UFC 273: 10 Things We Learned Last Night (Extended Edition)
Tackling the takeaways and talking points from Saturday's dynamic pay-per-view event in Jacksonville
Best Fighter in the World
Alexander Volkanovski delivered an emphatic statement on Saturday night, putting it on Chan Sung Jung to successfully defend his featherweight title in the main event of UFC 273.
From the outset, Volkanovski was on point and crisp, picking apart “The Korean Zombie” with clean, precision striking and sharp movements. Each time Jung landed anything, the champion was there with not only a response, but several responses, leaving the challenger wearing it after the first five minutes. The more the fight progressed, the more lopsided it became, with Volkanovski pummelling the popular South Korean, leaving him wobbled and battered in several instances.
After Volkanovski closed out the third by flooring Jung and raining down ground-and-pound, the veteran challenger struggled to get to his feet and his corner, leaving many on social media to call for his corner to throw in the towel. Instead, they sent him back out there, as did the doctor, only for Volkanovski to prompt referee Herb Dean to step in 45-seconds into the championship rounds after another series of blows crashed home.
For my money, the featherweight titleholder is the best fighter on the planet right now, and this fight illustrated it to a tee. He had the right game plan, made the right adjustments mid-fight, and beat Jung in every realm, from start to finish. Volkanovski is perpetually unbothered in the Octagon, shaking off whatever he’s hit with and continuing to march forward on the hunt, and he’s getting better each time out.
He’s never looked better than he did on Saturday night in Jacksonville, and getting the belt off of him is going to be an incredibly difficult task for whomever is next.
Undisputed
Aljamain Sterling is the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion, claiming top spot in the division with a hard-fought, split-decision win over Petr Yan in the co-main event.
Sterling dominated the second and third, taking Yan’s back in each frame and controlling things on the canvas throughout, hunting for submissions and grinding out valuable control time, while the Russian won the fourth and fifth on all three scorecards, out-landing Sterling and winning the grappling exchanges. With none of the officials awarding Sterling a 10-8 score in the second, the fight hinged on the opening stanza, where Sterling landed more strikes, but Yan appeared, in my opinion, to land the more impactful blow.
Two of the three judges sided with Sterling, and now, the New Yorker stands atop the division.
This was a compelling, intriguing clash between bitter rivals, and it seemed like Yan was fighting with a little too much emotion early, which seems to have cost him. Sterling made the most of his two successful takedowns, salting away the second and third, but got outworked over the final 10 minutes, leaving this one still feeling slightly unsettled.
Bantamweight has a ton of talent at the top of the division, and moving forward with a different matchup makes a lot of sense, but given how close Saturday’s penultimate pairing ended up being, a third bout between the two — for the title or not — feels likely to happen in the next couple years.
Questions Answered
Khamzat Chimaev is absolutely the real deal.
The undefeated rising star went toe-to-toe with Gilbert Burns in an instant classic, venturing from facing Li Jingliang to the No. 2 fighter in the division, and getting the better of the back-and-forth battle with scores of 29-28 across the board. Not only did Chimaev showcase the marauding style that has made him a wildly popular figure, but he answered each and every question anyone may have had about him as a competitor, passing this latest test with flying colours.
Chimaev dropped Burns in the first, putting it on the Brazilian from the outset and dictating the terms of engagement with his wrestling abilities. The former title challenger drew level in the second, stinging and dropping Chimaev late in the frame, leaving the final five minutes to decide things, and while Burns had his moments, the unbeaten emerging contender had more, landing the more impactful blows throughout to secure a statement victory that elevates him in the welterweight title picture.
This was a helluva fight — the new clubhouse leader in the Fight of the Year, without question — and feels like one of those contests we’ll look back on in a couple years as the moment Chimaev graduated to the next level.
Dern Gets It Done
Mackenzie Dern got back into the win column on Saturday night, securing a split decision win over Tecia Torres in a hotly contested, back-and-forth battle.
The first round proved to be the deciding frame, as Dern dominated the second with her world-class Brazilian jiu jitsu, threatening Torres with a deep kimura and then various leg lock attacks, while the former Ultimate Fighter contestant won the third on all three scorecards. Two of the three officials gave Dern the opener, where she landed considerably fewer shots and a lower percentage, but pressed forward throughout and connected with more force than the water bug Torres, who worked out of a clinch attempt and used a stick-and-move approach.
