MMA

What the hell happened at UFC 239?!

SadowolfJuly 8, 2019, 7:30 pm

I couldn’t let a pesky thing like no internet prevent me from recapping such a big event, and especially one that was as entertaining and at times shocking as UFC 239! It was rough not really being able to reference and research while writing and going mostly on memory and notes I took during the card, but I got it done. I spoil you guys. The event was quite compelling on paper, but in practice it actually turned out to be more so than I think many of us thought it could be. With two titles on the line, both were defended successfully but the level of competitiveness in both fights turned out not to be what many expected. Let’s dive into what the hell happened at UF 239!

The Main Card

Jones squeaks by an injured Santos

Jon Jones def. #2 Thiago Santos by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) to retain the title

I’ll go ahead and give myself a little pat on the back for saying on multiple occasions that Santos was low-key one of the most compelling match ups for Jones at 205 lbs. In all these years Jones has really never faced a striker like Santos; he’s quick, powerful, and most importantly, he’s an avid kicker. This is something Jones is most noted for on the feet, but when you look at his opponents they’ve primarily been punchers, and very few of them have had the type of kicking offense to consistently go kick for kick with Jones and try to chop down those skinny legs of his. Santos fit that description, and I thought it could give Jones some issues on the feet. My issue with Santos was that he rarely stays patient enough to pace himself and wear his opponents down, so it’d be a matter of time before Jones came on strong and took him down. Surprisingly, he actually fought smartly and composed for the most part, though you could argue part of this was due to an apparent left leg injury slowing him down. Even still, he performed well and arguably won the fight in the eyes of many.

It was a pretty close and competitive affair, with Santos starting off well early. He immediately got Jones’ attention with a hard leg kick that nearly took him off his feet. He would land several more over the course of the round that appeared to get to Jones a bit, and landed a few punches up top, but Jones proved to be as hard to hit cleanly as he usually is and wore it all well. The opening stanza was the clearest Santos round of them all, and it was pretty shocking to those expecting Jones to be head and shoulders above him. In the second round the momentum, and arguably the fight shifted quickly when Santos appeared to hurt his leg in landing a low kick. He would move on it well throughout the round and most of the fight, but it still clearly affected him as well, specifically the many times he would wobble on it during the fight. It didn’t deter him much from throwing either leg, but it’s hard to imagine he wasn’t notably compromised from it. At one point in the second round it even gave out after he blocked a head kick, which is someone that could potentially influence the judges. Still, Santos did what he could to prevent the injury from hindering his tactics. It was very much the closest round of the fight and could’ve gone either way, with Jones landing more volume but Santos clearly landing the more thudding shots.

In round three Santos appeared to move well despite his injury, still able to explode forward with flurries. One of the more significant strikes landed for Jones came when he intercepted a Santos charge with a beautifully timed elbow that didn’t really drop him clean, but definitely sent him staggering down to the canvas (Fight Metric is pretty particular with what they consider a knockdown).

Noice!

At that time it looked like Jones became aware of the leg injury and targeted it with kicks, and Santos also appeared to be slowing down a bit. This was in my opinion the clearest round for Jones in the fight; he didn’t do a ton of damage but clearly controlled the action. To start the championship rounds Santos immediately caused Jones to retreat with a hard left hook that upon review only partially landed (you have to marvel at how good Jones is at not being hit cleanly in the head). Most of the fourth round consisted of the two trading leg kicks, and Jones really going in on side kicks to the thigh and oblique kicks. Santos’ leg once again gave him issues, as he stumbled on it a few times, most notably near the end of the round when he clearly hurt himself landing a leg kick, but proceeded to land another one because he’s just that damn tough.

Jones’ chin was tested a bit, but he was durable as always.

