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UFC 239 was built up as one of 2019’s biggest shows so far and it certainly delivered on that promise. Sure, there was no sure-fire classic fight – like Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida, which was inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame this weekend – on offer, but we definitely got some fantastic fights with some incredible finishes.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC 239: Jones vs. Santos.
#1 Best: Masvidal’s ridiculous flying knee finish
Like anything else was ever going to be #1 in this list. The Welterweight fight between Jorge Masvidal and Ben Askren was built as a potential title eliminator, and after the way Masvidal flatlined the previously unbeaten Askren, it’s hard to argue that anyone but ‘Gamebred’ – sorry Colby Covington – deserves the next shot at Kamaru Usman.
In a finish reminiscent of the late, great Kid Yamamoto’s knockout of Kazuyuki Miyata back in 2006, Masvidal came charging out of his corner as the fight begun and threw a wild flying knee at Askren, and the blow was timed perfectly, connecting with the former Bellator champ’s temple as he leaned for a takedown. Askren’s senses were shut off instantly by the blow and Masvidal’s two follow-up punches were academic.
Not only was the finish a thing of beauty, but somehow it all took just 5 seconds – shaving a second off Duane Ludwig’s previous record and handing Masvidal the fastest knockout in UFC history. When you add in the high stakes and the fact that it came against an unbeaten fighter in Askren, it only becomes more impressive. This was by far the best win in Masvidal’s career and should almost certainly net him a future title shot. On a card with plenty of big winners, ‘Gamebred’ was definitely the biggest.
#1 Worst: Jones’s performance brings everything into question
Okay, so I should start this bit by praising the performance of Thiago Santos, who fought excellently in what was by far the biggest and toughest fight of his career and who could quite possibly have dethroned Jon Jones had he not injured his knee early in the fight. But no offense to ‘Marreta’, who is clearly a hell of a fighter, a man in the conversation for the best MMA fighter of all time like Jon Jones perhaps shouldn’t have struggled so badly with Santos, who had only fought at 205lbs three times previously.
Sure, Jones probably did enough to just about eke out the decision, winning rounds 2, 3 and 4, but it was hardly a convincing showing. ‘Bones’ appeared to struggle with the kicking game of the challenger and although he was able to do a lot of damage with his own kicks, quite why Jones didn’t ever attempt to grapple with him is anyone’s guess. Jones, don’t forget, is perhaps the most effective wrestler in the division while Santos was submitted by Eric Spicely less than 3 years ago.
For me the performance has to lead to other questions; namely, is Jones suddenly past his prime? Is he now disinterested in performing to the best of his ability, leading to a showing where he was happy to eke out a decision? Or does his decline have more to do with the fact that he was always a PED user and not someone who accidentally dabbled in that murky world once or twice?
Overall, Jones didn’t look like the unbeatable monster he once was – and while it’d be nice to see someone dethrone him, Santos didn’t quite manage that and so the champion’s weak showing was the worst bit of this show to me.
#2 Best: Nunes proves her greatness again
Coming into UFC 239, Amanda Nunes not only proclaimed herself the greatest female MMA fighter of all time, she claimed she was the greatest fighter ever, period. That felt like a bit of a stretch to me even with her wins over Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg, and so I was interested to see if she’d look overconfident against a fighter who seemed to be a nasty stylistic match for her in the form of Holly Holm.
In the end though I need not have worried, and after last night, Nunes undoubtedly belongs in the same category with greats like Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko and Demetrious Johnson. After an opening round that saw Holm gain some traction with her point-fighting striking style, Nunes left nothing to doubt by absolutely waylaying the challenger with a head kick and sealing the deal with some punches.
The kick was as clean as the two that Holm famously dished out to Rousey and Bethe Correia, and of course, despite Holm still being conscious when it landed, ‘The Lioness’ once again showed her unparalleled killer instinct in getting the finish.
She’s now beaten every other female fighter to ever hold UFC gold at 145lbs and 135lbs, with this win joining her previous ones over Rousey, Cyborg, Miesha Tate and Germaine de Randamie, and she also has two wins over current Flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko – who was the only one to last the distance with her, too. Nunes is a beast and she’s also an all-time great. Hopefully she’s now embraced by the fans as the superstar she is.
