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UFC 276 flipped the middleweight division around, and five never fighters entered the overall rankings.

UFC 276 was the deepest card in a while for the promotion, and while no belts changed hands on the night, there were certainly some interesting results. Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski cruised to successful title defenses, while Alex Pereira made a huge impression with his KO of Sean Strickland.

In addition to that, four other fighters entered the rankings in various divisions following their win, and two fighters retired. Lots happened.

Here’s a look at all the rankings changes this week.

Men’s P4P – Holloway drops two spots to eight, allowing Dustin Poirier and Aljamain Sterling to move up each to six and seven. Jiri Prochazka is up on to nine. Jon Jones continues to fall, and he’s down to 11 now.

Heavyweight – No changes.

Light Heavyweight – No changes.

Middleweight – Marvin Vettori is up one into a tie for two with Cannonier. Derek Brunson and Paulo Coast are up one each to four and five. Pereira enters at six. Strickland falls three spots to seven. Jack Hermansson and Darren Till fall one each to eight and nine. Andre Muniz cracks the top ten, up three spots after beating Uriah Hall. Kelvin Gastelum falls one to 11. Hall crashes three spots to 13. Dricus Du Plessis enters at 14 following his decision win over Brad Tavares. Tavares is down three to 15.

Welterweight – No changes.

Lightweight – Jalin Turner debuts at 14. Damir Ismagulov is in at 15.

Featherweight – Josh Emmett moves up into a tie for three with Yair Rodriguez. Arnold Allen ties for five with Calvin Kattar.

Bantamweight – Ricky Simon and Frankie Edgar flip-flop the 11 and 12 spots. Adrian Yanez enters at 15.

Flyweight – No changes.

Women’s P4P – No changes.

Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.

Women’s Flyweight – Maycee Barbers enters the top ten, up three spots. Cynthia Calvillo falls one to 11. Jessica Eye is down three to 13 and should be out by next week due to her retirement.

Women’s Strawweight – No changes.

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Mikaela Mayer vs. Alycia Baumgardner will serve as the co-main event.

2022 has already proven to be a big year for women’s boxing, and towards the end of summer there will be a captivating championship doubleheader at London’s O2 Arena in England.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist and WBC/IBF/WBA middleweight champion Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs) will unify her belts with WBO champion Savannah Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) in an undisputed championship main event. The backstory between these two is that Marshall defeated Shields in the amateurs back in the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. To date that remains Shields’ only defeat as an amateur or pro.

Shields, the self-described greatest women’s boxer of all-time, most recently defended her titles against Ema Kozin in February. The Michigan native had previously fought twice under the PFL banner, going 1-1 in her foray into MMA. While she expects to continue her MMA career concurrently with boxing, this is by far the biggest fight possible. Marshall is coming off a spectacular KO of Femke Hermans, once again showcasing her vaunted power. She’s been the WBO champion at 160 lbs since stopping Hannah Rankin in October 2020.

In the co-main event, WBO and IBF super-featherweight champion Mikaela Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs) takes on WBC champion Alycia Baumgardner (12-1, 7 KOs) in an all-American unification bout that has been placed in the UK, where the market and interest in women’s boxing is indisputably bigger at the moment.

Mayer captured the WBO title from Ewa Brodnicka by unanimous decision in October 2020. Two fights later she prevailed in a thriller against Maiva Hamadouche to take the IBF belt away from the Frenchwoman. Those belts were defended in an easy decision over Jennifer Han in April. Baumgardner is familiar to UK fans on the basis of her upset KO win over then WBC champion Terri Harper, who was out on her feet after absorbing a massive right hand. She followed that up with a successful title defense against Edith Soledad Matthysse, also in England.

Other undercard fights will be announced at a later date, but the main story here is the presence of those two very compelling championship fights. By the end of September 10th we should have an undisputed middleweight champion and a three-belt super-featherweight champion. All of this just months removed from Katie Taylor’s classic vs. Amanda Serrano, which itself featured Franchon Crews-Dezurn’s undisputed super-middleweight title win over Elin Cederroos.

