10 Things I Learned: UFC Fight Island 7
Reviewing the talking points and takeaways from the first UFC event of 2021
Max Holloway Makes a Loud, Vicious Statement
Max Holloway turned in the kind of performance on Saturday designed to show everyone that he’s still — at worst — the 1B in a two-horse race at be the top featherweight fighter on the planet.
From the outset, “Blessed” brought the fight to Calvin Kattar, attacking the talented contender with insane volume and pace, suffocating him with strikes and battering him with big shots that made it increasingly difficult to believe that Kattar was still standing. Beginning in the second and continuing throughout the rest of the fight, the former champion went to work on the Methuen, Massachusetts native, busting him up with elbows and crushing his body with a steady diet of punches and kicks that left Kattar gasping for air in the corner between rounds.
Though he landed on the wrong side of the results both times, Holloway believed he won each of his bouts with Alexander Volkanovski, and fought like a man who had a point to prove, showing increased ferocity and brashness. Late in the fights, he straight up told the commentary team, “I’m the best boxer in the division” and “the freshman came to fight” between popping Kattar with clean punches and slipping the shots coming back his way, referencing statements featured in the pre-fight production packages.
This wasn’t just a strong decision win — it was one of the best individual performances I’ve seen inside the Octagon, and it puts Holloway in a position to have some massive fights in 2021, especially if there is a change atop the featherweight division.
I honestly can’t fully put that performance into words right now; it was that goddamn impressive.
Calvin Kattar is Otherworldly Tough
I have no idea how this dude didn’t fall over a half-dozen times or more during that onslaught, yet alone how he constantly found a way to fire back, but if you ever questioned the toughness and viability of Calvin Kattar as a Top 5 featherweight, those questions have been answered now.
Kattar got whooped — the scores were 50-42, 50-43, and 50-43 — but at no point did he look like a guy that wanted out.
He could have fallen to the canvas and covered up during any number of the barrages Holloway uncorked or he could have told his head coach Tyson Chartier to wave it of during one of his all-too-brief trips to the corner between five-minute torture sessions, but through it all, the 32-year-old continued to march back to the center of the Octagon, take the punishment being directed his way, and try his damnedest to land something sharp in return.
As much as this was a blistering performance that returns Holloway to the spotlight and sets him up for big things in the year ahead, Kattar doesn’t lose any ground as a result of a fight like that, and should remain in the Top 5 mix in the featherweight division going forward.
What a gutsy, gutsy effort from “The Unkillable” Calvin Kattar.
Carlos Condit: Still Standing, Still Competing
More than seven years after they were first contracted to fight, Carlos Condit and Matt Brown finally shared the Octagon on Saturday in Abu Dhabi, and after a gruelling, entertaining, 15-minute affair, “The Natural Born Killer” came away with a unanimous decision victory in the clash of veteran welterweight veterans.
After enduring a five-fight losing streak that had many wondering if his days of competing on the biggest stage in the sport were coming to an end, Condit has now earned two victories in four months to show that he still has plenty left to offer.
Saturday night, the former interim champ and WEC titleholder tapped into his grappling skills, hitting a slick takedown midway through the second and salting away the victory with quality control time in the third, reminding everyone that he’s not just a striker. It’s a savvy shift in approach we see many veteran competitors make in the latter stages of their career, as it plays against expectations and potentially minimizes the amount of damage they take, and Condit showed he can use his wrestling skills and grappling acumen to his advantage when needed.
Now, Condit is 36, closing in on 37, and has been through a ton of battles, so a return to championship contention is probably not in the cards, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a ton of really entertaining options out there for the Albuquerque native and fight fans to enjoy.
Condit versus Vicente Luque? A date with Niko Price? Miguel Baeza? One of the up-and-comers in the division like Sean Brady?
Sign me up for any of them.
Li Jingliang Shines Against Santiago Ponzinibbio
Li Jingliang welcomed Santiago Ponzinibbio back to the Octagon after a brutal two-year ordeal with infections and injuries in the most impolite way possible:
The China Top Team representative is the longest tenured Chinese fighter on the UFC roster and has shown tremendous growth over the course of his career, with Saturday’s victory pushing the 32-year-old’s record to 8-2 over his last 10 fights and dropping him on the fringes of Top 15.
Ponzinibbio was streaking prior to dealing with myriad medical issues over the last two years, having won his previous seven fights to climb into title contention, but the layoff clearly impacted his effort in Abu Dhabi. He was both pressing too hard and not quite as sharp as normal, and Jingliang made him pay a serious price as a result.
I know MMA Math isn’t a real thing and do not advocate doing the whole “X beat Y, and Y beat Z, so X would beat Z” gymnastics, but I do believe you can extrapolate information about the performance and skills of one athlete from the efforts of those they’ve fought along the way.
In this case, Jingliang’s tremendous showing should definitely further illuminate how solid, how technical Neil Magny is inside the Octagon, because 10 months ago, the Elevation Fight Team member completely boxed-up “The Leech.”
This Sport Remains Wildly Entertaining and Wholly Unpredictable
Few fighters has a better final quarter of 2020 than Joaquin Buckley, who went viral courtesy of his knockout win over Impa Kasanganay, then followed it up with a second-round finish over Jordan Wright to close out his rookie campaign in the UFC on a two-fight winning streak.
He entered Saturday’s main card assignment against Alessio Di Chirico as one of the biggest favorites on the card, as the Italian was on a three-fight slide, so of course this happened:
The unpredictability and genuine importance of every single fight are two of my favorite things about this wonderful, chaotic sport, and even though surprise performances like this don’t help me in my quest to get 70/100 fight predictions right over the course of the year, I’ll happily take the losses if it means getting legitimate “catch everyone off-guard” moments like this.