#2 Worst: Rockhold’s move to 205lbs backfires big time
Jon Jones’s last two challengers – Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos – both found themselves in line for a shot at the UFC Light-Heavyweight title after moving up to 205lbs following middling runs at 185lbs. So, the logic went, surely a former UFC Middleweight champion like Luke Rockhold could find success in the apparently weaker weight class too. Well, apparently not.
Faced with Jan Blachowicz – a talented fighter but not one that’d be recognised as a top five contender at 205lbs – Rockhold was simply outgunned. He was never able to impose himself physically on the Polish fighter as he’d done to so many opponents at 185lbs, and despite landing some good strikes, he was badly hurt in the first round by a Blachowicz high kick.
The second round went even worse for him, as Blachowicz really began to open up with his strikes and once again exposed Rockhold’s difficulties with defending the left hook, as he landed a truly savage blow to knock the former champion out and according to Dana White, leave him with a broken jaw too.
Where Rockhold goes from here is difficult to say; White has suggested retirement and while that seems premature, he could probably do worse things as he does have a lucrative modelling career on the side and clearly isn’t cut out to challenge for UFC gold again despite his physical talents. Rockhold had talked up a possible Jon Jones fight this week but that talk is out of the window now – and hopefully for his sake this loss knocks some of the overconfidence out of him too.
#3 Best: Shahbazyan has a bright future ahead of him
Perhaps the most noteworthy performance on the prelims – no offense to Song Yadong who also looked fantastic in KO’ing Alejandro Perez – came from young prospect Edmen Shahbazyan. The Armenian-American fighter – who trains out of the Glendale Fight Academy under the notorious Edmond Tarverdyan – won his spot on the UFC roster with a violent knockout on Dana White’s Contender Series, but the 40 second victory also posed a lot of questions.
Shahbazyan was notably wild and overly aggressive with his striking, and so many fans questioned how well he’d do in the UFC proper. But while he didn’t strike a lot in last night’s victory over Jack Marshman, he did show that he’s more talented – and far more cerebral – than fighters coming out of his camp are usually given credit for.
Faced with the heavy-handed Welsh brawler, it would’ve been easy for Shahbazyan – a man with 8 first round KO’s on his record - to simply trade bombs with him and show his machismo. But instead he used his powerful wrestling game to ground the Welshman and quickly secured a rear naked choke after dominating him with strikes on the mat.
Shahbazyan undoubtedly needs to clean up his striking technique but this win showed that he’s far more than a one-dimensional berserker who simply wants to trade bombs, and at 21 he’s got plenty of time and room for improvement. This kid could be a future title contender, despite the reputation of his coaches.
#3 Worst: Diego is probably done
Coming into last night’s show, veteran Diego Sanchez – the winner of the original season of TUF some 14 years ago – had been making a lot of noise about how he wasn’t done yet and how he could still become a title contender at 37 years of age. I even picked him to win his fight with Michael Chiesa; admittedly I’m biased because I adore Diego, but the fact was that nobody had truly outgrappled ‘The Nightmare’, and Chiesa was about as pure of a grappler as you’d find at 170lbs in 2019.
Well, after last night we can now say Sanchez has been outgrappled. Chiesa firmly dominated him on the mat for the full 15 minutes and although he wasn’t able to finish the veteran off, he came close with various submissions and never really let Sanchez get a foothold on the fight. There’s no shame in a loss to Chiesa, even in this way, but Diego’s problems may run a little deeper.
Prior to the show it was revealed that Sanchez had left Greg Jackson’s camp for the second time in his career; when he did this the first time he hooked up with famed trainer Saulo Ribeiro and developed his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu game, but this time, he’s hooked up with a largely unknown trainer called Josh Fabia.
Fabia – who doesn’t appear to have a martial arts background as such – is more of a lifestyle guru than anything and more worryingly, he acted as Sanchez’s lone cornerman last night. When you add in his somewhat erratic interviews lately – he’s even stated he’s willing to die in the cage – I think there’s enough evidence to truly worry about Diego’s future, and as someone who’s been a huge fan of his since his TUF days, it makes me sad.