ESPN+ will have live coverage of Shields-Marshall and Mayer-Baumgardner in the United States, while Sky Sports will televise the event in the United Kingdom.

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The UFC didn’t roll out the red carpet for a top three featherweight.

Josh Emmett scored the biggest win of his career last month. The Team Alpha Male product moved to 18-2 with a split decision win over Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC Austin (and earned a Fight of the Night bonus for his efforts).

That victory shot Emmett up the UFC featherweight rankings putting him third behind Brian Ortega and Max Holloway.

Emmett was in attendance for UFC 276 this weekend where he watched Alexander Volkanovski defeat Holloway to retain his UFC featherweight title. Volkanovski has now beaten Holloway three times. He’s also beaten Ortega.

So, with those challengers out the way, if Volkanovski remains at featherweight (and not move up to lightweight as he has suggested) it stands to reason that Emmett would be next in line.

The next man up is usually treated to a little fanfare from the UFC. But that wasn’t the case this weekend. And Emmett, and his mentor Urijah Faber, are livid over it.

“[Emmett] had a really bad experience,” Faber told MMA Junkie. “He was put way back in the seating, not even with the rest of the guys and had to find his way by himself upstairs because they have peons working security that are getting paid minimum wage that are like, ‘Hey, you can’t come this way.’ He’s not a confrontational guy unless you’re paying him to beat someone up. He was really upset that there wasn’t more made of the fact that he’s the guy in line. I’m going to talk to Dana (White) about it and talk to Hunter (Campbell) and let them know that it’s really bullshit.

“(We got) ghosted. It’s really sad and his wife was livid, he was livid and he was just like, ‘What do I have to do to get a little bit of respect?’ So Dana, I hope you see this and understand that it’s Josh’s time.”

“Last night he was like, ‘You know what, F this. I wish they’d just release me. I get no respect,’” Faber continued. “He’s like, ‘I think I’m going to drop down to ’35 and fight [Sean] O’Malley cause that’s who’s getting all the credit.’ I’m like, ‘First off, it’s not going to be good for your body to drop all that weight. You’re right there knocking on the door, we just have to make it happen and I’m really sorry you had such a bad experience.’ He literally, if you look at his Instagram posted a picture from the rafters cause he kept getting moved to the MMA basement because of a miscommunication. So that was really frustrating to find out in the aftermath.’”

Faber added that he and Josh are “super disappointed” by everything that happened and that he was expecting Emmett to score a seat in the front row.

“He’s beaten so many guys in dominant fashion, he’s had these major injuries and he needs that fight next, that 145-pound belt. He’s that guy that can match up with Volkanovski, that can pack a punch that puts people out cold with one punch.

“They need to choose to promote him a little bit more. They need to give him the right opportunities and just be present. Josh’s wife said, ‘Look, it’s very apparent where we stand with the UFC. They don’t give a shit about us.’ Which is a shitty feeling.”

Emmett is 18-2 in his pro career (9-2 in the UFC). He debuted in the Octagon in 2016 with a win over Jon Tuck. His two UFC losses are a split decision to Desmond Green in 2017 and a KO loss to Jeremy Stephens in 2018.

Emmett is currently on a five fight winning streak that includes finishes of Michael Johnson and Mirsad Bektic and decisions over Shane Burgos, Dan Ige and Kattar.

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Dustin Poirier and Michael Chandler needed to be separated on Saturday night.

UFC 276 saw some fireworks over the weekend, including a sensational KO scored by Alex Pereira over Sean Strickland. There were also plenty of dynamic moments in the headliner between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway and the brawl between Bryan Barberena and Robbie Lawler.

There was also a flash-point outside of the cage on Saturday night involving two top ranked lightweights.

Recent UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns captured the whole thing. He uploaded video showing arena security separating former lightweight title challengers Michael Chandler and Dustin Poirier.

Check out that video below:

It remains unclear as to why these two were going at it or why Poirier, who is usually viewed as cool and collective, was so irate.