At the start of round five it appeared that it could be anyone’s fight, and Santos certainly fought like it, landing a hard body kick and a flurry of hooks that appeared to stun Jones a bit right off the bat. However, he once again stumbled on that injured leg after landing another hard leg kick. Jones then went to work with side kicks to the lead leg and body, while also focusing on checking Santos’ kicks. Again, Santos’ leg buckles pretty badly out of nowhere, but he sucked it up and landed a left hook in a flurry after eating a leg kick. With the fight winding down, neither man did much of note until the final horn, but I thought Santos took that round relatively clearly. All in all I actually scored it a 48-48 draw, with round two being 10-10, but other than that the fight could’ve gone 48-47 either way. All in all I think Santos did more to attempt to end the fight and landed the harder shots, but Jones did dictate the pace and land more volume. If I had to choose a winner I would’ve had Santos eking it out, but this wasn’t a bad decision by any means; round two was very much a swing round. The decision has been quite a topic for debate, with people claiming either fighter clearly won the fight and that the decision was either a robbery or the only correct decision. Let’s be real: no one clearly won the fight. It was a competitive, close affair that came down to a swing round. I’ve seen comparisons to Jones’ first fight with Gustafsson and I don’t think that’s appropriate; that fight was close, but it was relatively clear that the fight was on the line headed into the final round, and Jones won that round. It’s much more comparable to Georges St. Pierre vs Johny Hendricks, where each fighter won two clear rounds but it all came down to the opening stanza that could’ve gone either way.

As great as it was seeing Santos being so competitive, it’s a bit disheartening that he had to do most of it on one fully-functioning leg. One has to think about what he could’ve done if his leg wasn’t injured. Maybe he opens up too much and gives Jones openings, but maybe a more mobile Santos does better at getting inside with his punches. Maybe a Santos with two good legs actually works a more lethal leg kick game without hurting himself on every other kick he throws. Of course I know this is combat sports and things like this can happen, but I always hate it when fighters suffer fight-affecting injuries like this through none of their opponents’ doing. That said, I think there was a bit of bravado on display from Jones as well, and that he likely kept the fight standing at distance willingly to show that he could win that type of fight against Santos. I think Jones’ wrestling looks to have noticeably deteriorated over the years, but he just never even tried it in this fight and I think he could’ve had success with it if he did.

All the same, Santos competed with Jones more than anyone has in a long time, and as mentioned arguably won the fight. He went into a fight that most thought he had no more than a puncher’s chance, and showed that he had much more than that. I definitely wouldn’t imply that Santos deserves a rematch, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it in hopes that we might see what the fight looks like when Santos doesn’t injure himself early on and Jones doesn’t coast, which is what it essentially looked like he did toward the end of the fight. Otherwise it’s difficult to really say who deserves the next opportunity. If we look at the top five, Daniel Cormier is unlikely to come back to 205 lbs, Santos and Anthony Smith just lost to Jones, Dominick Reyes clearly isn’t ready, and Alexander Gustafsson was not only beaten handily by Jones and Smith, but retired afterward. Jan Blachowicz is at number six, but he just got back into the win column on this night after being mauled by Santos. It’s tough to see who else makes sense for Jones at this point.

Is the champ really still here?

I would never say that Jon Jones isn’t a great fighter; that much is clear, and he’s turned away contender after contender to prove it. However, I have a bone to pick with Bones. Following this latest win I felt pretty hollow, and to be honest it’s not that foreign a feeling where Jones is concerned. For as great and as talented as he is, I’ve had my reservations about his game for a long time. It’s hard to really double down on it much when the guy wins so much, but I think it lingers with me so much because I feel like he could be better than he shows himself to be. He often appears to fight up or down to his competition, or at least where he thinks his competition is, and that has led to some tepid performances that have started to really outnumber his more impressive ones. Quite frankly, I haven’t been overly impressed with Jones in a while. Now keep in mind this is on a curve, considering he’s considered the greatest of all time by many.

From what we’ve seen, Jones can do everything and he can do it well. He’s not perfect; his striking has come a long way but there are clear weakness in it. As mentioned, his wrestling seems to have diminished from earlier in his career, or at least his application of it. And we just never see him on his back enough to make an assessment there. Regardless, the man can strike, he can wrestle, his clinch game is deadly, and he can grapple. However, the blending of those phases has always felt underwhelming in Jones. I liken him a lot to Luke Rockhold in that way (more on him later). He can do everything well, but when he’s moving from one phase to another he gets a bit clunky. And like Rockhold his strength, height, and reach often bridge faulty gaps in his transitional game.

I’ve always been one to defend Jones when people say he’s only good because he has such an insane reach and just keeps opponents at bay with it. I’ll still defend him because a key factor is that he actually knows how to use his reach, and that has to do with his distance manage and timing, not just that he has long arms and legs. That said, I think he looks more like a fighter relying on his reach lately than ever before. In the past I would posit that without his reach he’d still be a tricky and difficult person to fight, and while I don’t think that’s totally untrue today, it does seem like he leans on spamming those long oblique kicks and front leg side kicks to the thigh, and once his opponents get inside with punches he often resorts to leaning out of the way while framing with his lead hand or flat out turning away and retreating. He often looks like a fighter just doing enough to win in his fights unless the finish really presents itself for easy pickings, as it did in his second fight with Gustafsson, where the result had as much to do with Gustafsson looking terrible and injuring himself than it did with Jones looking particularly good.

