Another fight weekend is in the books. Bellator and UFC ran concurrently on Saturday afternoon, with the Octagon closing out the week’s action with Marvin Vettori outslugging Paulo Costa what turned out – all bullshit aside – to be a very fun light heavyweight main event. But, as usual, here’s a look at three fighters outside the UFC main event who boosted their stock the most on Saturday:
In the annals of heavyweight mixed martial arts, one man has always stood apart. For the entirety of the 2000s, Fedor Emelianenko reigned undefeated as the world’s best fighter, for many years almost unanimously considered the greatest fighter of all time in any weight class.
Fedor was startingly quick, crushingly strong and seemingly made out of iron. But Fedor’s fortunes started to turn some once the 2010s began – after outstriking the best strikers and outgrappling the best grapplers for a decade, Fedor began to slip. His speed went from outrageous to merely very good. Multiple serious hand injuries made his grappling less effective. His chin, once a secret weapon – this is the man who took the Randle-plex and didn’t even blink – started to fail him. From 2000-09 he went an effective 31-0 (the one loss on his record, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t count due to the bizarre circumstances it occurred under), beating most of the period’s great heavyweights. From 2010-19, he went 9-5.
Fedor’s legacy suffered as a result, as it did because he never wound up signing with the UFC. Suddenly, the idea of him as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time – once a given – was no longer widely accepted. Some began to see him as not even the greatest heavyweight of all time, favoring Stipe Miocic. Fedor, now a member of Bellator’s stable of faded legends, took about two years off from the cage after beating a washed-up Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at the end of 2019.
Fedor has thrown himself into a new career as a trainer in recent years, shepherding young Russian talents like Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov. It didn’t seem especially likely to me that we’d ever see him fight again. But he’s still one of Bellator’s best drawing cards, and when Bellator booked a show in Moscow on Saturday, it became a rare opportunity for Fedor to fight in front of his countrymen. But at 45 years old, and undoubtedly well on the decline, what could we possibly expect from Fedor? Is there anything left?
Here’s the answer: Actually, the Last Emperor still has some fucking juice.
One thing has always been true of Fedor, even in the late stages of his career: his hand speed is still better than most heavyweights you’ll find, and he still has crushing one-shot power. That’s Fedor knocking out cold the No. 2 heavyweight contender in Bellator, Tim Johnson – nine years his junior and with less than half the MMA mileage – with a left hook-right hook combo less than two minutes into the fight.
In Fedor’s first fight in nearly two years, I didn’t expect much. But to my shock, Fedor looked as good as he has in years – he looked perhaps quicker than he did the last few times we saw him in there, and he proved that his punishing power is still there. And all things considered, Johnson is probably his most impressive win in a decade. Johnson came in with a huge size advantage and has been a consistently competent heavyweight for a few years now. His last fight was for Bellator’s interim heavyweight title, and from 2015-18, he was competitive in a UFC stint that included a few wins over real solid names, like Shamil Abdurakhimov and Marcin Tybura.
If nothing else, Fedor can still move, and he still has the goddamn nuclear launch codes. In a Bellator heavyweight division that’s basically held together by duct tape, why couldn’t that be enough for another run at a world title? Many of Bellator’s top heavies are has-beens and never-wases. If Fedor can still melt a guy like Tim Johnson with such style, he’s already way better than the vast majority of that crop.
This is, of course, only if Fedor wants it in the first place. If nothing else, this was a fun moment, and a little bit of a legacy booster: a reminder of just why the Last Emperor is so revered.
For a decade, Alex Caceres has been toiling away in the lower reaches of the UFC featherweight division. He has received no acclaim. He has received no main events. For many of those years, he received very few wins. The Afro-wearing “Bruce Leeroy” has been content to be a fun fixture on the undercard, fighting with a funky style and losing about as often as he wins. As recently as 2019, he had a 14-12 pro record.
But in 2021, an older and wiser Alex Caceres has emerged on the run of his life. Caceres entered Saturday’s UFC show as a major underdog to Seung-Woo Choi, a slick striker coming off a highlight-reel first round KO of Julian Erosa in June. Caceres found a way to win the kind of fight he’s lost so many times before, coming back from major adversity to snatch a second round rear-naked choke. And all of a sudden, Bruce f’n Leeroy has won five in a row.
Through most of the first two rounds, Caceres looked completely outgunned. Choi’s striking is tight, quick and powerful, and he was lighting Caceres up – Bruce Leeroy can be tricky with his karate-inspired southpaw stand-up, but he wasn’t a match for what Choi brought to the table. It looked like the Korean would have him out of there in a round or less, even after he had a point deducted for an illegal knee.
But there’s something Choi didn’t have on Saturday: the veteran savvy that Caceres possesses. Caceres has fought in the UFC Octagon 25 times. 10 of those have been defeats. To Caceres, losing isn’t the end of the world. And he knew that if he got one opportunity to impress upon Choi his grappling advantage, he’d have a shot.
That shot came with about two minutes left in the second, when Caceres finally managed to grab hold of Choi in the clinch, then warped into a dominant position with one of the quickest and slickest back takes you’ll ever see. Just seconds later, Caceres had a rear-naked choke win, in one of the best comebacks you’ll ever see.
You know what I always say about grizzled young vets? Caceres has 32 pro fights, 25 in the UFC, and he’s only 33 years old – still at an age when many fighters are in their prime. Caceres has become a fighter who knows how to stay cool under pressure, knows his strengths and weaknesses, and can stay patient for his opportunity. There are few types of fighters more dangerous.
He’ll never be a super talent. But Caceres has developed a set of qualities that can help a fighter overcome a talent disparity. And for the first time in his UFC career, Alex Caceres is making himself a guy.
I make no bones about how much I love flyweight MMA. And while the UFC has a young, exciting and talented top 10 at 125, we’re still just a few years removed from the infamous flyweight purge – the depth could still use building. And in 24-year-old Contender Series alum Jeff Molina, the UFC might have uncovered a gem.
I first took notice of Molina back in April, when he went toe-to-toe with Inner Mongolia’s Qilengaori in a show-stealing barn-burner on the undercard of UFC 261. In front of one of the hottest crowds in UFC history – it was the organization’s first event with full attendance in over a year – Molina prevailed in a thrilling unanimous decision, taking over the fight in the third round and impressing with his calmness even in the most frenzied moments.
Kids in their early 20s, making their UFC debuts, generally don’t stay that cool. And on Saturday night, Molina once again showed off that quality that may make him a future superstar at 125. Just like he did against Qilengaori, Molina found himself on the defensive early, as jiu-jitsu specialist Daniel da Silva put him in the danger zone in the first round.
Da Silva came close with a choke attempt and an armbar that Molina narrowly slipped out of. The pressure was on Molina for five full minutes, as Molina had to fend off everything da Silva threw at him. You never got the feeling that his pulse quickened even a bit. And at the beginning of the second round, Molina was ready to go home.
That’s as clean as a counter right hand as you’ll ever see, as Molina instantly reads the incoming leg kick and drops da Silva over the top, leading to the eventual finish. It was a display of great speed, reaction time and power – and it only came about because Molina was able to once again stay cool under fire and not let da Silva’s pressure drown him.
Molina is still extremely early in his UFC career, but take notice of him next time he’s in the cage. This kid might have the stuff.
The Big Fight 