However, we now know who likely started the kerfuffle — thanks to MMA reporter Helen Yee.

She caught up with UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka, an apparent eye witness to the whole incident.

“I was closest, next to Dustin and he started to be aggressive, to talk some trash talks and all this stuff for the Michael,” revealed Prochazka (ht sportskeeda). “And they start to talk together. Nothing surprised for me but I saved them [laughs]. I just watched that and there was a guy from the UFC and they tried to fix it.”

Yee then confirmed with Prochazka that—according to him—Poirier was the instigator in this incident.

“I think yeah,” he answered.

Both Poirier and Chandler are in the top five of the UFC’s lightweight rankings. Poirier is coming off a submission loss to Charles Oliveira in a lightweight title fight. Before that he beat Conor McGregor by TKO (twice) and Dan Hooker by unanimous decision.

Chandler just beat Tony Ferguson with a brutal front kick. That snapped his two fight losing streak, which included a decision loss to Justin Gaethje and a TKO to Oliveira. He beat Hooker in his UFC debut in 2021.

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It sounds like Strickland is eating a bit of humble pie after his knockout loss to ‘Poatan’ at UFC 276.

Heading into UFC 276, Sean Strickland had no lack of confidence in his ability to beat former Glory Kickboxing champion Alex Pereira.

“There’s not one Glory-f-cking-Kickboxer in any f-cking weight class that I couldn’t stand and bang with,” Strickland told fans and media at the UFC 276 pre-fight presser. Later he ribbed Adesanya for getting knocked out by Pereira.

“Hey, Izzy, why don’t you tell me what not to do,” Strickland joked, when Adesanya said he should focus on Pereira rather than him. “What should I do, take a f-cking nap?”

Those exchanges, among others, made Strickland the central attraction of fight-week media. Unfortunately for him, however, it also added a major layer of poetic justice when the former King of the Cage champion found himself staring up at the spotlights halfway through round 1.

“Well, that sucked,” Strickland said of his KO loss to Pereira, in a short video uploaded to his Instagram channel (transcript via MMA Fighting). “You never want to be someone’s highlight, but that’s the game we play. I tried to stand and bang with one of the best kickboxers. The sh-ttiest part of it is, during the round, I kept thinking, ‘Man, this is going to be an easy fight. I see everything this guy’s throwing, I’m getting the better of the exchanges. I’m going to beat this guy up for three rounds.’ And then halfway through, I got caught. Hat’s off to Alex. He’s a f-cking killer. Thanks to all my coaches – sorry we didn’t get the win.”

“It’s depressing…I’m going to go be sad for awhile,” Strickland added. “And fans, thank you for supporting me. On to the next one. It’s time to climb up the ladder again.”

The bout puts a halt on any immediate title aspirations for Strickland, and almost certianly means a chance at gold for the Brazilian.

Although the victory over Strickland marks just the seventh pro MMA bout for the former Glory middleweight king (and just his third UFC fight), Pereira’s shared history and victories over Adesanya in the ring make for a fascinating matchup with the ‘Last Stylebender’. And who knows, maybe Strickland can pick up a few pointers on beating both men from watching that fight on the sidelines.

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Check out all the fights announced over the past week in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.

International Fight Week is over! What was your favorite moment from UFC 276 on Saturday? Leave it in the comments below! Now let’s look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.

The UFC either announced or finalized 5 fights this week, and an important flyweight contest has been rescheduled.

Lauren Murphy and Miesha Tate were expected to share the Octagon at UFC 276, but ‘Lucky’ was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19 in the weeks before the event. Though Murphy vs. Tate was canceled, it has been rescheduled for UFC Long Island on July 16 at the UBS Arena in Elmont.

Murphy returns for the first time since suffering a fourth-round technical knockout loss to Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight championship at UFC 266 this past September. The No. 3 ranked flyweight was previously on a five-fight win streak, leading to her first championship opportunity in the UFC.

