Adesanya Stands Up To Whitaker, Continues Middleweight Title Run
Israel Adesanya continues to be quite possibly the most confident current champion on the UFC roster. After earning a unanimous decision win in the rematch against former middleweight champion Robert Whitaker that confidence will only continue to soar.
The opening round was the most dominant round for “The Last Style Bender”. He knocked Whitaker down with a straight left then seemed to hit another gear with plenty of faints and calculated strikes that seemed to leave Bobby Knuckles discouraged.
The remaining rounds were much more competitive. Whitaker actually earned takedowns in each, but Izzy was able to almost immediately get back to his feet, limiting any damage. The fight was much closer than one would think, but Whitaker’s inability to create any damage after the takedowns and the damage Adesanya provided through his leg kicks were very notable. By the fifth round, Whitaker was even landing some significant punches, but could never follow up with anything meaningful. Adesanya would then get in a couple strikes to outpoint his opponent. In the end, Whitaker won the last round and probably one of the three middle rounds, but it wasn’t enough.
The Middleweight Division now finds itself in an interesting position. Adesanya and Whitaker seem to be the clear top two in the weight class, but Izzy has won both fights. Whitaker will have to put together another win streak to earn another shot. Adesanya will likely draw fellow UFC 271 winner Jared Cannonier next. If Adesanya gets passed Cannonier, it is hard to imagine any other serious threat to the title at this moment.
Israel Adesanya already had arguably the greatest striking game ever seen in the UFC. Now that he has shown the ability to sprawl and keep the fight from going or at the very least staying on the ground, he can essentially force an opponent to play his stand up game where his length, precision, quickness, and confidence have made him dominant. Yep, it’s hard to see that belt changing hands anytime soon.
Shoeys All Around For Tuivasa KO Win Over Lewis
Holy Shit…what a fight. This one was fireworks. No one expected this heavyweight showdown to go all three rounds, but most of us expected Derrick Lewis would be too big of a step for Tai Tuivasa.
Early on that looked like the case. There was a feeling out process with plenty of clinching, but once that was over the fists started to fly. Lewis tripped Tuivasa for a takedown and started landing huge right hands that would’ve finished almost any other fighter. Tuivasa clearly has a granite chin though. Not only did he eat the shots, he got back up and started swinging for the fences as well.
The second round was more heavy hands. Lewis caught Tuivasa and had him stumbling backwards, but “Bam Bam” survived again. Eventually the two got into another fire fight in which Tuivasa stunned Lewis with an elbow followed by some heavy shots that caused Lewis to go stiff and hit the floor.
As expected, the crowd cheered while doing Tuivasa’s “shoey” celebration in which he chugs a beer out of a shoe. At this rate there will be plenty more shoe chugs to come. Tuivasa should be expected to take a giant leap in the heavyweight rankings and have a realistic chance at a title shot after one more win.
Cannonier Gives Brunson the Elbows From Hell, Makes Claim For Title Shot
In what was perceived to be a number one contender match for the Middleweight Division, Jared Cannonier finished Derek Brunson in the second round by brutal fashion.
The first round played out how many expected. Brunson was very aggressive in using his wrestling to attempt to get Cannonier down to the mat. Cannonier fought off all but two of the first round attempts. It did seem like Brunson’s goal was to commit to the takedowns and eventually drain Cannonier out.
That looked like it would continue in the second round when Brunson came right out with a successful takedown. Cannonier once again made his way back up off the mat and started laying good right hands on Brunson. Shortly after getting off the ground, Brunson appeared like he was injured or gassed. He stopped attempting takedowns and almost looked disoriented on his feet. Eventually, Cannonier landed a strong right elbow to Brunson’s temple that dazed him. Cannonier pounced on Brunson and continued to give elbow strikes to his head until the ref stepped in.
Cannonier told Dana White in the post fight interview that the next title shot should be his. It would be hard to argue with that after this dominant victory by “The Killa Gorilla”.
