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UFC Fight Night: Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez might not have had the same amount of hype that the promotion’s two events did, but it made up for that with some jaw-dropping action.
This UFC Fight Night was undoubtedly one of the best shows of 2021 overall, with some wild finishes, explosive action and an unforgettable war to close out the card.
Unsurprisingly, last night’s show saw numerous fighters move up the ladder in their respective divisions, but who came away with the biggest victory?
Here are the five biggest winners from UFC Fight Night: Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez.
#5. Yair Rodriguez – lost to Max Holloway in a UFC featherweight bout
It seems bizarre to label a fighter who lost their bout as one of the biggest winners of a UFC event, but it’d be absolutely ridiculous to call Yair Rodriguez a loser after last night.
‘El Pantera’ hadn’t fought in over two years prior to stepping into the octagon to face Max Holloway. Ranked as the #3 featherweight in the UFC, many fans felt that he didn’t deserve such a lofty spot, and some figured Holloway would expose him.
That wasn’t the case at all. While Holloway came away with his hand raised, it was only the insane toughness of ‘Blessed’ that prevented Rodriguez from picking up the biggest win of his UFC career.
‘El Pantera’ threw everything that he had at Holloway, hitting him with some heavy combinations, his trademark wild flying and spinning strikes, and even took him down a couple of times. At points, it did feel like he’d land the killer blow to take the Hawaiian out.
While he didn’t manage that, after this performance there can be no question that Rodriguez is an elite fighter in the UFC’s featherweight division. He could easily find himself in a title bout in the near future, assuming he can win his next fight.
So while he may not have won last night, his performance still makes him a big winner overall. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for him to fight again.
#4: Marcos Rogerio de Lima – defeated Ben Rothwell in a UFC heavyweight bout
With a patchy record at best, it’s probably safe to say that Marcos Rogerio de Lima is never going to be a genuine contender for the UFC heavyweight title.
However, he was definitely one of last night’s big winners, as he stopped Ben Rothwell in dramatic fashion in under a minute.
Nobody really expected ‘Pezao’ to knock Rothwell out in such fashion. After all, ‘Big Ben’ had not been stopped in over a decade since Cain Velasquez managed it back in October 2009, and while de Lima has always carried power, it hadn’t always translated at heavyweight.
Despite this, the Brazilian came out like a man on a mission, swinging heavy leather at Rothwell from the off, and when he caught the big man with a thudding right hand, he didn’t let up until the fight was over.
Sure, there was some slight controversy surrounding the stoppage by referee Herb Dean, who stepped in as Rothwell was apparently looking for a takedown – but the truth is that ‘Big Ben’ was done.
Where de Lima goes from here is anyone’s guess – he’s actually on the best run of his UFC career with two straight wins – but anyone capable of stopping ‘Big Ben’ is worth watching. Incredibly, it’s possible that we haven’t seen the best from ‘Pezao’ yet.
#3: Song Yadong – defeated Julio Arce in a UFC bantamweight bout
Coming into 2021, Song Yadong looked set to break out as a genuine contender in the UFC’s bantamweight division.
‘The Kung Fu Monkey’ was 5-1 in the UFC, and he’d picked up a big win in 2020, defeating a highly touted contender in Marlon Vera.
However, a loss to Kyler Phillips in March derailed him somewhat, but after his win over Julio Arce last night, he appears to be back on track.
This was probably the best that Yadong has looked in the UFC since his 2019 finish of Alejandro Perez. The Chinese fighter’s striking looked on from the start of his clash with Arce, and his second round finish – punctuated with a violent head kick – was absolutely beautiful.
Yadong is clearly one of the most athletically gifted fighters in the UFC bantamweight division, and if he can continue to fight on this kind of form, particularly given he’s still just 23 years old, he’ll be a title contender in no time.
#2: Andrea Lee – defeated Cynthia Calvillo in a UFC flyweight bout
Given that there were a number of incredibly violent knockouts on offer last night, it was somewhat of a surprise to see UFC flyweight contender Andrea Lee handed one of the event’s $50k bonus awards.
However, when you stop to think about it, it made perfect sense.
‘KGB’ didn’t knock opponent Cynthia Calvillo out in violent fashion; while she did get a stoppage, it came due to Calvillo’s corner calling off the fight. However, that didn’t make her performance any less impressive.
Lee essentially boxed up Calvillo from the off, keeping her on the back foot with a stiff jab and never letting her get comfortable. Considering Calvillo had always shown decent boxing in her tenure with the UFC, this was mightily impressive.
What makes ‘KGB’ such a big winner, though, is that this victory was her second in a row in the octagon, following her submission of Antonina Shevchenko earlier in the year.
Given the thin nature of the UFC’s flyweight division, is it inconceivable that Lee could take the next shot at champion Valentina Shevchenko? Perhaps not.
Calvillo was ranked at #5 coming into this fight, and so Lee can be expected to take that slot next week. Given that Shevchenko has already beaten everyone above that spot, a 2022 title shot for ‘KGB’ may not be a surprise at all, making her a huge winner from last night’s show.
#1: Max Holloway – defeated Yair Rodriguez in a UFC featherweight bout
Easily the biggest winner from last night’s event was Max Holloway. Not only did the former UFC featherweight champion come out on top in a classic bout with Yair Rodriguez, but he may well have captured an unlikely shot at the title he lost in 2019.
The only reason that such a title shot would be unlikely is the fact that ‘Blessed’ has lost twice to current champion Alexander Volkanovski, but after last night, it might be impossible to deny him a third shot at the Australian.
Holloway looked truly phenomenal in his war with Rodriguez. Not only did he display the same brutal combination striking style that he’s shown for years now – most notably against Calvin Kattar in January – but his wrestling and ground game looked tighter than ever, as he took Rodriguez down and punished him on the mat on numerous occasions.
Sure, it’s probably fair to question the fact that ‘Blessed’ took a lot of damage from Rodriguez too, but for now at least, he seems practically invincible when he’s fighting in this manner.
Will the UFC award him another shot at Volkanovski? They probably should. With ‘Alexander the Great’ defeating Brian Ortega, and Rodriguez losing here, there’s really no other viable opponent for the Aussie.
Can ‘Blessed’ defeat Volkanovski at his third attempt? That’s obviously a trickier question to answer, but when he’s fighting like this, who wouldn’t want to see him try? At the end of the day, there can be no doubt that he was last night’s biggest winner.
