Another fight weekend is here, baby, and we love to see it. This weekend’s list of big-time events is relatively light: Bellator’s been having a few Euro Series events this week, and they’ve delivered on some cool action. But the biggest-ticket card is the UFC’s Fight Island show on Saturday.
As always, here are looks at three fights from that event that I’ll be watching the most:
Holly Holm is always going to occupy an exalted place in the history of mixed martial arts for one reason: she was the person who finally kicked Ronda Rousey‘s ass. Rousey was the all-conquering queen of women’s MMA and one of the biggest drawing cards in the sport’s history when she faced Holm, considered by some the greatest female professional boxer in history. Holm became the first to solve the Rousey equation, brutalizing her on the feet before sleeping her with a vicious head kick.
It was really pretty wild and unforgettable, and since then Holm has perennially been ranked as one of the sport’s elite. But her in-ring performances haven’t backed that up. Holm immediately lost the bantamweight title to Miesha Tate, whom Rousey beat humiliatingly twice, and all told she’s dropped five of eight since her most famous victory.
I’m not interested in this fight because I expect Holm to look great. I’m interested in it because I’m still trying to figure out whether I need to care about her anymore. She’s gotten three championship fights since losing to Tate, and has lost all three – the last one when the greatest female fighter of all time, Amanda Nunes, knocked her block off with a head kick of her own. Her last bout, a decision win over the always-around Raquel Pennington in January, was one of the most terribly dull affairs of the year.
I’m still waiting to see if Holm can live up to the reputation that beating Rousey has given her. At 38 years old, she’s running out of time. Between boxing, kickboxing and MMA, she has nearly 80 professional fights, and she’s looked somewhat slower and more reluctant in recent outings. So maybe she can serve as a stepping stone for Irene Aldana, a 32-year-old Mexican with strong boxing and heavy hands.
Aldana had been hanging around the upper half of the 135-pound division for a while, but she truly made her name in December, when she took on the hyped, undefeated Ketlen Vieira. In that fight, Aldana looked like how you might expect Holm to look with her striking pedigree, earning Vieira’s respect with her excellent movement and sharp punches before annihilating her with a lead left hook and knocking her out cold with two more shots on the ground.
Considering the context – Vieira was obviously being groomed to be Nunes’ next opponent for the bantamweight title – it was one of my favorite knockouts of the year. I’m very interested to see if Aldana can carry that same form in against Holm. After her run of losses and her yawn-inducing win over Pennington, Holm needs an impressive showing to keep herself in the hunt for another chance at gold. Meanwhile, Aldana can throw some heat. It’s a matchup of very good stand-up fighters with plenty of KOs on their records, so give it a peek: if it turns out to be another Holm wall-and-stall fight, feel free to turn the channel.
Germaine de Randamie vs. Julianna Pena
Holm is main-eventing due to her name recognition (again, because she killed Rousey five years ago), but the more interesting women’s fight is earlier on the card, when two of the bantamweight division’s two top contenders go at it in former featherweight champ Germaine de Randamie and one-time Ultimate Fighter winner Julianna Pena.
De Randamie is a former undefeated professional kickboxer with some of the best all-around striking in the sport. It often seems like women’s MMA fights tend to go the distance, and lack some of the explosive finishes you see on the men’s side. Then de Randamie strolls in and knocks a bitch out in 16 seconds.
That’s against Aspen Ladd, one of the best bantamweights in the world – it’s the only time Ladd has ever been beaten. De Randamie is a badass, but she’s fallen victim to Nunes’ dominance of the division. Nunes has beaten de Randamie twice, including a five-round decision for the title last December. The scorecards were lopsidedly in favor of Nunes, but I thought the “Iron Lady” showed some real signs: she looked better than Nunes on the feet and landed some killer shots, but was taken down seemingly at will and handled by Nunes’ ground game.
So de Randamie enters this fight at an interesting crossroads. Nunes is the champ, has been the champ for four years, and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. De Randamie can keep kicking ass, but I can’t imagine there’s a ton of interest in watching her fight Nunes again. I like to call this the “Benavidez Position.” But Julianna Pena? Well, she hasn’t gotten her ass kicked yet. And with a win, she looks likely to set herself up to challenge the two-division champ after she fights (and, let’s be real, almost undoubtedly beats) Megan Anderson in a featherweight title fight in December.
This fight will mean one of two things. The first is absolutely nothing: if GDR wins, she’s already at the top of the heap with nowhere to go. The second is an elevation of Pena to star status at 135. So does she have the mettle? That’s certainly yet to be determined. In Pena’s last crack at a truly elite fighter, Valentina Shevchenko nabbed her with a slick armbar in the second round.
But we know what Pena wants: she wants to make the fight ugly, score takedowns and engage in the clinch game. She probably has little chance of really contesting GDR on the feet, but considering her opponent’s established shortcomings defending takedowns, Pena might be able to implement her game. If she does, we might have found Nunes’ next victim at 135.
Here’s a fight that has little to no actual relevance in 2020, but it has a lot of relevance to my heart. Carlos Condit is one of my favorite fighters of all time, and over the past several years I’ve had to watch him lose, and lose, and lose. I’m tired of it. I’m praying for some magic on Saturday night.
In his prime, Condit was an absolute killer, and whenever he stepped in the cage, he had a knack for producing violence. He had some of the most razor-sharp finishing instincts of any fighter we’ve ever seen, and it carried him to the absolute brink of an undisputed world championship: out of all the great fighters to never hold the gold, Condit might have come the closest.
Condit did win an interim UFC welterweight title in 2012, which earned him a shot at a peak Georges St-Pierre in Nov. 2012 in GSP’s hometown of Montreal. In front of a rabid Quebecois crowd, Condit dropped GSP with a head kick in the third round – when he hit that kick I jumped out of my seat so hard my head almost hit the ceiling – but was unable to put the champion away. GSP survived to win a unanimous decision.
Condit earned another championship opportunity in Jan. 2016 against fellow Violence God Robbie Lawler, and decidedly outlanded the champ in a great bout that saw both fighters get knocked to the mat. Lawler came away with a split decision that is to this day tremendously controversial, and one that I’m still low-key extremely pissed off about.
Condit nearly summited the mountain twice, but could never quite make it. At this point, he never will. Lawler was his last chance: Condit is now 36, with a ton of miles on him, and he’s lost five straight. This fight, his first in nearly two years, may be his swan song in the UFC. He’s facing Court McGee, a former Ultimate Fighter winner and inspiring personal story who’s been hanging around the UFC as a solid hand in the lower levels of the 170-pound division for a number of years. Just a few years ago, Condit would have sent this fool packing in the first round. Now, I’m just afraid to see my boy lose again.
But I’m gonna be sitting there watching, hoping to see Condit turn back the clock one time. And if he doesn’t, I’ll always have his highlight reel.
The Big Fight 