10 Things I Like at UFC Vegas 41
From a catchweight main event to a bunch of emerging talents getting solid real estate to work with, Saturday's fight card has plenty to enjoy
It’s been a weird start to Fight Week, what with Paulo Costa turning up yesterday and being all, “Yeah, I’m not making ‘85,” then pulling the classic terrible manipulator move of putting the onus for the main event continuing on his opponent, Marvin Vettori, who had done nothing wrong, and a whole bunch of people wanting to argue about what a ridiculous, unprofessional move this is by Costa as if everyone’s favorite anti-hero Nick Diaz didn’t pull the exact same shit less than a month ago before his fight with Robbie Lawler.
I know — it’s different when Nick does it because no one expects him to be professional and it’s charming and funny and blah blah blah blah blah…
Anyway, here’s a look at the things I really like about this weekend’s event.
Normalizing Catchweight Fights
As much as what Costa did on Wednesday was bullshit — and made worse by his insistence that his future remains at middleweight and he’s happy to fight at 195 pounds — I think we can all agree that normalizing catchweight fights is a good thing overall.
The UFC started doing it a little more over the last couple years as the pandemic played havoc with pre-set lineups and created a bunch of short-notice opportunities, but I actually think doing a few more scheduled, agreed to in advance catchweight bouts isn’t the end of the world, especially if you’ve got a few athletes that are tweeners who are out of the mix or stuck in limbo in their respective divisions.
Rich Franklin fought three of his last six UFC fights at a catchweight and I would wager that no one batted an eye when they were announced. He was out of contention and happy to step in with Wanderlei Silva (twice) and Vitor Belfort a little north of middleweight. Everyone was a little healthier because they weren’t shedding unnecessary weight, the fights were still very entertaining, and it didn’t have any kind of negative impact on the middleweight division or any of the fighters going forward.
It was wins all around and the UFC should do more of it.
Weight cutting and the expansion of divisions are two major topics that deserve deeper exploration in the future, but for now, let’s continue to normalize catchweight fights and keeping working to find better long-term solutions to the two tangential challenges as we do.
Grant Dawson’s Next Test
I’ve written quite a bit about Dawson already this week — Fighter to Watch, One Question — so I’ll keep this one brief and just say that I love seeing emerging talents like him continually taking these difficult, dangerous fights against tough, but unheralded opponents like Ricky Glenn as they’re working their way up the ladder because these are the fights where you really earn your stripes and learn some things about yourself.
Dawson has navigated some rough stops through his first five UFC appearances and will likely encounter more on Saturday, and to me, that is far more valuable long-term than going out there and blowing guys out repeatedly like we’ve seen from someone like Sean O’Malley. Developmentally, it’s better (IMO) for prospects to face challenges on the way up, rather than cruise and encounter rough patches for the first time when the spotlight is brightest and expectations are sky high, because problem solving and staying patient and focused are two major keys to being successful, especially at the highest level, and you can’t develop those skills if you’re never put in those positions.
Now, there are rare cases where athletes are just preternaturally gifted and they’re going to cruise through just about anybody — Jon Jones is a perfect example — but most competitors need to navigate those rough waters and learn how to stay afloat, and I like that Dawson is continually doing that as he works his way forward in the division.
Fighter I Can’t Quit: Jessica-Rose Clark
The self-described “Aussie Hooligan” has been a personal favorite since I saw her make her Invicta FC debut against Pannie Kianzad in July 2015. She lost and looked to be fighting in the wrong division, but she was scrappy, and I have always identified with feisty underdogs that have to work a little harder than others in order to have some level of success.
Six years and several fights later, Clark is set to return for the first time in over a year in a clash with Joselyne Edwards on Saturday’s main card, and I’m hyped — not just because a fighter I can’t quit is stepping back into the Octagon, but also because the 33-year-old looked terrific in her last outing and I think it was a harbinger of things to come.
While she looked undersized against Kianzad the first time around (and still a little the second time around), Clark has transformed her body over the last couple years to fit life in the bantamweight division, and along with continued skill development and a little more experience, it has made her an intriguing figure in the 135-pound weight class — a veteran that is still improving and finally putting it all together, who still carries the intangible pieces like grit and toughness and heart that you just can’t teach.
Coming off an ACL repair and a year on the sidelines is challenging, which is why I’m glad Clark isn’t getting thrown into the deep end of the talent pool this weekend. Edwards is 1-1 in the UFC, has solid striking, a long jab, and will be a good test for the returning veteran, but it’s also a fight where if my read on Clark is correct, she should be able to turn in another strong performance.