This was an outstanding fight that provides some clarity to how things line up in the 115-pound weight class. Dern cements her position in the upper half of the rankings, while Torres remains a tenured veteran in the lower half, serving as a perfect litmus test for hopefuls and a tough out for anyone in the division.
If Dern can continue to improve her hands and work to find more successful ways to get into her grappling setups sooner, more efficiently, she’s could be special, because he grappling is next level and she can absolutely crack.
Still Undefeated
Mark O. Madsen maintained his unbeaten record through the latest toughest test of his career, grinding out a unanimous decision win over Vinc Pichel in the opening bout of Saturday’s main card, pushing his record to 12-0 overall.
The three-time Olympian and 2016 silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling came out striking in the first, attacking the lead leg and mixing in occasional punches that kept Pichel from really letting go of his own offence. In the second, the TUF Live alum countered, landing the better strikes throughout and becoming the first person to put Madsen on the deck, but in the third, the Danish lightweight played to his strength, put Pichel on the canvas, and secured the victory.
The 37-year-old recently relocated his entire family to Arizona, where he trains with the Fight Ready MMA team, in order to chase his goal of becoming UFC lightweight champion. This win, while not the most electric effort, should move him forward another step and potentially land him in the cage with a ranked opponent in the second half of the year.
Madsen just keeps clearing hurdles at every turn, so it will be interesting to see who he gets paired off with next.
Just What the Doctor Ordered
The risk when you have a prospect like Ian Garry is that they go out and look so impressive every appearance that they get moved up the divisional ladder too quickly, turning critical developmental time into assignments that are unnecessarily dangerous for a young fighter.
Saturday night, the 24-year-old welterweight from Ireland collected his ninth consecutive victory and second straight UFC win, working through 15 minutes against Darian Weeks, gaining valuable experience inside the Octagon.
While some fans weren’t excited by the contest, it was a wildy important fight for the undefeated prospect, and the kind of fight he should continue to have in his next three or four trips into the cage. Each time he wins, give him a slight step up in competition and see how he does, allowing him ample time to develop, progress, and work his way up the divisional ladder organically, rather than trying to rush things because he’s got a little hype behind his name.
This was a good win for the promising rising star from Ireland, and hopefully a harbinger of what’s to come over the next couple years.
Hernandez Secures Sloppy Win
Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez picked up his second straight win on Saturday night, getting the better of late replacement Josh Fremd in a sloppy middleweight contest towards the end of the prelims.
The Dana White Contender Series (DWCS) grad came out fast, looking to push the pace against the promotional newcomer and chasing submissions. While he couldn’t find a finish early, he took the fight to Fremd, but those failed attempts became a fixture of the contest. Though he was credited with three submission attempts, it honestly felt like Hernandez chased 57 different guillotines and D’Arce chokes, often sacrificing proper positioning and setups for low-percentage attempts.
Here’s the thing: I actually think Hernandez has some very good raw tools, but he’s wild and sloppy and hasn’t been taught how to best deploy his weapons, including his clearly excellent conditioning. Despite putting it on Fremd for the first seven minutes, he had to play defence for the second half of the middle stanza and ate too many shots for someone that was the clearly superior talent.
Wins are always important and keeping it moving forward is key, but there is more Hernandez can do and I remain interested to see if he can tighten things up and take some positive steps in his development over the next couple fights.
Pennington Keeps Rolling, Ladd Continues Spiraling
A fixture in the bantamweight division since TUF 18, Raquel Pennington kept things moving in the right direction on Saturday, posting her fourth consecutive victory with a short-notice, unanimous decision win over Aspen Ladd. The veteran came out of the gate crisp, working behind clean, sharp boxing, getting out to a two-round lead before dropping the third.
This was a 15-minute presentation on the difference between a fighter that knows who they are and one that is struggling to find their identity.
Pennington is a high-volume, pressure fighter who does her best work on the feet, and was happy to engage there throughout, beating Ladd to the punch throughout the opening 10 minutes. Ladd, meanwhile, is praised for her strength and ferocious ground-and-pound, but didn’t even attempt to get the fight to the ground until two minutes into the third round, opting instead to trade with Pennington in space. The only people surprised by the verdict were Ladd and her team, who somehow thought they had done enough.
Once a highly regarded prospect, the 27-year-old Ladd has now dropped back-to-back outings and three of her last four, regressing dramatically and looking like a fighter that is lost at the moment. She a grinder, not a dynamic athlete, and her game plan here was a complete miss. Her struggles of late are rather alarming, and if she doesn’t correct things soon, Ladd could become a sad tale about what could have been.
