Another fight weekend is in the books. As it is every time the UFC runs a pay-per-view show, the MMA spotlight was turned completely over to the Octagon on Saturday night, on a show headlined by an interim heavyweight title fight between hometown hero Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane. And while the circumstances and promotion of the interim title bout were a complete embarrassment to an already deeply embarrassing organization, Gane looked exceptional again, stopping Lewis in the third round and setting up what should be a can’t-miss title fight against the real champion, Francis Ngannou.
I’ll have more on all that this week. But, for now, as usual, here’s a look at three fighters outside the main event who boosted their stock Saturday.
On Dec. 12, 2015, Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds to win the UFC featherweight title, in what seemed like a major changing of the guard moment. The knockout put a bow on McGregor’s unbelievable rise to become the biggest superstar in the UFC’s history, and ended Aldo’s dominant five-year run as world champion. It was all clear: the world was now McGregor’s to rule, and Aldo’s time on top was done for good.
More than five years later, McGregor is a shadow of what he was that night in Vegas, and is devolving further into pure psychosis as he sustains more and more high-profile losses. And more than five years later, Jose Aldo is still here, still one of the world’s very best fighters, and still a shining example of how beautiful the sport of mixed martial arts can be.
We’ve gotten the privilege over the last 13 years – Aldo first burst onto the worldwide scene in 2008, when the precocious 21-year-old tore apart forgotten legend Alexandre “Pequeno” Nogueira in the WEC – to see two distinct forms of one of the best fighters to ever live. There was the featherweight god who racked up an incredible highlight reel with his unrivaled explosion and violent kicks. And now we get to revel in the greatness of veteran bantamweight Aldo, the lion in winter, who has reoriented his game around some of the most marvelous technical boxing in the sport, and a tactical mind for striking that has no peer.
Because how can you watch what Aldo did last Saturday night against Pedro Munhoz, universally regarded as one of the best bantamweight contenders in the world, and not want to wax poetic? The man was damn near perfect.
Aldo dominated Munhoz from bell to bell. Four aspects stood out for me in particular. First, his fantastic body work, which comes from a million different set-ups and angles, and which has no rival in the sport. Secondly, his hand speed, which is still amazing for a 34-year-old man who has been competing at the highest level, against the very best, for well over a decade. Third, his timing and patience, which were flawless. And fourth, his complete control of the arena: once he had Munhoz’s timing calculated, he could do anything he wanted.
Defensively, Aldo was a step ahead of Munhoz, an aggressive power puncher with impressive KO power. Munhoz couldn’t land anything clean, kept at bay by Aldo’s positioning, a cultured jab that’s been a huge late-career addition to his game, and this awesome step-up knee that Aldo kept timing him with when Munhoz tried to come in. And although he’s mostly gone away from his legendary leg kicks, they made a cameo appearance at a few notable places in the fight – they were, of course, perfectly timed and devastatingly effective. Aldo’s physical gifts have faded some, but he’s never stopped improving. Watching him outclass a very good fighter like Munhoz was a joy.
Even when Aldo has lost in the last several years, they’ve only been to the very best of the best. Aldo has rebounded well from a three-fight losing streak against current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, then-top bantamweight contender Marlon Moraes (in a split decision that Aldo should have won), and the best 135er in the world, Petr Yan, whom Aldo gave holy hell to for three rounds until the much younger Russian finally slowed him down.
Aldo may never hold UFC gold again, not with Yan around, but the fact that he’s still this good – and still a real title contender at the deepest division in MMA – is truly incredible. He was already a legend, a true GOAT contender. And every time he steps into the cage, he only strengthens his legacy.
The UFC welterweight division has been in a very weird place for quite a while. Kamaru Usman is the champion, the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, and only getting better and more dominant. We’re already reaching the point where we’re running back rematches: he just dominated Jorge Masvidal twice, he’s fighting Colby Covington a second time later this year, and previous victim Gilbert Burns just ended any hope that Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson can crash the party.
Plus, for some reason, we’ve all decided that Leon Edwards is just never getting a shot. So why, oh why, is Vicente Luque not getting more love?
