UFC Vegas 73: About Saturday's Action...
Discussing the results from Saturday's fight card at the UFC APEX, the ramification of those results, and everything else that popped up between the opening bout and the main event
Dominant Showing from Mackenzie Dern
While she’s known for her submission skills, Mackenzie Dern dominated her main event assignment against Angela Hill with her striking, hurting the veteran on multiple occasions en route to a lopsided decision victory.
Dern came out throwing bombs from the start, sitting Hill down in the first round before dropping her with a knee up the middle at the outset of the third. Although she wasn’t able to find a finish despite massive amounts of ground control and threatening throughout, this was still the most complete effort we’ve seen from Dern to date. Her pace, pressure, and conditioning were all levelled up here, as she was as intense and aggressive in the fifth as she was in the first, which is a major shift for the Brazilian jiu jitsu standout.
Although you have to give Hill full marks for her toughness, this was a one-sided mauling, as the final scores came back at 49-43 and 49-44 twice, with Dern garnering 10-8s in both the third and fifth rounds from two judges, and rounds one, three, and five from the other.
Here’s the wild thing: I’m not sure if this performance changes anything for me in terms of my assessment of Dern. Certainly she did much better than I anticipated, given that I picked Hill, but she’s still really loose with her striking, and I don’t know that she can replicate this effort against the division’s elite.
That being said, I want to see her try, and the pairing with Rose Namajunas she suggested in her post-fight interview sounds mighty appealing to me.
‘Fluffy’ Keeps Rolling
Anthony Hernandez extended his winning streak to four with a third-round stoppage win over Edmen Shahbazyan in a battle between members of the DWCS Class of ‘18.
Shahbazyan looked solid out of the gate, cracking Hernandez with a couple good shots, which drew a laugh and a smile from “Fluffy,” who cranked up the pace and pressure from there. As soon as he went on the offensive, it was one-way traffic, as Hernandez repeatedly put Shahbazyan on the deck, battering him with big shots and hunting for chokes the entire time before finally collecting the stoppage a minute into the third round.
Hernandez stumbled to start his UFC career, losing his debut to Markus Perez and his third appearance to Kevin Holland, but he’s unbeaten in four fights since and hasn’t needed the judges to decide things once. He’s learned how to weaponize his conditioning and is relentless with his offence, especially on the canvas, where he flips between searching for submissions and smashing home elbows, content to take either a means of ending things.
A spot in the rankings might not follow this win, but a date with someone that does carry a number next to their name should.
Godinez Does It Again
Six weeks after out-working Cynthia Calvillo in Miami, Loopy Godinez ventured to Las Vegas and picked up a short-notice win over Emily Ducote.
The Mexican-Canadian started quickly and maintained a steady volume and pace throughout, connecting with both superior output and power on the way to a unanimous decision victory. While she came into the UFC with a grappling pedigree, Godinez has put a lot of work into her hands and it has made her a more dangerous overall threat inside the Octagon.
On the roster for 25 months, Godinez has competed eight times, amassing a 5-3 record, with her setbacks coming by split decision in her debut, up a division on short-notice at flyweight, and against Saturday’s headliner Angela Hill. If she continues developing and starts to blend the two elements of her game more, the Vancouver resident could blossom into a Top 15 fixture in the 115-pound weight class.
New Division, Same Buckley
Joaquin Buckley doesn’t do subtle and he doesn’t do boring.
“New Mansa” moved back down to welterweight on Saturday and announced his presence with a second-round knockout win over Andre Fialho, hitting the Portuguese fighter with a left high kick in the late stages of the middle stanza, adding an unnecessary coffin nail as referee Kerry Hatley half-heartedly stepped in to stop the action.
While Buckley registered five wins in nine middleweight starts, you could see right out of the gates that he’s much better suited to competing at 170 pounds. He’s still slightly undersized at five-foot-eight, but he makes up for it with a long reach, tremendous athleticism, and next level explosiveness, all of which combined to produce this highlight reel finish. The St. Louis native just turned 29 last month and if he can build on this effort in a timely fashion, he could find himself pushing for a place in the Top 15 before the end of the year.
On the flip side, Fialho has now lost three straight, getting stopped in each outing. He debuted to high mark in a loss and then won consecutive fights by first-round stoppage, but doesn’t throw enough volume or variety to compete with the best this division has to offer, and needs to either take a step back in terms of the level of competition he’s facing or make some wholesale changes to his approach in order to keep things from going from bad to worse next time out.
Knockout of the Year Contender
Diego Ferreira put a right hand on Michael Johnson’s chin that instantly transported “The Menace” to the Shadow Realm and launched the Brazilian back into the win column in spectacular fashion.
Johnson did well throughout the opening stanza and had easily stuffed Ferreira’s first real takedown attempt seconds earlier, but as the two reset, Ferreira stepped into an overhand right that stiffened Johnson and sent him crashing backwards to the canvas in a frozen state of unconsciousness. A former Top 15 fighter coming off an extended hiatus and three-fight losing streak, this was an explosive reminder of what Ferreira brings to the table when he’s locked in and listening to Sayif Saud and the team at Fortis MMA.
There have been some quality knockouts so far this year, but this one might be the new clubhouse leader as we head towards the mid-year awards at the end of next month.
Preliminary Card Thoughts
As much as I don’t want to see the UFC cherry-pick matchups and keep certain athletes away from a given style matchup, I would like to petition to make an exception for Viacheslav Borshchev.
“Slava Claus” knocked out Maheshate in the final preliminary card fight of the day, flooring him with a clean right hand at both the end of the first and midway through the second to stop the fight. The lightweights spent the duration of the contest standing, and while Maheshate landed more than a couple good shots of his own, Borshchev being the more experienced, more dynamic fighter of the two gave him problems and created the opportunity for the Team Alpha Male representative to secure the finish.
