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The UFC’s latest effort Down Under went down from Adelaide, South Australia last night and while the card was largely fun – well, the main card at least, as the prelims were full of snoozers – it wasn’t the best night for local Aussie fighters.
Every fight on the six-bout main card featured an Australian fighter and only one – newcomer Jimmy Crute – came away with his hand raised. We had some interesting action, a handful of cool finishes, and a couple of veterans managing to stem the tide of retirement talks – for now at least.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC Fight Night 142.
#1 Best: There’s life in JDS yet
After a terrible patch essentially from 2013 to 2017 that saw former UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos involved in a bunch of brutal wars and stopped by strikes on 3 occasions, 2018 appears to be the year that the Brazilian has rediscovered his mojo.
Last night was his second win this year and it was a big one too, as he stopped surging Aussie prospect Tai Tuivasa in the second round of the night’s main event.
Early on it didn’t look good for JDS – Tuivasa was seemingly able to walk through his best shots to land clubbing blows against ‘Cigano’ as he had his back to the fence, and a late leg kick seemed to badly hamper the Brazilian’s movement, too.
But in the second round, his superior technique and accuracy shone through. A trio of clean punches put Tuivasa down, and he simply couldn’t get back up from underneath JDS, who did well to force the stoppage.
I don’t think the win makes Dos Santos into a title contender again – personally I think Daniel Cormier would maul him if they were to fight – but he certainly deserves another big match.
Post-fight he called out Alistair Overeem for a rematch, which could work, but then the UFC may want to book him against Francis Ngannou again after their first booked fight fell apart in 2017. Either way, this was an excellent win for him, and it keeps him very relevant in the division.
#1 Worst: Pedro and Tuivasa slip on the learning curve
It was a big night for the young Aussie duo Tyson Pedro and Tai Tuivasa, as both men were faced with ageing legends in the form of Shogun Rua and Junior Dos Santos. If I’m honest I expected Pedro to have far less difficulty with Shogun than Tuivasa would with JDS, but in the end, both men came up short and will learn valuable lessons from these losses.
Firstly Tuivasa’s loss came down essentially to the fact that he had too much confidence in his chin and became too reckless after an impressive first round. That stanza saw him walk through big shots from JDS to hurt the Brazilian with clubbing blows and a nasty low kick, but when he attempted to do the same in the second round, he simply ate too many clean punches and was subsequently TKO’d. Whether he could’ve survived had he shown a better ground game is debatable, too.
Tuivasa is young enough to bounce back from this, but at Heavyweight he simply needs to know that he probably can’t afford to take big punches from the division’s top fighters. If he can learn to protect himself and get less wild, he could be a contender yet, but this was a disappointing setback given the nature of the defeat.
As for Pedro, you could argue he was largely unlucky to lose to Shogun – who didn’t appear to be veering into Chuck Liddell circa 2010 territory as I feared – as an ankle injury led to his third round downfall. But he also has lessons to learn – namely when to avoid going to the ground.
The same mistake cost him a fight against Ovince St. Preux in the summer, and last night after badly hurting Shogun in the first, it was his hunt for a kimura that led to the Brazilian dominating him on the ground in the second.
Like with Tuivasa, Pedro will undoubtedly learn from the loss and come back stronger, but perhaps the UFC need to match him with someone lower down the ladder now – he has two losses in a row and a third could put him on shaky ground.
#2 Best: Martin vs. Matthews shows the power of patience
Going into Fight Night 142 I felt the card was being somewhat underrated by online fans, and one of the fights flying under the radar was the Welterweight tilt between youngsters Jake Matthews and Anthony Rocco Martin.
Sure enough, the fighters delivered when it came to throwing down inside the cage, and personally – although they didn’t win the $50k bonus – I would’ve awarded the duo the Fight of the Night bonus.
Early on it looked like Matthews’ fight, as he clubbed Martin with some impressive power hooks and had him badly hurt towards the end of the first round. The second saw ‘The Celtic Kid’ continue to get the better of his foe standing, although it did appear that he’d slowed down somewhat – probably due to throwing with so much power.
In the third round though, Martin snatched away the victory, catching Matthews in a beautiful anaconda choke that left him unconscious following a blocked takedown attempt.
In all honesty, it was the kind of fight that both men will gain from despite Matthews’ loss, as it was a high-quality scrap that showed the best of both. While I suspect Martin’s post-fight call for a 165lbs division will fall on deaf ears, such a great fight was also a testament to the UFC’s patience with the two.
Matthews was just 19 when he signed with the UFC, and when he lost 2 fights in a row in 2016 it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see him cut. But instead, he’s moved to 170lbs and now looks like a genuine top-level prospect.
Martin meanwhile was 23 when he debuted and lost 3 of his first 4 UFC bouts. Like Matthews, he could easily have been cut – but the UFC persisted with him and he’s now won 6 of his last 7 and he’s unbeaten at 170lbs. Hopefully, the UFC learns from this and continues to keep talented young fighters around – even when they lose.
#2 Worst: The Mark Hunt fight was terrible
Okay, so firstly you’ve got to give some credit to Justin Willis for winning his fight with Mark Hunt, even if it was absolutely dull. Willis was relatively inexperienced at just 7-1 and yet he showed calmness, a good awareness of the range and easily outpointed Hunt to take home the biggest victory of his career.
With that said, I’m not sure at all what happened to Hunt. A good first round was followed by ten minutes of very little, and it felt strange – like he’d picked up an injury, perhaps, or simply checked out of the fight for some reason. It was easily the most disappointing fight of his 8-year UFC career, even if he’s suffered far more violent losses in the past.
The fight is likely to mark the end of Hunt’s UFC career, as he’s still embroiled in a lawsuit against the promotion and has now completed his contract, and it can’t have been the way ‘The Super Samoan’ wanted to go out. Even the post-fight interviews were strange as Willis handed the mic to Hunt, who went on to say very little.
Was it the worst fight of 2018? Probably not, but it was certainly strange and disappointing, and nobody will want to go back to rewatch it.
#3 Best: Dana White’s Contender Series continues to deliver
The main card saw two fighters make their official UFC debuts after wins on Dana White’s Contender Series, and both Jimmy Crute and Sodiq Yussuf came out on top in exciting fights that showcased both their talents and their charismatic personalities post-fight.
Crute – the only Australian fighter to pick up a win on the main card – came in with a reputation as being a heavy striker, and the footage on him didn’t show much in the way of grappling skill. However, ‘The Brute’ managed to outgrapple the crafty veteran Paul Craig throughout the fight, eventually tapping him out with a nasty-looking kimura in the third round after coming close on two occasions with arm triangle choke attempts.
The win was a big one for Crute and he looks like a man to watch at 205lbs; hopefully, the UFC doesn’t attempt to rush him up the ladder in a thin division because, at 22, he’s still very inexperienced and could well end up as a legitimate contender if he’s dealt with correctly.
As for Yussuf, he simply destroyed Suman Mokhtarian with heavy hands in the first round. Mokhtarian protested the stoppage as he was still on his feet, but let’s be honest – had the referee allowed it to continue, he’d have been knocked out cold. It was a good ref job.
Yussuf – a native of Nigeria – then showed a ton of personality in his post-match interview, first cracking everyone up by describing himself as “blacksplosive”, and then discussing the recent death of his brother in a super-emotional moment. Like Crute, he’s a man to watch although 155lbs is so packed that he’ll likely be guaranteed to be slowly built.
Comparing the debuts of these two with the previous night’s TUF finals was like night and day. There can be no doubt now – the best path to UFC success is through Dana White’s Contender Series.
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