10 Things I Like: UFC Fight Island 7
Examining the athletes and elements that intrigue me about the UFC's 2021 debut this weekend on ABC
Max Holloway: Potential Agent of Chaos
Right now, Holloway lives in The Franklin Zone, that state of purgatory inhabited by athletes who have lost twice to the current champion in their division, named after Rich Franklin, who never sniffed another title shot after getting wrecked by Anderson Silva.
Joseph Benavidez is the mayor, as this has happened to him not once, not twice, but thrice.
Regardless of how you think the fights should have been scored, the record states that Holloway is 0-2 against Alexander Volkanovski, and right now, it kind of feels like a third meeting between the two isn’t really high on the champion’s list of priorities, which makes sense.
But that also means that “Blessed” can be an agent of chaos in the featherweight division, starting this weekend.
While he may not get another crack at the title he held for two years and 12 days any time soon, Holloway could potentially mess up the hopes and dreams of several others in the division, which could, in theory, leave the UFC with no choice but to hustle the Hawaiian into the Octagon opposite Volkanovski again.
Despite the fact that he’s 1-3 in his last four fights, does anyone really think Holloway, who turned 29 at the beginning of December, is starting to decline? I don’t think so either, which is why I’m very keen on seeing if Holloway can do his part and put together the necessary victories to keep himself in place to potentially challenge for the title again because remember: he’s only hooped as long as Volkanovski is sitting no the featherweight throne.
If Brian Ortega claims the title, Max is right back in the mix, and the UFC would have little reservations about running that one back a second time.
Step 1 is beating Kattar on Saturday, which is no easy task.
Calvin Kattar Gets His Chance
It genuinely pissed me off heading into last year that the most attention Kattar had received prior to his impromptu main event pairing with Zabit Magomedsharipov was when he befriended a bird because he was 4-1 in the UFC with three finishes and a loss to a Top 10 stalwart and the only time people had time for him was for some outside of the Octagon cuteness.
The New England Cartel member forced people to pay closer attention in 2020 by smashing in Jeremy Stephens’ nose in May and out-working Dan Ige in July. Even though the latter of those bouts was a main event, it still felt like it kind of sailed by without people really appreciating the effort Kattar put forth, but now, this weekend, if he can get a win over Holloway, there will be absolutely no reason to not devote a bunch of attention to the Methuen, Massachusetts native going forward.
Kattar has some of the smoothest boxing in the sport and he’s starting to exhibit a little more of his mean streak inside the cage of late. This is a great opportunity and stylistic matchup for him because Holloway isn’t necessarily someone that is going to dive for takedowns and look to muddy things up a long the fence, so Kattar should have chances to get loose with his hands.
The former champion is elite and this is a step up in competition for the unheralded 32-year-old, but he’s staring down a life changing opportunity this weekend — on network television no less — and doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who is going to let that moment pass him by.
The first main event of 2021 should be electric and I absolutely cannot wait for it.
We’re Finally Getting Carlos Condit versus Matt Brown
They were first penciled in opposite one another in December 2013, only to have Brown withdraw due to a back injury.
They were paired off together again in April 2018, but Brown tore his ACL.
Now, the veteran welterweights are finally going to share the Octagon together and it honestly feels like the absolute right time for this fight to happen.
Yes, it would have been cool in 2013 when Condit still in the championship mix and Brown was at his peak, but there is something extra enjoyable about having them finally face off as a pair of grizzled old war horses that are still fighting because they absolutely love it and not because they’re trying to get ahead in the rankings.
Condit snapped a five-fight losing streak in October with a win over Court McGee, while Brown was stopped by Miguel Baeza in May, halting a little two-fight run of success, but neither of those things really matter.
What matters is that these two veterans with 83 professional appearances between them are going to march into the Octagon and try to beat the holy hell out of each other for 15 minutes or less and it’s going to be as enjoyable on Saturday as it would have been each of the previous two times the UFC tried to make it happen.
Welcome Back, Santiago Ponzinibbio
791 days — that’s how long it will have been between fights when Santiago Ponzinibbio steps into the Octagon on Saturday to face Li Jingliang.
The Argentine welterweight last compete on November 17, 2018, earning a fourth-round stoppage win over Neil Magny to push his winning streak to seven and force his way into the title conversation. But injuries, illnesses, and a nasty infection has kept him out of action since, turning him into the forgotten man in the 170-pound ranks.
Now he’s back and oh good lord am I excited to see if he can pick up where he left off and add another interesting name into the mix in the already crowded championship chase by beating “The Leech” this weekend. I mean, Magny is headlining the next show and reclaimed his place as a Top 10 fixture with three wins in 2020, including a victory over Jingliang, and Ponzinibbio dominated their bout 789 days ago, so logic dictates that if he looks good this weekend, he too would reclaim his spot in the Top 10 and become another intriguing name to factor in when trying to figure out where everyone stands in the welterweight division.
Dominick Cruz may not believe in ring rust, but I do, so I’m a little hesitant to just go all-in on Ponzinibbio right out of the chute — and Jingliang is a tough out too — but it’s hard not to be curious and cautiously optimistic because I remember how good he looked during that seven-fight run of success and if he’s back to being 85-90% of that guy this weekend, things are about to get very, very interesting.
Joaquin Buckley Begins His Sophomore Season
Buckley was one of the top rookies in the UFC last year, registering a pair of highlight reel, Performance of the Night-winning finishes against Impa Kasanganay and Jordan Wright after debuting on short notice and showing a ton of gumption against Kevin Holland.
