UFC 285 is in the books, and it saw two new champions crowned.
Jon Jones was triumphant in his long overdue heavyweight debut, submitting Ciryl Gane really early and making it look easy. Make no mistake, Francis Ngannou is still the lineal champion and deserves to be ranked higher, but Jones had an impressive return to competition after a long layoff and made quick work of the number two (or three) heavyweight.
In the co-main event, Alexa Grasso pulled off an insane upset as she came back to submit the long dominant champion in Valentina Shevchenko. As she won the belt and ended that historic title reign, Grasso became the third Mexican UFC champion now.
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:
NICKAL ARM TRIANGLES PICKETT
PROS: Couldn’t have gone any better for Nickal, who got a step up in his debut. Didn’t get hit + absolute dominance on the mat. The type of fight to get you excited for an uber prospect
CONS: Ref might have missed a low blowhttps://t.co/WVnEUwgTAn
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 5, 2023
GAMROT SPLIT DECISIONS TURNER
PROS: Very close, nice clash of styles. Whether or not you agree with the judges, it’s impressive that Gamrot stepped in on extremely short notice and found a way to win.
CONS: Not at all a robbery, but that 30-27 score is weird.
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 5, 2023
RAKHMONOV CHOKES OUT NEAL
CONS: None!
PROS: Even if it went to a decision, it would’ve been a great performance, but Rakhmonov put a stamp to it with a standing rnc. Now 17-0, ALL FINISHES. He looks like a true top contender & deserves a big fight nexthttps://t.co/ky82zPPGOs
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 5, 2023
GRASSO SUBS SHEVCHENKO
CONS: Always sad when historic reigns end. Shevchenko will regret that back kick
PROS: HUGE upset! Grasso seemed down on the cards, but scored a sensational comeback after capitalizing on an ill-timed kick. Division is wide open! https://t.co/rH7spX87ae
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 5, 2023
JONES CHOKES GANE
PROS: Jones looked a bit slow & awkward on the feet, with the extra weight+layoff. But he slipped a punch and got a takedown. Once on top, the clear grappling gap was evident. Two-div champ.
CONS: Gane’s grappling. I wanted to see more of how Jones looks at HW
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 5, 2023
#UFC285 OVERALL
PROS: WFLY got interesting. Stipe-Jones? Rakhmonov and Nickal looked worthy of their hype. Cody didn’t die.
CONS: Jones won the equivalent of an interim title, but like UFC did on the countdown show, people will pretend the lineal champ in Ngannou doesn’t exist.
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) March 5, 2023
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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