10 Things I Like at UFC 268
Diving into the elements of Saturday night's dynamite fight card that get my excited
Saturday’s card is bonkers, and it’s the second bonkers card in as many weeks.
Eight days, four title fights, a bunch of dynamite pairings between ranked fighters, a host of promising emerging talents, and exciting fights from start to finish; it’s goddamn delightful and the kind of cornucopia of awesomeness that will carry me through the thinner cards on the horizon, though there are still a bunch of fights I’m looking forward to later this month as well.
The annual Madison Square Garden stop has become a major event on the UFC calendar, and after going thermonuclear for the first two shows — three title fights apiece, prelims featuring Frankie Edgar, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Vicente Luque, and Curtis Blaydes — I feel like the UFC has found a nice balance with the last three stops in NYC. They’re still big shows, featuring big fights, but it’s not Coachella for cage fighting where there are so many stars and title fights that things are all out of whack and dramatically reduced the rest of the way home.
More priority feels like it’s being put on showcasing young talent, emerging contenders, and being in New York City automatically brings more eyes and raises everyone’s energy levels.
The first four shows at “The Mecca” have all be terrific and I’m sure this one will be too.
Here’s the things I’m excited about when it comes to Saturday night’s fight card.
Multiple Potential Outcomes, All Terrific
The first fight between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington was an instant classic — a tense back-and-forth where the elite combatants ran level right up until the final two minutes of the fight, where Usman started pulling away and ultimately secured the finish.
Now they’re set to run it back on Saturday at MSG and no matter how this one shakes out, the outcome should be a positive one. Think about it:
If it plays out like Usman’s rematch with Jorge Masvidal earlier this year, Covington has to recede into the background, at least for a bit, and won’t be back in the title picture until Usman is dethroned or moves on, neither of which seem imminent
If we get a replica of the first fight, it means we’re getting another gem this weekend, and who’s going to complain about that?
If Covington wins, we’re getting a trilogy, and unless it’s a quick finish where Usman suddenly looks overmatched (highly unlikely), we’re getting a third great fight between two evenly matched, bitter rivals
There is always the potential that something janky happens and the outcome feels unsatisfying (eye poke, gruesome injury, illegal knee, etc.) but the greater likelihood is that we’re going to get two combatants at the peak of their powers, who match up incredibly well with one another, stepping in to settle their differences again, and it should be awesome.
Potential for Another Trilogy
The co-main event has a similar feel as Rose Namajunas defends the strawweight title against Zhang Weili in the second straight meeting between the two.
Namajunas won the title in April, blasting Zhang with a beautiful left head kick 78 seconds into the opening round, halting her 21-fight winning streak instantly. An immediate rematch didn’t necessarily feel like the only option — Carla Esparza is in position to challenge for the title and has history with Namajunas — but I’m not mad at it either, because I really want to see what a fight between these two looks like when it lasts more than 78 seconds… if it lasts more than 78 seconds.
No, I’m not saying Namajunas’ win earlier this year was a fluke — she’s a skilled, talented mixed martial artist who made a terrific read and landed a spectacular kick —but no two fights are exactly the same and the various different ways this rematch could play out intrigue me, as does the possibility of a third fight between the two should Zhang win the title back on Saturday.
Again, it would suck for Esparza, who has won five straight and done everything you could ask of a former champion to get back into the title conversation, but it would also make sense, regardless of how this one plays out.
These two championship fights are like Choose Your Own Adventure Fights where depending on how they play out, we’re flipping to a different page, with a different path forward, and as someone that loved those books as a kid, I’m loving these cage fighting versions even more.
Major Test for Marlon Vera
At each step up the divisional ladder, fighters usually get a couple chances to clear that one hurdle that keeps tripping them up. Each time they stumble, they take a small step back, regroup, and take another run at it, until they either clear said hurdle or it becomes clear that this is as far as they’re going to go.
Marlon Vera feels like he’s staring down a particularly tricky hurdle and potentially facing his last chance to clear it and move forward in the bantamweight division as he squares off with 40-year-old future Hall of Famer Frankie Edgar on Saturday night.
“Chito” arrives in New York off a good win over Davey Grant in June that brought his record to 2-2 over his last four fights. Even if you want to give him a win in his close battle with Song Yadong, he’s still 3-1 and that setback came the last time he faced this same hurdle last December, when he took on Jose Aldo.
Everyone was ready for Vera to climb into contention — he was coming off his win over Sean O’Malley, he’d been a tremendous story of development and drive, and he’s an affable, likeable dude, which makes him someone people instinctively root for, and beating Aldo seemed like a real possibility. Deadlocked after two rounds, the third would decide the outcome, and Vera stumbled right out of the gate, racing across the cage too recklessly, allowing Aldo to take his back and dominate the frame with his grappling. It was a careless mistake that cost him a victory, and illustrated to me that Vera might have reached his ceiling.
