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UFC Fight Night 126 from Austin, Texas might not have been the most loaded card of 2018 on paper but in terms of action, it delivered in spades. From the top to the bottom of the show almost every fight provided some epic violence, with seemingly all of the fighters showing up to throw down.
In fact, it was a card so heavy on action that in terms of the best and worst, we’ve got four slides in the former column and only two in the latter, which is rare indeed. Let’s get it on!
#1 Best: Cowboy is back
After three successive losses – the first big slide of his career – it looked like Donald Cerrone’s crazy schedule was beginning to catch up with him in 2017, particularly when he was stopped by the largely unheralded Darren Till in October. So coming into last night’s fight with Yancy Medeiros, his back was largely against the wall.
In typical ‘Cowboy’ fashion though, Cerrone came out swinging, and at the end of one of the craziest rounds of action in 2018, it was the New Mexico-based star who came away with his hand raised, after putting Medeiros away with a vicious combination with just seconds remaining in the stanza.
Cerrone has promised to return to 155lbs after his win and judging on the way he was totally outsized by Till a few months earlier, that appears to make sense. But really, it doesn’t matter what weight he fights at – Cowboy is simply must-see TV.
He tied the record for all-time UFC wins last night – 20, the same number as Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre – but when you consider he’s only been in the UFC since 2011 it’s an even more phenomenal achievement. It’s good to have the Cowboy back on the winning track.
#1 Worst: It’s not 2005 anymore
As a long-term UFC fan, one of the more painful things to view is the cold hand of Father Time beginning to crush fighters that were amongst the best in the world just a decade or so ago. Last night saw another two fall in devastating fashion, as both Josh Burkman and Thiago Alves were beaten badly by younger opponents.
For Burkman, it was to be expected. He’s been on a massive downward slide for years now since a strange resurgence on the regional scene in 2013, but even for him, a run of 5 straight losses makes for painful viewing. Remember this was a man who promised to become a world champion back in 2007.
As for Alves, he looked a shadow of his former self in a largely one-sided loss to the impressive Curtis Millender. Once a hulking 170lber who bullied the legendary Matt Hughes, Alves looked soft and weak in comparison to Millender and it felt like just a matter of time before he went out on his shield.
It’s natural to see these veterans go out this way – they made their own names by beating ageing fighters a decade ago, after all – but that doesn’t make it any nicer to watch. Alves looked good just last April in a win over fellow veteran Patrick Cote, but after last night many fans will be calling for his retirement. As someone who remembers the Pitbull in his prime, it’s sad to see.
#2 Best: Derrick Lewis in general
While he’ll probably never develop into a title contender due to some holes in his game, Derrick Lewis remains one of the most fun fighters on the UFC roster to watch. Last night he arguably gave away two rounds to Marcin Tybura due to his negligible ground game and gas tank, but as always with Lewis, his insane power is the ultimate equaliser in the Octagon.
Tybura looked to be on his way to a decision win, but a quick-fire combination from Lewis late in the third round stunned him and a few punches later and it was lights out for the Polish fighter. The Black Beast stole a victory from the jaws of defeat again, as he’d done previously against Travis Browne and Shamil Abdurakhimov.
Perhaps the most entertaining thing was his post-fight interview, though – Lewis slurred his way through a promo about how Texans hit hard before promising to “go deep” with his wife later in the night. It was a show of personality that’s seemingly become rare in today’s UFC, and it’s why a fighter like Lewis will always draw fans to him. He simply provides something different – and brilliant to watch.
#2 Worst: Did Sage really win that fight?
The main card of the show opened with a decision victory for native Texan ‘Super’ Sage Northcutt as he took a close decision over French striker Thibault Gouti. But after watching the fight I’m not so sure he deserved the win. Northcutt may have landed more significant strikes, but he also gave up a lot of cage control, takedowns, and clearly got stunned on about three occasions.
Granted, you could argue that Sage did deserve the nod due to a decent first round and that strike difference, but if that were the case then it was largely down to Gouti’s faulty gameplan – he had Northcutt badly hurt with punches and tried to follow them up with largely ineffective takedowns.
Overall it was somewhat of a disappointing fight, and it wasn’t an impressive performance from Super Sage either. While he’s still young at 21, it’s questionable whether his fighting abilities will ever match up to his athletic ones. He simply doesn’t seem to be improving at a quick rate, and when you consider where the likes of Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones were at a similar point in their careers – if not ages – then there’s a clear gulf.
Northcutt still has potential but more performances like this, and we could be talking about it as wasted potential.
#3 Best: So much violence!
Recent UFC cards have seen the fans treated to a lot of decisions – perhaps due to the tight matchmaking of Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard – but last night was very different. Of the 12 fights on the show, just four went the distance, and even they were mainly exciting – James Vick vs. Francisco Trinaldo was excellent and even Brandon Davis vs. Steve Peterson had a bunch of fun moments.
But otherwise? This was a violence lover’s perfect card, with submissions for Alex Morono, Geoff Neal and Roberto Sanchez sandwiched within knockouts from Oskar Piechota, Diego Ferreira, Curtis Millender, Derrick Lewis and Donald Cerrone.
Best of the bunch was probably Millender’s knee knockout of Thiago Alves – this was as impressive a UFC debut as we’ve seen in a long time, as Millender had the veteran on the ropes from the first round, dropping him twice, and then turned his lights out in style in the second. It was Millender’s third knockout in a row, too, after beating his previous two opponents with head kicks.
He’s definitely a man to watch, but then none of the fighters on the show last night are worth ignoring. Hopefully, the show did a good rating on Fox Sports 1 so that some of the more lapsed fans might get back into the UFC.
#4 Best: The fantastic commentary
While Mike Goldberg was much maligned for his constant shilling, mistakes and repetitive nature, to me the UFC hasn’t sounded quite right since he left the promotion at the end of 2016. Jon Anik has done a fine job but the chemistry that Goldberg had with Joe Rogan has been missing, and while the handful of fighters the UFC has used in the colour role have been alright, UFC commentary hasn’t been great for some time.
Enter Brendan Fitzgerald last December. He was plucked from commentating on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series and plugged into UFC Fight Night 123 alongside current UFC Lightweight Paul Felder, and generally did a solid job – knowing when to interject himself with play-by-play but also when to let his partner talk - but last night he was even better.
Why? Last night was the first show that saw him joined by former Bellator colour man Jimmy Smith – for a long time recognised as one of the best commentators in MMA. Quite why the UFC’s rival promotion let him go is a massive question, but their loss is the UFC’s gain.
Fitzgerald and Smith were both entertaining and informative – like any great commentary team should be – and here’s hoping that this isn’t their only show together. If it were down to me I’d make them the “A” team in the UFC commentary stakes – hopefully, the powerbrokers at WME-IMG will see it makes sense.
