10 Things I Like at UFC Vegas 48
Despite all the changes and downer vibes surrounding this card, there are still a bunch of things I really enjoy about Saturday's fight card
There are a lot of people that are going to skip this card — you know it, I know it, all of MMA Twitter knows it, and so I just want to state it up front be
Jamahal Hill’s Next Test
Coming off a 48-second win and brandishing a bunch of upside, this is the exact right next step for Jamahal Hill.
As much as I don’t really love that Johnny Walker is the dance partner of choice because I’m not sure why Johnny Walker is getting an opportunity like this, but after running through Jimmy Crute to close out last year, Hill merits a step up in competition and a chance to face someone stationed ahead of him in the rankings. Walker fits the bill and we’ll find out whether it was a good decision or not this weekend.
While I’m not as high on Hill as my guy Sean Sheehan, who believes he’s going to be champion one day, I have to admit his vicious finish of Crute got my attention. As much as the Australian is a “kill or be killed” type, getting him out of there in under a minute takes that to an entirely different level, and with a long reach, quick hands, and that kind of power, I certainly want to see if Hill can go out here on Saturday and put it on Walker.
One of the reasons I’m not as high on Hill as Sean or others that carry his same belief is that he didn’t exactly fight a challenging slate on his way to the UFC, and so I just wonder how he’s going to fare when he gets in there with the established set in the light heavyweight division. Beating Walker would be one thing, but then there are the Anthony Smiths of the world to contend with before you get to title contention, and then there is the championship set after that.
This is Hill’s opportunity to take another step down that road and up the divisional ladder, and I’m excited to see how it goes.
Kyle Daukaus Actually Gets to Fight
I spoke to Kyle Daukaus in mid-October when he was readying to face Kevin Holland for a second time. Since then, the Philadelphia middleweight has been scheduled to face three different opponents in two different fights, the last of which is this weekend’s catchweight bout with Jamie Pickett. (Knocks on wood to avoid jinxing the fight)
I like him. He’s pretty level-headed and self-aware, which are two qualities you don’t always find with fighters. He follows Brian Cain’s “Next 200 Feet” approach, which basically says if you’re driving in the middle of the night, it’s foggy out, and you’ve got your lights on, all you can see if the next 200 feet in front of you, and that’s what you should focus on every single day.
After a miserable year in 2021, I’m eager to see what the younger half of the Fighting Daukaus Brothers does on Saturday, because he was looking good in the fight with Holland prior to the head butt, and I think it could have been his breakout moment. Lots of people would have turned it into a “What’s wrong with Kevin Holland?” referendum, but others would have rightfully acknowledged it was a very good moment for Daukaus, I think.
Pickett enters with a ton of confidence, having won consecutive fights after dropping his first two UFC assignments, which gives Daukaus the chance to take the first step in that continual 200-foot journey.
Jim F@&%ing Miller is Fighting
While his birth certificate says James Andrew Miller, fight fans know that his really name is Jim F@&%ing Miller and they should be excited every time he steps into the Octagon.
I honestly can’t think of a boring Jim Miller fight. He’s had some losses and been out-grappled a time or two. There have been quick fights, a bunch of fights that went the distance, and a couple where you wondered if Father Time had finally placed his hand on Miller’s shoulder and said, “Hey Bud, it’s time to do something else now,” but I can’t recall a boring fight, and this weekend’s pairing with Nikolas Motta should be no different.
Miller is the last of a dying breed — a true professional who punches the clock by punching people in the face, accepting whatever opponent the UFC has to offer without hesitation (that’s how he came to be referred to as Jim F@&%ing Miller in the first place), and every time he’s in there, you can be sure he’s going to give you every last ounce of energy he has stored up inside of him.
This is a dude that battled hard while dealing with an undiagnosed case of Lyme disease for chrissakes!
Motta is an aggressive, angry fighter who was on TUF Brazil back in the day, has a win over Joe Solecki, and has won five of his last six overall. He’s waited more than a year to finally make his UFC debut and you can be assured that he’s going to look to get after it from Jump Street on Saturday.
You gimme a guy like that and a guy like Miller and I’m giving it my full, undivided attention from the time CCR starts blaring through the UFC APEX and Miller starts making his walk.
