UFC Austin: About Last Night...
Discussing the results and repercussions from the action inside the Octagon on Saturday night in Austin
Emmett Edges Kattar in Quality Main Event
Josh Emmett made the most of his second opportunity to headline a UFC fight card, edging out Calvin Kattar by split decision to collect the biggest victory of his career. The 37-year-old Team Alpha Male representative faltered in his first such assignment, but should now move into the Top 5 in the division after landing on the favourable side of the verdict on Saturday.
This was a close, competitive, extremely entertaining fight between two elite featherweights who further proved their mettle by slugging it out for 25 minutes. It played out as most anticipated, with Emmett searching for power shots in lower numbers and Kattar working behind a jab and nice elbows in tight, with the opening two rounds being extremely close, and the final three frames seeming to be fairly easy to score — Round 3 to Emmett, and Round 4 & 5 to Kattar.
Except judge Chris Lee scored Round 4 for Emmett, awarding him a round where he was staggered once and stung with good shots on multiple occasions. It honestly felt like the most clear and obvious round for Kattar when the air horn signalled the end of the frame, and to learn he lost the fight because that round was scored against him feels unseemly.
As I said on Twitter after the scorecards came out, I’m not someone that calls “robbery” very often because close fights happen and this was a close fight, but for that fight to be decided not by the first two rounds, but by Lee scoring the fourth in favour of Emmett is an egregious error that stands as one of the worst scorecards of the year.
Scoring the fight for Emmett isn’t the problem — Sal D’Amato had it 48-47 for the veteran, giving him the first three rounds, and while I disagree, I understand it. What I don’t understand is how anyone can possibly score that fourth round for Emmett… I just can’t make it make sense.
The Kevin Holland Trap
People are falling into the Kevin Holland trap again.
Saturday night, the talkative talent went out and styled on Tim Means, hurting him on the feet in the first and showing improved urgency and effort in working out of grappling situations before stinging the veteran and slapping on a D’Arce choke to secure the tap. It was an excellent effort from the undeniably skilled welterweight, but the reactions that followed were reminiscent of his time at middleweight.
Folks started calling for Holland to get hustled into the Top 15 and suggesting that he’s a problem in the 170-pound weight class, and I just don’t get it. With all due respect to Tim Means, has anyone ever gotten that much positive reaction for beating Tim Means? Like no one went bonkers when Niko Price or Daniel Rodriguez finished “The Dirty Bird,” and now Holland beats him and it’s supposed to be an indication that he’s really to swim with the sharks in the welterweight depths?
Shavkat Rakhmonov is ranked No. 15 at welterweight right now. Sean Brady, whom Holland called out, is No. 9. Both would throttle him.
I don’t know what it is about Holland that makes him that guy people get hypnotized by, but that’s seem to be what happens. He beats folks that he should beat, looks good doing it, and then people lose their shit, as if his myriad middling efforts just never happened.
Let me see him beat someone in the Randy Brown, Jake Matthews range before we go talking about Top 15 assignments for this dude.
Big Effort from Joaquin Buckley
He’s had bigger highlight reel moments, but Joaquin Buckley turned in the best performance of his UFC career on Saturday night.
Paired off with Contender Series grad Albert Duraev, the athletic middleweight turned in a tremendous effort in all facets, showcasing his exceptional speed and power on the feet, quick, forceful sprawls, and improved patience and poise throughout the two-round contest. There were multiple instances where Buckley caught Duraev with clean shots, leading to his left eyelid turning into a massive, purple lump, and despite the best efforts of the cutman in his corner, they couldn’t get the swelling down or increase the Russian fighter’s ability to see.
With his arms draped over the fence prior to the start of the third, the referee called the doctor in and the official waved off the bout, though it shouldn’t have been put in his hands. Duraev’s team did him a disservice by not protecting their fighter, but the real story here was Buckley.
The 28-year-old has always been an intriguing figure in the middleweight division and this was an outstanding showing that highlights his upside. If he can continue developing and replicate this effort going forward, he could make some noise.