I say all this because I want more out of Jones; I’ve wanted more out of him for a very long time, and honestly it’s been a bit hard for me to really get up for his fights. This was actually the first fight I was really intrigued about in ages for all the stylistic reasons I listed previously. I’m not demanding he go out there, be aggressive, and maul everyone, but it’d be great if he went out there and really at least appeared to be giving his all, because it only looks that way in spurts nowadays. Drug testing kerfuffles aside, he’s one of the best to ever do this, but I think he has more control over his in-cage narrative than most fighters and chooses to skate by. It almost cost him his title tonight.

Nunes out-Holms Holms

Amanda Nunes def. #2 Holly Holm by TKO via head kick (4:10, R1) to retain the title

Big ups to the UFC again for not providing an actual footage of the finish!

If there was any doubt that Nunes is the greatest female fighter of all time, this should seal it. She has now beaten every other UFC women’s bantamweight champion before her (I guess every featherweight champion too!), and she’s beaten all of them in devastating fashion. Things in this fight got off to a rocky start immediately, as Nunes had a leg kick countered by a stiff jab that stunned her just seconds in. Nunes was undeterred from throwing leg kicks though, as well as feinting to draw out small reactions from Holm. The two did clinch briefly where Nunes landed an outside trip, but Holm rolled through, popped right back up immediately, and separated, whereupon she ate another hard leg kick.

Nice defense from Holm.

Holm did her best to keep the distance with lead leg side kicks, including plenty to the thigh, a favorite of her and the aforementioned Jones. Nunes then began to open up, stunning Holm with a leaping left hook, then landing a body kick followed by a right hook up top. Then Holly made a tactical error that she paid dearly for. After going to the well a bit too much with those side kicks to the thigh, she lifted her leg up for one and kept it there a little too long, pretty much pinning herself in place for Nunes to launch a right high kick that caught Holm with the foot across the face and floored her. She actually managed to break her fall a bit with her hands, showing that she wasn’t too out of it, but Nunes wasted no time running in with a pair of right hands that finished the job.

Of the two title fights, this would’ve been the one I was most comfortable predicting a decision for. Nunes clearly had other plans, and judging from her octagon interview she specifically set out to knock Holm out with Holms’ own tactic: breaking her down with low kicks, and catching her up top with a high kick. It normally takes Holm a while to do this, but Nunes did it in a little over four minutes. It was just an all-around impressive victory for the double-champ, and one that further cements her the GOAT. Next she says she wants to defend her featherweight title, which can only mean she’s targeting the winner of the fight between Cris Cyborg and Felicia Spencer at the end of this month. A Cyborg rematch looks somewhat interesting, but the more time passes, the more it just looks like a bad match up for Cyborg due to the speed difference. And of course at bantamweight there’s a woman named Ketlen Vieira who deserves a title shot but apparently fell off the face of the Earth, so unless she comes out of the shadows it’s hard to imagine another title defense at this weight for her right now. As for Holm, a fight with Yana Kunitskaya might work. I don’t normally like matching up winners and losers, but with a win Kunitskaya could make a case for being in the title conversation and it’s a fight that generally favors Holm.

Masvidal knocks Askren THE FUNK OUT!

#4 Jorge Masvidal def. #5 Ben Askren by KO via flying knee strike (0:05, R1)

This was as satisfying to many as it was shocking. There really isn’t anything to break down; Masvidal started the fight by running out and soaring into Askren, who ducked his head down for a takedown shot, with a flying knee that landed right to the side of his head and sent him to the canvas stiff as a board immediately. From there Masvidal landed a couple extra shots to the chin of a very much unconscious Askren for good measure before the referee could step in. At five seconds, this is now the fastest knockout in UFC history, though in reality it was three seconds. I think it’s dumb that slow-moving referees add time onto your win; they just cut it off from the moment the loser is unconscious, but I get it. It’s not a “stoppage” until the referee officially stops it. Still, that was a three second knockout. All the preparation and trash talk is over, just like that one highlight reel flash.

Only for you Ben. Only for you.

