UFC San Diego: About Last Night's Action...
Recapping what happened inside the Octagon on Saturday and what those results mean going forward
Vicious Vera
For three rounds, Marlon Vera stood in with vintage Dominick Cruz, having successful moments, but dealing with a fleet-of-foot veteran throwing volume and moving non-stop. When he’d land clean and sit Cruz down, the former champion would pop right back up, ready to engage and put hands on him immediately.
Early in the fourth round, Vera again sat Cruz down, the power discrepancy between the two remaining as evident as it was all along. The veteran bounced right back up, but a few moments later, Vera blasted Cruz with a left kick as he looked to circle out, instantly leaving him need of a nose job and ending the fight. Right when it seemed like “Chito” was going to continue being challenged by Cruz’s resilience, he found the shot that left him with no chance to recover.
Vera has now won four straight and this victory cements his standing as a bona fide contender in the ultra-competitive 135-pound weight class. Saturday’s main event was the kickoff to a several-week run of outstanding matchups in the bantamweight division, culminating in a pair of critical fights at UFC 280, and in dispatching Cruz, the 29-year-old from Ecuador made it clear that he needs to be included in any top of the division matchmaking that takes place in the fall.
He might even be in line for a title shot, depending on how things shake out.
For Cruz, this has to be dispiriting; he was doing everything well, fighting like his old self, and then walked onto a kick that left a massive dent in his nose and calls his future in the cage into question.
This was an absolutely outstanding fight with a thrilling ending, and it only makes things in the bantamweight division even more intriguing going forward.
Absolute Chaos
Nate Landwehr and David Onama blew the roof of the Pechanga Arena in the co-main event, engaging in one of the most entertaining, back-and-forth, wildly chaotic fights of the year so far, with Landwehr emerging on the happy side of the majority decision win.
Onama came out of the gates quickly, putting it on Landwehr throughout the opening stanza. At one point, it looked like he had “Nate the Train” out on his feet, only to snap him back to consciousness with the next blow that landed. Failing to finish left Onama exhausted, however, and in the second, the Tennessee native turned up the tempo and put it on him.
And then things got really wild.
Landwehr came out in the third looking to put on a show, walking away from a downed Onama a couple times, playing to the crowd, only to have the Glory MMA & Fitness representative rise to his feet and return to the fray. Each time Landwehr thought he was on the brink of dominating, Onama found a little more and landed, turning the third round into a toss-up and creating the potential for Landwehr to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
It didn’t turn out that way, but man… if you’ve got time to play to the crowd, you’ve got time to finish the exhausted fighter in front of you, and maybe, just maybe, you should do that first and enjoy your handiwork later.
But maybe that’s just me.
New Arrivals Impress
Yazmin Jauregui and Iasmin Lucindo had themselves a fun little scrap to introduce themselves to the UFC audience on Saturday night. For 15 minutes, the duo stood in the pocket and trade, each landing some big shots on the way to Jauregui earning a unanimous decision win.
I said on One Question this week that I wanted to see this fight in order to get a read on what each of these women bring to the table and what kind of futures they may have in the Octagon, and I have to say, through one 15-minute fight, I’m eager to see each of them back out there and continue to track their progress. While my sense coming in and after Saturday night is that Jauregui has the greater overall upside, Lucindo is clearly built for this life and promising in her own right.
Just a few days after everyone was ready to give Bo Nickal a Top 15 dance partner and a one-way ticket to title contention after beating a part-time fighter on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS), these two more experienced women turned in a tremendously entertaining scrap and deserve all the praise for showing out in this showcase opportunity.
Still Undefeated
Azamat Murzakanov pushed his record to 12-0 with his second consecutive UFC victory, smashing out Devin Clark in the third round.
This was a much better showing for the DWCS grad, who tired quickly before finishing Tafon Nchukwi in the third in his debut. He controlled the majority of the opening stanza before getting clipped with a high kick, hurt Clark and dominated the second, and then got him out of there when he again put him on the deck in the final frame. It wasn’t a vicious finishing sequence, but it didn’t need to be; Murzakanov picked his spots, landed, and secured the finish.
The 33-year-old is an intriguing figure in the light heavyweight division where fresh names are always in demand. This is a good win that resets his floor higher than it was, and should land him a date with someone much further up the hierarchy next time out. I don’t think there is any reason to slow play him at this point — he’s 33 and the window of opportunity isn’t going to be open for too much longer — so it will be interesting to see how they match him up next time out.
Cachoeira Bomb
One thing you have to give Priscila Cachoeira is that for whatever shortcoming she has in the Octagon, she comes out swinging every time, and on Saturday night, “Pedrita” connected.
The Brazilian stepped in against her countrywoman Ariane Lipski in San Diego and the two just started swinging, with Cachoeira walking “The Queen of Violence” down and lighting her up along the fence. While Lipski tried to fire back, she was forced to abdicate her throne, as Cachoeira wobbled her, dropped her, and swarmed for the finish.
For all the criticisms of Cachoeira over the years — some of which have been valid — she’s surprising won four of her last five after collecting a second straight win on Saturday, and her willingness to get right into the thick of things right out of the gate is something not many in her division have at their disposal. She’s not going to be a contender by any means, but more often than not, you’re going to come away from Cachoeira’s fights entertained, and you can’t ask for much more than that.
GM3 Does What GM3 Does
Gerald Meerschaert did what he’s become known for doing throughout his UFC career on Saturday, locking onto a third-round modified guillotine choke to secure the finish abasing Bruno Silva.