Ismagulov Edges Out Kutateladze
Hardcore fans circled the lightweight clash between Damir Ismagulov and Guram Kutateladze as the fight they were most looking forward to seeing on Saturday night, and the ascending fighters did not disappoint. Through 15 minutes of tight action, it was hard to determine a winner, with Ismagulov walking away with a majority decision victory in a bout where the scorecards didn’t make a great deal of sense… even for Texas.
The first felt like Kutateladze’s round, as he landed with a little more force and a little more variety throughout. Ismagulov drew level in the second, finding his range and rhythm to score with smooth counters as “The Georgian Viking” slowed a little. In the third, both men landed quality shots, with Ismagulov seemingly getting a slight advantage before Kutateladze connected with a knee that finally secured him top position, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Referee Herb Dean paused the action and stood them up, determining that Ismagulov was a downed opponent and the knee landed to the head. Neither appeared to be the case watching live from my couch at home, but I’m not the one in there being asked to make these calls. Dean gave Kutateladze a strong warning and took away the position, leaving the final 10 seconds to tick off the clock with no substantive action.
When the scores were read, they were announced as 28-28, 29-28,and 30-27 for Ismagulov, prompting many to wonder how the draw was achieved. Shortly after the bout ended, the UFC announced they were read incorrectly, with the 28-28 actually being a 29-28 for Kutateladze and the official verdict being a split decision.
Regardless of the mathematical challenges, this was an outstanding clash between two talented, ascending lightweights. Ismagulov is now 5-0 in the UFC, 24-1 overall, and riding a 19-fight winning streak; give him a Top 15 opponent and let’s see what’s up. As for Kutateladze, he’s 1-1 in the Octagon and will most certainly be heard from again.
‘Robocop’ Lays Down the Law
Gregory Rodrigues flat out put it on Julian Marquez, clubbing the Dana White’s Contender Series alum with crushing blows from the jump, finally collecting the stoppage a little over three minutes into the opening stanza.
The middleweights met in the center to start, but it was quickly apparent that Rodrigues was fit to dominate the striking exchanges, as his considerable power was clearly something Marquez struggled to deal with. While the burly Glory MMA & Fitness representative tried to hold his ground, “Robocop” continued to march him down, bombing away with heavy artillery that had Marquez in a bad way.
Rodrigues didn’t let off, continuing to pressure and pound away on his stumbling foe before finally felling him with one more clean right hand. This was an outstanding bounce-back effort for the Brazilian, who landed on the wrong side of a split decision verdict last time out. He’s now 3-1 in the UFC and has won five of his last six dating back to his Contender Series appearance. Middleweight is always wide open and the Sanford MMA product is quietly making a case for a step up in competition.
Yanez Keeps Rolling
Adrian Yanez did what just about everyone that pays attention the sport was hoping he would do on Saturday night, putting it on Tony Kelley and getting him out of there inside of the first round. The DWCS graduate has now earned five straight wins since matriculating to the UFC, earning stoppages in four of those outings to stamp himself as a fighter to watch in the 135-pound weight class.
Kelley rightfully drew the ire of the MMA world with xenophobic comments directed towards Viviane Araujo while cornering his girlfriend, UFC flyweight Andrea Lee, during their bout earlier this year. Everyone immediately looked to Yanez to hand out some retribution and the Texas native dolled it out with impunity on Saturday, pouncing once had Kelley hurt and putting him away with more than a minute remaining in the round.
This was another quality effort for Yanez and a very good finish from the 28-year-old, but also another instance where you can see that the ascending bantamweight still has some work to do before becoming a contender. He’s got excellent hands and counters well, but also spends a little too long in the pocket at times, welcoming return fire and trusting in his chin in a way that will cost him down the line against superior
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Preliminary Card Talking Points
Welcome to the UFC, Natalia Silva.
The 25-year-old Brazilian, fighting for the first time in two-and-a-half years, swept the scorecards against Canadian Jasmine Jasudavicius to close out the prelims, earning a flawless victory. From the outset, she flashed quick hands, good fluidity with her striking, and quality movement, taking the fight to Jasudavicius and winning every exchange, in every phase.
