Another fight weekend is in the books. As usual, the UFC’s ESPN Fight Night card was low on names, but had a lot of fun action. Meanwhile, Bellator saw its debut of big-name free agent Yoel Romero end in a decision defeat to Phil Davis, due perhaps in no small part to the fact that Romero apparently didn’t know that Bellator main events are still three rounds if they aren’t for the title.
I love that man so much. I’m going to be writing about a couple of big retirements this week, so here’s a look at three fighters – including the UFC’s main event – who boosted their stock on Saturday:
Anthony Smith was supposed to be done. After a brief run at the top of the light heavyweight rankings, “Lionheart” had hit the glass ceiling. Smith’s title fight against Jon Jones was a resounding defeat, one where he never looked capable of giving the legendary champion a fight – he followed that by dominant defeats to real top heavyweights, Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic.
By that point, Smith was nearing 50 professional fights. This was supposed to be the part where Anthony Smith faded away. Here’s what wasn’t supposed to happen: for Anthony Smith to start absolutely ruining all of the UFC’s young light heavyweights.
Smith will almost undoubtedly never again be a true title contender at light heavyweight – it’s hard to imagine him giving a real scare to someone like Jan Blachowicz or Jiri Prochazka. But on Saturday, Smith scored his third straight first-round stoppage win over a younger light heavyweight the UFC wanted to push up the rankings.
Ryan Spann seemed to have everything you’d want in a top-flight 205er: he’s 6-foot-5, very athletic, powerful, and with a track record of finishing fights. For the sake of UFC branding, he’s one of the higher ranked fighters to come off Dana White’s Contender Series. He was enterting Saturday night off a highlight-reel first-round KO of Misha Cirkunov. But against Smith, he learned that it takes more than just impressive tools to beat a man who is, quite simply, a fighter’s fighter.
Smith has beaten many opponents with his eternally underrated submission skills – and indeed, he earned a submission win against Spann – but on Saturday it was all about the hands. Smith’s boxing was sharp, direct and powerful against Spann. And if you were unnerved by the issues Spann had in dealing with Sam Alvey last year, Smith showed just what happens when he gets in there with a real ass-kicker.
There was a hilarious highlight early in the round where Spann got a body lock, picked Smith up like a small child and carried him all the way across the cage to his corner, only for Smith to land on his feet and drop him with a right hook. There couldn’t have been a more fitting example of what this fight was: Spann may be physically impressive, but Smith was the real threat. Smith poured on fluid combinations throughout the rest of the fight, dropping Spann again, before taking his back and finishing him with a rear-naked choke.
It was another great highlight in a reel that’s starting to really become full of them. With 53 pro fights under his belt, Smith is still just 33 years old, a grizzled young vet who’s still – as it turns out – near the peak of a long and winding career. Smith started his pro career by losing six of his first 11 fights. He’s fought nearly everywhere a man can fight. Along the way, he’s become a fighter you just can’t miss.
And as he entrenches himself as the 205-pound division’s top gatekeeper, that should be a nervous development for any other up-and-coming light heavyweight. Anthony Smith is a gamebred badass, and he isn’t budging for anyone.
Speaking of up-and-coming light heavyweight contenders: a very intriguing buy-low option for you here. Tafon “Da Don” Nchukwi made his UFC debut at 205 pounds, winning a unanimous decision against Mike Rodriguez, who shortly will be on his way out of the UFC. It wasn’t a victory that’s going to earn many headlines, but Nchukwi provided a glimpse of some very fun potential.
A 26-year-old from Cameroon, Nchukwi made his way into the UFC through the Contender Series in September, hitting a highlight reel head kick KO in the second round. He won his UFC debut against Jamie Pickett in December, but his momentum stalled in May against the very tough Jun Yong Park, in a fight where he notably gassed towards the end of a grueling three rounds.
That was all Nchukwi needed to convince him to move back up to 205. Although he’s shorter for the division, Nchukwi is very thick and strong – he had to cut enormously to make it to 185. And on Saturday, Nchukwi looked like a whole new man, landing bomb after bomb for three rounds to win a convincing unanimous decision over Rodriguez.
This was the Tafon Nchukwi we were promised. Powerful and aggressive, Nchukwi lacks subtlety on the feet, but swings heavy leather – and at light heavyweight, has good enough cardio to keep throwing very powerful shots for three full rounds without gassing out. Even better, we saw his impressive physical strength factor in heavily as well, as Nchukwi bossed Rodriguez with his control in the clinch and on the ground at several key points, landing three takedowns and earning nearly a full round of control time.
There are many reasons to not get too excited: chief of all being that it was Rodriguez’s fourth loss in five fights, and that his much longer opponent appeared to have no idea how to actually use his reach advantage. But we saw the blueprint from Nchukwi for how he’s going to be successful at 205. On his first try, he nailed it pretty well. I’m looking forward to see if he can continue.
Here’s another very, very intriguing buy low option to round out this week’s column. On Saturday, Chinese lightweight Rongzhu earned his first UFC win with a third-round TKO of Brandon Jenkins, a regional journeyman making his UFC debut on short notice. Again, a victory that isn’t going to be earning many headlines – but one that really caught my eye.
That’s partially because Rongzhu is the youngest fighter currently under UFC contract: he turned 21 in March, and on Saturday became the first mixed martial artist born in the 2000s to win in the UFC. That’s partially because at that extremely young age, he already has 22 pro fights, with an 18-4 record. And that’s partially because in five short months since his UFC debut, he already looks to have improved massively.
Rongzhu made his UFC debut in April, losing by unanimous decision to Rodrigo “Kazula” Vargas on the undercard of the Kamaru Usman–Jorge Masvidal rematch. Although Rongzhu displayed the talent that got him to the big show, he lost mostly because the output wasn’t there – perhaps caught up in the excitement of fighting in front of a roaring crowd in the UFC’s first show back with a full audience, he seemed a little more interested in playing to the fans than buckling down and throwing hands.
Saturday’s quiet UFC Apex couldn’t have been a more opposite environment than the raucous VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena was in April, but it seemed like Rongzhu learned his lesson. We saw what Rongzhu can accomplish when he’s fully focused and locked in. And for a fighter who’s only barely old enough to drink, he looked damned impressive.
Rongzhu mixed together his boxing and wrestling extremely well – he tagged Jenkins with a number of aggressive and fluid combinations, and kept up a good aggression level throughout the contest. He also mixed in the takedowns, controlled Jenkins decisively, and showed off very effective ground-and-pound: he hit six takedowns, controlled Jenkins for nearly 10 minutes, and wound up finishing him with a final barrage in the last minute of the fight.
Rongzhu did this against about as low-level opposition you can find in the UFC, but the skills he displayed – and the increased focus on getting the job done – were wonderful to see from a fighter this young. He’s years and years away from being anything, but readers of this blog will know how I feel about grizzled young vets. By this point, Rongzhu might be a grizzled young vet by the time he’s 25.
Who knows how good Rongzhu will be by the time he’s 27 or 28? Keep a very keen eye out for his development.
The Big Fight 