UFC Vegas 43: About Last Night...
Detailing the talking points and takeaways from Saturday's fight card at the UFC APEX
Dominant Victory for Vieira
Ketlen Vieira put it on Miesha Tate over the course of their five-round main event, securing a unanimous decision victory with scores of 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46.
This was one of those fights where the numbers were close, but the impact was not, as Vieira had a clear advantage in the power department, letting go of her hands with greater frequency and fluidity in the championship rounds, leaving Tate busted up and bleeding by the time the final horn sounded. After getting jobbed on the scorecards last time out against Yana Kunitskaya, this was a massive victory for the 30-year-old Vieira who climbs one step closer to title contention with this win.
The biggest takeaway for me, however, was how clearly things are delineated in the bantamweight division, where Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie are clearly a couple steps ahead of every other contender, and champion Amanda Nunes is well clear of them.
Vieira is getting closer to reaching that upper tier of contenders, and this fight should be another step towards getting there, but she’s going to need to crank up the intensity and urgency if she wants to beat either of those two and eventually challenge her countrywoman for championship gold.
Pushed and Still Unbeaten
There were dicy moments, but Sean Brady maintained his unbeaten record and registered a massive victory, out-working and out-lasting Michael Chiesa in the co-main event. With the win, the Philadelphia native moves to 5-0 in the UFC and 15-0 overall, and likely punches his ticket to a spot in the Top 10 in the welterweight division.
Brady had to battle hard to earn this one. Chiesa broke his nose in the first round and stung him early in the third, but at every turn, the undefeated rising star dug deep and did work on the canvas, taking the former TUF winner down multiple times and logging significant control time. Even when Chiesa worked back to his feet late in the third, Brady weathered the storm, securing an important and impactful victory to keep himself moving forward in his quest to become a legitimate title challenger in the welterweight division.
This was a serious test for Brady and while it wasn’t perfect, he passed, and should land another marquee opportunity next time out.
For Chiesa, this has to be a disappointing result and the cap to a frustrating year, as he’s now dropped back-to-back contests, which will cause him to slide in the rankings. You can make a case for him winning this fight — he won the third on all three scorecards and he had quality moments in each of the other two rounds — but a close, competitive loss is still a loss, and still stings.
What’s interesting, at least to me, coming out of this fight is that I still want to see Brady in there against another veteran like Chiesa, in a five-round fight, before seeing him elevated to face the upper echelon of talent in the division.
What’s Neil Magny up to? Where’s Belal Muhammad? That’s not a knock on Brady — he’s passed every test that has been put in front of him — but it hasn’t been as dominant and convincing as someone like Khamzat Chimaev, so why not put another challenge in front if him and see how he does?
Taila Santos is a Contender
Taila Santos collected the most impressive win of her UFC career on Saturday, dropping Joanne Wood twice with big strikes before ultimately sinking in a rear-naked choke to secure the first-round submission win. Now riding a four-fight winning streak and sporting a 19-1 record overall, the Brazilian has stamped herself as a serious contender in the flyweight division.
This was a mugging; there’s no two ways about it. Santos came forward confidently, showcasing her speed advantage before flashing her power, staying on Wood and slumping her to the ground along the fence with clean, powerful shots. From there, it was academic, as she worked to the back, switched directions on the choke, and secured the tap.
With back-to-back victories over Top 10 fighters and a first-round stoppage victory over a title picture staple, Santos has to be viewed as a legitimate contender from here on out. Champion Valentina Shevchenko has been quickly and handily dispatching contenders since ascending to the throne, and already holds victories over the top four contenders in the division. Wood was No. 5 heading into this one, and while Santos may not move all the way up into that position, she’s no more than one more quality win away from a championship opportunity.
If I were booking the division, I’d pair her off with Andrea Lee, who earned a similarly impressive win over a higher-ranked form, Cynthia Calvillo, last week, and give the winner a title shot, but that’s just me.
Yahya Gonna Yahya, Judges Gonna Judges
Rani Yahya controlled Kyung Ho Kang on the deck for the entire second round and a large portion of the third, and that control time secured the Brazilian the unanimous decision victory.
The second was legitimately his round, as he put Kang on his back, worked around to the back, and spent the majority of the frame with a body triangle locked around the South Korean’s waist. The third, however, is up for debate, as Kang came out slinging hands and put Yahya on the deck in the early going, at which point he made the mistake of chasing the dazed Brazilian to the canvas, where Yahya reversed into top position and rode out the rest of the round.
This was a classic “control over damage” decision, which isn’t what you want to see at this stage of things.
I get it — Yahya was on top for more than four minutes, so how can he lose a round when he’s on top for 4/5 of the frame? Well, he got cracked and put on skates in the 1/5 that he didn’t win, that’s how. The scoring criteria instructs officials to look for actions that bring a fighter closer to finishing, and in the third round, Kang’s limited offence out of the chute was more impactful in that regard than all the time Yahya spent in top position.
It’s different if he’s advancing positions and threatening submission attempts, but there was none of that. He settled into Kang’s guard and stayed there, throwing half-assed punches that had little effectiveness; that’s it. Yes, you can argue that Kang needs to get himself out of there, and that’s true, but his efforts to start the round where he had Yahya in legitimate trouble shouldn’t be outweighed by grappling that doesn’t produce anything of value.
“Apex” Adrian Keeps Moving Forward
Adrian Yanez successfully navigated the toughest test of his career on Saturday, securing a split decision victory over British veteran Davey Grant in the opening main card matchup of the night.