Go back and watch her fight with Sarah Alpar from last September and tell me you’re not intrigued to see what that version of Jessica-Rose Clark can do for an encore this weekend.
Alex Caceres’ Development and Growth
When Caceres makes the walk on Saturday night to face Seungwoo Choi, he’ll become the 31st competitor in UFC history to log 25 or more appearances inside the Octagon. That’s a major accomplishment and one that feels even greater for the TUF 12 alum who, for a long time, felt like he was one enigmatic effort away from being handed his walking papers.
Remember, this is a guy that started his UFC career with one win in his first four appearances, when he was in his early 20s, and at a point where you could very easily justify kicking him back to Triple A for some additional seasoning because it was clear he wasn’t going to stick on the major league roster. Even after he’d been in the UFC for four, five, six years, there were points where it felt like Caceres was still on the brink of being let go, like when he went 2-4 during a six-fight stretch that started with a loss to Yair Rodriguez and ended with a first-round submission loss to Kron Gracie.
But since then, the now 33-year-old veteran has dialled things in, doing a much better job of utilizing his length and diverse skill set while avoiding the careless mistakes and unnecessary risks that became his calling card earlier in his career, when he was young and wild and free.
It’s the kind of thing that often gets lost in discussing fighters of his vintage because we’ve watched them compete so many times that we’re all a little conditioned to seeing what we expect to see and thinking they’re the same fighter as they’ve always been, but it’s clear watching Caceres over the last couple years that he’s made adjustments, that he’s continued developing and growing as a fighter, even thought he’s a tenured member of the UFC roster.
He’s not someone that has just settled into a comfortable role in the division and continued to focus only on what he’s always done well or just maintaining; he’s gotten better, he’s become a more patient, more calculating fighter, and he deserves a great deal of praise for that.
Junyong Park Having a Moment
I am always going to be here for unheralded fighters putting together tidy, under-the-radar winning streaks that only pique my interest, and Junyong Park is one of those fighters.
“The Iron Turtle” enters Saturday’s bout with Gregory Rodrigues on a three-fight winning streak, most recently earning a wonky majority decision win over Tafon Nchukwi that should have been a unanimous decision, but Tony Weeks had to go and give Nchukwi the first and second round for who knows what reason, standing as the only person that scored the fight that didn’t feel it was at the worst a 29-26 victory for Park.
You know you’ve screwed up when literally no one else saw the fight the way you did.
As I mentioned yesterday, middleweight is one of those divisions where a four-fight winning streak can set you up with a date opposite a fighter in the lower third of the Top 15, at which point, everyone that wasn’t paying attention to you before then has to start paying attention to you, because a win there put you in the Top 10 and it’s hard to ignore a five-fight winning streak in the UFC, though some are doing that with Dawson, but I digress.
Park has shown a little bit of everything over this three-fight winning streak — decent hands, solid wrestling, good conditioning — and if he keeps taking little steps forward, making incremental gains each time out, he’ll continue doing the same in the division, and I dunno, isn’t that’s kind of the point of all of this?
Fighters like Park should get a chance to shine and should get more attention than they do, especially when they’re stationed on cards like this, but unfortunately, too many folks would rather dismiss these events than do the work it takes to recognize the intriguing talents and developing stories cards like this always contain.
I Want to Know More About… David Onama
I respect the hell out of what James Krause and the crew at Glory MMA & Fitness have built, so when they all say their guy David Onama is someone to watch and going to be a problem once he gets to the UFC, I’m taking note.
Now that he’s in the UFC, I’m super-intrigued to see what the undefeated finisher can do in his short-notice, all-upside pairing with Mason Jones on Saturday.
The 27-year-old from Uganda is 8-0 with eight finishes, six of which have come in the first round. This unbeaten run as a pro has come after an undefeated run as an amateur, where Onama went 10-0, and while the level of talent he’s faced to this point is far from stellar, the key thing is that he’s handled his business each time out and done so emphatically.
Remember earlier how I said I like seeing prospects face tough tests on their way up the divisional ladder? Well on the regional circuit, I like someone that is blasting through the competition, because it tells me they’re on a different level and due for a real step up in competition, even if they’re fighting in a Double A organization like Onama has been to this point in his career.
Note: I’ll lay out my Double A / Triple A analogy one of these days, but basically, I’m trying to get away from using “regional circuit” because that’s not always correct, and this is the way that makes the most sense to me.
Jones is a solid prospect who has had some tough luck to start his UFC career, but is a major step up in competition for Onama, which means this is a terrific opportunity to get an initial read on the newcomer and establish a baseline for where he fits within the lightweight division. This is a perfect card for him too, as several of his teammates are also competing this weekend, which means there will be a massive contingent from the Missouri fight camp in Las Vegas, which should help keep the debuting prospect a little more at ease before he makes the walk for the first time.