This fight with Edgar will either confirm my feeling or prove me wrong, unless “The Answer” comes out looking completely washed, which I don’t expect to happen. While he’s certainly lost a step, Edgar remains a quality measuring stick in the bantamweight division and the kind of skilled, savvy veteran that can make over-eager or unprepared youngsters pay for any mistakes they make inside the Octagon.
If Vera is to be a contender in the bantamweight division, he needs to this one; he can’t keep stumbling against these seasoned veterans that feel like mini-bosses you have to defeat in order to reach the point where you’re actually facing the big boss you have to get through to clear the level.
Shane Burgos is Fighting (And He’s Fighting Billy Quarantillo)
You put Shane Burgos on a fight card and I’m watching it.
You put Billy Quarantillo on a fight card and I’m watching that one too.
You put them in the Octagon together, against one another, and you have my full attention and complete support.
Both men have established themselves, individually, as action fighters incapable of being in anything less than an entertaining scrap each time they step into the cage. While the results haven’t always fallen their way, those fights were enjoyable to watch as well, and now they’re stepping in against one another on the main card of Saturday’s pay-per-view main card, in their shared home state, and it should be amazing.
Burgos is looking to snap out of a two-fight slide after landing on the wrong side of things in consecutive Fight of the Year candidates with Josh Emmett in June 2020 and Edson Barboza back in July, while Quarantillo is coming off a third-round stoppage win over tough veteran Gabriel Benitez. It may not carry immediate significance in the title chase at ‘45, but it’s a great scrap that does carry rankings implications (Burgos is currently No. 14) and should be thoroughly entertaining for as long as it lasts.
Slobberknocker to Start the Show
Buckle up, because Saturday’s main card is going to start with a bang, as lightweight contenders Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler have been repositioned to serve as the opening fight on this weekend’s pay-per-view.
I don’t feel like I need to spend a lot of time explaining why I like this fight or this decision — it’s Justin Freakin’ Gaethje against Michael Friggin’ Chandler, to open the show!
One thing I do want to touch on real quick though is Gaethje’s “title fight or we riot” comments from Wednesday’s Media Day Session:
He makes a great point — he’s No. 2 in the division, he won four straight between losing to Dustin Poirier and Khabib Nurmagomedov, and toppling Chandler should make him the top contender in the division and the one to face the winner of the upcoming title fight between Poirier and champ Charles Oliveira… but Islam Makhachev is right there and if you don’t think there is going to be a push to get that dude in there soon, you’re kidding yourself.
I’m not saying Makhachev deserves it more or anything like that — deserves isn’t a word we should use in discussing opportunities in combat sports — but the same way folks are making the “You could give Khamzat Chimaev a title shot now!” arguments without a lot of push-back, you make an even stronger case for Makhachev, who pushed his winning streak to nine with his third submission win of the year last week in Abu Dhabi.
Just saying.
But those are discussions and dilemmas for another day. Right now, all I’m thinking about is Gaethje and Chandler squaring off and beating the holy hell out of each other on Saturday night.
Fighter I Can’t Quit: Bobby “King” Green
I’ve always liked Bobby Green, and I became an all-time fan when a little under seven years ago when he paced back-and-forth in the Post Oak conference room at Horseshoe Bay Resort just outside of Austin, Texas, having an animated discussion about media and the way they present things with me, MMA Junkie’s John Morgan, and Houston radio man Nick Sharara.
Green’s story is both inspiring and heartbreaking, and though he’s came up short in his quest to be a contender in the lightweight division — he fought Edson Barboza that week in Austin, losing a unanimous decision that snapped his eight-fight winning streak and kicked off a 1-5-1 stretch — he’s remained a constant, entertaining presence in the 155-pound ranks for nearly a decade, and guys like that will always draw me in.
I’ve had the chance to speak with Green on a number of occasions (here’s one) since that unfiltered, extended media session in Austin, including asking him a few questions this week that shaped a piece that will run on the UFC website in the next day or two, combining those responses with things I already knew and details from the harrowing story told above in his Origins profile, to try and present why I think Green is someone everyone should be excited to see compete every time he steps into the Octagon.
Bobby Green is a beacon of strength that wants to have a positive impact on his community and the world at large, all while being unafraid to show is emotions, share his difficult story, and be vulnerable.
We could all stand to be a little more like Bobby Green, which is why I will always be excited to see him compete and never stop singing his praises.
Middleweight Hopeful Showcase
Two of the five bouts on Saturday’s televised prelims take place in the middleweight division and they feel like a showcase for a bunch of future contenders in the 185-pound weight class.
Phil Hawes has been on a very solid run since earning a UFC contract last September on the Contender Series, winning each of his first three appearances to extend his overall winning streak to seven and establish himself as a dark horse in the division. This weekend, he squares off with Chris Curtis, a natural welterweight who volunteered for this assignment a few weeks back when Hawes’ original opponent, Deron Winn, was forced to withdraw at the 11th hour. Hawes ultimately declined the fight that week, but they’ll face off Saturday, and a win should put “Megatron” in the Top 15.
