UFC 271: 10 Things We Learned, Main Card Edition
Going more in-depth on the talking points from Saturday night's pay-per-view main card at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas
And Still
Israel Adesanya remains the UFC middleweight champion, retaining his title with a unanimous decision victory over Robert Whittaker in their main event rematch at UFC 271.
It was an outstanding, technical effort from the champion, who worked patiently behind kicks and showcased an outstanding ability to get back to his feet and get Whittaker off of him whenever the former titleholder put him on the deck or got around his waist. There were points where he was a little too patient, but his accuracy and defensive abilities continue to be deciding factors for Adesanya, who earned scores of 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 to secure the victory.
Adesanya is now 22-0 at middleweight, with a pair of victories over the clear silver medalist in the 185-pound weight class. After suffering the first loss of his career last March up at light heavyweight opposite Jan Blachowicz, he’s rebounded with consecutive dominant efforts against a pair of outstanding challengers. He continues to show different wrinkles to his game each time out, displaying tremendous hips and scrambling abilities, quickly shutting down Whittaker’s best path to victory and edging out “The Reaper” on the feet.
Friday was the four-year anniversary of Adesanya’s UFC debut and it’s actually staggering what “The Last Stylebender” has done in that span. He’s 11-1 in a dozen fights, perfect at middleweight with an interim title win, a knockout victory in a title unification bout, and four successful title defences. He’s earn victories over the fighters currently ranked Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 10 in the division, doubling up on both No. 1 and No. 2, as well as beating veteran Brad Tavares and the all-time great Anderson Silva.
What’s even scarier is that Adesanya is clearly still getting better, so no one should expect a changing of the guard any time soon atop the middleweight ranks.
We are very much living in “The Adesanya Era” and it going to continue for a long time.
Absolutely Great, But Still Not Good Enough
Whittaker said in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier that he and Adesanya are the top two middleweights in the world, and everyone knows it, and I’m sure that hit close to home for the former two-division champion.
After falling to 0-2 against Adesanya, the former champion is in the same spot Cormier was against Jon Jones during his days at light heavyweight, standing as the clear silver medalist in the 185-pound weight class, but still a step or two behind the dominant champion.
It has to be a difficult position to be in and reality to accept. Whittaker said he believed he did enough to get the victory, and he fought the exact type of fight that would give him the best shot at unseating Adesanya, and yet it still wasn’t enough. He’s dominated everyone else he’s faced at middleweight, including Jared Cannonier, who staked his claim to a championship opportunity earlier in the night, but just can’t beat the final boss to finish the game.
Now he finds himself in The Franklin Zone, stuck in purgatory as the second-best fighter in the division, but facing a long road to a third championship opportunity since he’s fallen twice to the reigning champ. We saw Joseph Benavidez do a tremendous job in this same position following his second loss to Demetrious Johnson, though he never got the chance to face “Mighty Mouse” for a third time and never managed to secure a championship win, but Whittaker could still take a page from the now-retired standout’s playbook going forward.
He’ll surely take some time to process this setback and enjoy some family time, but when he does return, embracing an “Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time” approach makes a whole lot of sense.
Bam Bam is Built Different
Tai Tuivasa answered all the questions that people like me had about him heading into his co-main event matchup with Derrick Lewis on Saturday night at UFC 271, taking the best the hometown favourite had to offer before sending “The Black Beast” falling to the canvas in a heap early in the second round.
Both men said they were going to swang and bang, but Lewis spent portions of the first round wrestling, dragging Tuivasa to the canvas a couple different times, bashing him in the head multiple times when he tried to get back to his feet. In the second, Lewis had Tuivasa hurt, but rather than backing up and finding space to recover, “Bam Bam” bit down on his gumshield and gave it right back to him.
Firing big shots at one another along the fence, Tuivasa hit Lewis with an elbow to the temple that put him out in an instant, signalling the official arrival of a brand new contender in the heavyweight division.
