About Last Night at UFC Vegas 35...
Running through the takeaways and talking points from an entertaining night of action at the UFC APEX
Giga Chikadze, Featherweight Contender
Giga Chikadze officially arrived as a featherweight contender on Saturday night, collecting a third-round stoppage win over Edson Barboza to earn his seventh straight UFC victory and ninth straight win overall.
The first two rounds were tight, competitive frames, with both men trading kicks and punches in the first and second; Chikadze getting the better of it in Round 1, Barboza in Round 2. It seemed after 10 minutes like the Brazilian veteran was starting to find a rhythm and Chikadze was beginning to slow, but he surging former kickboxer come out hot to start the third and as soon as he had Barboza hurt, Chikadze pounced. After chasing a choke and failing to finish, he allowed Barboza back to his feet, blasted him with one more heavy shot, and referee Jason Herzog rightfully stepped in to halt the contest.
In less than two years, Chikadze has put up seven victories and forced his way into the Top 10, stamping himself as a legitimate threat in the 145-pound weight class, earning a third straight stoppage win, and calling for an opportunity to fight the best the division has to offer. While he’s still a win or two away from the championship opportunity he lobbied for first, a showdown with former titleholder Max Holloway would certainly be fun, and could definitely happen.
For now, the streaking 33-year-old should savour this moment and enjoy the biggest victory of his career, as this was an electric performance that elevates him from hopeful to contender.
He Called It: Bryan Battle, TUF 29 Middleweight Winner
Bryan Battle declared during the TUF 29 Media Day before everyone went into the house that he was going to win the whole thing, and Saturday night, he made good on that promise, battling back to submit Gilbert Urbina in the second round to win the middleweight competition.
It was un ugly start for the penultimate pick of the competition, as Urbina came out hot and put it on Battle early, sending his mouthguard flying out of the Octagon and controlling the opening half of the first round. But Battle navigated the rough waters and started finding his footing in the second half of the frame, doing the same in a shorter period in the second, rallying to flatten out Urbina and snatch up a nasty rear-naked choke, finishing without getting the arm under the neck, which he credited to Team Volkanovski grappling coach, Craig Jones.
The 26-year-old Battle joins Kelvin Gastelum as the second fighter to be selected 15th out of 16 competitors and win the competition, completing his impressive, underdog run through the middleweight tournament. Featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski praised his coachability and gameness during the season and he showed both on Saturday, and now he’ll have a chance to grow and develop further as a member of the UFC roster.
Ricky Turcios, TUF 29 Bantamweight Winner
Ricky Turcios is your Season 29 Bantamweight Tournament winner, out-duelling fellow Team Volkanovski member Brady Hiestand in a rough-and-tumble, back-and-forth, give-and-take scrap that showed both men have the potential to have future success inside the Octagon.
It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that watched the action this season that Turcios was engaged in a fight like this, as “Pretty Ricky” navigated a pair of scrappy battles to arrive in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and worked his way through another to claim the win and earn his UFC contract. Hiestand had his moments and got the nod from one official, but Turcios was the more active, more effective striker throughout, showcasing solid grappling chops whenever he was taken down as well.
This is one of those fights where I think both men are going to enjoy lengthy runs on the UFC roster, but move at different speeds. Turcios has the ability and experience to instantly mix into the middle of the bantamweight ranks and be an all-action fighter from the get-go, while Hiestand is more of a work in progress at 22, but has a greater upside and could blossom into a really solid fighter down the line.
Hats off to Turcios and Hiestand for a helluva fight, and congrats to Turcios for getting the victory and his black belt.
Rodriguez Keeps Rolling; Lee Stumbles in Return
Daniel Rodriguez stepped up on short notice to take on Kevin Lee when his original opponent, Sean Brady, was forced out and made the most of it, securing his third win of 2021 with a unanimous decision victory on Saturday night.
Lee started well, controlling the second half of the first round on the canvas, but from that point forward, Rodriguez was in charge, working behind his smooth, crisp boxing. He put Lee on rubber legs in the second and did a good job of getting back to his feet and back on his striking after getting taken down in the third. It was a smooth, technical, patient effort from Rodriguez, who is now 6-1 in the UFC since the start of last year.