Call the ambulance… but not for me! This is the second fight in a row where Luque rallied from early trouble to snatch a d’arce choke in the first round: that happened against Tyron Woodley back in March, when the former champion came out committed to finish his UFC career on his shield, and produced four minutes of pure frenetic magic.
The Luque-Michael Chiesa fight was super entertaining. Chiesa, a fantastic grappler, took Luque down and threatened the rear-naked choke. Luque, in a desperate spot, managed to escape and just grabbed the d’arce, completing a whirlwind turnaround. The Luque-Woodley fight was also super entertaining. So was Luque-Randy Brown. So was Luque-Wonderboy. So was Luque-Mike Perry. You get where I’m going with this.
It’s fun to reminisce about all the really fun fights that Luque has had over the last few years – and then you look at his record and realize that the 29-year-old counter-striker has won 10 of his last 11, with only two fights in that span going to decision: his win over Perry and his loss to Wonderboy, in a fight where Luque was just a bit outgunned, but still had some great moments.
Going even further back, he’s won 14 of his last 16, with the only other defeat in that span coming against the aforementioned Leon Edwards. For some reason, Vicente Luque is rarely talked about among the truly elite welterweights, but why exactly is that? I have no idea! He’s got everything you could want! He wins in entertaining fashion every time he fights, and the only guys to beat him are the elite of the elite! He’s just entering his prime! He’s cool! He’s fun! Why is he not getting these fights?
What I’m saying is: let’s skip the bullshit and just do Usman-Luque. I guarantee that’ll be better than the slop they’re planning on giving us this year.
The standout prelim of Saturday night’s show was a lightweight clash between Kyrgyz Muay Thai artist Rafael Fiziev and tricky American veteran Bobby Green. We also knew where it was probably headed: Green would give him trouble, Fiziev would have to work in what would likely be a fun fight, but Fiziev would wind up winning. That’s exactly what happened, but that’s selling it short: Fiziev-Green was my personal fight of the night, an extremely entertaining and high-level striking battle with big swings of momentum that left both fighters better off than where they were when they entered.
Green has always been a challenge for opponents due to his fascinating striking style that heavily relies upon the shoulder roll defensive boxing technique, which is relatively rare in MMA. Although he sometimes gets caught in the trap of shoulder-rolling everything and not offering enough offense of his own moving forward, he’s very difficult to fight – he’s really good at what he does defensively, and he has a fantastic gas tank.
Rafael Fiziev found, like most people, that punching Bobby Green in the head is a tough thing to do. But Fiziev isn’t an ordinary striker. He was a very good Muay Thai pro before switching to MMA, and works as a striking coach at Tiger Muay Thai, a major camp that has helped produce a number of excellent fighters. Pretty impressive, considering he’s just 28 years old. And with all that knowledge in his head, he came to a simple solution: how about I just hit him in the body instead?
Smart move, Rafael. Fiziev attacked the body very effectively throughout the first two rounds, including a number of very sharp body kicks, opening up a two-round lead that he held onto for a unanimous decision. Fiziev got Green in big trouble several times after his body attacks opened the way for flurries upstairs, including a couple big combinations midway through the second that hurt Green bad.
Fiziev’s style is bouncy and perpetually in-motion – he’s exceptionally quick and throws full power – and he faded a bit in the third, allowing the double-tough Green to roar back and have a great final frame. Fiziev is still young, and needs to learn how to pace himself better. That’s not exactly a rare issue. But it doesn’t make what he did in the first two rounds any less impressive, as Fiziev provided the world a sighting of a fighter with an extremely high ceiling.
Fiziev’s got the tools and the record – he’s won four in a row, including an awesome highlight-reel KO of Renato Moicano, another very good veteran fighter, in December – and he seems like a very engaging personality. (I really enjoyed his videos calling out Kevin Lee earlier this year, although I don’t know why he expected to find Kevin Lee by screaming his name over and over while wandering through a forest in Kyrgyzstan.) Lightweight is an extremely tough top 15 to break into, but Fiziev looks like he should have done enough.
He’s fun to watch, he’s super-skilled, and there are some real big fights awaiting. You should know Rafael Fiziev by now.
The Big Fight 