Tate debuts in the flyweight division after competing at bantamweight for her entire professional career. Since returning to the cage, the former UFC bantamweight champion has gone 1-1 in two appearances. ‘Cupcake’ finished Marion Reneau via third-round TKO at UFC Vegas 31 but fell to Ketlen Vieira by decision at UFC Vegas 43.

UFC Long Island — July 16

Lauren Murphy vs. Miesha Tate — women’s flyweight*
*Murphy vs. Tate was already finalized, but shifted from UFC 276 to UFC Long Island

UFC Fight Night — August 6

Ariane Lipski vs. Priscila Cachoeira — women’s flyweight
First rep. by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting

UFC 278 — August 20

Miranda Maverick vs. Shanna Young — women’s flyweight
First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie

UFC Fight Night — September 10

Elise Reed vs. Melissa Martinez — women’s strawweight
First rep. by Alex Behunin of Cageside Press

UFC Fight Night — October 15

Angela Hill vs. Lupita ‘Loopy’ Godínez — women’s strawweight
First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie

Announced Bellator fights:

Bellator 283 — July 22

Viktor Nemkov vs. Jose Augusto — light heavyweight

Veta Arteaga vs. Vanessa Porto — women’s flyweight

Roman Faraldo vs. Luis Iniguez — welterweight

Vladimir Tokov vs. Justin Montalvo — lightweight

Ethan Hughes vs. Kevin Hand — welterweight

Kai Kamaka III vs. Akhmed Magomedov — featherweight

Bellator 284 — August 12

Mitchell McKee vs. Tony Ortega — bantamweight

Bailey Schoenfelder vs. Mark Currier — heavyweight

Sarvadzhon Khamidov vs. Jared Scoggins — bantamweight
First rep. by Jay Anderson of Cageside Press

Announced KSW fights:

KSW 72 — July 23

Oumar Sy vs. Hasan Mezhiev — light heavyweight

Sara Luzar Smajić vs. Emilia Czerwińska — women’s flyweight

Hubert Szymajda vs. Yann Liasse — lightweight

Patryk Surdyn vs. Gustavo Oliveira — bantamweight

KSW 73 — August 20

Daniel Rutkowski vs. Lom-Ali Eskijew — featherweight

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The light-heavyweight champion was met with government officials, fans, and dancers upon his arrival at the Grozny airport.

Upon his return to Chechnya after unifying the WBO, WBA and IBF light-heavyweight titles, Artur Beterbiev was given a hero’s welcome and an official state parade.

The 37-year-old boxer was greeted with dancers, fans, and state officials upon his arrival in the capital city of Grozny.

“I’ll try to bring another belt to the republic. It’s very nice when the work is done well, and at home they are greeted like that,” Beterbiev said when interviewed on state television during the proceedings.

For years, the Chechen-born boxer considered by many to be the world’s best active light heavyweight has maintained a friendly relationship with Ramzan Kadyrov, the dictator at the helm of Russia’s Chechnya region and ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Kadyrov has been accused of well-documented human rights abuses, including forced disappearances, torture, summary executions and an ongoing purge of Chechnya’s LGBTQ+ community.

While Beterbiev is based in Canada, he continues to maintain ties with Kadyrov. He posed with Kadyrov for numerous photo-ops and broke bread with the tyrant’s family. Even upon his most recent return to Chechnya, Beterbiev was dressed in a T-shirt emblazoned with the Akhmat fight club logo, the gym sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for providing “pride and profit” to Kadyrov.

Kadyrov himself has openly shown his support for Beterbiev, referring to the Chechen as one of the world’s best boxers. He is also known to stay up to watch his fights, including his most recent victory against Joe Smith. The dictator posted a clip from the fight, along with his praise and analysis of Beterbiev’s performance on Sunday morning.

“Artur has devoted his whole life to boxing and inspires thousands and thousands of young guys,” Kadyrov said on Instagram. “It’s nice to see how the victories did not intoxicate him, and he remains a modest Chechen guy, a real role model, an idol for beginner boxers. I am proud that our people have such a noble, honest, religious son who glorifies our republic throughout the world.”