Now it’s time to see what “New Mansa” is going to do as a follow-up.
While some people are bound to complain about the UFC booking Buckley opposite Alessio Di Chirico, who has lost three straight, four-of-six, and five-of-eight inside the Octagon, I actually love it because there is zero need to hustle him into the thick of things in the middleweight division at the moment.
The Top 15 is a jumbled mess right now and the matchmakers need some time to figure it out as is within potentially introducing a promising 26-year-old into the equation as well. Instead, they’ve booked him in a tough, but winnable fight against a durable, but limited fighter and are giving him the main card spot that didn’t make sense in his last bout, which came at UFC 255.
Buckley has a lot of attention on him heading into this year because of how last year ended, and this early start to his sophomore campaign could tell us whether he’s going to keep climbing the ranks or hit a bit of a second-year wall in 2021.
Undefeated Contender Series Alums Clash
A lot of people slag on the graduates of the Contender Series because they view them as cheap, inexperienced talent taking jobs and opportunities away from experienced, established names that they know and like and can write about without doing much research.
Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to say that last part out loud. Oh well.
Yes, there has been a massive influx of talent coming off the series, especially over the last three seasons, and sure, some of those athletes have flamed out hard and fast, proving they weren’t quite ready for prime time. However, there have also been a bunch of talented, promising new fighters brought to the UFC through the program, including the undefeated middleweights set to lock horns in Saturday’s main card opener.
Punahele Soriano and Dusko Todorovic headlined the first and last events of Season 3 respectively, with each man securing a unanimous decision win and an invite to join the UFC roster. They each earned a victory in their promotional debuts — Soriano by first-round TKO, Todorovic with a second-round stoppage — and now they’re set to face off in a battle for Season 3 middleweight supremacy.
This is the right time to pair the prospects off against one another and exactly what the UFC needs to be doing at this time in the bottom half of every division: finding out more about the young, untested talent on the roster and determining who, if anyone, shows top-end potential.
Additionally, both of these guys like to throw smoke, so I anticipate the main card starting with a bang.
Phillip Hawes is Fighting
I’m all-in on Phillip Hawes.
If you’re looking for someone who is unranked and largely untested in the UFC with the potential to earn a place in the Top 15 in their division (and potentially higher) before the year is out, I submit Hawes as my nomination. He was a highly regarded and frankly over-hyped prospects at the outset of his career, struggled, but has persevered to reach a point where it looks like he’s put everything together and is poised to make some noise.
He needed 18 seconds to leave Jacob Malkoun slumped against the fence in his debut and while he’s in much tougher against Nassourdine Imavov on Saturday, I believe the former JuCo wrestler and physical specimen is a different level of athlete and talent and will continue to show that this weekend.
I could end up being various degrees of wrong here, but I’ll take that chance because I think Hawes is a special talent who just took a little while to figure it all out.
I Want to Know More About: Wu Yanan
Remember early last month when I wrote about Sumudaerji, saying he’s intriguing because he’s both young and more experienced than most fighters his age, and then he went out and announced his presence as a potential threat in the flyweight division?
I feel the same kind of way about Yanan and I want to see if that read is correct this weekend.
The 24-year-old is making her fourth UFC start on Saturday, squaring off against Panamanian newcomer Joselyne Edwards, who stepped in for Bethe Correia after her appendix needed to be removed. Wu is 1-2 in the Octagon, having dropped decisions to Gina Mazany and Mizuki and submitting Lauren Mueller, but is 11-3 overall.
My feeling is that she reached the UFC way too soon and has been playing catch-up since, but after well over a year on the sidelines, I’m curious to see what kind of improvements and adjustments she’s made and if the time away will coincide with a leap forward in her performance.
There are going to be a number of promising fighters emerging out of China and the surrounding region over the next couple years and I’m interesting to know if Wu is going to be a part of that group in 2021.
Fight I Can’t Quit: Justin Tafa
The 27-year-old “Bad Man” is one of those random dudes I’m always going to want to see fight because his approach is pretty simple: step in, step up, and smash.
He ran onto a counter right hand against Yorgan De Castro in his debut, but mauled Juan Adams in his sophomore appearance last February to push his record to 4-1. This weekend, he faces fellow neophyte Carlos Felipe in one of those preliminary card heavyweight pairings that will either be wildly entertaining and end with something memorable or descend into sloppy, lumbering awfulness.
Either way, I’m interested because even though he’s only two fights into his UFC career, I know that Tafa is one of those guys that I will never be able to quit.
Fights Are Back!
This probably should have been the first item on this rundown, but I didn’t want to seem like too much of a keener.
The last three weeks have been super-busy for me and having the break has been quite nice, but now that we’re starting to settle into the new house, I’m stoked to spend my Saturday morning parked in my office with my laptop on hand, a cup of coffee resting beside me and fighting on the television.
I know a lot of people got worn out by the 24-week grind that closed out 2020 and I was running on fumes by the time it ended, but I also loved knowing that every Saturday, I could press pause on everything else that was going on, kick back, and enjoy some fights because while writing about this stuff is my job (and my passion and my escape), I also still really love watching fights and I miss it when there aren’t any fights to watch.
Plus, this weekend’s event is an early morning start on the West Coast, which means I’ll enjoy the prelims with some kind of homemade breakfast sandwich and still be done “working” with plenty of time to spend the evening puttering around the new digs, knocking items off the “to do” list.
That’s a nice little Saturday if I do say so myself.