UFC Vegas 37: About Last Night...
Detailing what happened, who stood out, and where it may lead from Saturday's fight card at the UFC APEX
Anthony Smith Won’t Be Your Stepping Stone
Stationed opposite another emerging talent in the light heavyweight division on Saturday night, Anthony “Lionheart” Smith showed he’s still not interesting in being anyone’s stepping stone, beating Ryan Spann to the punch in every exchange before choking out the Fortis MMA product towards the final minute of the opening round.
After getting stung with a right hand and carried across the cage to Spann’s corner in the early the fight, Smith had a look of annoyance on his face, and once he broke free, the former title challenger began slinging hands with the Texas hopeful, connecting and wobbling Spann with several blows. To his credit, the Texan stood tall and fired back, but Smith continued, angered, aggressive, and sensing victory was nigh.
He took Spann’s back and laced up a rear-naked choke, securing the finish, and then had words for Spann on his way up, creating a bit of a scene in the Octagon afterwards, which was unfortunate, as it took away from Smith’s outstanding effort.
Smith is a difficult fighter to peg at the moment, largely because his high side remains unclear thanks to his tepid effort against Aleksandar Rakic last summer. This win, like the two before it, solidified the 52-fight veteran as a Top 10 force in the division, and someone hopefuls should hope to avoid at the moment, but in terms of whether he’s a contender or just the guardian to the upper tier, that is still undecided for now.
We Need More Corner Stoppages in MMA
Following the second round, Devin Clark asked his corner if he should continue fighting, showing them his messed up lower row of teeth, a byproduct of two rounds being the nail to Ion Cutelaba’s hammer. His corner basically said, “If you can fight, why not?” and Clark went out for Round 3, winning the round, but losing a decision.
There is no question that Clark exhibited tremendous toughness by not only competing for the final five minutes, but taking the fight to Cutelaba at time and getting the nod from two out of three judges, but are we still really questioning whether the men and women that take to the Octagon are tough or not? I thought that was assumed, and while I get the whole, “You never know what’s going to happen” argument, I would counter with, “Yeah, we kind of do,” happy to accept being wrong the one or two times out of 50 that a battered fighter with zero finishes in the UFC pulls off the comeback win.
Nothing that transpired in the third round changed our opinions about either man — Cutelaba faded a little, but still was there, and Clark showcased his the same resilience we saw two fights ago against Alonzo Menifield — and while no further significant damage was done (that we saw), none of those additional blows Clark absorbed were necessary.
I know athletes don’t want their corners stopping fights — and some will argue vociferously about even suggesting they do so — but man, the window for competing at this level is small enough on it’s own that I really wouldn’t mind seeing more corners protecting their fighters and providing them with the out they’ll rarely take themselves in situations like this.
Could Ariane Lipski Be Turning Things Around?
Ariane Lipski arrived in the UFC with a great deal of hype after having considerable success under the KSW banner in Poland. She stumbled out of the gate upon entering the Octagon, and went into Saturday’s main card bout with Mandy Böhm sporting a 2-4 record in the UFC.
But on Saturday night, Lipski delivered her best performance to date, controlling the action throughout the contest en route to a clean sweep of the scorecards against the German newcomer. It was a well-rounded effort where she showed how diverse her arsenal is, and could end up standing as a turning point moment in the career of the 27-year-old Brazilian.
She’s moved her training to American Top Team, which is an instant upgrade for anyone, no matter where they were training before, and she has solid skills to build off, with consistency and confidence having been her greatest shortcomings thus far. Now, it takes far more than beating a neophyte like Böhm to reverse the impact of four losses in six fights, and struggling against each top tier opponent she’s faced thus far, but Lipski wouldn’t be the first athlete to falter early in their UFC career, switch camps, and find greater success.
When you got from fighting for your spot on the roster to turning in a strong showing, it injects can infuse you with new life and drive, so it will be interesting to see what Lipski can do next time out to build off this performance.
Arman Tsarukyan, Lightweight Problem Child
There are going to be even more people avoiding Arman Tsarukyan after his first-round stoppage win over Christos Giagos on Saturday night, as the 24-year-old rising star once again looked like a championship contender in the making.
Giagos actually started out well, winning the first scramble with the talented grappler, but that advantage didn’t last long, soon after, Tsarukyan was celebrating another victory. After briefly catching a kick, Tsarukyan fired off a left hook that put Giagos on the deck, and from there, he swarmed, bombing away on the dazed and defenceless veteran until Herb Dean finally stepped in to stop the fight.
Now 16-2 overall and riding a five-fight winning streak, Tsarukyan was already having difficulty finding opponents as an ultra-talented up-and-comer who looks like an all-risk, no-reward assignment for anyone ranked ahead of him in the lightweight division. I know some fans are fixated on who you beat, but Tsarukyan is one of those rare competitors who shouldn’t need to keep grinding his way up the ranks at a slow and steady pace — he’s the real deal and deserves a significant step up in competition.
