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What could’ve been a total disaster of a show for the UFC actually turned into something, well, not too bad. UFC 234 was never going to be the most loaded card of 2019 – it was probably weaker than the two ESPN+ Fight Nights that preceded it – but in execution it turned out fine, even with the late loss of the main event.
Will anyone remember it come the end of the year? Of course not – it was the very definition of a throwaway show – but there were some fun fights on offer and it seemed like the fans in Melbourne were entertained at least.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC 234: Adesanya vs. Silva.
#1 Best: A bunch of action fights saved the card
When you’re presented with a card as weak on paper as UFC 234 was – completely devoid of genuine ranked contenders and name value – the best the fans can really hope for is a bunch of action fights with hot finishes. The worst possible thing to happen is a card full of dull decisions, particularly when we now have 12/13 fights on each show, but that’s happened on more than one occasion recently.
Thankfully, UFC 234 was chock-full of fun fights. The first televised prelim on ESPN – the wild brawl between Kyung Ho Kang and Teruto Ishihara – was fantastic (more on that later), and things didn’t really let up from there outside of a couple of slower moments on the prelim card.
Devonte Smith and Jimmy Crute both picked up impressive TKO finishes in the first round; Montana De La Rosa essentially recreated an old Gracie-style squash over Nadia Kassem, and Lando Vannata put on his most impressive showing in years to take out Marcos Mariano.
Throw in an entertaining – if strange at times – main event between Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva (again, more on that later), and in the end the whole show was worth watching, assuming you didn’t have to pay $60 or thereabouts to see it.
#1 Worst: Whittaker’s run of bad luck continues
Last February, Robert Whittaker was scheduled to make a defence of his UFC Middleweight crown in Australia against top contender Luke Rockhold. Instead, he was forced out of the fight due to a weird health issue (a bad staph infection) and missed out on the home country defence. The UFC tried to give him another chance at it pretty much exactly a year later, but somehow history ended up repeating itself.
This time Whittaker almost made it, even weighing in and looking healthy on Friday, but was forced out literally hours before the show due to a truly freak injury – an abdominal hernia that required immediate surgery. It was unbelievably bad luck for ‘The Reaper’, and quite hard to fathom to be honest. It’ll go down as perhaps the most unlucky injury in UFC history.
Thankfully it sounds like Whittaker will be back within 4 weeks, but unless the UFC re-books his fight with Kelvin Gastelum quickly (maybe at UFC 236, which doesn’t have a main event right now and goes down on 04/13) the whole Middleweight division could end up tied up for some time, which would be a nightmare scenario. This was a horrible situation for the UFC and for Whittaker, and was easily the worst part about UFC 234.
#2 Best: Adesanya and Silva live up to the hype, sort of
Thrown into the main event slot at the last minute due to the injury of Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya’s fight with Anderson Silva was seen by a lot of fans as a symbolic passing of the torch – from the former flashy striker of the 185lbs division to the next – but it was also expected to be a squash match in favour of Adesanya. Despite all of his incredible accomplishments, Silva was 43 and hadn’t looked genuinely good in a fight since 2012.
Thankfully though, the fight actually went down about as well as it could’ve done from all perspectives. Silva showed his chin and reflexes aren’t totally shot, as he dodged some big shots from Adesanya, took some punishment without being truly hurt, and got off with some of his own shots too. Adesanya showed patience, skill, and while he never came close to a finish, he clearly got the better of all of the exchanges.
And the fans seemed wowed by an almost strange fight that was reminiscent of a video game or movie at times thanks to all the taunting, stance-switching and unique strikes that were thrown.
For the UFC, this was also perfect. It means that they can probably use Silva in at least one or two more big fights before he hangs his gloves up, and as Adesanya didn’t finish in spectacular fashion, it means there won’t be too much clamour for him to get a title shot before the Whittaker/Gastelum issue is cleared up. It wasn’t a Fight of the Year Candidate, but it was fun, and that was enough really.
#2 Worst: How can the UFC charge money for this?
Okay, so UFC 234 went down about as well as anyone could’ve hoped given the circumstances surrounding the cancelled main event, as well as a weak card coming in. But is it really right that the world’s biggest MMA promotion should be charging fans in the USA $64.99 to watch a show like this? The answer is almost certainly no.
Quite why the UFC chose to put on such a weak card is a question mark – the likely answer is that the Rod Laver Arena sold out based on the Whittaker/Gastelum and Adesanya/Silva fights and so the UFC felt they didn’t need to fill the card with any more big stars – but really, moving in that direction, with one or two-fight cards, simply sends the sport closer towards boxing and that’s something no MMA fan should want.
I’m not complaining about the performance of fighters like Jimmy Crute, Montana De La Rose and Lando Vannata here, but I sincerely hope that UFC 234 was a box office bomb – because that would hopefully mean that in the future, the UFC will look to stack their pay-per-view cards more heavily. They’re supposed to be the centrepiece of the promotion’s shows, remember – not throwaway cards like this one.
#3 Best: Kang and Ishihara put on an instant classic
Coming out of UFC 234, most fans will likely be talking about the main event between Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva – a video game-esque clash that was filled with flashy strikes, taunting, and high drama. But realistically, it wasn’t the best fight on last night’s show. That award, in my mind, should go to the preliminary bout between Kyung Ho Kang and Teruto Ishihara.
This was a fight simply filled with non-stop action, and when it ended at 3:59 of the first round, it was hard not to be wowed. Both men came out swinging, with Ishihara drawing first blood and stunning Kang badly with a counter left hook. It looked like the fight was over, but somehow Kang came roaring back and suddenly we were treated to exchanges reminiscent of Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez, with both men swinging with reckless abandon.
Finally, the South Korean fighter began to take over, stunned Ishihara with a bunch of strikes from close range, and then took him down and choked him out. It was a fantastic comeback and a fantastic fight, and for me it’s probably a low-end Fight of the Year Candidate. Silva and Adesanya might’ve taken home the ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus – but for real fight fans, the award belonged to these guys.