Guaranteed Knockout
Yeah, I said it — I guarantee that the middleweight main card opener between Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan ends with someone looking up at the lights, asking the referee, “What happened?”
I’m not going to make any weirdo promises like, “If it doesn’t happen, I’ll do a shoey” or anything like that because I’m wrong all the time and no one really seems to care, but when you look at the dynamics of this fight, there’s no reason to expect it to be anything other than an absolute gunfight for as long as it lasts and for someone to get laid out.
They have eight combined UFC wins. All eight have come by way of stoppage, with only one — Alhassan’s first win over Sabah Homasi — being a technical knockout; the rest have been straight up, “that dude just got sent into the Odinsleep” knockouts and I really cannot envision a scenario where that isn’t how this one ends on Saturday night.
I’m Down with JSP
While I’m still not sure whether I’m in or out on his nickname, I’m definitely keen on Jonathan Pearce as an emerging fighter in the featherweight division.
Don’t be thrown off by his debut loss — it was up a division, in Boston, against Joe Lauzon, which is a daunting assignment for any newcomer. Since then, however, Pearce has returned to featherweight and turned in a pair of patient, impressive finishes over Kai Kamaka III and Omar Morales, out-working the former on the feet, while submitting the second.
The 29-year-old, who trains with the Fight Ready camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, has 10 finishes in 11 career wins, good size for the division, and sticks to what works for him inside the cage. He’s well-rounded, but doesn’t chase things, traveling down whatever avenue gives him the best chance to earn another victory without ever really letting himself get sucked into bad decisions and overly dangerous interactions. He’s smart, sharp, and has a nose for finishing fights; what’s not to like?
He was initially slated to face Austin Lingo here, which would have been an interesting clash as Lingo is a grimy banger from the Fortis MMA camp and would have been up in his grill from the outset. But Lingo was forced out and Pearce now faces Christian Rodriguez, a talented, unbeaten 24-year-old Roufusport representative who earned a good win on the Contender Series last summer, but didn’t garner a contract. It’s a tough fight that won’t get him the XP he deserves for beating Rodriguez (should he beat Rodriguez), but he’s definitely someone to keep tabs on going forward, especially if he gets another finish on Saturday.
A Proper Opportunity for Onama
After making his promotional debut up in weight on short notice, just a couple weeks after earning his eighth straight win, David Onama gets a proper opportunity to show what he brings to the table on Saturday night, returning to featherweight and squaring off with Gabriel Benitez in what should be an exciting preliminary card contest.
The 27-year-old Glory MMA & Fitness representative had a very good showing last October against Mason Jones, going toe-to-toe with the former two-division Cage Warriors champion in a quality 15-minute battle that landed him on my radar. Maybe I’m higher on Jones than I ought to be, maybe I’m rating that effort more than it should be, but that’s why I love this fight with Benitez on Saturday, because it’s going to answer those lingering questions about that first fight and what kind of upside he carries in the 145-pound weight class.
As I’ve said earlier in the week, the folks I know that train with Onama and know what he brings to the table are extremely high on his talent, and not just in the standard “I have to big up my teammate” way everyone says the guy in the gym you’re asking about is a terrific fighter. He’s earned all eight of his wins by stoppage, five of them in the first round, and it’s going to be exciting to see if that is a function of facing thoroughly overmatched competition or Onama being someone to keep close tabs on going forward.
Half of the people he’s beaten prior to reaching the UFC never competed again, and the three that continued fighting have produced two wins and four losses, giving Onama a Natan Levy Number of -2, which isn’t necessarily what you want to see. But numbers don’t always tell the whole story, and I think Saturday night’s contest should serve as a better measuring stick of where the UFC sophomore stands and what to expect of him in the future.
Fighter I Can’t Quit: Jessica-Rose Clark
Maybe I’m alone in this, but seeing a fighter compete in person, especially early in their careers or during one of their iconic moments (if they’re fortunate enough to have one or two) has a way of imprinting on me and making me a long-term fan of that particular competitor.