The problem is going to be finding someone willing to fight him.
Nate Maness is a Dog
At the close of the first round, Nate Maness got blasted with a right hook by Tony Gravely that put him on the deck, with the only thing keeping him from suffering a loss being the horn to signify the end of the round.
A little over two minutes into the second, Maness returned the favor, blasting Gravely with a right hook of his own, sending the American Top Team representative tumbling into the fence in a heap, and the Kentucky native jumped in and sealed the deal, securing his third victory in as many UFC appearances and his second straight come-from-behind win.
Maness is one of those guys that doesn’t have a big name or a ton of hype behind him, but he’s now 14-1 for his career and shown a ton of grit, toughness, and resolve, hanging in and fighting back in consecutive victories over Gravely and Luke Sanders. The bantamweight class is loaded with talent and ultra-competitive, but at this point, it’s difficult to not be impressed with what Maness has done and wonder how far up the divisional ladder he can climb going forward.
Regardless of where he ends up, one thing is for sure: Maness is a dude you can never count out.
All-Action, But Not Quite Championship Worthy
Ahead of his return to action Saturday night, Joaquin Buckley said he wanted to show that he’s championship worthy by getting back into the win column in a big way against Antonio Arroyo. While he secured the finish, I’m not sure he accomplished his overall goal.
Buckley was behind on one card and running level on the other two going into the third round, struggling with Arroyo’s height and length, failing to get inside and land anything of real substance. But two minutes into the third round, Buckley clubbed the Brazilian with a right hook where his forearm connected with the side of his head, shaking his equilibrium, following it up with a perfectly place uppercut that exploded Arroyo’s nose. Follow-up shots on the floor brought the fight to a halt and put Buckley back in the winner’s circle.
The 27-year-old St. Louis native has yet to be in a boring fight in the UFC, and that feels like where his future lies — as a consistently entertaining, but somewhat limited fighter in the 185-pound ranks, where his short stature (he’s 5’8” tall) and striking-centric approach will make it difficult for him to compete with taller, more complete talents. This isn’t said to be a jerk or piss on Buckley’s dreams — chase that championship, young man — but is rather an attempt to be more forthright with my assessments and give a little more context to things in my writing.
Preliminary Card Takeaways and Talking Points
Returning following the first loss of his professional career, Tafon Nchukwi moved up to light heavyweight and battered Mike Rodriguez, putting it on his fellow Contender Series graduate for three rounds, sweeping the scorecards.
Just 26 years old and now seven fights into his pro MMA career, it’s hard not to be impressed with and intrigued by Nchukwi. The move to light heavyweight was absolutely the right move, as he’s able to work at a quicker pace for a longer duration than when he was fighting at middleweight. As I said during the contest, there are little elements of Nchukwi’s game that are so impressive to see from a fighter with his limited experience, as he works the body well, mixes in foot sweeps from the clinch, and can take a shot, all of which will continue to serve him well going forward.
The one thing that could be an issue at light heavyweight is that the division is comparatively shallow, so a couple quality efforts usually lands you opposite an established, experienced foe, which isn’t what Nchukwi needs at this point. If he’s given a chance to log some more reps in the middle of the pack and continue his natural progression as a fighter, “Da Don” could eventually work his way into the rankings in the 205-pound weight class.
Raquel Pennington scored a nice comeback win on Saturday night, out-working Pannie Kianzad in an entertaining, clinch-heavy, back-and-forth battle on Saturday afternoon inside the APEX.
Out of action since last June due to a suspension and a nasty bout with COVID-19, Pennington showed no signs of rust in going three hard rounds with the streaking Kianzad, who entered on a four-fight winning streak. She worked well in the clinch throughout the fight and maintained her pace from start-to-finish, which isn’t necessarily something you would expect for someone coming off a lengthy layoff, but it worked out well for Pennington, who earned 29-28 scores across the board.
There was some consternation online about the broadcast mentioning Pennington’s COVID issues and I’m genuinely perplexed by the blow-back, as it seemed like the issue was either the UFC not disclosing it earlier or the announcers not specifically mentioning COVID, both of which seem strange to me as (1) it’s not up to the UFC to just come out and say, “Hey, this fight has COVID,” (2) Pennington discussed it and disclosed it in a piece that ran on the UFC website ahead of the fight, and (3) no one else seemed to have the story, which makes this more of a “How did we all miss this?” matter and not an “I can’t believe the UFC did this” situation.
No one responded to my inquiries for clarification about the complaints.
