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UFC 237 is in the books and we have a new UFC Strawweight champion in the form of Jessica Andrade. More on that later but overall, this wasn’t the best show we’ll see in 2019.
Historically the UFC’s Brazilian shows have lived and died on how the local stars have done and last night, Andrade was practically the lone major Brazilian success.
Outside of that we got some Bellator-like booking in terms of the use of ageing former stars up and down the card, a couple of nice finishes but overall, nothing too memorable. Hopefully the UFC’s next two pay-per-views – which look far better on paper – improve on this effort.
Here are the best and worst moments of UFC 237: Namajunas vs. Andrade.
#1 Best: That slam
Finishing an opponent with a slam is a pretty rare thing in MMA – that’s why famous instances like Rampage Jackson’s powerbomb of Ricardo Arona and Tito Ortiz’s brutal bodyslam of Evan Tanner are still well recalled to this day.
Well, after last night, Jessica Andrade can join that club – and as far as I can recall, she’s now the only fighter – in a top promotion at least – to actually win a title with a slam TKO.
Sure, she was clearly losing the fight after the first round; Rose Namajunas was piecing her up with her movement and striking, had her bloodied up and even dropped her with a knee late in the round, but Andrade did seem to be shifting the momentum of the fight as the second round went on.
And when Namajunas made the error of holding on too tightly to an unsuccessful kimura attempt, ‘Bate Estaca’ took full advantage.
Andrade lifted the champion into the air and spun her before dumping her directly onto her head – which was completely unprotected due to Namajunas clinging onto the challenger’s arm. ‘Thug Rose’ was knocked instantly unconscious, and seconds later the title change was confirmed.
Will this finish make Andrade into a star? Probably not – no offense, but she just isn’t that marketable. Will her title reign be a long one? Personally I doubt it as I suspect Tatiana Suarez is going to destroy whoever holds the title once her inevitable shot comes. But on a relatively forgettable show like this it was clearly the best moment.
#1 Worst: It’s not 2010 anymore
2010 was a pretty great year for a load of reasons, but for the UFC, it was probably the last time that they had a set of champions who were practically all major superstars, drawing cards and fantastic fighters in their own rights.
But we’re almost a decade removed from that year now and while Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre have hung up their gloves, BJ Penn and Anderson Silva are still stepping into the Octagon and to be quite frank, it’s becoming sad to watch.
It’s one thing for ageing fighters to begin to slow down on their way out of their prime and lose more fights – as Jose Aldo did to Alexander Volkanovski on this show – but Penn in particular is so far out of his prime now that it’s not even funny.
He’s now lost 7 fights in a row – a UFC record – and last night’s sad loss to Clay Guida, a man who he’d have destroyed in his prime, was perhaps the lowest point yet.
As for Silva, he actually looked pretty decent against Israel Adesanya in February, but against a more aggressive Jared Cannonier last night he seemingly had nothing, preferring to juke and jive rather than attack his opponent, and when his knee was apparently blown out by a Cannonier leg kick it came as no real surprise.
I get that these guys should be allowed to fight for as long as they want, but should the UFC really be showcasing them at this stage? I’m not so sure. You can’t even argue that Penn in particular draws any fans to the UFC now as he was buried deep on the preliminary card last night.
Surely enough has to be enough now, and the UFC need to stop this Bellator-esque booking of legends who are miles past their sell-by date.
#2 Best: Volkanovski stakes his claim as the top contender at 145lbs
Quite how long Max Holloway will be out for following his foray up to 155lbs last month is unknown right now, but when he does come back, we know exactly who will be waiting for him now: Aussie standout Alexander Volkanovski, who thoroughly beat the former champion Jose Aldo last night, joining Holloway and Conor McGregor in a pretty exclusive club of fighters to beat the legendary Brazilian.
It was a tremendous performance from Volkanovski, too. Aldo had looked as dangerous as ever in his last two fights, but he couldn’t get anything going against ‘Alexander the Great’ here, as Volkanovski continually walked him down, landed the heavier shots and had enough about him to avoid anything major that the former champion threw back at him.
Granted, this didn’t look like the same wildman Aldo who took out Renato Moicano in February, but the truth is that Volkanovski didn’t allow him to fight in that way. From a fighter who I expected to flame out when he faced elite opponents to someone able to adjust and defeat Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes back-to-back, Volkanovski’s definitely earned a title shot now and so I hope he gets it soon.
#2 Worst: Is this the end for Thug Rose?
Rose Namajunas has always been a bit of an odd fighter; thrust into the spotlight with barely any experience back in 2014, she looked like a force of nature during her run on TUF before that lack of experience shone through in her title loss to Carla Esparza.
She bounced back well, but her subsequent wins – and loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz – never suggested she could beat a champion the calibre of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and yet she did that twice, and looked brilliant in the second fight.
That defence last April was the kind of showing that could’ve launched ‘Thug Rose’ as a major superstar, but she ended up taking over a year away from the Octagon before losing her title last night to Jessica Andrade.
It was an unlucky break for sure – she was ahead in the fight before the vicious slam that ended things – but the bottom line is that the Namajunas era is now over really before it had a chance to begin.
The word post-fight was that Namajunas might even be mooting retirement, and in all honesty I’m not surprised. She’s been a fantastic fighter to watch over the past few years and is clearly a huge talent, but for me you never got the feeling she was enjoying fighting, not like someone like Andrade, or Amanda Nunes for instance does.
If this is the end, it’s a sad state of affairs indeed, but after seeing BJ Penn fight tonight it might be better that someone who’s not sure about the future doesn’t stick around.
