Last night at the UFC Fight Night 71 event in San Diego, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir flattened Todd Duffee within 75 seconds of the start of their main event fight.
For Mir, it marks his second knockout win in a row in the UFC, giving him a 2-0 record in 2015. But for Duffy, the loss derails his momentum, which was set to pick up fast had he scored a win over Mir. The fighter is still just 29 years old, but he falls to 9-3 and there are still some open questions about the medical condition that has kept him inactive for the better part of five years.
Since the second half of 2010 he has fought five times, logging a grand total of 4 minutes and 44 seconds of fight time. Though he says he has overcome “Parsonage Turner Syndrome”, a disease which causes numbness and shooting pains in the limbs, it is still unclear whether Duffee can handle a full-length fight.
In the lightweight co-main event, Tony Ferguson defeated Josh Thomson by unanimous decision to likely send the charismatic Thomson into retirement. Thomson had not fought in a year, and he had contemplated leaving the sport. Now, with three losses in a row, it looks like he can still hang, but he can no longer beat the top tier of UFC athletes. Thomson is unlikely to return to the octagon for anything other than a meaningful fight, and he may no longer be in that league. The man who showed he is ready to get to that next level in this fight is Ferguson, who looked confident throughout the three rounds, showing a very diverse attack.
In the women’s bantamweight division, Holly Holm won a lackluster unanimous decision over Marion Reneau. Holm’s MMA record is now 9-0 and she is 2-0 in the UFC. Add to that her pedigree as a multiple time world champion in boxing and a resume of 35 fights in that sport, and you can see why expectations can be high when it comes to Holm.
But the fact is that for the second fight in a row, the much ballyhooed Holm has failed to impress. She seems overly cautious, and her boxing and kickboxing have looked very precise but she has not really hurt anyone with strikes in 30 full minutes of UFC fighting. She is a big, strong athlete but the UFC should be looking for Holm to move up very slowly and dismiss any idea of fast tracking a match against UFC champion Ronda Rousey. She just isn’t ready.