Curtis has a cool story himself, one that I am proud to have gotten to tell in the profile below, but his future is at welterweight; this was a foot in the door opportunity he couldn’t pass up, and I’m sure I’ll speak more about him after this one, when he returns to his natural surroundings in the 170-pound weight class.
Before Hawes and Curtis hit the cage, Edmen Shahbazyan looks to snap a two-fight slide and get back that “Next Big Thing” title when he takes on Nassourdine Imavov, who battled Hawes to a majority decision loss earlier this year before collecting a second-round stoppage win over Ian Heinisch last time out.
Shahbazyan was a rising star in the division prior to venturing in against Top 10 stalwarts Derek Brunson and Jack Hermansson, each of whom dominated the Contender Series graduate (Class of ‘18). The interesting wrinkle to this fight, for me, is that two years ago at Madison Square Garden is where Shahbazyan got the biggest win of his career, a first-round head kick finish of tough veteran Brad Tavares, and now he could be the more established guy that a different emerging threat topples in order to advance his career.
Imavov is a tremendously interesting fighter to me as he has excellent striking and comes from a great camp, Paris’ MMA Factory, where Fernand Lopez seems to have a supply of elite prospects with major upside. There are some things he needs to continue working on, primarily his defensive wrestling and get-ups once he does get taken down, but that shouldn’t be a major concern here as Shahbazyan is unlike to expend his energy grappling.
Regardless of who emerges victorious on Saturday, the winners should be viewed as the top new-ish names in the middleweight ranks and considered for dates with ranked opponents next time out. Middleweight is one of those divisions where a couple quality wins can put you in the thick of the title chase, and I genuinely believe that we could see one, if not two, of these athletes residing in the Top 10 and closing in on the Top 5 at this time next year.
The Future is Now
Sorry, but I had to — it’s just too obvious to pass up.
Like countless others, I’m pumped to see Ian Garry make his promotional debut this weekend opposite Jordan Williams. I think he’s an incredible prospect that has aligned himself with a terrific camp (Sanford MMA), and, provided everything goes right this weekend, believe he’ll get an expedited push in the welterweight division because the whole of Ireland is behind him and he has the upside to merit getting a rocket strapped to his back.
What I really want to see is how Garry handles this moment — being one of the most talked about competitors on a card of this magnitude, walking out and competing at MSG, entering a fight where he’s expected to dominate, dealing with the aftermath of his performance, regardless of what it is — because those things will tell me a lot about how far he could possibly take this and how quickly he can make that climb.
I Want to Know More About… Melsik Baghdasaryan
As I mentioned yesterday, I don’t have a very good read on Melsik Baghdasaryan, who takes on newcomer Bruno Souza on Saturday in his second UFC appearance.
The Contender Series vet, who didn’t earn a contract, but got the call to the Octagon nonetheless without another fight in between, looked outstanding in his debut win over Collin Anglin earlier this year, showcasing tremendous speed and proficient striking in getting the Contender Series graduate (Class of ‘20) out of there in the second round. But prior to that, Baghdasaryan had earned five straight wins over opponents with a combined 11-9 record, including a pair of debuting fighters, needing no more than 32 seconds to dispatch the first four of those opponents, which never feels real to me.
I watched his Contender Series fight with Dennis Buzukja, who is a solid, but unspectacular prospect out of Longo and Weidman MMA, and he struggled once it got beyond the opening stanza. He clearly addressed those issues and looked outstanding against Anglin, but I need to see more because at this point, I don’t know what to make of Anglin as a fighter either.
This clash with Souza should provide a little more clarity, as the 25-year-old enters on a 10-fight winning streak and having claimed the vacant LFA featherweight strap last time out. If he looks just as good here as he did in his debut, I’ll be ready to buy into Baghdasaryan a little more, but for now, I’m still unsure, which is why I’m looking forward to seeing him return this weekend.
Fun Flyweight Opener
Business gets underway in the flyweight division on Saturday with what should be an entertaining scrap between Contender Series graduates C.J. Vergara (Class of ‘21) and Ode’ Osbourne (Class of ‘19).
Osbourne hasn’t been out of the first round in three UFC appearances, getting submitted by Brian Kelleher in his debut at bantamweight before waxing Jerome Rivera in his flyweight debut earlier this year. He followed that up by landing on the receiving end of a Manel Kape flying knee finish, which gave him eight straight fights overall that lasted less than five minutes.
Vergara pulled off one of the bigger upsets from the recently completed fifth season of the Contender Series, blitzing and blasting TUF alum Bruno Korea in 41 seconds to push his winning streak to five and his record to 9-2-1 overall. Trained by UFC vet Pete Spratt, the Houston native has finished all five fights during his current run of success, and feels to me like the kind of diminutive powerhouse that could provide a jolt of electricity to the already consistently entertaining flyweight division going forward.
There is a very strong chance that someone gets finished in this one and that it doesn’t escape the first round, which sounds like a great way to kick off an evening of action inside the Octagon to me.
As an Irishman, I'm very much looking forward to Garry debuting! He's not that big of a name here yet but I imagine that'll change soon.