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Take the belt, leave the rivalry.

Chris Rini

That was an amazing performance by Volkanovski, I have to wake up at 4:30am to catch these PPV main cards but was on the edge of my seat. Maybe the main event put me back to bed 😉

Thanks to everyone who has visited chrisrini.com to pick up a copy of my latest book, The Fine Art of Violence, Volume 3. It’s a collection of art & essays chronicling the year 2021 in MMA. There’s a preview of the book here on Bloody Elbow should you be so inclined to culturally enrich yourself.

Take care of yourself and I’ll talk to you Wednesday.

Chris

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One of middleweight’s top-ranked talents took a shot at the UFC champ following a less than thrilling victory over Jared Cannonier.

Marvin Vettori may not be the man to make it happen, but it sounds like the ‘Italian Dream’ believes that Israel Adesanya’s reign over the middleweight division will be ending soon. Vettori first faced the ‘Last Stylebender’ inside the Octagon back in 2018, in just the second UFC bout for the former kickboxing star. Adesanya walked away from that contest with a mildly controversial decision, but when the two men met again three years later—with the strap on the line—there was little doubt about who was the better man in the cage.

Adesanya out-landed Vettori at a near 2-to-1 clip for significant strikes in their second bout, putting him 2-0 against the longtime Kings MMA talent. The victory seemingly closed the door on Vettori’s hopes for title contention as long as Adesanya held the belt. Maybe that’s why the 28-year old sounds like he’s actively rooting for the City Kickboxing fighter’s time as the king of 185 to come to an end.

Following an admittedly less than thrilling—but still decisive—victory for Adesanya over Jared Cannonier, Vettori took to Twitter to air out his frustrations with the champ.

Vettori is currently set to face off agianst former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker at UFC Paris: Gane vs. Tuivasa, on September 3rd. The bout is just the second for the Italian, since losing his rematch to Adesanya in 2021. Whittaker and Vettori were first scheduled to meet back on June 11th, at UFC 275, but the bout had to be delayed due to a nagging injury for the ‘Reaper’.

Even should Vettori win walk away from that fight with the win, it seems unlikely that he’d be next in line for a title shot. Not only is he already winless in two attempts against Adesanya, Alex Pereira’s UFC 276 KO victory over Sean Strickland has lined the Brazilian up perfectly for top contender status. Pereira notably holds two victories over Adesanya in the kickboxing ring, including the only knockout loss of the Nigerian-born New Zealander’s career, back in 2017. That defeat marked the end of Adesanya’s career in the ring, and a full time move over to MMA.

No word yet on when Adesanya and Pereira might meet, but it’s hard to imagine any other fight coming in next for the middleweight title.

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Get a unique rundown on all the awards that should have been handed out at UFC 276.

I’m not sure how to label UFC 276. It most certainly wasn’t a failure. The preliminary fights delivered on all accounts and couple of the main card contests went as well as could be reasonably be expected. But the anticlimactic title fights coupled with a disappointing no contest between Sean O’Malley and Pedro Munhoz put a bit of a cloud over the event. That isn’t to take anything away from the dominance of Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski – I’ll touch on some of that later – but it did take a bit of the luster off an otherwise fabulous evening. I’ll explain a bit more, but you’ll have to continue with my Unofficial Awards….

For an audio recap of the event, click here. For a different perspective, click here.

Biggest Jump in Stock: Because that leap to being the P4P best is so difficult to make, I very strongly considered putting Volkanovski in this spot, but the leap Alex Pereira made going from a middleweight on the fringe of the official UFC rankings to the fringe of the top five. Sure, Sean Strickland fought the dumbest fight he could have fought, but Pereira did what he was supposed to do and blasted Strickland into another dimension. That in itself is a difficult proposition given Strickland’s durability. The speed in which Pereira has risen is worth mentioning. Adesanya’s rapid rise is always mentioned. It took 16 MMA fights, six in the UFC, before Adesanya received a title shot. And that was an interim title fight. If Pereira were to get the title shot as we’re all expecting, he’s at 7 MMA fights, three in the UFC. Damn.

