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UFC 244 was built as one of 2019’s biggest shows, and if there were any questions surrounding the drawing power of either Nate Diaz or Jorge Masvidal, they should probably disappear after reportedly drawing a $6.6m gate at Madison Square Garden.
The show turned out to be one of the year’s most entertaining, too – right up to the ending of the main event, which was shrouded in controversy following a questionable doctor’s stoppage. Prior to that, though, you’d be hard-pressed to call UFC 244 anything but a rousing success.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC 244: Masvidal vs. Diaz.
#1 Best: Kevin Lee’s savage knockout
Coming into UFC 244 there were some question marks around exactly where Kevin Lee stood in the grand scheme of things. ‘The Motown Phenom’ was coming off two straight losses, and after a brief move to 170lbs, had dropped back to 155lbs to take on one of the most dangerous contenders out there in Gregor Gillespie. Most fans – me included – wondered how Lee would deal with Gillespie’s insane wrestling skill.
Well, it turns out that he didn’t need to worry about the wrestling. After exchanging jabs with Gillespie with both men landing, Lee clocked him with a right hand before switching his lights out with a head kick. And this wasn’t just any normal head kick – this was one of the best in UFC history, as Gillespie was knocked unconscious at the point of impact and fell backwards into the fence in a horrendous visual.
Prior to this Lee only had one stoppage via strikes on his UFC ledger – a 2016 victory over Jake Matthews – but it’s clear now that his striking might well be as dangerous as his grappling. At 27 years old and now training with Firas Zahabi, perhaps we haven’t yet seen the best from Lee – and that’s a scary thought for the rest of the 155lbs division.
#1 Worst: The ending to the main event
Okay, so you can’t take anything away from the performance of Jorge Masvidal in last night’s main event fight with Nate Diaz. ‘Gamebred’ hit Diaz with some incredible shots, and had him on the verge of being finished on more than one occasion.
Diaz was able to stay in the fight and caught Masvidal with some clean shots of his own, but going into the fourth round it was pretty clear that Masvidal was ahead on the scorecards.
Basically, the fight was living up to all the hype put on it going in – a battle to decide the UFC’s ‘Baddest Motherf***er’ – only for the cageside doctor to put a stop to things due to cuts around Diaz’s right eye. Sure, the cuts were bad, but fighters have gone through much worse and Diaz was clearly ready to continue fighting and his sight didn’t seem compromised either.
Even referee Dan Miragliotta looked disappointed when he had to stop the fight. For me this was perhaps the worst ending to a big UFC fight since 2006’s Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock rematch, off the top of my head at least.
To have Dwayne Johnson presenting a fighter with a belt while the crowd were showering the cage with chants of “bulls**t” was not a good look. It wasn’t the UFC’s fault of course, but it was still hugely disappointing – and will go down as one of the all-time worst endings to a UFC pay-per-view.
#2 Best: The tremendous Thompson vs. Luque fight
When UFC President Dana White announced the bonus awards for this show it came as no surprise to hear that the Welterweight bout between Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque had been awarded as Fight of the Night, netting both combatants an extra $50,000.
Sure, there were a lot of great stoppages on this card, but this fight was clearly the best on offer in Madison Square Garden.
Luque actually started off quickly, hitting ‘Wonderboy’ with some excellent leg kicks and even stunning him with some punches, but once the fight went into the second round, Thompson appeared to find his range, and then he really took over. Luque was knocked down and badly hurt in both the second and third round, but ‘The Silent Assassin’ hung tough and continued to fire back.
Try as he might though he couldn’t catch ‘Wonderboy’ cleanly, and the fight ended with Thompson’s hand raised. This was a big win for him – his first since his victory over Jorge Masvidal in 2017, coincidentally also in Madison Square Garden – and those fans who were writing him off as a relevant contender at 170lbs can think again.
As for Luque, he’ll undoubtedly bounce back; he showed himself to be tough as nails and Thompson was always a bad stylistic match for him, but he probably gained a bunch of fans with this performance regardless. Basically this was win/win for everyone.
#2 Worst: The Johnny Walker hype train is derailed
Despite his fight being placed on the preliminary portion of this card, Light-Heavyweight prospect Johnny Walker was coming into UFC 244 with perhaps more hype than anyone walking into Madison Square Garden last night.
He’d finished all three of his previous opponents in rapid fashion with violent, highlight reel strikes, and most fans agreed that if he could beat Corey Anderson, he’d probably be in line for a title shot against Jon Jones.
Well, that hype train is now firmly derailed. Walker came out with his usual unorthodox movements and feints, but Anderson didn’t care about that, and nailed the Brazilian with a right hand before crushing him with a series of powerful, swarming punches. Walker wasn’t knocked unconscious, but he was well-beaten here.
It’s not that Anderson is a bad fighter; he’s clearly an excellent one and he could capture a title shot of his own now, but he’s also been around for years in the UFC and has plenty of losses to go along with his wins, meaning few people will give him a chance against Jones. Walker was a fresh and vibrant contender, and now he’s been knocked off his pedestal. And that’s firmly disappointing.
#3 Best: The sheer violence of the prelims
UFC 244’s main card was a mixed bag; the fights between Darren Till and Kelvin Gastelum, and Derrick Lewis and Blagoy Ivanov had their moments, but they were still somewhat slow, meaning the pay-per-view was largely saved by the other three fights. The prelims, though? They were absolutely fantastic.
We started things with red-hot Heavyweight contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik destroying former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski with a clean left hook, showing scary power and timing in one package.
Next came an eye-opening knockout from Edmen Shahbazyan, as he took out Brad Tavares with a head kick, affirming himself as perhaps the hottest prospect to watch right now at 185lbs.
We’ve already mentioned the exciting fight between Corey Anderson and Johnny Walker, but perhaps the best prelim on offer was the Featherweight clash between Shane Burgos and Makwan Amirkhani. ‘Mr Finland’ came out aggressively and took the fight to Burgos – almost submitting him with a choke – but Burgos managed to weather the storm and then took over with his violent striking style, finally putting a cap on things by finishing him in the third round.
If there’s been a better set of televised prelims in 2019, I can’t remember them. Anyone watching on ESPN2 was treated to some insane action last night, and the UFC has to be happy too – this was the perfect lead-in to one of their biggest cards.
