10 Things We Learned: UFC 258 Edition
Examining the takeaways and talking points from Saturday night's UFC pay-per-view headlined by a welterweight title fight between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns
Kamaru Usman Shines in Stoppage Victory
Kamaru Usman retained his UFC welterweight title with a blistering third-round stoppage win over Gilbert Burns.
The challenger clipped the champion early in the bout, bringing the fight to Usman and showing now signs of being overwhelmed by the moment. But over the second half of the opening round, Usman started to find his range and use his reach advantage, exhibiting his championship composure and poise.
In the second, “The Nigerian Nightmare” claimed control, finding a home for numerous big shots that left Burns busted up and searching for answers. While the challenger tried to return fire and still landed a handful of blows, Usman’s confidence was brimming and it showed in his striking, as he continued to pick apart Burns at range. Early in the third, Usman sat the challenger down with a jab and never let him get back up off the canvas, putting him away with a series of hellacious blows that closed out the fight 34 seconds into the middle round.
This was an incredible performance by Usman, who took the best Burns had to offer early, surviving a scare, and had turned things around before the opening round was over. From that point forward, the champion was in total control and shining, working behind a dangerous jab that makes Usman even more dangerous going forward.
If Usman is ever going to have a breakthrough moment inside the Octagon, this was it, as he went shot-for-shot with the undisputed No. 1 contender and put him away in impressive fashion. He was patient and precise, taking his time once he had Burns hurt to make sure he kept piling up damage and putting him away when the opportunity was presented.
There have been a lot of really great championship efforts over the last couple of years, but this one was right up there amongst the best.
Usman’s Case for All-Time Great Status is Growing
Early in the evening, Joe Rogan pontificated about Usman being the best welterweight of all time.
Twitter didn’t seem to like it because they remember that Georges St-Pierre exists, however the case for Usman getting close to the French-Canadian superstar isn’t as far-fetched as some would like to think.
Saturday’s win over Burns pushed Usman’s record to 13-0 overall inside the Octagon. Based on the rankings as they stand right now, he holds wins over the fighters positioned at Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 in the welterweight division, as well as former interim title challenger Rafael Dos Anjos and middleweight upstart Sean Strickland, and he’s successfully defended his title three times.
While St-Pierre amassed an incredible nine successful title defences and faced a Murderer’s Row himself, you can’t look at what the 33-year-old titleholder has done and not be impressed. He still has ground to make up in order to catch St-Pierre, but after a performance like this and the collection of performances he’s delivered to date, it’s could get real, real interesting in the next few years.
Usman is on the very short list of the top fighters in the game right now, and he’s quickly making a case for earning pantheon-level status by the time his career is finished.
Alexa Grasso Might Finally Be Putting It All Together
Alexa Grasso has her first two-fight winning streak in the UFC.
Saturday night, the former Invicta FC darling raced out to an early lead and held off Maycee Barber in a spirited, competitive fight in the flyweight division. Throughout the first two frames, it was Grasso’s greater technical striking and superior composure that gave her the advantage, as she was able to counter Barber, control her in the clinch, and avoid too many prolonged exchanges. While Barber never relented and got the better of things in the third, the 27-year-old Mexican was able to hold on down the stretch to push her record to 13-3 overall.
After a couple years of inconsistent results and needing to switch divisions, Grasso looks like she’s found the right weight class and is starting to have the kind of success many anticipated for her upon her arrival in the UFC. She’s did a better job defensively in the striking exchanges on Saturday, slipping and countering well, while also showcasing some solid grappling transitions in the limited sequences on the canvas.
This was another tough learning experience for Barber, who was returning for the first time in more than a year after suffering her first career loss and a torn ACL in her last appearance. The 22-year-old continued to show that she’s tough as nails and as game as they come, bringing the fight to Grasso in the third, however, there are still pieces of her game that need to be dialled in before she’s ready to make a real run at contention.
Barber still has a promising future, but Saturday night belonged to Grasso, and it will be interesting to see how she builds upon this effort next time out.
Kelvin Gastelum Gets Right
Entering Saturday night on a three-fight losing streak, Ultimate Fighter winner Kelvin Gastelum get back into the win column with a hard-fought, unanimous decision win over Ian Heinisch.
Heinisch started quickly, taking the fight to Gastelum and attacking a kimura, but Gastelum stayed patient, stayed calm and found a rhythm and his range over the remainder of the round, edging out “The Hurricane” in all realms. That slight edge remained in place throughout the second and third rounds, with Gastelum being a fraction better in the striking exchanges, a fraction better in the wrestling exchanges, showing the difference between a Top 5-level talent and a guy stationed in the lower third of the rankings at best.
This was the kind of effort Gastelum needed after facing some questions after a trio of setbacks. Each of those losses had come against Top 5 talents (at the time), but it’s nearly impossible to not get in your own head when things repeatedly don’t break your way, so for the 29-year-old to get a quality win over a game opponent should serve as a reminder that he’s closer to being in the elite class at middleweight than on the outskirts of the Top 10.
On the other side, Heinisch will certainly be disappointed with the result, but his performance was solid throughout. He had more success against Gastelum than he did in his previous two matchups with ranked opponents, and showed more diversity in his arsenal this time out. Sometimes it’s just a matter of having to fail a couple times before you can succeed, and this might just be the case for Heinisch in his quest to climb into contention in the middleweight ranks.
Ricky Simón Keeps Rolling
Ricky Simón picked up his second win of 2021 with a unanimous decision victory over Brian Kelleher on Saturday night, busting “Boom” up almost immediately with a quality elbow striking and out-working his adversary for the duration on the way to a clean sweep of the scorecards.
