Contributor: Ben Kohn
So last night was….well it happened and was ok I guess. Was incredibly slow paced but there were definitely some good fights mixed in with the meh and stinker fights. Overall, last night made one thing clear to everyone if you hadn’t realized it until now; the overall quality of the term “UFC caliber fighter” does not mean what it used too. The burgeoning roster and watered down number of cards makes it necessary to have these guys on the prelims and free MMA is nice and all but it really is to be expected at this point. With the UFC expanding so much and putting out this many cards, the quality of fighters and fights turned in by them will fall for a while. I think it’s a growing pain that is necessary for the sport to expand around the world and eventually, as the sport grows, fighter quality will rise and the fight cards will get better. Now on to the actual fight card to discuss the good, the bad, and the Osiris Maia.
Machida and Mousasi put on a 5 round display of technical mastery that I thoroughly enjoyed. I understand that kind of fight may not be everyone’s cup of tea but there were most definitely some portions of the fight with fast paced, yet technical, action. Machida looked absolutely fantastic in every aspect of the fight and, at 35 years of age, looks better physically than he ever has before. Despite the constant motion of his fight style, he did not slow down at all and his cardio was just fantastic. Mousasi put up a great fight but he was a step behind at every point in the fight and that upkick was just a mental error of ridiculous proportions. I do think he should have had a point taken because A) he’s done it before, B) Machida was clearly on a knee, C) Mousasi has already been fighting under rule sets not allowing upkicks for the past few years already. Machida and Jacare are now the two best contenders and I think Machida may get it over Jacare because of his name value. Machida vs. Weidman is something I would love to see.
Jacare Souza completely dominated the positional grappling last night and won a clear decision over Carmont who put up a much better fight than I expected. Jacare had some issues closing the distance on the feet and Carmont displayed good takedown defense but honestly, Jacare proved Carmont is not good enough to compete against the top 5 of the division. With Carmont’s style of fighting, his chance at a title shot is pretty much gone as he isn’t exactly young at 32. He would need another long streak to get another chance like he had last night. Jacare’s performance may not get him a title shot but he’s at most one win away. Jacare will probably be matched up with the Rockhold vs. Boetsch winner (so Rockhold).
Erick Silva beat the fuck out of Takonori Sato in one of the flashiest and most brutal beatdowns I’ve seen in a while. Sato had no business being in the cage with Silva and Silva did what he needed to do to keep his hype train alive. Silva is clearly an extremely talented athlete with a propensity for beautiful displays of violence. However, he’s 30 years old and he needs to get moving if he wants to make waves at the top of the division. I honestly think he should face off against Ildemar Alcantara who’s tough, not too big a challenge, and will test Erick Silva’s cardio with his pressuring style.
Nicholas Musoke had an ok fight with Viscardi Andrade that really should not have been on the main card. Musoke was dropped early but came back to take a clear decision over a gassed Andrade. Not much else to say about this one. I don’t care who they face next.
Charles Oliveira showed off some slick BJJ but also had a much harder time against Andy Ogle than a prospect of his level should have. Ogle is extremely tough but I think people just expect more out of Oliveira than he is displaying. He still has the holes in his game that will give him trouble against the top guys in the division. He’s too content to fight off of his back, his defense is still porous, and his timing and distance control are still not up to par. He needs to be put in the cage with someone around his level and I truly hope they don’t throw him to the wolves anytime soon. A matchup with Felipe Arantes seems like a good matchup to me.
I am going to skip most of the prelim card because I don’t wanna remember it.
Iuri Alcantara and Wilson Reis put on one hell of an entertaining scrap that had some seriously awesome grappling and scrambling exchanges and fun back and forth striking. Alcantara definitely won the decision by hurting Reis more on the feet and, with the grappling mostly even, got a well-earned decision. I’d like to see him be brought up more slowly and maybe have him face someone like Darren Elkins. Alcantara’s takedown defense is just bad and he needs to shore it up. Elkins can test it and it’s still a winnable fight for Alcantara.
Arantes and Blanco put on a fun scrap as well and although there was nothing noteworthy about the fight itself, Blanco landed the hardest groin kick I’ve seen in my life in a fight. Seriously, my balls hurt just fucking watching and hearing the smack of the foot on his cup. The fact that after the fight Arantes had to lay down from the pain is really an indicator of how bad that kick hurt and testament to how tough Arantes is. Blanco is extremely athletic and honestly has tons of talent but his fight IQ is abysmal and he will not be around much longer I’m afraid.
The bigger Alcantara, Ildemar, won a split decision over the young prospect Albert Tumenov. Tumenov displayed some really good striking and excellent ground and pound from the guard. However, his game of his back is what cost him as he was horrible off his back. It’s a damn shame because I did have him winning the fight but at the upper level of competition, without any sort of guard game, you can’t really survive and he needs to get some good BJJ training in to shore up his defensive game.
-Ben can be reached at [email protected] or @agentbenten.
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