Last night was proof that for all of its recent struggles in stocking its events with meaningful fights, the UFC is perfectly capable of putting on awesome cards with relative regularity. Ronaldo Souza justified a future shot at the title with a dominating win over Gegard Mousasi, Ben Rothwell separated Alistair Overeem from consciousness in spectacular fashion, and Joe Lauzon and Michael Chiesa put on one hell of a scrap to kick off the festivities.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the real winners and losers from last night.
Winners:
John Moraga: The onetime top contender badly needed a win here after getting melted by John Dodson in his last outing, and he got one with a nice guillotine over Justin Scoggins in the second round. The performance was still worrisome for Moraga in the extent to which Scoggins was dominating him early, but he managed to capitalize on a momentary mistake, and that’s what experienced fighters are supposed to do. I’m still not sold on his chances against the elite of the division, but this should get him another crack at a top guy. The winner of Lineker-McCall would do nicely.
Joe Lauzon and Michael Chiesa: Both fighters deserve a hearty round of applause for that fight, because it was awesome. They showcased each aspect of the MMA game, from striking to the clinch to wrestling the control to scrambles, and injected high-octane entertainment into every phase. Chiesa in particular deserves massive props for the improvements he’s made to his game: he’s one of the nastiest clinch fighters in the lightweight division, he’s a sneaky wrestler, and his striking is coming along nicely. On the other side, this was typical Lauzon, with all the good and bad that implies. It’s really unfortunate that it ended in a cut, and I sincerely hope they book an immediate rematch.
Matt Mitrione: That was a sneaky and powerful little right uppercut Mitrione used to put away Derrick Lewis, and it’s a neat encapsulation of his improvement into a slick, technical, and athletic offensive striker under the direction of Henri Hooft and the Blackzilians. He’s still something of a mess defensively and he has zero ancillary skills that might make him a potential contender, but put him in a standup fight and Mitrione basically guarantees entertaining violence.
Ben Rothwell: Why we haven’t made the explicit comparison between Ben Rothwell and Tim Boetsch before is kind of beyond me. They both have a reputation for coming from behind in fights they’re losing, they’re both powerful if slightly unreliable strikers, and most importantly, they both look like they got lost on the way to fight the Roman legions on the other side of the Rhine in about 400 A.D. No matter how hard you squint, there’s no way to trick yourself into thinking Rothwell will challenge for a title, but throw him in there with Matt Mitrione and let the fists fly where they may.
Jacare Souza: Jacare picked the perfect time to produce by far the best all-around performance in his career. His striking has come a long way from the overhand heaters he threw earlier in his career, and he has developed outstanding power punching mechanics (weight transfer, rotation, etc.) to complement his unreal athleticism and explosiveness. That technical skill manifests itself in the slick head movement he employs to weave his way into his preferred distance and the footwork that allows him to trap opponents against the fence, where he can best use his potent takedowns and go to work on the ground. Souza looked incredible tonight, and he has more than earned a dance with Chris Weidman.
Losers:
Justin Scoggins: At this point, it should be safe to say that the hype around Scoggins was a little premature. I’m as guilty of it as anyone, but the ease with which he dominated the bottom level of the UFC’s flyweight division covered up the lack of polish in his game. He obviously has the skills, and his physical tools are outstanding, but Scoggins has only been fighting for two and a half years. For comparison, at an identical stage of his career Demetrious Johnson was still fighting in the regionals. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that Scoggins is still young, this isn’t a crushing defeat, and there’s every reason to think that he’ll still be very good.
Derrick Lewis: The fight was so quick that it’s hard to read too much into it. He got caught: that’s something that can happen at heavyweight, and he doesn’t seem to be especially chinny, so whatcha gonna do?
Alistair Overeem: Nobody lost bigger than Overeem, who has now suffered three knockout losses in his last four UFC outings. He looked pretty crisp in the striking early, though he had real trouble working his normally excellent clinch game against Big Ben (cue whispers about his deflated frame here) and badly telegraphed his takedown attempts. His inability to absorb shots, however, has become the overwhelming narrative to his career, and with good reason: he was handily beating Silva and Browne and was well on his way to brutalizing Rothwell before the knockouts. I’m not sure where he goes from here, but it almost certainly won’t be in the UFC.
Jackson-Winklejohn: Aside from Jon Jones, Cub Swanson, and Donald Cerrone, the camp is on a brutal cold streak in high-profile fights. Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida are obviously past their primes, Khabilov lost to Benson Henderson, Mighty Mouse dominated Ali Bagautinov, and Travis Browne looked badly outmatched against Fabricio Werdum. Jackson and Winklejohn have lost their guru-like mystique and reputation for rehabilitating struggling fighters, and technical cracks are beginning to appear in their gameplans and their fighters’ skill sets, particularly in the striking. Jackson in particular is too good a coach not to bounce back, but there are some troubling trends here.
Gegard Mousasi: Mousasi remains a riddle wrapped inside an enigma. He’s awesome at everything, but no matter how much he improves – and make no mistake, he had obviously shored up some holes in the lead-up to this fight – his game seems to add up to less than the sum of its parts. Mousasi’s talent is obvious, but he never seems to be able to get himself over the hump into the elite of whatever division he happens to be competing in. The Dutch-Armenian is still young enough to have another run left in him, and he’ll beat the hell out of any fighter who isn’t elite, but there’s no pretending this isn’t a setback.
Quick Hits:
-Chas Skelly dominated Sean Soriano on the ground in the opener, working a stifling game from the top with fantastic positional transitions for all three rounds. Soriano still needs a lot of seasoning – poor fight IQ and some holes in his wrestling game have cost him dearly – but Skelly looks like one to watch at featherweight with his mixture of serviceable wrestling, slick transitions, and constant pressure. It’s unfortunate for Soriano, who has real talent, but perhaps these experiences will help him in the future.
-Tateki Matsuda vs. Chris Beal was like watching a living, breathing example of oversaturation in action. Beal is really raw, too raw to be ready for legit UFC bantamweights, while Matsuda – owner of a 10-5 record and numerous losses to unknowns – wouldn’t be in the UFC but for the ridiculous schedule that leaves quality replacements already booked on other cards. It wasn’t a terrible fight, not exactly, but it was sloppy and full of miscues that shouldn’t be happening on this level.
-Camozzi and Natal put on a pretty not-great fight. If you can get worked up about the decision, good for you, but it’s hard to be invested in the outcome of a fight like that. Having lost four in a row, Camozzi will likely get his walking papers, while Natal will stick around the lower tier of the middleweight division a while longer.
-Al Iaquinta looked awesome in scoring a third-round knockout over Rodrigo Damm. His talent, based around a solid wrestling game and quick hands complemented by plus athleticism, has never really been in question; the problem has been his occasionally puzzling decisions in the cage, which cost him against Pat Audinwood, Chiesa, and Mitch Clarke. Damm drops to 3-3 in the UFC, but he’ll probably get another shot, likely in Brazil.