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UFC 222 was an odd PPV in a lot of ways – almost cancelled a few weeks ago when the planned main event of Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar fell through due to an injury to Holloway, it was saved by a thrown-together main event between Cris Cyborg and UFC newcomer Yana Kunitskaya and ended up looking like a decent card on paper.
In execution? It was decent enough – we got some fun finishes up and down the card and although there were one or two slow portions, it wasn’t a bad show. Will it be remembered well by the end of the year? Likely not as the UFC will hopefully put together some stronger cards down the line, but it was acceptable. Here are the best and worst moments from UFC 222.
#1 Best: Brian Ortega is the contender at 145lbs
Timing is a funny thing in MMA. When the UFC put together a Featherweight title fight between champ Max Holloway and challenger Frankie Edgar back in late 2017 it made a ton of sense as Edgar was coming off an impressive win over top prospect Yair Rodriguez and appeared to have earned his shot.
But the fight at UFC 218 fell through due to an Edgar injury; Holloway beat Jose Aldo instead and then a week later, Brian Ortega choked out Cub Swanson and suddenly he was the name on everyone’s lips at 145lbs in terms of a possible challenger to Holloway.
Despite the hype for a possible Holloway/Ortega fight, the UFC decided to stick with the longer-tenured Edgar for the next title shot, leaving Ortega waiting in the wings.
But when Holloway was forced out of the planned fight last night, Ortega stepped in to fight Edgar on late notice, risking all the momentum he’d put together. In the end, it turned out that the fates were on the side of the UFC – and Ortega – after all.
Edgar got off to a quick start but a sharp left elbow swung the fight in favour of Ortega, and seconds later ‘The Answer’ was unconscious on the mat courtesy of an Ortega uppercut. It was the first time Edgar had ever been finished in over a decade of UFC action, and it was by a man more known for his grappling rather than his knockout power.
Ortega now stands firmly as the top contender at 145lbs and by dispatching of Edgar, nobody can claim he hasn’t earned his shot. Holloway vs. Ortega is probably the best Featherweight title fight – on paper at least – since Conor McGregor first challenged Jose Aldo in 2015, and hopefully it’ll be a big-time main event later in 2018. It was an amazing moment for Ortega and it was all made possible because he chose to gamble with an opportunity.
#1 Worst: Soukhamthath snatches defeat from the jaws of victory
The UFC will likely be thankful for a few things after UFC 222, and one of them is likely the poor fight IQ of Andre Soukhamthath. Hot prospect Sean O’Malley was clearly the man who the promotion were getting behind going into the fight between the two last night, and for the first two rounds, O’Malley lived up to his end of the bargain by thoroughly dominating Soukhamthath in all areas.
In the third round though, a head kick thrown by O’Malley didn’t quite land cleanly and caused what appeared to be a serious injury to his right leg. O’Malley couldn’t even put his full weight on the leg and seemed ripe for the picking from Soukhamthath.
But rather than look to finish him on the feet – or simply back off to allow the referee to spot O’Malley’s injury, which would’ve forced a stoppage, he instead took him down – twice – and rode out the fight from top position.
Naturally, O’Malley picked up a unanimous decision due to his dominant first two rounds, and in a comical scene, was interviewed by Joe Rogan while lying on the ground having his injured leg treated. It was a well-earned win, but realistically, Soukhamthath threw the fight away by going for those takedowns and not capitalizing on O’Malley’s injury.
Quite what he was thinking we’ll probably never know, but he’s only got himself to blame for this loss. Sure, he was overmatched from the start – O’Malley looks like a fantastic prospect to watch – but in MMA you have to snatch up any opportunity given to you and Soukhamthath simply didn’t do that last night.
#2 Best: Arlovski shows old dogs can learn new tricks
Okay, so it wasn’t an entertaining fight – Andrei Arlovski’s dull bout with Stefan Struve was probably the low point of last night’s show in fact. But after seeing the likes of Thiago Alves, Mark Hunt and Lyoto Machida all struggle badly in recent months, it was still nice to see an old-school fighter like Arlovski pick up a much-needed win.
Arlovski had come back into the UFC in 2014 and surprisingly resurrected his career with four straight wins, but after being firmly beaten by his next five opponents, it looked like he was once again on the verge of the end. He stymied the bleeding late last year with a win over Junior Albini, but his back was still against the wall coming into last night’s show.