This is the first short-notice replacement I’ve been really keen on seeing in quite some time, and I’m really excited to see what Onama brings to the table this weekend.
The Chance for Pickett Synergy
I’ll be the first to acknowledge that there are dorky things that I think are cool that most others would only think are dorky, and I feel like this is probably one of those things, but here goes:
Jamie Pickett needed three chances to earn a contract on the Contender Series, and this weekend, he’s heading into his third UFC fight still looking for his first win, and something about the synergistic possibilities of it all really make me smile.
Maybe it’s because I talked to Pickett about it and we had a good laugh about being in this familiar position again, but I also think it’s just an interesting little wrinkle in a fight that few people are paying attention to and one of those unique stories that exists amidst a whole lot of sameness, and I’m really curious to see how it ends.
Laureano Staropoli is on a three-fight skid and the bout was supposed to take place a couple weeks back before one of Pickett’s coaches tested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was pushed back, so both guys are likely champing at the bit to get in there and shake out of their respective funks, which means we should get a banger from these two struggling middleweights in the middle of Saturday’s prelims.
Jeff Molina’s Sophomore Appearance
Jeff Molina is one of those young fighters that I’m excited to have seen on the Contender Series because from that moment on, I knew I was grabbing a seat on his bandwagon and going to be happy to have done so because I think he has the potential to be a special talent in the future.
I get some Max Holloway vibes from “El Jefe” in terms of the way he carries himself in the cage, the way he deploys his weapons, and the toughness and tenacity he’s already exhibiting at a young age. He had every reason to fold or continue running level with Aoriqileng in their joint promotional debuts earlier this year, but instead, Molina came out in the third and grabbed hold of the fight, cranking up his activity, his intensity, and his pressure to win the fight going away, which is something you don’t always see from young, relatively inexperienced competitors.
You can tell a lot about a fighter by how they respond in those close battles and tough moments, and Molina rose to the occasion, and now I’m pumped to see him back in action for a second time this weekend.
This pairing with Daniel Lacerda isn’t one that is drawing a lot of attention or going to vault Molina into the Top 15 with a victory, but it’s another chance to see what the Glory MMA & Fitness representative can do in the Octagon, to see what kind of improvements he’s made since his debut, and to watch a high volume, highly entertaining fighter do work again, and honestly, that’s really all I’m looking for in a preliminary card fight.
Souza, Markos Backed into a Corner
A couple years ago, if you told me Livinha Souza and Randa Markos were set to square off against one another, I would have assumed it was in a battle to determine which one took another step forward in the strawweight division, with each of them entering off a couple solid victories and stationed in the lower third of the Top 15.
Instead, the veterans clash on Saturday in what feels like a “Loser Leaves Town” match between a pair of struggling talents looking to get right.
Souza has a winning record since matriculating to the UFC (she’s 3-2) but is coming off a first-round knockout loss where she looked listless in the cage. We haven't see any of the swagger that made her such a loveable, intriguing talent during her impressive run under the Invicta FC banner, and while she might not get sent packing with a loss, this still feels like a “You’ve got to show me something” kind of fight for the Brazilian.
Markos is really up against it though, entering on a four-fight slide with a 3-6-1 record over her last 10 fights, and sporting a 6-10-1 record in the UFC. Last time out, she got disqualified after kicking Luana Pinheiro in the face while she was downed, and despite having fought a tough slate throughout her UFC run, the Canadian veteran desperately needs a victory on Saturday.
This should, win theory, mean we get an engaging, high-output, high-energy fight from these two this weekend, but counting on that from Souza feels like a reach, though at least Markos has always been aggressive, sometimes to her own detriment.
I like fights like this because I like seeing how competitors respond when they’re in this position.
Another Early Start
One of the smartest things the UFC has done over the last month and will continue doing for the rest of the year is tacking an early start time on to all the non-PPV events.
Saturday’s prelims start at 10am out here on the West Coast, with the main card starting at 1pm, which means everything should be wrapped up and put to rest by 5pm at the absolute latest, and that’s beautiful to me. I’m an early morning guy, which means I can get up, get a couple things done before the fights start, and then settle in with a cup of coffee while my wife enjoys a slow morning, and then I’m done working by dinner time, affording me the opportunity to sit out on my deck with a fire and a bottle of wine long before the usual time I tend to emerge from my office on a typical Saturday night.
To once again paraphrase the immortal Frank Ricard, that sounds like a nice little Saturday to me.