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#2 Worst: Bektic flatters to deceive
When Mirsad Bektic was signed by the UFC back in 2014, the word was that the promotion had inked a potential future champion at 145lbs. Bektic looked to have all of the tools – the size, power, athleticism, wrestling and striking – to reach the top of the mountain, and after some injury problems derailed him early on, his wins over Godofredo Pepey and Ricardo Lamas appeared to have him well on the way.
Unfortunately, Bektic was KO’d in his last fight by Josh Emmett – a fighter far more limited than the Bosnian – when he chose to trade punches with a known knockout artist. It felt like a bump in the road, and last night’s fight against Dan Ige was supposed to get him back on track. Well, that didn’t happen and it’s hard not to blame Bektic’s approach to the fight.
The Bosnian essentially appeared to be able to outgrapple Ige at will – but chose to trade punches with him far too often, and ended up on the wrong end of a split decision. The frustrating thing is that it looked like Bektic’s fight to lose at times, and sure enough he somehow found that path.
It’s never good to see a fighter with elite-level potential not quite living up to it, hence why this fight – which was a pretty outstanding one – ends up in the ‘worst’ section of this piece.
#3 Best: Lewis pulls out another big win
Was last night the best performance from Derrick Lewis that we’ve ever seen? Not by a long shot. ‘The Black Beast’ found himself taken down and controlled by the much smaller Ilir Latifi on numerous occasions, again showing a distinct lack of technical defense on the ground, but in the end, he did enough to pull out the victory.
In essence, this was a classic Lewis fight; how Latifi survived his barrage of punches is anyone’s guess, particularly in the third round when the big man really opened up on his Swedish foe, but while ‘The Black Beast’ couldn’t get the finish, it didn’t really matter.
Perhaps the most important thing? Outside of the two fighters in the main event, Lewis was perhaps the most popular man on the card. While he may never hold UFC gold, the likelihood is that he’ll occupy the kind of spot that fighters like Donald Cerrone and Alistair Overeem have for years – reliable and beloved action heroes who can step into a main event at a moment’s notice – and he’ll make plenty of money doing that, too.