I was at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas when Clark made her Invicta FC debut against Pannie Kianzad with a mop of multi-coloured hair atop her head and a 5-1 record. She lost that fight by decision, but remained someone I kept tabs on as she made one more Invicta appearance, fought Sarah Kaufman in South Korea, and beat Carina Damm under the Titan FC banner. I picked her to beat Bec Rawlings in her short-notice debut and have been “Team Jessy Jess” since because she exudes moxie and grit and playfulness every time she steps into the Octagon, and I’m going to continually ride with fighters like that no matter what.
Now here’s the best part: the 34-year-old Australian has steadily improved as a fighter and looks like she’s starting to come into her own, entering Saturday’s meeting with Stephanie Egger on a two-fight winning streak. Everything seems to be clicking for her right now, and it’s dope to see someone you’ve followed for some time find the right team, sort themselves out, and start living their best life, personally and professionally.
It doesn’t matter if she becomes a contender or not, though I think she could force her way into the lower third of the Top 15 this year — I love watching Clark compete and will continue to be excited each and every time she steps into the Octagon.
Chas Skelly’s Last Ride
Chas Skelly is one of those guys that is going to get lost to history, if he hasn’t already, despite having a solid, entertaining career inside the Octagon. Saturday night, the former Team Takedown member is making the walk for the final time, stepping in against Mark Striegl in bout that feels like it sums up the last several years of Skelly’s career.
For the first handful of years of his UFC run, Skelly was a fringe Top 15 talent — a tough cuss with good strength, quality grappling, and an inherent level of grit and drive that comes from years of wrestling. He debuted against Mirsad Bektic in a clash of talented newcomers, earned six wins in seven fights to creep close to the rankings before losing a grimy battle with Jason Knight and then having his weird fight with Bobby Moffett that was stopped and deemed a submission win for “The Wolfman” even though Skelly didn’t tap and was clearly still awake even though he was stuck in a D’Arce choke.
He got back in the win column in a fight with Jordan Griffin a couple Septembers ago, and now is walking away after this one. It feels to me like one of those careers that was good, but not as good as it could have been if not for some injuries and unfortunate circumstances; like folks are going to see the final record and just make a judgement call on what kind of fighter Skelly was during his prime years, and I think they’re going to be wrong.
“The Scrapper” was even better than the record he amassed, which was already pretty strong, and was a steady recurring character during the formative years of the featherweight division. I wish him well in whatever this next stage of his life looks like, and hope he gets the respect he deserves when he steps into and out of the Octagon this weekend.
I Want to Know More About… Diana Belbita
As I said yesterday, I’m not sure what is reasonable to expect from Belbita going forward at the moment, and as such, I want to see her compete again — probably a few more times if I’m being completely honest — before trying to make some kind of assessment about where she fits in the division and how far she could take things.
This is one of those pieces that ties into my Tuesday editorial about no one wanting to preach patience and not rushing to decisions on fighters: it’s nearly impossible to make an accurate assessment of someone after two or three fights; it’s just not enough time, not enough evidence, but few people want to stick around for the “information gathering phase,” opting instead to decide after a couple fights whether someone is worth their time or not.
But me? I’m a weirdo that watches every fight I possibly can because I actually like the information gathering phase, because it helps me be better at my job. So rather than looking at Belbita’s 1-2 recored in the UFC and declaring that she’s destined to remain a lower-tier strawweight for all eternity, I can say she looked pretty solid last time out against Hannah Goldy, and if she does the same on Saturday against Gloria de Paula, I’ll be really curious to see what the 25-year-old Romanian does for an encore.
Stop being in such a hurry to judge everyone and just watch some fights.
Canadian Content with Chad Anheliger
Canadians are 4-1 inside the Octagon so far this year, and now Anheliger makes his promotional debut, looking to add another victory to our home and native land’s record while simultaneously extending his own winning streak to 10 when he takes on Jesse Strader in Saturday’s opener.
I’m always, always going to be excited to see Canadians compete inside the UFC cage (though I seem to frequently pick against them), and Anheliger has such a great story of perseverance that it’s hard not to root for him this weekend. He’s battled hard to rebuild his record and earn this opportunity to compete on the biggest stage in the sport in the twilight of his career, and I think he’s going to be an entertaining, all-action addition to the talent-rich 135-pound weight class going forward.
Is he going to make a crazy two-year run to the title? Probably not, but he should have some fun fights over the next couple years to close out his career, and given that I’m a simple man with simple needs, I couldn’t ask for much more than that.