Surprisingly enough, Andrei showed some new wrinkles to his game – using more low kicks and takedowns than we’d seen before, rather than his usual gameplan of simply winging a big right hand at his opponent – and came away with a well-earned – if dull – victory. To see him utilising newer skills after almost two decades in the game was surprising, but impressive too.
Arlovski’s not likely to end up in title contention again anytime soon, but if he can continue to even grind out wins like this then he’ll remain in the UFC, and for a longtime fan who hates seeing old-school fighters go down, that’s cool with me.
#2 Worst: Who’s next for Cyborg?
While it was nice to see a first-round finish in the main event of a UFC PPV for once – it was the first one since May 2017’s UFC 211 where Stipe Miocic stopped Junior Dos Santos – Cris Cyborg’s latest squash match win again threw up more questions than answers, and despite giving up a takedown, those questions aren’t about her stellar fighting ability.
Does the UFC really want to create a Women’s Featherweight division to build around the champion Cyborg? Or are they simply happy throwing her in with overmatched foes like Yana Kunitskaya last night? Cyborg has proved that she can draw eyeballs – her win over Holly Holm was one of the better-selling PPVs of 2017 – but how can she really become a top draw without facing opponents that the UFC has built up?
The current discussion is around a possible superfight between Cyborg and Bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, but to me that doesn’t make sense – why sacrifice one of your champions in a fight that probably won’t draw any better than a regular Cyborg title defence would?
For me, it’s time for the UFC to stop putting together odd fights for Cyborg and get behind the Women’s Featherweight division, no matter how thin it is. Even bringing in Invicta champion Megan Anderson and building her for a fight with Cyborg by showcasing her against a couple of handpicked opponents would be a nice start. As it is, this whole run from Cyborg feels more weird than impressive.
#3 Best: Alexander Hernandez takes his chance
In many ways, the story of UFC 222 was all about capitalising on opportunities. Brian Ortega snatched his with both hands by beating Frankie Edgar, while Andre Soukhamthath largely threw his away. But on the undercard, nobody took their chance in more impressive fashion than newcomer Alexander Hernandez.
Tapped as a late replacement for the injured Bobby Green, Hernandez took last night’s fight with Beneil Dariush on just over two weeks’ notice and literally nobody gave him a chance. Sure, he was on an eight-fight win streak, but all of his wins were over nobodies, and he didn’t even have a Wikipedia page!
Dariush meanwhile was ranked as the #12 Lightweight in the world and had last been seen in a super-exciting fight with fellow top-fifteen ranked Evan Dunham. Hernandez evidently hadn’t gotten the notice that he was supposed to lose, though – and came out and cracked the far slower Dariush with a left hand that knocked him silly in just 42 seconds.
How far Hernandez can go is anyone’s guess but he’s now cemented himself as a UFC fighter and by knocking off a top-ranked fighter in his debut, it’s likely he’ll receive a big promotional push, too. It doesn’t get any better than that, really.
#3 Worst: Mackenzie Dern shows that it’s hard being a prospect
There was a lot of hype around Mackenzie Dern coming into her UFC debut, largely because of her stellar background in submission grappling – at just 24 years old she’d already won gold medals in the World Jiu-Jitsu championships as well as the prestigious Abu Dhabi Submission World championship – as well as her good looks.
At just 5-0 though – largely beating overmatched opponents – a lot of analysts figured that it was too soon for her to move to the UFC. And for the most part, they were proven right. Dern won a split decision over opponent Ashley Yoder, but struggled on the feet – being dropped in the second round – and couldn’t get many takedowns either.
She earned the win with her aggressive nature and by dominating the closing stages of the third round on the ground, but she didn’t look like a world-beater. And this was against an opponent who was 0-2 in the UFC. Dern probably needs more seasoning on the smaller circuit, but what choice did the UFC have but to sign her now? They can’t risk her signing with Bellator, after all.
Personally I feel like there’s a case to be made for the UFC using developmental contracts for cases like Dern – sign her to a deal to prevent Bellator from getting her, but allow her skills to grow in the smaller promotions before bringing her into the UFC – otherwise it might be a case where she has to fight another three Yoder-level opponents before stepping up.
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