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Whew. UFC 229 was built as the biggest show in promotional history and it sure as hell delivered. We got a wild night of fights with some incredible finishes that ended in a descent into absolute chaos, scenes that will dominate the MMA news landscape for probably the rest of 2018.
Quite where things go from here is anyone’s business, but for now all we can do is guess the UFC’s next move. The only thing not in question? UFC 229 was an absolutely unforgettable show. Here are the best and worst moments from the night’s action.
#1 Best: Khabib leaves no doubt that he’s the greatest
The main event fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor, with Khabib’s UFC Lightweight title on the line, was billed as the biggest fight in UFC history, and going in there were so many variables that it was a very tricky fight to call. Personally, I thought McGregor’s speed, timing and counter-punching skill would see him through.
Well, I was hugely wrong. The fight saw Khabib prove exactly why he’s considered the best 155lber on the planet right now, as he largely dominated McGregor for four rounds, submitting the Irishman with a nasty neck crank midway through the 4th.
The first round saw Khabib wrestle McGregor to the ground and honestly? He did very little with the position, which gave Conor hope coming into the second. But the secondnd round was thoroughly one-sided – a big right hand dropped ‘The Notorious One’ and from there Khabib smashed him on the ground. It was surprising to see McGregor get up so easily afterwards.
It did appear for a moment that Conor would get back into the fight – he arguably took the third round by stopping Khabib’s takedowns and landing the better strikes – but any hopes the Irish crowd had were then crushed in the fourth with more dominant grappling from ‘The Eagle’ leading to the submission.
McGregor looked slightly rusty, but he still hit Khabib with some heavy shots and the Russian walked through them. And on the ground, it was simply not a contest. Right now Khabib is clearly the best 155lber in the world, and it’s up to the rest of the division to catch him up. This was truly the performance of a champion.
#1 Worst: The post-fight melee, obviously
Even MMA fans who didn’t order UFC 229 have probably seen the clips of the post-fight melee between the various players involved in the Nurmagomedov and McGregor camps now – clips are all around on the internet although I won’t link them here as they’re being removed as quickly as they’re being added.
To summarise, Khabib submitted McGregor with a neck crank in the fourth round, and then leapt over the cage and into the crowd to attack McGregor’s jiu-jitsu coach Dillon Danis, who currently fights for Bellator.
While all of this was going on, two of Khabib’s cornermen – reportedly UFC fighters Islam Makhachev and Zubaira Tukhugov, who may lose their jobs over the incident – leapt into the cage and began to exchange punches with McGregor, who was trying to recover from the fight.
Watching the incident it did appear that McGregor swung back at the two attackers – he may have even thrown the first punch – but realistically Khabib’s crew were to blame for this mess as they shouldn’t have been in the cage in the first place.
Essentially, the whole thing left a black eye on what should’ve been a triumphal night for the UFC with literally millions of people watching.
But can we really condemn Khabib and his crew entirely, after April’s bus attack instigated by McGregor, as well as the amount of trash that the Irishman has talked on his country, culture and religion?
Perhaps not. Maybe this is a case of the bear – no pun intended – being poked with the stick and finally snapping back.
The lesson to be learned is maybe that fighters from Russia and in particular Dagestan take things a little more seriously than their Western counterparts.
McGregor and his boys weren’t messing with plastic gangsters like the Diaz brothers here. And so they arguably reaped what they’d sewn.
Still, the aftermath of a big UFC fight was no place for this to happen. It was reminiscent of 2010’s infamous StrikeForce ‘Nashville Brawl’, which also left a black eye on the sport; it was clearly the worst moment of UFC 229, and it may yet see Khabib stripped of his title. Sad times.
#2 Best: Ferguson vs. Pettis – the Fight of the Year?
When the wild fight between Tony Ferguson and Anthony Pettis was all said and done, the first thought in my mind was that we’d just seen the Fight of the Year for 2018.
I might be forgetting something better earlier in the year but this fight was absolutely phenomenal, swinging back-and-forth and finally ending after the second round with Ferguson picking up his 11th straight win.
The fight began with Ferguson putting an unbelievable amount of pressure on Pettis with his striking, backing the former champion up and proving himself equally creative as ‘Showtime’ on the feet. If ‘El Cucuy’ had any cage rust, he certainly wasn’t showing it. But you always got the feeling that Pettis wasn’t out of the fight.
That feeling came home to roost in the second round when Pettis leveled Ferguson with a right hand and appeared to have him on the verge of being knocked out. How ‘El Cucuy’ survived the barrage is anyone’s guess.