For those of you (or should I say, us) who felt cheated by Askren’s octagon debut win over Robbie Lawler, this fight likely felt like a bit of retribution. A wrong being partially righted. I guess Askren might be wishing he took that rematch instead of this fight, eh? On the other hand, there is a part of me that is a bit dissatisfied (a pretty little part) because I did want to see how the fight would actually play out. Many thought an extended contest would be a definite win for Askren, but Masivdal’s striking (obviously, in hindsight), footwork, and the fact that he’s an incredibly underrated wrestler and grappler himself could have potentially given Askren issues down the stretch when he’s not as fresh. Moreover, a big part of the success of this flying knee comes from the fact that Askren basically has no striking to speak of. On the feet he essentially just closes the distance with his arms out to clinch or shoot as quickly as he can. There were many who thought Askren would come to the UFC and dominate, but the main reason I wasn’t of that mindset is because you can’t just barrel forward with takedowns as your only offense on the feet in the UFC at a high level. You just can’t. It hasn’t worked for him in either of his UFC fights. Seeing as how wrestling is his only offense on the feet, it actually makes sense that his response to Masvidal sprinting at him and leaping toward him would be to shoot a takedown. In this situation he eats the knee a gets knocked silly, but that knee almost landed to his shoulder and you figure there are other situations where he just lands a takedown from there. It’s something I was actually curious about; but I’ll take this highlight reel knockout. And the crazy thing is that Masvidal practiced the knee exactly as he executed it.

Could this be the most flawless execution of a gameplan ever?

We all suspected Askren’s first loss would come in the form of some “Take that, you wrestler!” style of takedown interception stoppage, but I don’t think anyone imagined it would happen in seconds. With that win, Masvidal has to be in consideration for a title shot, and he intimated as much. though I’d imagine he wouldn’t have much objection to stepping aside so that his BFF and interim welterweight champion Colby Covington can get his chance. Otherwise I predict some trouble in paradise. Askren still being relatively new to the UFC, he’s got a good amount of options. I guess that Darren Till match up makes more sense than ever at this point.

Lastly, I couldn’t help but feel a little deja vu with this knockout, which is perfectly explained in this here tweet:

Just kidding, one last thing: the knockout again.

Rockhold’s light heavyweight debut spoiled by Blachowicz’s left hand

#6 Jan Blachowicz def. #3 (MW) Luke Rockhold by KO via strikes (1:39, R2)

I’ll say this first and foremost: Rockhold looked awful. This move to 205 lbs was supposed to breathe new life into him as a contender and open up new possibilities, and instead he fought terribly. He looked slow, afraid to engage on the feet, and unable to be effective wrestling or in the clinch. He opened up the contest spamming kicks at a patient Blachowicz before following jumping kick with a takedown attempt. Try as he might he could barely budge Blachowicz, and nothing of consequence landed until Blachowicz slammed him with a tight elbow in the clinch and a left hand on the break.

Softening up that chin.

Rockhold did manage to land a glancing head kick, but then went back to throwing leg kicks, which Blachowicz began checking and coming forward with combinations. Near the end of the round a hard right hand landed for Blachowicz that appeared to wobble Rockhold a bit, and a head kick right at the horn dropped him.

Right at the buzzer!

Round two opened with Rockhold again being the aggressor, but starting to get caught more frequently by Blachowicz’s strikes, forcing him to push Blachowicz against the cage once again to stall the action. This time, he Blachowicz landed a huge left hook off the break that dropped Rockhold flat on the mat, where a couple followup right hands finished him off and put him out cold. And thus continues Rockhold’s defensive woes, particular when it comes to not protecting himself coming out of the clinch. After all the improvements he claims to have made, he still backs straight out with his chin up and his hands down, and you just can’t do that when you’re tall and have an iffy chin to begin with. Blachowicz looked solid, about as good as he normally would, but Rockhold stood out for looking notably lackluster. He did not look like someone who belongs at light heavyweight, and while I thought he’d be an interesting matchup for Jones in the past (not gonna lie, I still somewhat do), that thought has diminished considerably seeing just how incapable he looked in the clinch against a decent-sized 205er.