As much as this is a massive victory for Rodriguez, it’s also a colossal setback for Lee, who declared himself a Top 5 welterweight on Monday and said he’d be facing Kamaru Usman in the future in his pre-fight package ahead of this one. While he has talent, there is an obvious disconnect with Lee, who has talked about a lot of massive fights, but failed to earn the victories needed to get there. Whether it’s lobbying for a 165-pound weight class or calling out far more accomplished fighters, there is too often something beyond what is right in front of him taking too much of Lee’s focus, and it continues to cost him.
Tough to Please the Critics, but TUF’s Petroski Gets It Done
Andre Petroski started quickly and pushed through a tough second round to secure a third-round stoppage finish against fellow Team Ortega representative Michael Gillmore on Saturday night’s main card.
The first middleweight pick on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, Petroski got bounced in the semis by Bryan Battle after fading hard in the second round of their fight. It looked like a potential repeat this weekend, as the Philadelphia native dominated the first with his grappling, but was noticeably slower and taking more fire in the middle frame, but he shot out of the corner like a rocket to start the third and never really allowed Gillmore to get back up. After putting him on the deck, Petroski tied up one of Gillmore’s hands and rained down a torrent of elbows from mount, forcing the referee to halt the contest.
The Ultimate Fighter doesn’t produce the same kind of prospects and new arrivals it did early in its run, and Petroski is a little older than most new additions to the roster, but this was a solid effort and a good starting point for the 30-year-old, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he developed into a JJ Aldrich or Dhiego Lima type in the future.
Comeback City
Gerald Meerschaert looked like he was close to getting put away early in the first round of his main card opener opposite Makhmud Muradov on Saturday night, eating some big shots, reaching for desperation takedowns, and generally getting lit up out of the gate. But he weathered the storm and started having a little success of his own late in the first, and completed the comeback early in the second.
It was back-and-forth to start the second as well, with both men landing big shots, but when Meerschaert crashed home a left hand that allowed him to get into the clinch and drag Muradov to the floor, the submission ace quickly went to work. Meerschaert sunk in a hook and started attacking the neck, forcing “Mach” to make defensive choices, and the streaking Muradov made poor decisions, turning into the choke, allowing “GM3” to sink his forearm under the chin and draw out the tap.
This was a gutsy, grimy effort from Meerschaert, who has made a living earning gutsy, grimy wins, primarily by submission. A 47-fight veteran, this might be the biggest win of the Wisconsin native’s career as it halted Muradov’s 14-fight winning streak and gave Meerschaert consecutive finishes in 2021 after getting stopped quickly in his final two fights of 2020. He may never work his way into the Top 10, but the veteran is a crucial part of the middleweight ecosystem and a terrific litmus test for every hopeful looking to work their way into the rankings.
A step up in competition next time out is now in order, and a podium finish in the “Comeback of the Year” race once December rolls around is likely as well.
Preliminary Card Talking Points
Abdul Razak Alhassan scored one of the top UFC knockouts of the year in Saturday’s final preliminary card pairing, blasting Alessio Di Chirico with a thunderous right high kick just 17 seconds into the fight for a walk-off, one-shot finish.
This was the rare instance where a fighter threw one strike, landed one strike, scored a knockdown, and walked it off, and there was no question about it, as Di Chirico was completely out of it, having dipped his head into the heavy kick, amplifying the impact of Alhassan’s shin to his dome. While he incredibly didn’t go all the way out, the Italian was clearly incapable of continuing, and referee Herb Dean wisely waved it off.
Alhassan is an interesting new addition to the middleweight ranks — an explosive finisher with a whack of first-round stoppages from his welterweight days who could make some further noise as he gets settled in at ‘85 over the next few fights. He’s now doing his training camps with the Elevation Fight Team crew, which could be a major positive as well, and after a finish like this, a step up in competition and a quick turnaround wouldn’t be surprising.
Wellington Turman and Sam Alvey engaged in a foul-filled battle that featured two third-round point deductions 10 seconds apart and a split decision verdict with rare 28-27 scores across the board, with the Brazilian landing on the happy side of the results.
After two close rounds on the feet to begin the contest — and multiple warnings to Turman about out-stretched fingers — the third featured back-to-back eye rakes from the Brazilian, leading to not one, but two points rightfully being deducted by referee Chris Tognoni, one after the other, literally. As soon as they restarted from the first foul, Turman jammed his finger in Alvey’s eye again and lost another point, leading to a situation where he won the round, but lost it on the cards because he lost two points.