I’m gonna be honest: I still have no idea what to make of Rongzhu as a prospect, even after a dominant effort on Saturday against Brandon Jenkins on Saturday night, finishing the short-notice replacement in the final minute of the third round.
After losing his promotional debut to Kazula Vargas towards the end of April, the youngest fighter the roster came out and rolled through Jenkins, who took the fight on a week’s notice, replacing Dakota Bush. He showed solid grappling, crisp striking, and more activity than he did in his debut. Collecting a victory in the UFC at age 21 is an impressive milestone, and having 22 fights while still being that young can have some positives, but it’s really difficult to make any real assessments about where he fits in the lightweight division after a fight like this.
In theory, we could see a similar early-career arc to fellow Chinese fighter Sumudaerji, who was in his corner on Saturday, but for now, it’s best to take a wait-and-see approach to things with Rongzhu.
Really like the progression we’re seeing from Montel Jackson, who secured his second straight win and fifth victory in his last six fights on Saturday night, navigating some tricky spots to dominate JP Buys on the prelims.
The former Olympic hopeful made it to the Contender Series in his first year as a professional fighter, and is still putting the pieces together, but between his tremendous length for the division and the well-rounded skill set he’s displayed thus far, “Quik” currently profiles as someone that could eventually work his way into the Top 10 and potential become a contender, either in the 135-pound or 145-pound weight class. This was another strong effort against a game opponent, and Jackson was clearly the better man, stinging and dropping Buys multiple times before wrapping up the clean sweep of the scorecards.
Buys is probably a better fit at ‘35 than he was at ‘25, and his grappling is solid, but between suspect striking defense and a proven inability to deal with big shots well, he could have a tough go of things going forward.
Erin Blanchfield is the goods.
The 22-year-old prospect delivered a dominant effort in her UFC debut, putting it on Sarah Alpar from start to finish, collecting a lopsided decision win while showcasing the full compliment of her skills, busting Alpar up on the feet while mixing in takedowns and dominating on the canvas. A Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt who fought a tough slate before arriving in the Octagon, “Cold Blooded” is a future Top 10 fixture and could, with the right development, coaching, and good fortune, be a future championship contender.
As for Alpar, she’s just not capable of hanging at this level. She’s been battered in each of her fights, and while she’s shown toughness, being tough isn’t enough to win fights at this level, not when you’re facing significantly more skilled, more athletic competition. I don’t find joy in saying stuff like this, but I do think we need to be more honest and open when assessing talent across the board, rather than always trying to find something nice to say.
Carlston Harris may have taken a little longer to get to the UFC, but the 34-year-old from Guyana is quickly making a name for himself in the welterweight division, collecting a second straight first-round stoppage win on Saturday, putting away Impa Kasanganay with a series of unanswered shots after wobbling him on the feet.
“Moçambique” hit Kasanganay with a short right hook as the two traded in the pocket, and the Contender Series graduate backed up, clearly in a daze. Harris chased him down and unloaded, controlling Kasanganay’s left arm and crashing home a torrent of short, heavy punches, prompting the stoppage. While he may be a little too old to make a run towards the title, an Alex Oliveira-like existence in the middle of the 170-pound weight class over the next few years seems assured for Harris, while Kasanganay remains a raw prospect in need of reps, which he might be better off getting outside of the UFC.
Referee Keith Peterson gave Alantangheili ample warnings to stop grabbing the fence before pausing his fight with Gustavo Lopez and issuing a one-point deduction, which proved to be the difference between a win and a draw for “The Mongolian Knight.”
After losing the first two rounds, Lopez was far more aggressive in the third, taking the fight to Alantangheili, stinging him with strikes before pursuing a takedown along the fence. Each time he tried to shift the position and move his weight, Alantangheil grabbed a handful of fence, keeping himself upright and altering the placement of the action. Peterson offered a couple warnings and swatted at the hand, but when another fence-grab occurred, the point was correctly taken.
We really need to see more of this — and quicker, in my opinion — because while the point deduction kept Lopez from suffering a loss, he may have been able to actually take the back and find a finish if not for the repeated fouls. I’d love to see no warnings, since everyone knows the rules and they’re reminded of them in the back, but one and then a point deduction makes sense to me.
Really interesting opener between Hannah Goldy and Emily Whitmire, with Goldy getting taken down twice early in the first round before attacking and finishing an armbar off her back in the final minute of the round.
Whitmire controlled the action with her grappling out of the chute, hitting a pair of trip takedowns and looking to work from top position. Goldy hunted for the armbar in the first exchange, but Whitmire extricated her arm, only to leave it in there again once she climbed back into Goldy’s guard, and this time, the Floridian locked up the finish and secured the verbal tap. It’s a good win for Goldy — the first of her UFC career — and certainly an ending and result that Whitmire is going to be kicking herself about going forward.