While Grant was sharp and hung with Yanez the entire way, the difference-maker was the impact of the Houston native’s shots, as he opened up Grant in the first and kept the crimson leaking from his nose throughout the fight. Yanez also moved exceptionally well, slipping just out of range and rolling with punches, lessening the impact of Grant’s shots and often making the former TUF finalist pay for his big misses.
Make no mistake about it: this was a close, competitive fight, and Grant showed why he’s such a perfect fit as a veteran presence just south of the Top 15 by giving Yanez everything he could handle. That being said, Tony Weeks’ 30-27 scorecard for Grant was flat-out indefensible, and there was no part of me that felt like Yanez lost that fight.
Now 4-0 in the UFC, with all four of those wins coming at the UFC APEX, Yanez has put himself in a position to potentially have a number next to his name after this, and at the very least, he should be fighting a ranked opponent next time out. The bantamweight division is loaded with young talent, and Yanez might be the best of the bunch.
Preliminary Card Takeaways
Pat Sabatini is one of those dudes that is going to just keep being a quiet, unassuming pain in the ass for anyone else looking to climb the ranks in the featherweight division.
Saturday afternoon, the 31-year-old Philadelphia native halted the 12-fight winning streak of Contender Series graduate Tucker Lutz, utilizing his superior grappling ability to grind out a clean sweep of the scorecards. With the win, the former CFFC champ moves to 3-0 in the UFC and extends his winning streak to five straight overall.
This was one-way traffic on the canvas for the most part, as Sabatini played to his strengths, getting inside and methodically working to put Lutz on the deck, time and again. While he wasn’t able to secure a finish, there was no question who the better man was on Saturday. Having risen through the tough Tri-State ranks on the way to the Octagon, Sabatini has the experience, poise, and grit needed to keep churning out solid wins as he keeps working his way up the divisional ladder, and is starting to look like a potential dark horse contender in the 145-pound weight class.
Rafa Garcia fought a smart, veteran fight against newcomer Natan Levy, securing his first UFC victory by completing multiple takedowns and generally out-working the Contender Series graduate.
I was surprised to see Garcia as an underdog coming into this one, as despite being 0-2 in the UFC, he’d fought five straight UFC-caliber opponents, and was 12-0 prior to arriving on the big stage. Conversely, Levy was 6-0, but his opponents have gone a combined 1-11 since, which is why we have to look beyond just the records at the time they fight, because they didn’t look that overmatched at the time.
There weren’t any major moments here — just a tactically-sound effort from a steady veteran, and another reminder that there is no substitute for experience from the newcomer.
You see improvements from Loopy Godinez each time she steps into the Octagon. Saturday afternoon, the Mexican-Canadian collected a unanimous decision win over Loma Lookboonmee, using her wrestling and grappling to sweep the scorecards against the decorated Thai fighter.
Her hands continue to improve and you can see that she has a little pop, but it’s her ability to adjust her tactics while also staying on brand that makes the hyper-active strawweight rookie so intriguing as an emerging fighter in the 115-pound weight class. After struggling to get Lookboonmee to the canvas early, Godinez switched entries and attempts, using trips and level-changes in space to get the fight to the ground, where she dominated.
Godinez’s effort was a sharp contrast to Sam Hughes, who fought earlier in the day and was scheduled to face Godinez in October. Where Hughes remains hesitant and unsure of how to approach things, Godinez is always confident and secure in her approach, fighting with a sense of urgency and purpose, which has produced four solid performances and two wins in seven months.
Good win for Shayilan Nuerdanbieke, navigating a tough first round against Sean Soriano to use his wrestling to control the second and third and earn his first UFC victory.
The real takeaway for me here was that we need to just be more honest in our assessments of athletes, acknowledging their limitations and accepting that everyone has a different ceiling and a different floor.
Soriano has enjoyed solid success on the regional circuit, but he’s 0-5 in the UFC now, and even if you want to toss out his tough slate the first time around and give him a pass for his short-notice loss to Christos Giagos, this was one he “should have won” and he fumbled the ball. He’s a Quad-A fighter — a guy that is an elite talent in smaller promotions, but incapable of hanging at the big league level.
We see it all the time in other sports and don’t bat an eye, but in MMA, we seem hesitant at times to speak about athletes in those kinds of clear, honest terms. We’ll talk about everyone as a prospect or contender on the way up, be ready to give people the benefit of the doubt when they struggle or can’t win the big one, and dismiss folks that can’t find a victory, but we don’t just admit that some athletes are just destined to be low-end talents in the UFC or solid hands on Double A and Triple A shows.
This is something I’m going to try to work on myself going forward.
Luana Pinheiro surprisingly went the distance with Sam Hughes, collecting a unanimous decision win in the opener. It’s the first time the Brazilian has gone the full 15 minutes since suffering the first and only loss of her career well over four years ago, and will be a net positive for the talented, emerging strawweight.
She continued to flash elite upside with good power in her hands and impressive judo skills, landing and finding success every time she pressed forward with confidence, dominating the first and dropping Hughes with a clean hook along the fence. She’s now won eight straight, and is someone with a chance to make some real noise in the 115-pound weight class going forward.
Having now lost all three of her appearances inside the Octagon, I think it’s safe to say that Hughes isn’t ready to compete at this level just yet. She’s fought a tough slate and certainly could land another opportunity, but the former track athlete just hasn’t shown an ability to deliver effective offence consistently as of yet, and it’s largely just because of a lack of experience. While Hughes has promise, she would be better served heading back to LFA and logging three or four fights against solid competition, building up some real momentum, and figuring out how to fight to her strengths.