Now back in the win column, Blachowicz’s lone loss in his last six fights to Santos now looks a lot less stinging after Santos’ performance tonight. Another win could put him in the mix, and I think a fight with Dominick Reyes could potentially serve as a title eliminator if the winner is impressive enough. This loss puts Rockhold in a bit of limbo; I take it he doesn’t want to go back to middleweight, but that’s a tough loss to take. With the news that rival Chris Weidman is making the move up to 205 lbs himself, maybe it’s time for that rematch. Otherwise, maybe Ilir Latifi should be next for him. Apparently he suffered another broken jaw in this loss, so I guess we shouldn’t be in too big a rush to plan his next fight anyway. Retirement’s also an option; losses like this can’t be good for his modeling career.

Chiesa dominates Sanchez at every turn

Michael Chiesa def. Diego Sanchez by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)

I actually found this fight pretty intriguing coming into it. Sanchez had been enjoying a bit of a late-career resurgence at welterweight, and while I knew Chiesa was a cut above your Craig Whites and Mickey Galls, I wasn’t exactly sure how big of a skill gap there was. It turns out the answer is HUGE. Joe Rogan often commented on how big a welterweight Chiesa was despite being a former lightweight, and how his size and strength were just too much for Sanchez; those things definitely played a factor, but Gall was quite a bit bigger than Sanchez as well, and he got mauled. When you mix that size advantage with the level of scrambling ability and grappling pressure Chiesa possesses, it amounts to a fight where Sanchez could hardly even kick it into first gear.

Every time Sanchez would shoot in he’d find himself reversed, often with Chiesa transitioning to his back to search for his favorite submission, the rear-naked choke. There isn’t much use going round-by-round for this fight because every round consisted of mostly the same grappling domination from Chiesa, and Sanchez’s signature toughness in never ceding the fight when in bad situations. Chiesa’s deftness when it came to floating over and adjusting in scrambles and passing guard were perhaps better than I’ve seen in a complete performance from him. He made Sanchez look like a bit of a novice on the ground, and Sanchez has proven over the years that while he may have glaring flaws on the feet and get overzealous at times in all phases, he’s a pretty high level MMA grappler. Chiesa was still at least one move ahead of him every step of the way on the ground. Everything Diego tried was thwarted and reversed to land him in an even worse position, and all in all it was just a very promising performance for Chiesa’s future in the division, even if it was against and older fighter out of his prime.

Of course when a welterweight has an impressive performance my immediate thought is that I want to see them against Demian Maia. Chiesa said he wants nothing but a top 10 guy next, and honestly I don’t think he deserves that based on his wins so far. A win against a solid top 15 guy like Maia seems more his speed. The top 15 is actually pretty stacked though, so he’s got his pick of interesting matches there, from Maia to Robbie Lawler, to Elizeu dos Santos, to Vicente Luque. All would be welcome in my book. As for Sanchez, though he was dominated he didn’t look shot; he was just roundly outclassed by someone bigger and better than him at his bread and butter. I wouldn’t mind a drop in competition back to the level of the guys he was beating. He’s a good measuring stick for middling welterweights.

Prelim Thoughts

Arnold Allen def. Gilbert Melendez by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

I think we might have witnessed the end of Gilbert Melendez. His sudden and steep decline meant that no one really expected him to pull out the win over Allen, but what played out in the fight just further cemented how nonexistent his relevance is in the sport from a competitive standpoint. He literally had nothing for Allen, who not only exploited Melendez’s weakness toward calf kicks that was exposed in his previous loss to Jeremy Stephens, but also exposed a significant decline in his speed, reaction time, and striking technique. Melendez was a vast step behind in just about every exchange, and was essentially a stationary target for Allen’s varied attack. His recent slate of opponents make it difficult to imagine that there was a time when he was considered by some to be the best lightweight on the planet. When you think of biggest busts in UFC history, his name deserves at least a mention after coming in a legit title contender and now brandishing a 1-6 octagon in the promotion. That lone win came against the aforementioned Diego Sanchez, who it turns out is one of the few notable fighters pretty much tailor made for his style.

What’s sad is that it almost overshadows Allen’s performance, which was another in a serious of impressive ones that quietly extended his UFC record to an impressive 6-0. He moved and managed the distance well, threw a varied arsenal of strikes to disrupt Melendez’s limited game, and even landed an easy takedown to put a stamp on his wholesale dominance. He’s a large, well-rounded featherweight with a workmanlike approach to fights, and it’s time he finally get a top 15 opponent at featherweight. Shane Burgos fits the bill pretty well.

