Another fight weekend is in the books. The hotly anticipated UFC 259, with its three title fights and its historically deep card, has finally come and gone. The show largely delivered on its hype in several novel ways: not only did Jan Blachowicz (!) become the first man ever to beat Israel Adesanya in the main event, Petr Yan became the first UFC fighter in history to lose a championship on a disqualification, and the rest of the show was filled with some great action.
I’ll have more this week on the implications of the show’s big fights. But for now, as usual, here’s a look at three fighters who boosted their stock in a big way.
In October, UFC lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov retired on top, affirming his GOAT argument by dominating Justin Gaethje to run his final record to an unmatched 29-0. Nurmagomedov’s retirement leaves a gaping hole in the 155-pound division, especially as UFC president Dana White is so publicly, pathetically unable to accept the fact that Khabib isn’t coming back.
How do you replace Khabib? Well, how about with another Khabib? That’s what Islam Makhachev looked like on Saturday, when he completely dominated dangerous striker Drew Dober for his seventh straight UFC win. Makhachev is a longtime friend and training partner of Khabib’s and has received a fair bit of hype from the legendary champion in recent weeks. On Saturday, he showed why.
Makhachev is going to be compared to Khabib his whole career, and for some good reasons. They’ve known each other from their early years growing up in Dagestan, where they both emerged as world-class sambo competitors while training under Khabib’s father, Abdulmanap. Both are similarly built, physically powerful, and cut down a big way to make 155. Both are dominant wrestlers and submission grapplers, and employ their skillsets ruthlessly. Both have beaten Gleison Tibau.
The only thing that Makhachev has right now that Khabib doesn’t is a loss: just one, from when Adriano Martins caught him with a counter right hook in Oct. 2015. He entered Saturday night on a six-fight win streak and an 18-month layoff – that’s pretty Khabibian in and of itself – after various injuries and COVID-related complications caused him to miss all of 2020.
And his performance against Dober, who Joe Rogan hyped as the most underrated lightweight in the world on Saturday? Looked quite Khabib. Makhachev took Dober down at will and kept him there, easily negating every single one of Dober’s strengths and dragging him into his world. Dober had no answers for Makhachev’s takedowns, trips and relentless top pressure, and you could tell right away that he was in for a long night at the offense.
Makhachev did not fuck around on Saturday night. And while he could have kept Dober on his back and won a hugely lopsided decision, the Dagestani powerhouse wound up submitting Makhachev with an unorthodox looking arm-triangle choke from opposite-side half-guard, employing a huge amount of shoulder pressure to force the tap. You don’t see those often, and it shows the freakish amount of physical strength that Makhachev has on the ground.
For anyone who needed a reintroduction to Islam Makhachev, there could have been none better. Whenever you see someone dominate like that at that high a level, it turns heads. With his friend Khabib moving out of the spotlight, Makhachev handily inserted his name in the pot of contenders to take his place – and with the former champion at his back, I’m not going to bet against him.
They just breed them different in Dagestan, I’m telling you. Makhachev wasn’t the only powerful grappler from the North Caucasus who turned in a revelatory performance on Saturday. 28-year-old Askar Askarov entered Saturday night undefeated, having battled his way up the rankings at 125 with impressive wins over Tim Elliott and Alexandre Pantoja. He left still undefeated, and as the clear-cut No. 1 contender to challenge the winner of the Deiveson Figueiredo–Brandon Moreno rematch this June.
Joseph Benavidez may have gotten brutally dominated in two consecutive title opportunities against Figueiredo, but he’s one of the most successful flyweights in UFC history, a consensus top-five contender, and beating him means a lot. It’s an exclusive list of fighters who have beaten him. Dominick Cruz, twice. Figueiredo, twice. Demetrious Johnson, twice. Sergio Pettis. And now Askarov, who dominated the fight both on the feet and on the ground and looked every bit one of the best flyweights in the world.
Askarov has developed a reputation as a great grappler, having won a gold medal in freestyle wrestling in the 2017 Deaflympics and having extensively utilized some excellent submission skills in his unbeaten MMA career. You read that right, the Deaflympics – Askarov isn’t completely deaf, but he’s unable to hear instructions from his corner during the fight. When you see him in the cage, he’s moving completely on instinct and pre-fight planning.
Matt Hamill proved that being deaf isn’t an obstacle to MMA success during his own career, having at one point ranked as one of the top light heavyweight contenders in the UFC. Askarov is poised to do him one better. Askarov put together every facet of his game in a one-sided win over Benavidez, showing why he’s one of the top dogs in a great class of young 125-pounders.
Benavidez at 36 years old and over a decade fighting at an elite level, looked like he slowed perhaps a step in the cage on Saturday. That might have been because of how good Askarov looked. The Russian controlled the distance extremely well on the feet, employing some great body kicks that turned Benavidez’s midsection red, using a good jab and stumbling Benavidez a couple times with some of his better punches.
Benavidez wanted to wade into some hot exchanges, but he couldn’t keep Askarov in the pocket for long, and Askarov ate whatever Benavidez did hit him with easily. And when Askarov got the clinch, he dominated the grappling game with no issue, taking down Benavidez several times, keeping him down with excellent positioning, and threatening to take him out with a rear-naked choke in round one.
Although two beatings from Figueiredo may prove to affect Benavidez dearly moving forward, he still represents easily the biggest-name test Askarov has faced in his career. He passed it with flying colors, and a shot at the champion should be in his future.
The fighting pride of Philadelphia, Sean Brady has been bubbling under as one of the hottest young welterweight prospects in the world for quite some time. Training partners like longtime lightweight contender and UFC commentator Paul Felder have hyped him up breathlessly. At every turn, Brady has continued to show us why. He did it again on Saturday.
Brady moved to 14-0 with a late third-round submission win over Jake Matthews, providing one of the standout performances of an incredibly exciting undercard. Once Brady started implementing his grappling advantage, Matthews had no answers. And against a man renowned for one of the most freakish choke squeezes in MMA, once he locks you up, you better tap quick.
Matthews is no slouch. Still somehow just 26 years old – he made his UFC debut at the age of 19, in June 2014 – Matthews entered Saturday with more UFC fights on his record (14) than Brady did professional fights total (13). And since moving back up to 170 in Nov. 2017, he’d looked pretty darn good, winning six of seven and looking to be fulfilling the huge promise he showed early in his UFC run.
Matthews was much more seasoned on the feet, and displayed that in the early goings of his fight with Brady. But when Brady was able to get the fight to the ground, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt showed that there are levels to this shit. Brady is extremely muscular and overpowered Matthews in the grappling game, threatening with submissions and ground-and-pound before snagging the arm-triangle finish in the third.
You often see fighters as jacked as Brady tire, especially when it comes to grueling ground fighting. Not him. Brady remains exceptionally composed and manages his energy well, and never let Matthews back into the fight. His striking development has lagged behind his grappling, and we saw Matthews exploit that more than any other fighter so far in his UFC career, but Brady still wound up scoring the best punch of the fight: a short left hand that wobbled Matthews early in round three.
Beating a fighter like Matthews, in the manner that Brady did, graduates you from prospect to contender. Brady should be considered a big factor in the welterweight division already, and his next opponent will likely be ranked. No one’s been able to contend with his grappling ability yet, and it may be a while before we find someone who can.
The Big Fight 