One more thing: I totally respect di Chirico’s comments to Jon Anik post-fight as well, where he declined to do an interview because he disagrees with only the victor getting a chance to speak following each fight. Now, the UFC is a promotion and one person just scored a victory to garner or increase their momentum, which is why they get interviewed, but I appreciate what he was saying nonetheless.
Blistering Start to 2021 for Punahele Soriano
A clash of undefeated Contender Series alums kicked off the first main card of 2021 and Punahele Soriano made the absolute most of the opportunity, bouncing Dusko Todorovic from the ranks fo the unbeaten in less than five minutes.
Early on, Soriano had a tough time finding Todorovic, who slipped away from the looping, power punches being offered by the Hawaiian. But Soriano adjusted mid-fight, continuing to press forward while straightening out his power left hand, which found a home multiple times over the second half of the opening round, ultimately resulting in the stoppage.
This was a breakout effort for the 28-year-old Xtreme Couture product and even more impressive given that it came after a year on the sidelines for Soriano.
The middleweight division is wide open at the moment and a performance like this will go a long way to helping Soriano make headway in the 185-pound ranks and establish himself as one of the top emerging talents in the division.
Carlos Felipe: Future “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” Victim?
Brazilian heavyweight Carlos Felipe scored his second straight UFC victory on Saturday, landing on the happy side of a split decision verdict opposite Justin Tafa in a tremendously entertaining scrap between a pair of big fellas who literally stood head-to-head trading shots in the center of the Octagon at various points throughout the contest.
As much as Felipe has clear, obvious potential — he’s 26 years old, 10-1 as a pro, has a good chin, and solid striking — he feels like a dude that is going to end up in a UFC version of the Chappelle’s Show series “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” in the future.
The confident Felipe conducts himself like he’s one of the best heavyweights in the world whenever he’s inside the Octagon — he shrugs off strikes that land clean, talks to his opponents non-stop, and generally operates like the guy standing across from him has no business being in the cage with him, even when they’re locked in a close scrap like he was with Tafa.
Being confident is important, but with Felipe, it feels like it is going to prove costly at some point because one of these big fellas he’s under-estimating and taking lightly is going to light him up with a clean shot while he’s bumping his gums and calling them in and it’s going to be glorious in a karmic sense.
The 26-year-old has shown promise and could eventually develop into a Top 10 fighter, but he thinks he’s there already and that feels like a recipe for disaster.
David Zawada is a terrific pain in the ass
As much as records and results are important, there are some instances where wins and losses shouldn’t be the only measure of a fighters’ value to the promotion.
David Zawada is a perfect example of this.
The 30-year-old German dropped his third fight in four appearances in the Octagon on Saturday, landing on the short side of a split decision against Ramazan Emeev in a thoroughly entertaining, spirited affair that legitimately could have been scored for either man. Midway through the contest, I tweeted out that Zawada is a perfect “pain in the ass” in the middle of the division and I stand by that assessment.
Zawada is a tough out and brings the best out of his opponents every single time, and fighters like that are critical pieces of each division. He’s faced solid competition throughout his UFC run, lost a pair of split decisions against solid, veteran competitors, and flashed his skills in quickly submitting Abubakar Nurmagomedov in his lone victory inside the Octagon.
I completely understand why we pay so much attention to records and results, but guys like Zawada illustrate that they shouldn’t be the only metric we use to judge competitors and I truly hope that he continues to get opportunities at this level because he’s a very good fighter and exactly the type of pain in the ass you need populating each division.
Austin Lingo is still a prospect to track
Fortis MMA product Austin Lingo made his second UFC appearance in Saturday’s opener, registering a unanimous decision win over Jacob Kilburn, showcasing the slick hands that helped him climb the ranks quickly prior to arriving in the Octagon.
He struggled in his debut against Youssef Zalal, but showed tremendous improvements here, looking far more comfortable in the cage, fluid with his hands, and patient with his attacks, picking apart Kilburn rather than trying to land big shots that got things done quickly. To his credit, Kilburn took everything Lingo threw his way, remained upright and offered what he could in return, but it was largely one-way traffic en route to the cards.
I didn’t include Lingo in my list of prospects to watch in the featherweight ranks because that first outing was so rough and the division is deep on talent, but this effort shows there is still upside there, especially as he continues to work on his conditioning and get more and more comfortable fighting at this level.
Lingo works with an outstanding crew in Dallas and given time, he could become an all-action fixture in the middle of the division.
Dan Hardy Needs More Work in 2021
The biggest overall takeaway from the broadcast for me was that Dan Hardy needs to be featured on more events in 2021.
I’ve always been a fan of “The Outlaw” as an analyst — he’s smart and studied, analytical without being over-bearing, and rarely gets elevated on the mic, which is a massive positive to me — and Saturday, the former welterweight title challenger delivered an on-point performance full of quality insights, quick wit, and quality references that should earn him more frequent assignments in the year ahead.
The line about Buckley freezing up like he was “liking in the eyes of Medusa” when di Chirico kicked him in the head was choice, and his recall of events, matchups, and fight details on the fly are the kinds of things I value most about an analyst because not only does it show he’s done his homework and studied the history books, but it provides a familiar frame of reference to what is transpiring live in the cage.
Hardy needs to be on at least one fight card a month — he’s that good and it provides a nice alternative to the usual compliment of American analysts featured on these events.