Biggest Fall in Stock: Many would say Strickland belongs here for fighting a stupid fight. While his stock is definitely hurt, Strickland lost fighting the same fight that put him in that position in the first place. Thus, even if his strategy was stupid, I can kind of see where he’s coming from. Thus, I’ll go with Brad Riddell. Going into his fight with Rafael Fiziev back in December, Riddell looked like a dark horse contender for the lightweight crown down the road. Now, after two consecutive losses, including being submitted by Jalin Turner in just 45 seconds, it looks like he may have already peaked. Riddell is just 30, so my guess is he will work back into the official rankings. But I’m also not sure of that and the manner he lost to Turner is high problematic for his future.

Start Typing a Resume: There was a strong feeling that this was going to be Donald Cerrone’s last fight, but it was still a bit jarring to hear. Cerrone said what we were all thinking when he said he didn’t love fighting anymore. The fire hadn’t been seen since his fight with Tony Ferguson. Cerrone retires with the second most wins in UFC history, several wins over former champions, and was the ultimate anytime, anyone, anywhere fighter for a long time. Sure, he never did get over the hump and win a big one, if that’s what you’re remembered for, it also means that you accomplished pretty much everything else. Cerrone will be missed. Here’s hoping for the best for him in his future endeavors.

I get the feeling it was a bit of a “you can’t fire me, I retire!” situation given Jessica Eye had lost four in a row and five of her last six, but the ultimate result is the same: Eye will no longer be on the UFC roster. Eye has been a target of fan vitriol for quite a while. Whether it was her perennial underachieving or combative personality, she never got much love. It can’t be said that she didn’t have a notable career, fighting for the title at one point and competing against a who’s who in terms of the top fighters at the time. Regardless of her reputation, I wish her nothing but the best as I’ve never seen any signs that she’s actually a bad person.

I’m of the opinion Jessica-Rose Clark will be back, but I should acknowledge there’s a reasonable chance she’s on her way out as two consecutive losses to two unranked fighters in the most shallow division in the UFC (let’s be honest, there is no featherweight division) doesn’t bode well. However, Clark is also reasonably popular, especially given the level of success she has been able to find. Plus, the fact the division is shallow could work in her favor. Does the UFC really want to cut loose a person who has been able to pick up some wins in a division desperate for bodies? I think she’ll be back.

Saved Their Job(s): Given he entered the event without a contract extension to the best of everyone’s knowledge, it was thought Jim Miller maybe needed a win to keep his job. It turned out Miller had signed an extension the day before, which wasn’t revealed until after Miller subbed Cerrone. Thus, while some believe Miller could have been skating on thin ice, it doesn’t appear to be the case on further inspection.

I’ve been frustrated with Julija Stoliarenko for a while. Entering her contest with Clark, Stoliarenko had dropped all four of her UFC fights, including three consecutively. The reason for the frustration is the talent was far better than the results. Stoliarenko finally made it a priority to get the fight to the mat and do what she does best: snatch arms. It was pretty damned gruesome, but Stoliarenko dislocated Clark’s elbow looking for an armbar to secure her first UFC win and hold onto her job. It will be interesting to see if she can build on her momentum.

Biggest WOW Moment: There’s no contest for this spot: Pereira landing a clean hook flush on the chin of Strickland. Pereira successfully lulled Strickland into a false sense of security before catching him with the hook and a couple of follow up shots called it a night for Strickland. It wasn’t a surprising finish to the fight, but it was a startling end and probably launched him into a title shot. We all know the UFC was happy about it too as they get the desired outcome they were hoping for from the moment they signed Pereira: a match between Pereira and Adesanya.