Now, grains of salt here because Jasudavicius is just two fights into her UFC journey and now nine fights into her career, so it’s not like Silva came out styled on a seasoned veteran. That being said, this was an exceptional performance for a debuting fighter against someone in a comparable position, and the kind of effort that should have everyone looking forward to seeing the Team Borracha fighter back in the cage again soon.
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Jeremiah Wells made it clear that he’s definitely a dark horse in the welterweight division on Saturday night, collecting a 94-second knockout win over the historically durable Court McGee.
The duo spent the first 90-seconds feeling each other out and finding their respective ranges, and then Wells missed with a right and countered with a left that found McGee’s chin and sent him crashing to the canvas. Wells followed him to the floor with a pair of hammers before Herb Dean could intervene, but they were completely unnecessary as McGee was out and the fight was over.
This answers a bunch of questions about Wells, who collected finishes in his first two outings — the first on short notice, the second against newcomer Blood Diamond — that made it difficult to ascertain where he fit within the division. Becoming the second man to finish McGee in the UFC alongside Santiago Ponzinibbio clarifies things. Pay attention to the finisher from Philadelphia.
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Holy Christ, Ricardo Ramos!
Just over a minute into the opening round of his preliminary card fight with Danny Chavez, the mercurial Brazilian pawed out a jab to move Chavez’ hands, faked a level change, and then hit a picture-perfect spinning elbow that froze Chavez in place along the fence. The follow-up one-two were laser beams that brought referee Mike Beltran rushing in quickly, but the fight was already over before they connected.
Ramos is still just 26 years old and he’s shown flashes like this before — Harry and Ian and I were talking about the Aiemann Zahabi elbow prior to start of the fight — and if he can tighten things up and deliver a little more consistency inside the cage, he could be an interesting name to take over the next couple years in the featherweight division.
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Solid first UFC victory for Maria Oliveira, who earned a split deicsion nod over Gloria de Paula in an all-Brazilian battle in Austin.
The Parana Vale Tudo representative showed increased aggression on the feet to start and flashed solid power throughout, boxing up de Paula at various points and scoring a couple knockdowns even late in the bout when fatigue was clearly starting to set in. She’s still just 25 years old and in the nascent stages of her UFC career, so making a real read on what the future holds is premature, but this was a good effort against a fighter with comparable skills, and she acquitted herself well.
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Cody Stamann got back into the win column with a quick, lopsided finish over veteran Eddie Wineland on Saturday night.
Entering on a three-fight slide against quality competition, Stamann shook Wineland’s equilibrium with the first real shot he threw, and from there, it was academic. He smothered Wineland along the fence, landing a barrage of heavy blows until referee Jacob Montalvo stepped in and halted the contest. This was a get-right layup for the 32-year-old Xtreme Couture representative and former rankings fixture.
This likely is the end of the line for Wineland, as the soon-to-be 38-year-old is now on a three-fight slide, all by stoppage, with losses in five of his last six. Father Time comes for everyone, and he’s finally caught up to Wineland.
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Tremendous performance from Phil Hawes, who completely out-classed Deron Winn in a one-sided effort that should have been stopped well before it finally was called.
From the jump, Hawes was all over Winn, using his massive reach advantage and superior athleticism to batter his rival from pillar-to-post until referee Herb Dean finally stepped in late in the second. This was the utopian version of Hawes — a monstrous effort from an ultra-talented athlete against an overmatched foe — and a terrible showing for Dean and Winn’s corner, each of whom should have intervened and protected the diminutive middleweight once it was clear Hawes wasn’t going to let off the gas.
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Huge effort from Roman Dolidze, showing far more aggression than in his last couple middleweight outings to get Kyle Daukaus out of there in 72 seconds.
After a clash of heads almost right out of the chute that opened Daukaus up over his right eye, Dolidze pressed forward with ferocity, working into the clinch and smashing home a knee upstairs that likely left the Philadelphia native dealing with some broken facial bones. Dolidze has primarily used his grappling since moving to middleweight, but showed here that he’s capable of ending things on the feet as well, which makes him an interesting name to track in the always fluid 185-pound weight class.