We haven’t seen anyone take those kinds of shots from Lewis and not only stay upright, but return fire and live to tell about it, which highlights just how different Tuivasa is in terms of his ability to absorb punishment and press forward. This was an incredible effort from the emerging contender from West Sydney, and the kind of victory that instantly makes Tuivasa the most interesting contender in the division.
A Reminder to Have Patience With Prospects
Tuivasa raced out to three straight wins to enter the Top 10, then suffered three straight losses, prompting most to jump off the bandwagon and write him off as nothing more than another heavyweight.
Since then, the 28-year-old has rattled off five straight wins, showing tremendous evolution as a fighter, and admitting to having needed to grow as a man. He’s committed himself to the sport, to training, to handily his business, rather than simply having fun, and it has paid massive dividends for the charismatic kid “From the Area.”
We have a tendency in this sport to get real excited about fighters early, and real down on them when they struggle, even though history tells us that development isn’t linear and competitors don’t usually reach their best form until their late 20s, if not their 30s. It feels like that happened with Tuivasa, and that’s not just me saying that after a dominant performance on Saturday night. Here’s what I wrote about the surging Australian heading into 2021:
I tend to feel like Tuivasa got hustled into the deep end too quickly while also getting high on his own supply a little, resulting in a three-fight slide that had him looking like a dude that was going to wash out of the UFC just as quickly as he rolled in.
But he got back into the win column in 2020 and is still only 27, so I’m willing to roll the dice on the man who introduced the MMA audience to “the shoey” and see if he can parlay some of the natural talent and athleticism he has into another quality run inside the cage.
He’s exceeded all expectations, and is now only a win or two away from challenging for the heavyweight title.
Statement Effort from Jared Cannonier
Jared Cannonier made his case for a championship opportunity on Saturday night, rebounding from a rough opening stanza to score a second-round stoppage win over Derek Brunson.
Cannonier got taken down, stung a couple times, dropped once, and nearly choked out in the first five minutes, with the round ending with Brunson locked on his back, looking to secure a rear-naked choke. Brunson took Cannonier down immediately to start the second, but the former heavyweight worked back to his feet quickly, and from there, it was a one-sided affair, as “The Killa Gorilla” started finding success with his hands, ultimately hurting, flooring, and finishing Brunson.
This was the kind of statement Cannonier needed to make in order to secure a championship opportunity in the future, and he made a point of getting UFC President Dana White’s attention during his post-fight interview to demand as much. Now 5-1 since moving to ‘85 and riding a two-fight winning streak, it’s going to be hard to deny Cannonier the opportunity as long with Adesanya retaining the title and in need of fresh opposition.
Sometimes, it’s the volume of victories that gets you a title shot. Other times, it’s a statement effort. Cannonier now has both, and he should have next.
Uncertain Futures for the Vanquished Ds
Lewis and Brunson both landed on the wrong side of second-round stoppage losses, and face uncertain futures after Saturday night.
Lewis is entrenched as one of the gatekeeper to the Top 5 in the heavyweight division, but he’s been stopped in two of his last three (both at home in Houston) and is at a point where the UFC might want to reconsider sticking him in there with emerging talents too frequently since he’s capable of taking them out, but seemingly incapable of beating the absolute best the division have to offer at the same time.
Brunson talked about hanging up his gloves in a couple fights heading into his bout with Cannonier, got mauled in the second, and then tweeted about having one more fight left in him before he calls it quits. While his run of success prior to UFC 271 cement his standing as a Top 5 middleweight, it will be interesting to see who the UFC matches him up with in what will likely be his farewell fight because there is no value to having the departing veteran take out anyone with upward mobility in the 185-pound weight class.
Neither is likely all that interested in a step back in competition, but that could very well be what’s in store for each after good starts turned into ugly finishes for each on Saturday evening at Toyota Center.
Renato Moicano: The New Jeremy Stephens
Renato Moicano feels like he’s morphing into being the new Jeremy Stephens for me.