After getting stuck in with opponents that wisely opted to wrestle him in each of his last two outings, it was nice to see Borshchev get to throw hands again this weekend. Given that he’s unlikely to climb into contention, why not just continue to pair him up with others that are ready and willing to stand in the pocket and sling leather? Would anybody really complain?
The winning streak continued for Karolina Kowalkiewicz on Saturday, as the Polish veteran stayed technical to bust up Vanessa Demopoulos and pick up her third straight victory.
This fight played out exactly as anticipated, with the 37-year-old leaning on her superior experience, cleaner striking, and overall grittiness to remain in Demopoulos’ face from start to finish. By the end of the fight, “Lil Monster” was busted up and leaking, while Kowalkiewicz looked no worse for wear, and while visible damage isn’t always indicative of how a fight played out, it certainly was here.
Kowalkiewicz has now won three straight and can really settle into a nice role here in the 115-pound weight class if she’s so inclined. As much as everyone looks towards the top of the division, she’s a little older now and could serve as a tremendous veteran test for ascending talents and fellow vets going forward. She’s experienced and technical, with tons of heart and toughness as well, so it would be interesting to see her take up residence just outside the Top 15 and work from there.
Gilbert Urbina looked outstanding against Orion Cosce on Saturday, taking the fight to the DWCS grad before securing a second-round stoppage win.
A finalist on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter at middleweight, Urbina committed himself to a return to welterweight and it all paid off, as he put a hurting on Cosce from the outset. He was in tremendous shape, displayed quick hands and varied striking, and made sure to keep the pressure on throughout, never allowing “Galaxy” to get a break. Once he saw Cosce was hurt, Urbina gave him a way out with a kick to the midsection, halting the action.
As much as this was a great effort from Urbina, it’s also another example of how legitimate experience on the regional scene is so important. Urbina fought quality competition, including ranked welterweight Sean Brady, while Cosce crushed cans, and when faced with reasonable competition inside the Octagon, he’s faltered, twice. While I absolutely believe that DWCS has delivered overall, Cosce’s struggles are emblematic of where the show goes awry, and it needs to be addressed and corrected before Season 7 begins towards the end of the summer.
Rodrigo Nascimento continues to make small adjustment and little improvements each time out, resulting in the biggest victory of his career on Saturday in a clash with Ilir Latifi.
The Brazilian did well in space, picking and popping against the Swedish fire hydrant, while Latifi found success whenever he was able to close the distance and dump Nascimento to the canvas. He adjusted well to Latifi’s leg kicks in the first round, and showed sharpness with his hands throughout, managing well when things weren’t going his way and ensuring he was piling up shots whenever he could.
My question coming into this contest was whether Nascimento could be more than a “back of the rotation” heavyweight, and I think he can be, but his ceiling is still capped. He’s only 30 years old and he’s done relatively well through five UFC appearances, however there are too many more athletic, more powerful, more punishing fighters awaiting him further up the divisional ranks. There is certainly a place for him in the division long-term, though he’s going to need to make considerable gains if he wants to truly work towards the Top 15.
Quality debut at lightweight for Chase Hooper, as the former DWCS competitor battered Nick Fiore to secure a clean sweep of the scorecards.
The 23-year-old has the frame and build to fight at 155 pounds, and has always been an entertaining, all-action type, which remained true on Saturday, as he came out swinging and was engaging as ever when the fight hit the ground. He hurt Fiore in a coupe different spots, never allowed him to settle or build when he got to good positions on the canvas, and leaned on his experience advantage to make this miserable for the New England Cartel member.
As solid as this effort was, I really came away wishing Hooper had spent the last couple years sharpening his skills on the regional circuit and working with a bigger outfit because he’s still too raw and fundamentally unsound for my liking despite now being eight fights into his UFC career. Fighting at this level is tough, and it’s even harder when you start extremely young with limited striking. Again, the frame is there, and there are reasons to be optimistic about his potential growth, but I’m not sure it’s going to come unless he spends more time tightening up the basics on the feet and logging rounds with high-level training partners in the gym.
Natalia Silva is the real deal, folks.
The Brazilian beat the holy hell out of Victoria Leonardo, as anticipated, taking the fight to her right out of the gate and securing a second straight stoppage win just prior to the three-minute mark of the opening round. Her speed, her combination striking, and her power were all on display on Saturday, as she had Leonardo lumped up in less than 60 seconds, and dropped her not long after. From there, it was academic, as Silva stayed on the gas and forced referee Kerry Hatley to step in and save Leonardo from further punishment.
I don’t know if this win is going to carry Silva into the rankings — Leonardo was overmatched, and Miranda Maverick is No. 15 — but she should be facing someone with a number next to their name next time out. I said all week that she deserves to be including in that pack of ascending talents led by Erin Blanchfield, and hopefully this performance gets a few more people thinking that same way going forward.
Good win for Themba Gorimbo in the opener, as the 32-year-old from Zimbabwe out-hustled Takashi Sato from start-to-finish.
Gorimbo did well to reverse positions with sweeps whenever the fight hit the canvas, quickly scrambling to take the back and log a great deal of control time. On the feet, he dropped Sato early in the second round and nearly got the finish, and maintained his pressure and effectiveness throughout. He was active in every phase, wasn’t deterred by Sato’s resilience, and came away with a solid victory to break into the win column in the UFC.
Michael Bisping said at the close of the contest that Gorimbo could become a problem going forward, and I don’t disagree, though I do want to qualify things: he’s not going to be a contender because he’s still green, still has holes in his game, and is already 32, but he should be a fun addition to the bottom half of the welterweight roster and someone that can be counted on to bring the action each and every time he steps into the Octagon.