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UFC Fight Night 154 – the promotion’s first show in the state of South Carolina – was another somewhat forgettable show in what feels like a long list of them in 2019.
Sure, the main event largely rescued the show thanks to the Korean Zombie, and there was nothing truly horrible on offer, but it just feels like the UFC has spread itself too thin this year and really needs to look at some of its promotional tactics going forward.
Here are the best and worst moments from UFC Fight Night 154: Moicano vs. Korean Zombie.
#1 Best: The Korean Zombie is back!
After a somewhat lacklustre undercard, everyone watching last night’s show must’ve been hoping for something special in the main event between Renato Moicano and the ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung, and thankfully the Zombie delivered once again with a pretty awesome first round finish.
Countering a somewhat lazy jab from his Brazilian foe, the Zombie nailed Moicano with a heavy right-left combination that dropped him and looked to have him unconscious.
Moicano did well to survive the initial follow-up, but Jung quickly advanced to a stronger position – a tight back mount – and kept on dropping hard punches until the referee decided to call things off just before the first minute was up.
This was the Zombie’s first win since his knockout of Dennis Bermudez in February 2017, but as crazy as it sounds, he might only be one fight away from a title shot now as Moicano was highly ranked coming into the fight (#4 in the Featherweight division) and there are few fighters on the UFC roster right now more popular than the Korean.
If he can get back into the Octagon quickly, preferably for a fight with someone like Brian Ortega or even a rematch with Jose Aldo – and win again then a title shot could well be his.
Even if that doesn’t end up being the case, just having a healthy and active Zombie is a massive boon for the UFC due to his cult popularity. His win last night made a forgettable show somewhat memorable.
#1 Worst: The watering-down of the UFC’s fighters
Despite some very exciting fights on some really fun shows this year, recently it’s felt like the UFC’s ESPN+ Fight Night cards have become weaker and weaker to the point where they almost merge into one big, forgettable mixture of fights; some good, some bad, but none really worth talking about the next day.
This is obviously an issue for the UFC, but is it one that they can fix? In all honesty it’s hard to say. Most of the televised fights on a UFC card these days are at least perfectly acceptable, but the issue has become more that the fighters have become so homogenised that nobody stands out.
It was notable last night for instance that the only fighters to really receive a big reaction from the crowd pre-fight were the two in the main event and Andrea Lee – who has a clearly recognisable personality thanks to her Donald Cerrone-esque style – while the rest of the athletes on show only gained reactions once they’d shown their in-cage skills.
Sure, the UFC are partly to blame for this thanks to the number of fighters they now showcase and other issues like the Reebok deal, but the fighters themselves could also do much more – way too many of them last night simply called out “whoever the UFC decides” post-fight, which isn’t a good way to push their personalities at all.
The UFC might’ve come up trumps with the current ESPN+ pay-per-view deal, which essentially means every PPV is worth 500,000 buys, but if they want to succeed further down the line they have to find a way to stop the homogenisation of their fighters and create stars again.
#2 Best: Rozenstruik’s quick knockout
The prelim card last night was largely fun, but the standout moment by a mile was the ultra-quick knockout of Allen Crowder by Surinamese striker Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
The fight went literally 9 seconds, making it the second-fastest KO in UFC Heavyweight history behind Todd Duffee’s finish of Tim Hague a decade ago, and it was a rare star-making performance inside the Octagon this year.
Crowder – who defeated former NFL star Greg Hardy by disqualification in his last fight – walked into a short counterpunch that dropped him, and was never given a chance to recover as ‘Bigi Boy’ hit him with two coffin nail right hands that knocked him unconscious.
Sure, you can question Crowder’s chin as this was his second KO loss in 3 UFC outings, but you can’t question the striking of Rozenstruik.
‘Bigi Boy’ is now 2-0 in the UFC and has knocked out both opponents, and overall he’s 8-0 with just one of those fights going the distance. Clearly he’s a man to watch in the Heavyweight division – anyone with knockout power like that is going to be seriously dangerous – and while there are tons of questions around his overall game right now, the UFC can probably afford to push him into a showcase fight next time out.
#2 Worst: The Holland vs. Di Chirico fight
The main card opener between Middleweights Kevin Holland and Alessio Di Chirico was clearly the worst fight on show last night, and while it won’t go down as one of the truly horrible UFC fights this year like March’s Jesus Pinedo-John Makdessi clash, it should certainly be remembered as one of 2019’s most forgettable, as well as one that had a pretty bizarre decision.
The fight was largely even through a dull first round, but Holland apparently injured his shoulder during the second round and from that point on was clearly struggling, and even if Di Chirico didn’t do a lot to really cement himself as the better fighter, I thought it was clear that the Italian had done just enough to warrant winning the decision.
Somehow though all three judges scored it 29-28 for Holland, despite Di Chirico being the more aggressive fighter, walking down Holland and landing what I felt were the better strikes.
All in all, such a bad decision was just the capper on a poor fight for both men, and I’d be highly surprised if the UFC decides to showcase either one of them on a main card come their next outing.
#3 Best: Andrea Lee could be a star in the making
As I mentioned earlier, Andrea Lee was one of the few fighters to get a big crowd reaction upon her entrance last night, and it’s quite easy to see why; she’s got a likeable, bubbly personality, a marketable and easily recognisable look, and an exciting fighting style too. And her win over Montana De La Rosa last night was perhaps her best UFC performance yet.
Sure, ‘KGB’ didn’t get a finish on the former TUF competitor, but her striking looked on point as she pieced De La Rosa up with long punches throughout the fight, and despite being taken down a couple of times, her grappling looked better too, as she was easily able to escape from underneath an opponent who had made her name as an excellent submission artist.
The only issue for Lee? The fact that she’s popular and marketable – and has now won 3 UFC fights – could mean that the UFC brass pushes her into a title fight with seemingly unbeatable champion Valentina Shevchenko a little too early, but bigger upsets have occurred and it’s not like she’s a complete rookie in MMA.
Overall though, it’s just nice to see the UFC stumble upon a potential star.