The 28-year-old is an interesting fighter to watch in the bantamweight division — a quality wrestler with steadily improving strikes who has expanded his training camp to include working with the group at Team Oyama, leading to an outstanding start to the year. Though he didn’t get the finish, Simon dominated and looked good doing it, putting him in position to have a breakout year if he’s able to maintain this competition pace.
Simón is one of those guys who had a ton of buzz on the regional circuit and started well once he arrived in the UFC, posting three straight wins out of the gate. He stumbled with back-to-back losses to Urijah Faber and Rob Font, but he’s not put together three straight victories to climb to the fringes of the Top 15 in the talent-rich bantamweight ranks.
This was a very strong showing against a quality opponent, and if he can get another one like this under his belt before the midway point of the year, he should end up sharing the cage with a ranked opponent early in the second half of 2021.
Gutsy Comeback Win for Julian Marquez
In the corner between the second and third rounds, Julian Marquez got berated by his coach James Krause, who demanded that his charge go out and take the fight to Maki Pitolo, who was likely up two rounds on the scorecards. Marquez said, “Yes sir!” each time Krause told him to get out there and get after it, and Marquez did just that.
After chasing a couple submissions earlier in the round, the returning middleweight hurt the fading Hawaiian with big shots and when Pitolo went for a desperation takedown, Marquez locked up an anaconda choke and drew out a tap.
In addition to being an outstanding in-fight comeback, this was a win more than two years in the making for Marquez, who had been sidelined since the summer of 2018 after dealing with a nasty latissimus dorsi injury that required surgery. His last victory came at the end of 2017 in his promotional debut, so you best believe this one carried some real significance to the affable Kansas City native.
On a related note: despite still being an active fighter, Krause is a phenomenal coach, especially in the corner between rounds, where he offers clear, technical direction and knows how to fire up his fighters.
Anthony Hernandez: Upset of the Year (So Far)
Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez was the biggest underdog on the UFC 258 fight card and in the opening moments of Saturday’s contest, it seemed like Rodolfo Vieira was going to get him out of there quickly. The Brazilian jiu jitsu standout put Hernandez on the canvas almost immediately, worked to mount, and started setting up a series of different submission attempts.
Through it all, Hernandez remained calm and defended, eventually working back to his feet, and when he got there, he turned the tides in a hurry.
Vieira was exhausted and Hernandez went hunting, rocking the previously unbeaten Vieira and nearly finishing over the second-half of the opening round before quickly putting the pressure on and securing the finish less than two minutes into the middle stanza. After battering him on the feet and splitting him open with a nasty elbow, Hernandez locked onto a guillotine choke and forced the multi-time world champion to tap.
This was an insane reversal of fortunes and a tremendous effort from the Contender Series grad (Class of ‘18), who showed promise on the regional circuit, but had struggled to find consistency since landing in the Octagon.
We’re only six weeks into 2021, but this is easily the clubhouse leader for Upset of the Year thus far.
Belal Muhammad is Suffocating
This isn’t new information, but it certainly needs to be repeated every time Belal Muhammad steps into the Octagon.
Saturday night, the No. 13-ranked welterweight earned his fourth consecutive victory, pressuring Dhiego Lima from the outset en route to a clean sweep of the scorecards. The 32-year-old Chicago native has figured out how to weaponize pressure inside the cage, turning his ability to push a torrid pace into a offensive factor in his fights, taxing his opponent’s conditioning right out of the chute.
Muhammad is now 8-1 in his last nine fights with his lone setback coming against highly regarded welterweight Geoff Neal, who headlined the final event of 2020 against Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson. He’s a tough matchup for anyone in the division and continues to improve each time out, which makes him an intriguing figure in the 170-pound ranks going forward.
There isn’t anything flashy about what he does inside the cage, but when you’re putting forth the kind of performances he’s delivered of late, you deserve a lot more attention and a chance to test yourself against the best in the division.
Polyana Viana Is Putting It All Together
After enduring a three-fight slide following a victory in her promotional debut, Polyana Viana has now put together back-to-back first-round submission wins to stamp herself as an intriguing figure in the strawweight division.
Saturday night, the Brazilian happily allowed Mallory Martin to take her to the canvas after catching a kick, confident in her abilities off her back against the American. Early in the ground entanglement, Viana clamped onto an overhook as Martin left her right arm outside of her opponent’s body and placed on the mat, and that was the beginning of the end for Martin.
Viana cycled through a series of submission attempts, starting with a triangle choke and briefly teasing an Americana before locking up a straight armbar that forced Martin to tap.
The 28-year-old made wholesale changes after her third consecutive loss, switching up her coaching staff and training routines while returning to the 115-pound weight class and the results have been outstanding thus far. There are opportunities for specialists to thrive on the women’s side of the roster, so it will be interesting to see how far Viana can progress up the rankings in 2021.
The Margins are So Narrow Right Now
Watching the first couple fights of the night, my biggest takeaway is that the margins of victory are so narrow right now, especially from the middle of the division down.
Each of the first two fights — Gabe Green vs. Phil Rowe and Chris Gutierrez vs. Andre Ewell — went into the third all square and all four frames were close, but clear, where a couple strikes or a certain series proved to be the difference. In both cases, conditioning and low kicks proved to be the difference, as Green and Gutierrez were able to turn up the pressure, the volume and the pace in the third and secure victories, pulling away down the stretch.
This may not seem like a big talking point to some, but to me, it’s such a crucial thing to understand because it shows the level of talent present in the UFC at the moment and just how difficult it is to string together victories inside the Octagon. Gutierrez’s victory extended his unbeaten streak to five (4-0-1) and he’s not even close to cracking the rankings in the 135-pound weight class right now because bantamweight is so competitive and so flush with talent that even a run like that doesn’t get you into the Top 15.
It’s a great time to be a fan right now, and highly competitive clashes like this early in the night are a sign of that.