chris Cariaso. Da Silva probably needs one more win against a fringe top-ten guy and then he can move up the ladder. Also, Cariaso is on a skid, but the guy brings a fight each time, so hopefully he has job security from Uncle Dana.
-The opener between Jeremy Larsen and Lucas Martins was ridiculously fun. It was something that belonged on Bellator prelims, but still, true grit displayed by both men. Larsen’s faceplant into the mat was a thing of beauty. I like Martins vs. Daron Cruickshank or some other fun striker next.
-Nolan can be reached @nolanhowell
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