The man with the most submission wins in the history of the UFC middleweight division added another to his resume, cracking Silva with a left hand that put him on the deck and looking to get him out of their with punches before deciding to grab his neck and take it home. It was the quintessential Meerschaert performance (and finish) and a nice way to start his run training with the crew at Kill Cliff FC in South Florida.
“GM3” is one of those guys that is never really going to climb too much further up the ranks than he is now, but he’s a solid veteran test that will make you pay if you make mistakes, and never in a boring fight, which should allow him to continue to thrive in this exact space going forward.
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Preliminary Card Thoughts
Angela Hill collected a unanimous decision win over Loopy Godinez in the preliminary card finale, rallying after dropping the first to win the final two rounds on all three scorecards and get back into the win column.
While this was a familiar performance for Hill, it was a good learning opportunity and teachable moment for Godinez, who held her own against a Top 15 fighter for the first time in her career. She didn’t look out of place or like she didn’t belong — she got the better of things early and was right there with Hill every step of the way, showing she can hang.
Strawweight is thriving right now and both these women should continue to be heard from over the next couple of years.
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Listen – I’m not going to come here and try to find big takeaways from the fight between Martin Buday and Lukasz Brzeski because the best thing I can say about it is that it’s a fight that happened.
Buday got the split decision victory and both men showed their limitations at the moment, as each were looking at the clock to see how much time was remaining before the first round expired, and were reduced to throwing mostly single shots. Both still have some room to grow and the ability, should they do so, to make improvements and advancements, but this wasn’t good and the less we say about it the better.
One final note though: Buday kept the Fighter to Watch winning streak alive, as we head into next week at a dozen consecutive victories for fighters featured in the Tuesday series.
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Nina Nunes wrapped up her career on a high note, securing a split decision win (that shouldn’t have been a split decision) over Cynthia Calvillo before leaving her gloves in the center of the Octagon.
Nunes explained that she wants to focus on coaching and family going forward, and she’s already shown a strong aptitude for each, as her daughter Raegan is cute as can be and she did well as part of her wife Amanda’s staff on Season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter. She’s someone that made the absolute most of her time in the cage, climbing into the Top 5 at strawweight at one point, earning 11 wins in 18 starts, and wrapping things up on her own terms, on a victory.
On the other side of things, Calvillo just doesn’t look all that keen on being in there any more — she’s hesitant to engage, doesn’t throw much at all, and can’t even have success in the spots that should be her strengths. Saturday marks four consecutive defeats for the veteran and could bring her UFC days to a close.
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Saturday’s lightweight fight between Gabriel Benitez and Charlie Ontiveros went pretty well exactly as anticipated, with Benitez physically dominating Ontiveros from the very beginning and getting a first-round stoppage win from mount with 85 seconds remaining in the frame.
Moving back up to the 155-pound ranks, “Moggly” manhandled Ontiveros, stunning him with a left hand before slamming him to the canvas, climbing into mount, and bashing out a finish. That’s consecutive first-round stoppage wins at lightweight for the TUF: Latin America alum, who finished Justin Jaynes with a knee to the guts in his last appearance in the division. For Ontiveros, it’s a third straight stoppage loss and likely the end of his UFC journey, and hopefully an indicator to the company to just stop giving short-notice fighters multiple chances to compete when they’ve previously shown you they can’t hang at this level.
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Tyson Nam detonates a right hand on the chin of Ode’ Osbourne to instantly put himself back in the win column.
It was speed and movement versus big power, and power won out, as Nam allowed Osbourne to flit around on the outside, throwing shots, looking for openings as he closed the distance and looked for a big shot to throw. When Osbourne elevated for a naked flying knee attempt, Nam timed a right hand that connected perfectly, sending the DWCS alum tumbling backwards over himself. Nam followed and finished, getting his first win since September 2020 and his first win as a UFC flyweight.
This division is all kinds of entertaining right now, and a returning Nam makes it even more interesting going forward.
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Welcome to the UFC, Josh Quinlan.
The DWCS alum, who tested positive following his win last fall and had this fight pushed back a week after trace amounts of a banned metabolite were detected in his system, needed just over two minutes to dispatch Jason Witt to earn an emphatic stoppage win in his debut. Quinlan landed a beautiful left hook as Witt offered a left kick, shutting off the lights and sending him crashing to the canvas. Perhaps more impressively is that he held off on the follow-up forearm smash, which was a lovely show of restraint.
Quinlan is going to be haunted by his positive test — as it should be — but this is a very impressive way to start proving to folks that he’s skilled and not strictly a product of banned substances. The 29-year-old is now 6-0 with all six of his wins coming inside the distance.
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Quality fight to start the night as Youssef Zalal and Da’Mon Blackshear battled to a majority draw.
Blackshear, who took the fight on short notice, found success in the grappling department in the first two rounds, attacking off his back in the first and taking Zalal’s back in the second. In the corner before the start of the third, Zalal’s head coach, Marc Montoya, told him to abandon the grappling and just strike, and his charge listened, beating the hell out of Blackshear and dropping him with a body kick with a minute remaining in the fight.
The draw felt like the correct verdict — Blackshear winning the first and second, and Zalal getting a 10-8 in the third — and each man should come away from this one with a slight step up in competition next time out. A fun fight to start the night and a good showing from each fighter; you can’t ask for much more.