After a wild week leading up to it, UFC 279 is finally in the books. Match ups were changed, and instead of Nate Diaz being sacrificed to a young rising star in Khamzat Chimaev on his last fight, he instead won a fun back-and-forth match with a fellow veteran in Tony Ferguson.
Chimaev fumbled the bag from his botched weight cut, losing his main event slot and an opportunity against a superstar. He still did really well with his new match up though, quickly taking Holland down, and going on a d’arce choke chain to get another quick submission finish.
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:
WALKER CHOKES OUT CUTELABA
PROS: Walker actually got a submission! The first in his UFC career! After that rough streak, he’s at least showing improvements.
CONS: Cutelaba wasn’t defending those chokes very well, and I’m guessing he’ll be cut after his bad streak continued.
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 11, 2022
ALDANA UP(LIVER)KICKS CHIASSON
CONS: Aldana going all in on an ill-advised leg lock almost cost her big, but the insane finish more than made up for all of it.
PROS: Upkick liver shot KO! Seriously, what?? I didn’t think I would ever see that.
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 11, 2022
RODRIGUEZ EDGES LI
PROS: Close and competitive. Regardless of result, Li deserves props for taking on a much bigger opponent on a day’s notice
CONS: Not sure about that decision. Li really lost a massive opportunity vs Ferguson, who’d be closer to his size and far more popular.
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 11, 2022
CHIMAEV D’ARCES HOLLAND
CONS: Guy botched his cut and fumbled the bag,but still kept talking and blaming others
PROS: Holland’s defense, both in wrestling and in the darce was good. He did a lot right, which to me only highlighted Chimaev’s great offensehttps://t.co/qm2RMI8R81
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 11, 2022
DIAZ CHOKES FERGUSON
CONS: They tried to set Diaz up…
PROS: But he had the last laugh. Glad they didn’t get sacrificed to young killers. It was fun but also as awkward and as weird as possible. Diaz got that vintage finish and flex moment as a send off. https://t.co/TYbEqCT22t
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 11, 2022
#UFC279 OVERALL
PROS: UFC wanted to devalue Diaz, but we ended with match ups we wanted, and they got paid better too? Chimaev’s fighting was great.
CONS: Chimaev’s non-fighting wasn’t. I feel bad for Li — and his suit: Lost shot at big name, then lost decision vs lesser name
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) September 11, 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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