Moicano Finishes Hernandez for Big Lightweight Win
In a lightweight fight between two fighters who were likely just outside of the top 15, Renato Moicano finished Alexander Hernandez in the second round. The two fighters opened with a competitive first round that could’ve gone either way. Moicano, the much bigger looking fighter, eventually took Hernandez to the ground, but didn’t accomplish much as far as damage goes. Hernandez eventually got back to his feet and pushed the pace with a variety of strikes. I thought Hernandez just barely took round one.
Moicano came out in the second round with a purpose. He landed a few significant strikes that Hernandez ate well. Eventually Moicano laid a punching combination that ended with a knee to the sternum and knocked Hernandez to the ground. After a few more punches to Hernandez’s head, Moicano quickly laid in the rear naked choke for the win.
The 32 year old Moicano has now won two fights in a row and only has UFC losses to Brian Ortega, Jose Aldo, The Korean Zombie, and Rafael Fiziev. Considering the talent in those names, it might be safe to say Renato Moicano is a fighter who should be taken more seriously.
Green Rides Jab to Victory
It’s been said that a good jab is one of the strongest weapons a fighter can have in the fight game and Bobby Green might have one of the best. Green won every round on his way to a unanimous decision over Nasrat Haqparast.
The tension was high entering the fight as both Green and Haqparast attempted to meet each other in the middle of the Octagon before the fight even started. That was the closest the fight would get though. Green continued to chirp, but his continuous jabs prevented Haparast from being able to do the same. Even with his opponent controlling the Octagon, Green was able to feed Haqparast continuous punches that bloodied his face. Haqparast improved slightly throughout the fight, but was never able to truly break through the constant punches flying his way to cause any damage to Green. Even when he did get a punch off, Green’s slick head movement evaded most damage. Green will now find himself knocking on the door of a lightweight top 15 ranking and the fan favorite should have another main card fight in his next showing.
Other Notes
“If you want me to be the bad guy, then fuck you I’ll be the fucking bad guy” were the words from Casey O’Neill after her split decision win over Roxanne Modafferi. The women’s Flyweight division may have a new heel after O’Neill’s response. The fight was far from a split decision as O’Neill threw more significant strikes in a single fight than any other woman in the division’s history and outstruck Modafferi by a large margin. Just another example of an MMA judge who shouldn’t be an MMA judge. O’Neill looks like one of the brightest stars in the division and should get a top ten opponent next. The fight was also the final for Modafferi, who has been a mainstay and fan favorite for years. In a fight where her best advantage would’ve been to get the fight to the ground, she decided to stand and bang with with her opponent. Much respect to “The Happy Warrior”.
Kyler Phillips moved to 4-1 in the UFC and looks to continue to be one of the best young prospects in the Bantamweight division after a round three submission victory over Marcelo Rojo. Rojo was a gamer, but was clearly outmatched as Phillips seemed on cruise control for most of the first two rounds before showing off an impressive finish on the ground. Phillips took Rojo down, instantly jumped from side control into a mounted triangle, rolled onto his back with the triangle still in, and finished the fight by putting Rojo’s unprotected arm into an armbar leading to a tap. Phillips was a heavy favorite, but we’ve seen young prospects slip up before. It was an impressive showing for the 26 year old.
Douglas Silva de Andrade won an extremely entertaining two round battle against Sergey Morozov. It was the tale of two different rounds as Morozov opened the fight with excellent hands, knocking Silva de Andrade down before bloodying him up during the first round. Silva de Andrade came right back in the second round to stalk Morozov before stunning him. After a brief break due to Silva de Andrade being poked in the eye, he responded by rushing Morozov and knocking him down again. The relentless pace continued until Silva de Andrade choked Morozov out for the comeback victory.
43 year old Andrei Arlovski won a split decision victory over Jared Vanderaa. Quite honestly there isn’t much to say about the fight as it wasn’t very eventful minus the fact that I didn’t actually think Arlovski won the fight. I’m more just including this because I still can’t get over the fact that Arlovski, who premiered at UFC 28 in over 21 years ago, is still fighting.