There was a lot of tumult online about the split decision verdict, but this wasn’t some grand travesty — the second round was ultra-close in terms of the striking, so giving it to Alvey wasn’t unrealistic, and then a 9-8 third leads to a 28-27 score in his favor. It seemed like a lot of people are just tired of Alvey and his schtick, and don’t want to have to listen to Train’s “Hey Soul Sister” again, so they handed Turman all three rounds, and then were outraged when a judge known for questionable scores (Adelaide Byrd) awarded Alvey the win.
Regardless of the final scores, the biggest takeaway from this fight was Tognoni doing the right thing and taking two points in the third. Hopefully we see more of this assertiveness by referees going forward.
Dustin Jacoby continued his unbeaten return to the UFC, bouncing back from a draw last time out with a first-round stoppage win over Darren Stewart in a blistering performance on Saturday’s televised prelims.
Stewart scored a couple takedowns early, but failed to keep Jacoby on the deck, and once the former Glory Kickboxing standout got back to his feet and into space, he let go with his strikes and earned the finish. A left hand to the temple put Stewart on wobbly legs and Jacoby turned up the pressure and output from there, unloaded in combination as “The Dentist” alternated between trying to fire back and cover up along the fence, ultimately taking too many big shots for referee Jason Herzog’s liking.
It’s been a terrific 13 months for Jacoby, who earned his way back to the UFC last summer on Dana White’s Contender Series and has gone 3-0-1 inside the Octagon since, establishing himself as an all-action addition to the light heavyweight ranks in the process.
JJ Aldrich handled her business and looked sharp doing it against short-notice replacement Vanessa Demopoulos on Saturday night.
Initially scheduled to face Tracy Cortez, the Colorado-based Ultimate Fighter alum Aldrich didn’t allow the late change to Demopoulos lessen her focus or dull her effort in the Octagon, as she looked sharp out of the gate and dominated throughout, earning a clean sweep of the scorecards for her second win of 2021. After edging out Cortney Casey in a debated split decision verdict earlier in the year, this was the kind of “no doubt about it” performance the 28-year-old needed in order to set a baseline for where she fits in the flyweight division and build some momentum heading towards the end of the year.
Folks are going to want to offer ways to detract from Aldrich’s performance, like that Demopoulos was fighting up in weight and took the bout on short notice, but she did exactly what you want to see from a divisional stalwart in this type of situation.
Even though he got stunned in an early exchange, Pat Sabatini was able to gather his wits and get a first-round submission win in his sophomore effort, forcing Jammal Emmers to tap to a nasty heel hook less than two minutes into the contest.
Emmers clipped Sabatini with a short uppercut inside following a brief pause due to an errant kick below the belt, climbing into mount and looking to attack. Sabatini defended well and forced a scramble, resulting in both men attacking submissions, with Emmers chasing a toe hold as Sabatini positioned himself for a heel hook. After a quick adjustment, he secured the hold, torqued the heel, and Emmers immediately tapped, screaming out in agony as Sabbatini wrenched on his leg.
While he wasn’t satisfied with his performance, this was an excellent showing for Sabatini, who navigated the early rough patch to get a finish in under two minutes, picking up his second quality win in as many UFC appearances and pushing his winning streak to four overall. The 30-year-old former CFFC champ is a legit talent and could earn an expedited push up the divisional ladder.
Mana Martinez collected an emotional split decision win over Guido Cannetti in Saturday’s opener, falling behind early, but rallying over the final two rounds to earn the nod on two of the three scorecards.
Fighting just a couple of weeks after the sudden passing of his coach Saul Soliz, the 25-year-old Texan was slow to start, but once he found his range and his rhythm, “Manaboi” showed why he landed a Contender Series opportunity last summer and a chance to compete in the Octagon this weekend. Cannetti is a tough, veteran fighter with a wealth of experience, but Martinez did well to avoid getting sucked into a brawl and stick to the game plan, backing the Argentine into the fence and landing in combination.
This was a solid first showing for Martinez, especially under the circumstances, and he’s someone to keep an eye on going forward in the talent-rich 135-pound weight class.