Marlon Vera def. Nohelin Hernandez by submission via rear naked choke (3:25, R2)

Even when he’s comfortably favored, Vera has to go through adversity and pull it out in the end. He flexed his considerable ground game pretty quickly in the fight when he caught a kick and tripped Hernandez to the ground before immediately jumping on his back and securing a body triangle. He enjoyed a good amount of time in control looking for a rear-naked choke and switching to an armbar, but once Hernandez escaped he showed just how vicious his ground and pound was, landing hard elbows and punches on top, and even setting up a D’Arce choke just before the horn.

Vera had some difficulties, as usual.

Hernandez actually surprised Vera in round two by landing a takedown of his own, and he once again began landing big punches from top position. Once they made it back to their feet things changed in a flash. Vera became much more aggressive, and launches a flying knee as Hernandez changes levels that stuns him and allows Vera to push him over and land right in mount. From there he took the back and locked in a rear-naked choke for the submission practically out of nowhere. It’s always been a bit difficult for me to get behind Vera completely because he does make a considerable amount of strategic gaffs that get him in trouble, but more often than not he’s able to overcome them and register wins. Now on a four-fight winning streak, I’d like to see him take on Yadong Song, who earned an impressive knockout earlier in the night that likely landed him in the top 15.

#5 Claudia Gadelha def. #14 Randa Markos by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

You know what they say: sometimes when two wrestlers face off in MMA you just end up with a crappy kickboxing match. That’s essentially what happened here, and it’s pretty puzzling. Not so much on Gadelha’s part because she was clearly winning the striking exchanges and seemed to center her strategy around preserving her stamina, since her cardio is an ongoing source of criticism from fans and pundits. Now training under Mark Henry and Ricardo Almeida, she definitely showed a higher level of composure and looked a bit sharper on the feet as well. The surprising component of the fight was Markos, who is normally very aggressive, and that aggression often serves to aid her effectiveness in the striking and wrestling departments where she can often be sloppy and exhibit tactical holes. Here she just seemed content to be the slower woman and lose an uneventful kickboxing match to Gadelha, which is very unfortunate considering how impressive she looked her last time out in quickly dispatching Angela Hill. I guess she’s dead-set on her win one-lose one pattern. Gadelha is in a bit of a weird place in the division, but I think she more or less lines up well with Michelle Waterson.

Song Yadong def. #14 Alejandro Perez by KO via punch (2:04, R1)

I have to say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Song in the UFC. He’s a pretty solid striker and athlete with some natural timing for counters. Though this fight was pretty short, his counter left hook landed several times in the fight. It wasn’t long before Perez made the fatal mistake of throwing a leg kick with his hands down, and Song capitalized with a huge right hand that put him out immediately. Not a ton to say about it, but a fine performance from Song, who as mentioned before has probably entered the top 15 with Perez previously being ranked number 13.

Digging the UFC’s 360 degree “Matrix” camera.

Edmen Shahbazyan def. Jack Marshman by submission via rear naked choke (1:12, R1)

It kind of hurts a bit to admit that Shahbazyan is a legitimate prospect to get excited about, and it’s only because it means I also have to admit that Edmond Tarverdyan has finally had a worthwhile MMA fighter under his tutelage that isn’t named Ronda Rousey. You know how much we like to disparage the coaching ability of Edmond! Nonetheless, Shahbazyan has shown considerable potential in all phases of the game since joining the UFC, and perhaps his most impressive performance came here against the notoriously tough Marshman. The two began exchanging right away, which gave Shahbazyan the perfect opening to duck under a punch for a double leg takedown. On top he landed some absolutely thudding ground and pound that definitely showed off Marshman’s stout chin, but it wasn’t long before he passed to side control and then to Marshman’s back, flattened him out, and locked in a rear-naked choke for the quick tap. Nothing much to say other than it was a damn near flawless performance against a grizzled vet, and he’s one to keep an eye on at middleweight.

And respect to Marshman’s chin.

Well this is as good a place to end as any! I’ll withhold any breakdown of the opening two fights, where Chance Rencountre pulled off a nice upset in outwrestling a game Ismail Naurdiev and Julia Avila similarly outclassed The Ultimate Fighter finalist Pannie Kianzad, who came into Invicta Fighting Championship with some buzz a few years back, but since has been unable to win the fights that really matter. And with that, I’ll see you all for the next one, where I’ll hopefully have internet because there are some sneaky good fights on it despite the lack of star power in the main event (Germaine De Randamie vs Aspen Ladd…that’s an interesting choice). Sado, out!

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SadowolfJuly 8, 2019, 7:30 pm

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