But he did, and by the end of the second round – with both men pouring with blood – it was Ferguson once again on top as he destroyed Pettis with strikes, slicing him open with his elbows around both eyes.
We didn’t get a third round – Pettis’s cornerman Duke Roufus decided to throw the towel in after learning Pettis was badly hurt and had broken his right hand, a surprisingly smart and brave decision from a UFC corner – but it didn’t matter. This was a fight for the ages that should see the stock of both men rise.
Ferguson called for a title shot post-fight in a sweary promo largely censored in the UK, and really, he’s more than earned it.
Whether he gets it given the mess that the main event created is anyone’s guess, but right now he might be the only man capable of giving Khabib Nurmagomedov a tough fight. He’s simply awesome.
#2 Worst: Reyes robbed of a knockout by a bad call
One of the more intriguing fights on the undercard saw Light-Heavyweight prospect Dominick Reyes face off with established gatekeeper Ovince St. Preux.
I was hoping that Reyes could make a statement with a win and become the next big thing at 205lbs, and for the most part he did. He picked ‘OSP’ apart throughout all three rounds, looking very much like a future title contender.
Unfortunately, the fight ended with a bit of controversy. After a big exchange, Reyes dropped OSP with a big right hand that appeared to knock him out. Reyes even walked away, Mark Hunt-style, and it was quite clear that St. Preux was unable to continue. The problem was that OSP hit the deck at the same moment that the buzzer sounded to end the fight.
Referee Dan Miragliotta urged St. Preux to get up to return to his corner – and eventually, he did, but if the shot had landed at any other time, the fight would’ve been called off.
So why did Miragliotta decide that the punch hadn’t ended the fight and send it to the judges’ scorecards? Your guess is as good as mine.
Thankfully the worst that happens here is that Reyes gets robbed of a KO and takes a decision win on his record instead. But can you imagine if Reyes had been behind on the scorecards before landing that shot?
Would OSP have won a decision then? It boggles the mind and it’s probably something the various State Athletic Commissions need to look into. At the very least, the NSAC should award Reyes with a knockout.
#3 Best: Derrick Lewis pulls off the best comeback in UFC history
The UFC Octagon has seen some wild comebacks over the years – Tim Boetsch knocking out Yushin Okami, Donald Cerrone coming back to take out Melvin Guillard, and plenty more – but last night Derrick Lewis might’ve pulled off the best comeback in the history of the promotion.
Faced with giant Russian Alexander Volkov, Lewis was being thoroughly dominated. He was hurt on multiple occasions with shots to the head and particularly the body, and by the third round he was in a huge hole in terms of statistics – according to Fight Metric, Lewis had landed just 21 significant strikes to Volkov’s 80.
The third round was going just as badly for ‘The Black Beast’ until suddenly – with seconds remaining – he decided to open up with some wild punches, and moments later Volkov was unconscious and Lewis was inexplicably removing his shorts in celebration. Apparently “his balls were hot”. Really. This was the definition of fight-changing punching power.
Does Lewis now get a title shot? I’m unsure as personally – assuming he defeats Francis Ngannou next month – I’d still have Curtis Blaydes ahead of him and obviously there’s Brock Lesnar to contend with.
But should the UFC decide to give Lewis the shot there’d be no complaints after a win of this magnitude. ‘The Black Beast’ might not look like a professional athlete, but the man can fight.
#3 Worst: Nik Lentz gets political post-fight
It’s never a good look when a fighter decides to get political in their post-match interview – a few years back a fighter named Jacob Volkmann was notorious for his constant jabs at then-US President Barack Obama – as the two realms just shouldn’t ever meet, really – it just makes things needlessly awkward. Last night we saw another painful example of that.
Undercard fighter Nik Lentz – controversial back in 2010/11 for a string of dull victories that had fans changing the channel – impressively defeated former title challenger Gray Maynard on the Fight Pass portion of the show, finishing him with a head kick. And then he decided to give a “shout out” to his buddy Brett Kavanaugh.
For those not privy to US politics, Kavanaugh was elected to the Supreme Court this week – but this election followed accusations of some serious sexual assaults.
Whether he’s guilty or not isn’t up to MMA fans to decide, but why would Lentz use his post-fight promo to express support to a guy who has that kind of thing hanging over him?
It’s not the same as when the likes of Colby Covington and Derrick Lewis mention President Trump in their interviews because the mentions were clearly tongue-in-cheek, and Lentz seemed to be serious and appeared to be trying to rile up the crowd.
It’s a behaviour which just doesn’t belong in the UFC, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t handed a mic post-fight again any time soon.
