UFC 273 is in the books, and it saw a dominant performance from Alexander Volkanovski in the main event, along with two very very competitive key match ups that went against the one-sided betting odds.
The featherweight champion successfully defended his title as he completely outclassed Chan Sung Jung. In the co-headliner, Aljamain Sterling also kept his title with an impressive — and very close — split decision win over Petr Yan, stemming from two slick back takes in succeeding rounds.
In perhaps the unofficial main event, Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev put on a show, in an incredible back and forth match up that truly tested the much hyped Chechen rising star. Chimaev survived getting dropped and hurt multiple times, but still won a back-and-forth decision over the former title challenger.
Below, we analyze the pros and cons of each of the key bouts, with a quick twitter thread that’s short and fitting for people’s social media era attention spans:
DERN WINS SPLIT OVER TORRES
PROS: That guard pull-kimura attempt was beautiful. Their BJJ is miles apart, but…
CONS: Dern’s approach is frustrating. Not even strikes to set up clinch entries, it’s just wasting time straight up boxing a better striker https://t.co/G1RqIRYqhe
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) April 10, 2022
CHIMAEV TESTED BY BURNS
PROS: Finally saw more of Chimaev, both good & bad. Survived knockdown, faced adversity. Wasn’t dominant, has flaws, but he got valuable experience passing this big test & huge step up
CONS: The odds were stupid. Chimaev was only a blue belt before this?
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) April 10, 2022
STERLING KEEPS BELT, DECISIONS YAN
CONS: No 10-8s? No Yan, you did not win the second.
PROS: Sterling overcame the odds and a seemingly tough match up by getting opportune and slick back takes and control. Crowd booed, but I enjoyed it. https://t.co/2NGTqlF1WD
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) April 10, 2022
VOLKANOVSKI OUTCLASSES ZOMBIE
PROS: Speed. Skill. Volk never rushed or got out of position, leaving Jung w/o answers or even openings. Good stoppage, that was getting scary
CONS: Jung taking all that damage, then weeping after the loss was heartbreakinghttps://t.co/68TazomCan
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) April 10, 2022
#UFC273 OVERALL
PROS: Instead of just hype & hyperbole, we saw more of Chimaev and what his true skills actually are. That’s invaluable cagetime & experience too. Dern’s ninja grappling. Volkanovski’s feints and set ups. Sterling’s backtakes. This moment: https://t.co/O8X1JuMgHH
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) April 10, 2022
#UFC273 OVERALL
CONS: It was close, so there’s a vocal subset of fans that still won’t give Sterling his due. There’s also another toxic subset that rags on Hansen, as if majority of fighters don’t have a second job that takes more time than OnlyFans https://t.co/mXQFjRQaPO
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) April 10, 2022
And that’s about it. For more social media musings, follow me on twitter over at @antontabuena, and of course you should do that for Bloody Elbow’s official twitter account as well.
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