Welcome to The Show
Mike Malott delivered one of the best debuts of the year so far, kicking off the televised prelims with a first-round knockout win over Mickey Gall. The 30-year-old Canadian connected with a right hand early, got busted up a little himself, and then put Gall out with a clean left hand to the jaw in the midst of a late first-round exchange.
It’s been a long road to the Octagon for Malott, who faced solid competition on his way up the ranks, but then pressed pause on his fighting career to focus on coaching, working with the group at Team Alpha Male and garnering a ton of experience on the other side of the fence. He got back into the cage with a good win over Solomon Renfro at the end of 2020, punched his ticket to the UFC with a first-round finish on the Contender Series last fall, and proved he belongs by finishing Gall in a grimy one-round tussle on Saturday.
This was a great debut for Malott, and a disappointing result for Gall, who suffers consecutive losses for the first time in his career and is likely straight down a must-win situation next time out, provided he gets another opportunity. He’s been in the UFC for seven years and has never settled into a training situation for any real length of time, so I’d give him one more chance to work with the crew at Sanford MMA and see if he can’t halt his skid.
But he’s 6-5 in the Octagon and 30 years old, so it wouldn’t be surprising if this is the end of the line for the opportunistic New Jersey native who got his shot by calling out and then beating CM Punk.
Oleinik Gets Win No. 60
Early on, it looked like Aleksei Oleinik was going to come up short in his bid to earn win No. 60 for a fourth time, as Jared Vanderaa stung him on the feet out of the chute and looked to be in control of things when the two hit the canvas early in the opening round.
But just being on the ground with Oleinik is dangerous, and after enduring some punishment and a couple dicey positions, the Russian veteran dragged Vanderaa back down to the canvas in a scramble and instantly climbed onto his back. From there, it was a quick progression from back mount to full mount to side control, where Oleinik clamped onto a scarf-hold neck crank that forced Vanderaa to tap… and dry heave in a bucket immediately afterwards.
Oleinik is a rare breed and the type of athlete we’re never going to see in this sport again: a 44-year-old specialist at heavyweight, with more than 75 fights and now 60 wins spread across four decades. He’s never been a true contender, but he has spent the last nine years competing against the best heavyweights in the world inside the UFC Octagon, and it’s incredible to see all that he’s accomplished.
A Change Could Do Hansen Good
Kay Hansen has already logged 13 professional appearances, despite the fact that she’s still just 22 years old. Saturday night, the California native dropped her third straight, losing to newcomer Piera Rodriguez by unanimous decision.
Hansen started well, landing on the feet early before shifting into her grappling attacks, finishing the round in top position, looking to connect on a head-and-arm choke to no avail. In the second and third, however, Rodriguez was able to control things, surprisingly going on the grappling offensive herself, tying up Hansen for long stretches either on the deck or against the fence, burning time off the clock en route to a sweep of the scorecards.
Watching the fight — and much of Hansen’s career — she feels like someone that would really benefit from a change of scenery. She’s bounced around to a couple different California gyms during her career, but a shift to somewhere with a larger collection of female fighters and more experienced coaches could be crucial in halting her current skid and getting her moving in the right direction again. She has tons of upside, but there are pieces missing, and with all due respect to the crew she’s currently working with, I’m not sure she’s going to get those fixed by staying put.
Hansen still has a number of years until she’s reached her physical prime, but losing time and losing fights before she gets there could be something that contributes to her never quite reaching her best.
No Substitute for Experience
In the opening bout of the night, Julio Arce showed once again that there is no substitute for experience, as the Queens, New York native outworked newcomer Daniel Santos from start to finish, working behind a clean jab, smooth footwork, and veteran savvy. While Santos never stopped coming forward, the Brazilian bantamweight struggled to find Arce and connect with any consistency, either getting beaten to the punch or pick apart on the way in.
For all the excitement and intriguing new arrivals and fresh faces generate, fights like this are a reminder that guys like Arce that came up facing a tough slate and have logged plenty of time inside the Octagon should never be overlooked or counted out. They are the lifeblood of every weight class and vital for the continued evolution of these divisions, and the kind of competitors you need up and down the divisional hierarchy.
The other piece of it is that guys like Arce, as we saw on Saturday, are perfect instant measuring sticks for incoming talent. While it might be too big of a step up for someone like Santos, you find out right away whether they’re able to hang with the battle-tested veteran class in their respective division.