Another fight weekend is in the books. The last few days were stuffed full of action in the cage, headlined by an absolutely brilliant performance from former world middleweight champion Robert Whittaker in the main event of the UFC’s Saturday show, but ONE and Bellator had big offerings as well.
I’ll have more on Whittaker’s win, the rise of Marvin Vettori, and what it all means for the 185-pound division this week. But, as usual, here’s a look at three fighters outside the main event who boosted their stock over the last week:
There’s nobody left from Andrei Arlovski’s generation. It’s just him. There are only three fighters left on the UFC roster who started their pro careers in the 20th century – Arlovski, implacable submission master Alexey Oleinik, and 42-year-old Brazilian bantamweight Johnny Eduardo, who hasn’t fought since 2018 – and of those three, Arlovski was by far the earliest to the UFC.
Arlovski debuted in the Octagon at UFC 28 in Nov. 2000, the first UFC event held under the working version of what would become the Unified Rules of MMA. He had already won a world title, defended it twice, lost it, and left the UFC to fight elsewhere before most of today’s stars had ever put on a pair of four-ounce gloves.
Arlovski, at his best, was a force: violent, explosive and powerful. He wasn’t one of the hulking, plodding brutes that tend to populate heavyweight MMA, especially back then. He was a lean, mean, sudden killer, with his wild hair flying in the wind and his trademark werewolf teeth mouthpiece flashing as he bested some the best heavyweights of the age. In 2021, after 53 professional fights and well over two decades in the sport, that fighter is gone. The explosion isn’t there anymore, and the power has faded.
What is left is a man who still knows how to win fights.
While the physical gifts have receded, Arlovski has developed an unparalleled experience at the highest levels of mixed martial arts, and a skill in the cage that has been honed and crafted for longer than some UFC fighters have been alive. 31-year-old Chase Sherman, a powerful knockout artist coming off an explosive return to the Octagon last fall, found that out the hard way on Saturday night.
Sherman was visibly frustrated at the end of the 15 minutes, and for good reason. He had tagged Arlovski near the end of the first round, hurting him with a big combination, but Arlovski had managed to tie him up long enough to recover. And over the next two rounds, Arlovski quite simply outworked him: he’s still way quicker than a man his age has any right to be, and he used that movement, a crisp jab, and some well-timed counters to outpoint Sherman the rest of the way and win a unanimous decision.
Sherman might have helped Arlovski by fighting a little too smart and reserved for his own good. Had he come right at the 42-year-old and gone for broke, he very well might have put it away. But Arlovski’s ringwork is second to none, and Sherman couldn’t figure out how to pin the former world champion down. Technically, Arlovski was on a completely different level. After 22 years of pro experience, he better be.
Watching Arlovski on Saturday night was genuinely inspiring. After so many battles, and so many losses – 20 on his pro career, 11 by knockout – there’s no way he should be able to hang with the young guns anymore. And real studs can put him away, like rising star Tom Aspinall did in February, although Arlovski did not go quietly in that bout either.
But Andrei Arlovski, in his early 40s, has quietly won three of his last four in the big show, beating some very well-regarded young sluggers. He’s done it purely off guile and smarts. I want to see him do it as long as he possibly can. It’s amazing to see Arlovski still be able to mess up best-laid plans.
Watch any ONE Fighting Championship broadcast, and you’ll probably hear at least one or two mentions of the Lee family, even on nights where none of the three are competing. They’re often referred to as the “first family” of ONE: Canadian-born and of mixed Asian descent, the Lees came of age in Hawaii before becoming the crown jewels of the Evolve MMA gym in Singapore, owned and run by ONE founder and president Chatri Sityodtong.
They’re Chatri’s golden geese. And while the constant hype behind the Lees can get a little bit nauseating, one has to admit that they’re pretty damn promising. The eldest, Angela, won ONE’s atomweight world title at the age of 19, a title she still holds five years later – although, as she recently had her first child, she’s been out of action for a while. 22-year-old Christian looks like one of the most promising young lightweights in the world, having won ONE’s title in that division almost two years ago. 16-year-old Victoria debuted as a pro earlier this year, and looked impressive in a second-round submission win.
At every stage, the members of that fighting family have looked legit beyond their years. But while Christian Lee has proven himself against some very good fighters – Shinya Aoki, Iuri Lapicus and Kozuki Tokudome stand out from the last couple years – he was really going to be put to the test on Wednesday night, against Russian violence machine Timofey Nastyukhin.
Nastyukhin became famous for knocking former UFC champ Eddie Alvarez silly in his ONE debut a couple years ago, and he throws every single strike with intent to destroy. Now, I’ve learned not to doubt Christian Lee – I’ve seen him overcome plenty of adversity in the cage. But what I did NOT see coming was Lee knocking Nastyukhin out in just over a minute.
In one of the best-looking fights on ONE’s spring run on TNT, Lee needed just 73 seconds to send Nastyukhin packing with a tight counter left and a flurry of punches on the ground. He’s won six in a row: five by knockout in the first or second round. And every single time he’s in the cage, those hands look sharper and sharper.
Lee is lanky and kind of skinny, and doesn’t necessarily throw like a guy who can knock you flat. He still can, and does. Nastyukhin loves to throw wild, looping bombs, the kind you should be able to counter pretty effectively, but not many historically have. Even fewer that are 22 years old. Nastyukhin has established himself as one of the most dangerous men in ONE, and Lee made him look like light work.
Again: 22 years old. The phrase “the sky is the limit” does not begin to describe the potential in Christian Lee’s future.
Bellator put on a pretty must-see card on Friday night, headlined by a double-shot in the light heavyweight grand prix: Corey Anderson, my pick to win the tournament, looked fantastic in a third-round ground-and-pound stoppage of Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov, while champion Vadim Nemkov leaned on his quickness and his jab to pull through with a unanimous decision win over Phil Davis.
But beyond that, we had relevant and entertaining fights all the way down the card. There was, of course, the insane back-and-forth brawl between Paul Daley and Sabah Homasi, which any MMA fan needs to seek out. Ranked contenders like Julia Budd, Veta Arteaga, Julius Anglickas, Mads Burnell and very promising heavyweight Steve Mowry all got important wins. Even the very first fight of the prelims was interesting: Pedro Carvalho, fresh off his run to the quarterfinals of the Bellator featherweight grand prix, facing Jay Jay Wilson, a 23-year-old Kiwi with some undeniable talent.
Wilson put himself on the radar in November, when he knocked Sergio De Bari stiff in just 20 seconds with an overhand right. Carvalho, who has established himself well in the featherweight division despite also being in his early 20s, was a huge step up.
Although Wilson put himself on the highlight reel with a quick KO last time out, he’s more widely regarded for his grappling ability. He put that on display in the first round, scoring a quick takedown, threatening from some good positions, and making Carvalho defend from his guard. Strong round one, 10-9 Wilson.
So what’s next, as we start the second? How about just run over and throw the shit out of a spinning backfist:
The backfist, and ensuing front kick, wobbled Carvalho bad, and it took less than a minute before Wilson put him away. Every time he’s in the cage they talk about his grappling, but maybe that’s not what we should be focusing on here. Wilson’s got a flair for the slick knockout, as we’re all finding out.
Young, athletic, surging confidence, great skill on the ground, can knock you loopy with all kinds of stuff. Jay Jay Wilson is looking like a real guy at 145. Keep your eyes trained on this kid.
The Big Fight 