Most Crippled Legacy: This could very well go to Holloway as few would be willing to include him in the debate of the greatest featherweight of all time. That space is now limited to Volkanovski and Jose Aldo, though I admit Aldo’s legacy is fading in the face of Volkanovski’s current dominance. I’m looking at Adesanya here. I acknowledge this is a tricky wire to walk, so bear with me. Adesanya talks about his legacy being the most important thing. In one of the promo videos leading into the event, he talked about not even caring about being champion anymore, pointing out how Conor McGregor is the biggest name in the sport and has never defended a belt once he obtained one. That gives off the impression Adesanya is interested in creating moments in the cage, not just in his walkouts. He doubled down on that sentiment in the cold open. And yet… he fought like he was most interested in keeping his belt than in creating a moment or showing off. This isn’t to say Adesanya isn’t a great fighter. He very much deserves to be in the P4P best in the current moment. But now he’s providing empty promises. I repeat, Adesanya is a great fighter at the peak of his abilities, an all-time great. But he’s falling short of producing the magic moments he’s always talking about. I’m not saying he needs to do that every time he steps in the cage, but only one of his five title defenses has created the aura and vibe he’s looking to establish. There’s more than enough time for Adesanya to regain his previous aura, so this is hardly a death knell, but I’ve seen comments about Adesanya being a boring fighter. That’s not the legacy Adesanya wants.

Best Breakthrough Performance: I’ll admit breakthrough might be a bit hyperbolic, but there were five fighters the UFC were looking to set up for victories on the prelims: Maycee Barber, Andre Muniz, Dricus Du Plessis, Ian Garry, and Jalin Turner. That type of matchmaking is hardly a rarity – almost every card has several fights like that – but what’s rare is when all those fights go according to the UFC’s hopes. It isn’t just that they all won, they all won in impressive enough fashion to justify the UFC’s push behind them. But who stood out the most? In my opinion, that’s an easy choice: Turner. It could be argued he had the toughest opponent out of the five and he tore through Riddell in less than a minute. Given his size is something that can’t be taught, he has an edge over everyone else.

Most Underrated Ground Fighter: It feels weird giving praise to a fighter who landed very little meaningful offense in his contest, but nobody ever thinks about Uriah Hall as someone who knows what their doing on the mat. Granted, I am talking solely about his defensive grappling, but not only did Hall go the distance with Muniz – a man who had submitted each of his last three opponents via armbar, including Jacare – he has never been submitted in his professional career. Perhaps it’s just me, but we give all sorts of credit to fighters who never seem to suffer KO’s while ignoring those who spend their career avoiding being tapped. For all the talks of Hall being a head case, that’s an astonishing accomplishment.

Most Surprising Resurgence: For some, Barber’s ability to rebound from two consecutive losses isn’t a surprise. Not only is she still extremely young at 24, she’s still extremely talented. No doubt there were concerns following her controversial win over Miranda Maverick, but the last two wins she has picked up since then has allowed her to regain much of the luster she lost in her losing stretch. With the emergence of Manon Fiorot, Casey O’Neill, and Erin Blanchfield, she’s no longer the it prospect of the flyweight division, but she’s certainly deserving of being in those talks once again.

Greatest Featherweight of All Time: I did say earlier that I’m open to arguments about Aldo, but for my money, Volkanovski has solidified himself in that status. Even if you want to give Holloway the second fight in their trilogy, it gives Volkanovski a 2-to-1 edge in victories over Holloway. Officially, Volkanovski is 3-0 against Holloway and many tend to forget he has a victory over Aldo. I know Volkanovski is looking at the lightweight title, but I’m sick of the champ-champ movement. One guy owning two belts holds up both divisions, creating logjams. There are other fights out there for Volkanovski at 145 that hold intrigue. Josh Emmett is a perfectly acceptable next challenger. Yair Rodriguez and Arnold Allen could be a win away from that point. Calvin Kattar might be two wins away. Who’s to say Brian Ortega couldn’t claw his way back into a rematch either. After all, Ortega came the closest to beating Volkanovski. Plus, the likes of Bryce Mitchell and Movsar Evloev look like they aren’t too far off from entering title talks. I’m anointing Volkanovski the featherweight GOAT, but I don’t think he’s done building his legacy in the division.

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