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UFC 224 might not have been the most alluring card on paper, but despite a distinct lack of star power, boy did it deliver in terms of sheer action.
The always-hot Brazilian crowd were treated to 13 fights, with all of them ranging from solid to fantastic, and saw some highlight reel finishes to boot.
Naturally, it didn’t all go down without a hitch, but what UFC show does? Here are the best and worst moments from Saturday’s show.
#1 Best: So much violence!
The UFC’s method of matchmaking, pitting fighters of a similar skill level against one another, is brilliant when it comes to finding out exactly who’s the best fighter, but often the lack of squash matches means we’re not always treated to hot finishes.
2018, in particular, has seen a lot of cards, such as last month’s UFC 223, filled with fights going to the judges’ scorecards.
In that sense, UFC 224 was definitely an outlier. While very few of the fights looked like squashes on paper, the card delivered with sheer violence from top to bottom, surprising most fans who weren’t really expecting so much excitement.
We saw insane finishes from the prelims all the way up to the main event, with the best ones probably being Lyoto Machida’s front kick KO of Vitor Belfort, Elizeu Zaleski’s capoeira-inspired knockout of Sean Strickland, and John Lineker’s violent knockout of Brian Kelleher.
With just 2 of 13 fights going the distance, this was one of the most violence-filled cards in UFC history and actually set a modern-day record with 11 finishes on the show.
For a card not many people were hyped about, this was a massive bonus to anyone who watched.
#1 Worst: Raquel Pennington’s poor corner work
One of the most worrying things about MMA is the seeming reluctance from cornermen to throw in the towel when their fighter is clearly beaten.
This probably comes from the fact that no fight seems to be over until it’s actually over. We saw an incredible comeback from Jack Hermansson to beat Thales Leites on Saturday in fact, but sometimes, it simply leads to a fighter taking far more of a beating than they should necessarily take.
This was definitely the case in the main event at this weekend’s show. Challenger Raquel Pennington went back to her corner after the 4th round clearly a beaten fighter, no offense intended.
She even appeared to tell her corner “I’m done”, and the likelihood of her pulling off a miraculous comeback against Amanda Nunes, who was clearly the superior fighter in all areas, seemed very slim.
Despite this though, Pennington’s corner sent her back out for the 5th, with coach Jason Kutz telling her to “change her mindset and throw everything you’ve got”.
Of course, the advice didn’t work and Pennington took a further 19 significant strikes before referee Marc Goddard called a stop to the fight midway through the final round.
Why Pennington had to take more punishment is anyone’s guess. I understand the mindset of a corner feeling their fighter could still win, but sometimes, like we saw at UFC 223 with Joe Lauzon’s corner, it’s better to walk away and fight another day. More cornermen ought to consider this.
#2 Best: Gastelum freshening up the title picture at 185lbs
While it wasn’t a flawless performance, plenty of observers actually scored his fight the other way in favor of Jacare Souza.
Kelvin Gastelum picked up his 4th win in 5 fights at Middleweight in Saturday’s co-main event, and that puts him firmly into the title picture at 185lbs.
With the last man to defeat him, Chris Weidman, still on the shelf with a hand injury, an argument could easily be made for Gastelum warranting the next title shot, in fact.
Gastelum has threatened to break into title contention before, most notably at 170lbs back in 2015, but he’s always seemed to fall at the final hurdle.
But pitted against arguably his trickiest foe to date on Saturday, the TUF 17 winner bounced back from a horrible first round to largely outstrike former top contender Jacare Souza, dropping him in the second round, and in the end, he earned a split decision victory.
With the Middleweight title up for grabs at June’s UFC 225 when champion Robert Whittaker faces interim champ Yoel Romero, a fight between the winner of that one and Gastelum could easily end up being booked towards the end of 2018.
If that fight ends up being between Whittaker and Gastelum, it’d represent a really fresh look for the division, finally moving away from the Jacare/Romero/Rockhold/Weidman/Bisping era that’s largely ruled over 185lbs since 2013. And that’d only be a good thing.
#2 Worst: Amanda Nunes just doesn’t have star power
After her win over Raquel Pennington on Saturday, it seems like everyone is finally convinced that Amanda Nunes is the most dominant fighter in the Women’s Bantamweight division since Ronda Rousey’s heyday of 2013-15.
The only problem? Despite all of her dominance, nobody seems to care about Nunes and her fights. If anything, the closest parallel to ‘The Lioness’ would be another dominant champion who’s struggled to inspire the fans, Demetrious Johnson.
In a world where looks and appeal sell so much, it simply appears that Nunes lacks the basic tools to really get the fans to care.
She’s an exciting fighter with a massively aggressive style, but it’s been proven so many times that it doesn’t matter so much what you do in the cage, it’s what you do outside it that makes the fans want to see your fights. And being largely soft-spoken, Nunes just doesn’t sell herself enough.
Could the UFC do more to push her as a Superstar? Quite possibly. Saturday’s fight was the first UFC title fight between two openly gay fighters, and yet the angle was never really pushed by the promotion, who could’ve used it to bring a newer audience to the product.
And UFC president Dana White has thrown Nunes under the bus before too after she withdrew from last year’s UFC 214 on late notice.
We’ve seen fighters grow in stardom before. Anderson Silva comes to mind, but it just seems like Nunes is facing a huge uphill struggle to become a fighter the fans really want to see. Perhaps booking the often-rumoured fight with Cris Cyborg could help?
#3 Best: Lyoto’s not done yet
After he returned from a period of over two years on the shelf to take a really bad loss at the hands of Derek Brunson last year, I called for Lyoto Machida to retire and I wasn’t the only one.
But, early 2018 saw somewhat of a resurgence for ‘The Dragon’, as he defeated up-and-comer Eryk Anders in February after a close fight.
Booked against fellow veteran Vitor Belfort on Saturday’s show, the feeling from a lot of fans was that Machida probably had slightly more left in the tank.
That proved to be true, as he turned Belfort’s lights out in the second round with one of his best knockouts to date, a snapping front kick reminiscent of Anderson Silva’s 2011 knockout of Belfort.
Does this mean that Machida is a title contender again? Of course not. He’s still at the tail end of his career.
But, he’s definitely shown in his last two fights that he doesn’t necessarily need to call time on his career just yet.
Hopefully, the UFC can set up the long-awaited fight with Michael Bisping next, as it’d give Lyoto a chance to fight another veteran, and perhaps pull out another classic finish like he did on Saturday.
#3 Worst: Is Mackenzie Dern serious about MMA?
Signed by the UFC in early 2018, former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Mackenzie Dern was bringing a lot of hype into the Octagon, as much for her marketable looks and personality as her insane grappling skills.
She struggled in her UFC debut against Ashley Yoder in March, but that was put down to a lack of experience at the top level.
She performed far better at UFC 224, dropping and choking out Amanda Cooper in the first round.
But, the big question coming out of the show for Dern is whether she’s actually serious about her MMA career. Despite the fight supposedly taking place in the Strawweight division – 115lbs – Dern weighed in at 123lbs, 7lbs over and closer to the Flyweight division.
This came after reports that she’d been asked to leave her training camp due to her preferring to be on the beach than in training.
Dern’s natural talent will clearly take her a certain distance up the ladder in the UFC, but if she wants to make it to the very top, something clearly needs to change for her, largely in terms of her preparation.
We’ll see how serious she is about her MMA career in her next fight, but for now, the signs are largely worrying.