Saturday night, the former featherweight staple picked up a second-round submission win over Alexander Hernandez, stunning the brash San Antonio native before snatching up his neck and squeezing out a choke less than 90 seconds into the middle round. It was a second straight victory and third win in four fights since shifting to the 155-pound weight class, pushing his record to 8-4 in the UFC and 16-4-1 overall.
While it’s a vastly superior record than the recently departed Stephens ever amassed, his position as a permanent threat in the 10-20 range across two different divisions makes him an outstanding replacement for the “Lil Heathen,” who held that role at featherweight and lightweight over the course of his lengthy UFC run.
Every division needs fighters like this, and I think Moicano is a slight step ahead of Bobby Green, who showed out earlier on the main card, simply based on his strength of schedule and the efficiency of his performances since relocating to lightweight. The Brazilian showed Saturday that he’s dangerous both standing on the ground, and he’s becoming a more patient, more savvy fighter as well, dialling back his output when it was clear he could counter Hernandez without pressing too hard.
This was an outstanding effort from a truly unsung two-division standout who never gets enough love.
Be Careful What You Wish For
Hernandez and Moicano were initially slated to compete on the early prelims, which vexed the combustible Colorado-based lightweight, who went on a rant about deserving more respect and making a statement to show how pissed off he was about where his fight was placed on the card.
At some point Friday, the lineup got shuffled, and the lightweights got elevated to the main card, where Hernandez got out-struck and ultimately choked out.
Sometimes, it’s better to just keep quiet and actually make a statement in the cage rather than pop off and fail to back it up, which should be the key lesson Hernandez takes from this week.
I’m all for having confidence, but there is a difference between confidence and being conceited, and I feel like Hernandez trends towards the latter, and it costs him. He’s has some impressive performance inside the Octagon and shown flashes of being capable of being a Top 15 talent, but every time he gets a chance to prove it, he falters, and it feels to me like it’s because he’s under-estimating his opponents, over-estimating his own skills, and bumping his gums when he should be staying quiet.
Bobby Green Has Never Been Better
More than 40 fights into his professional career, Bobby Green has never looked better.
Fresh off a first-round knockout win over Al Iaquinta in New York City, the 35-year-old veteran marched into Houston’s Toyota Center and turned in a sharp, high-volume master class against Nasrat Haqparast, turning what was a close contest through five minutes into a lopsided blowout to secure his second straight victory. A fixture in the division who has never shied away from a tough fight, Green might not have ever had consecutive performances as impressive as his last two efforts inside the Octagon.
Throughout the contest, the Fontana, California native worked behind a crisp jab, switching stances and lead hands throughout, but popping Haqpoarast’s head back and bloodying him up no matter the stance. He was happy fun in there from the outset, doing his customary commando roll into the cage and soaking up every single minute of it, talking to Haqparast every step of the way.
Green worked his way into the Top 10 early in his UFC run and as Jon Anik said on the broadcast, he just might find his way back into the rankings if he’s not careful. He’s the exact type of fighter that can continue to thrive in these kinds of matchups and appears to still be getting better.
Haqparast Has Officially Stalled
After a number of years of carrying the “emerging prospect” tag, it’s time to acknowledge that Haqparast has officially stalled out.
It’s not just that he’s lost consecutive bouts to Green and Dan Hooker, or three of his last five, with each of those setbacks coming against the best competition he’s faced — it’s that there just hasn’t been any tangible development since he first started making waves in the lightweight division. He’s still just a “meat and potatoes” boxer that hunts for big shots and doesn’t throw enough volume or variety to be considered a real threat against anyone within arm’s reach of the rankings.
He had some moments on Saturday against Green and is still only 26, so things could still change and improve, but the days of thinking about Haqparast having a promising future in the 155-pound weight class have passed. Now he’s a former prospect in dire need of an impressive performance next time out, and someone that needs to show meaningful improvements over the next couple fights if he wants to have a chance to reclaim some of that shine.
Check out UFC 271: 10 Things We Learned, Prelims Edition here