The UFC on FOX 17 results are in! The UFC closed out its 2015 year in style with a night of explosive action ranging from a lightweight title fight to a potential title eliminator match up in the heavyweight division, and a whole inbetween. There were a couple of exciting debuts and up-and-coming talent, as well as some triumphant returns. Tonight was a great night, and it all went down live on FOX, so let’s break down the important stuff.
RDA is Scary
If you weren’t impressed with Rafael dos Anjos’s first round destruction of Benson Henderson back in August of 2014, then you had to be impressed by his five-round destruction of Anthony “Showtime” Pettis in one of the biggest upsets of this year. If that didn’t impress you, then certainly his 66-second destruction of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone which he displayed tonight did. If you’re still not sold on dos Anjos, then I’m sorry, there’s no helping you.
Dos Anjos is a very scary competitor, and he proved that by completely running over one of the toughest guys in the whole division. A knee to the body, followed by a left kick to the body, followed by a swarm of pin-point power punches left Cerrone completely overwhelmed, and it was terrifying to watch it all. A lot of people (including myself) were crossing their fingers that Cerrone would be able to pull away as the victor to then set up a mega super-fight with featherweight champion Conor McGregor. While RDA foiled those plans, the discussion now turns to whether McGregor and RDA should be next to meet. I’ll have more discussion on that later, but right now one has to sit back and marvel at the beatdown dos Anjos just put on Cerrone to defend his lightweight gold.
‘AverageReem’ It is Then
When Alistair Overeem came into the UFC as the hulking 265 lb “UberReem”, many were left sold that he was going to carve a path of destruction to the heavyweight title, steal it with ease, and then hold onto it for years to come. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Travis Browne foiled those plans, so “UberReem” became “EcoReem” – a slimmer, smarter version of himself that didn’t carry pounds and pounds of muscle. This was seemingly the answer to what was hindering his performances, but Ben Rothwell turned that plan to mush with a single right hand. Overeem then began to fine tune his physique as he rattled off two straight before meeting Junior dos Santos in a pivotal heavyweight bout. As he stepped onto the scales, Overeem looked the pudgiest he has ever been in his life (still a nice body on him though!) thus earning the new name “AverageReem”. But this build might just be what takes him to UFC gold because he starched Junior dos Santos in the second of their fight with a beautiful left hook (not that I didn’t predict this).
So now the question lies as to whether or not Alistair Overeem is worthy of fighting for a title. Many of us have been waiting for “The Reem” to finally get the chance to become a UFC champion, but unfortunately there are some very valuable contenders slightly ahead of him. However, I would not be surprised if he leapfrogs all of them (including Ben Rothwell who beat Overeem last year and is scheduled to fight Josh Barnett in January). Time will tell for AverageReem.
The Stockton Slap remains superior
In tonight’s Fight of the Night performance, Nate Diaz and Michael Johnson exchanged combo-for-combo in what resulted in a sound 29-28 unanimous decision for Nate Diaz. This win welcomed Diaz back to the Octagon for the first time in over a year, and it seems the time off has served him well as his physique has looked the best it has ever been. Johnson, previously ranked #5 in the division, found himself near title contention so it will be interesting to see just how far Diaz gets shot up the rankings with this upset victory. Diaz took the first round to dial in Johnson’s timing, and then began to stream out a steady course of one-two combinations that were tagging Johnson at will. Johnson admitted to being sucked into the mind games of Diaz (who started his regular taunting tactics in round two), and engaged in a boxing match that he couldn’t win. It was an exciting fight, and for the Diaz fans out there it was an amazing performance.
New prospects in the women’s divisions
Tonight, two new prospects in the women’s divisions emerged as both debuting fighters upset their opponents as 115 lb Karolina Kowalkiewicz and 135 lb Valentina Shevchenko earned 1-0 records in the UFC. On the prelims, world muay thai champion Valentina Shevchenko met #5 ranked bantamweight Sarah Kaufman on late notice. While many expected Shevchenko to show off her talented striking skills (after all, she has defeated UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in muay thai), but it was her clinch game and takedowns that won her the split decision against Sarah Kaufman.
On the main card, strawweight Karolina Kowalkiewicz earned the unanimous decision over Randa Markos. Kowalkiewicz showed good volume on the feet as he continually tagged Markos who seemed limited to throwing one right hand at a time. Kowalkiewicz’s best moments were definitely in the third round after she had some time to settle down and warm up. Both women looked to be under a lot of pressure coming into their UFC debuts, but seeing as how they both ran away with win, look for big things to happen to both of these fighters.
Best BJJ at 150.5 lbs
Missing weight for the third time in his UFC career, Charles Oliveira has been gaining a lot of doubters who wonder if he has what it takes to become a champion-level fighter. While his discipline in regards to his diet might need some re-working, his fighting does not. Oliveira took on formerly ranked lightweight Myles Jury in what was Jury’s featherweight debut, and he did not make it easy for him. Oliveira immediately took the fight to the ground, put Jury in submission danger, and eventually got the job done with a guillotine in the first round. It’s performances like these that almost excuse Oliveira’s negligence towards his weight. One can only imagine how far Oliveira can go with the right discipline.
Never count out the old dogs
Two UFC veterans earned victories today as Nate Marquardt snapped his recent losing streak by knocking out CB Dolloway, and Tamdan McCrory made a successful return to the promotion by defeating Josh Samman. Let’s start with Marquardt. It wasn’t easy seeing him get knocked out in consecutive fights and then shut down on the stool in his last fight. Many were counting him out coming into this contest against the ranked CB Dolloway, but he proved why you never count out an old dog. Marquardt shut Dolloway’s lights out with a counter right hand in the second round, but not after fighting through some adversity in the first. I’m still not sold that Marquardt can hang with the best, but as long as he’s not getting dropped by bombs then it’s a good day for Marquardt fans.
“The Barncat” also made a successful return to the UFC when he shut down Josh Samman who was riding a 4-fight winning streak with 4 finishes. McCrory put his high-level jiu-jitsu game on display as he continually had Samman in submission trouble for much of the fight. Transitioning to top position, McCrory also battered Samman with strikes as Samman just seemed unable to get the lankier fighter off of him. It was a dominant victory for McCrory who found the triangle choke finish in the third round. McCrory was released from the promotion when he dropped a split decision to John Howard back in 2009. He took 5 years off, began fighting in Bellator, went 2-0 there, and then found himself back inside the UFC’s Octagon. McCrory is relatively fresh and still young despite having a lot of experience, and I expect promising things from him.
