UFC 245 Watch/ Don’t Watch From Sean Ross Sapp
Punahele Soriano STARCHES Oskar Piechota
About three minutes in, Soriano just starts unloading. Chucking and ducking. Lefts and rights, almost all of them connecting. This is fantastic. He puts Piechota out completely. That’s a great win for Soriano. This is three losses in a row for Piechota, and they’re all finishes. I would imagine he’s done in the UFC after that. He came in with a boom, but hasn’t been able to appropriately follow up.
SRS’ Rec: Watch the finish
#2 Jessica Eye split decisions #5 Viviane Araujo
Araujo is not adjusting well to Eye, and is getting peppered over and over again. Eye takes round one pretty easily. Jessica Eye better stop winning or else the UFC might Carmouche her #UFC245. Araujo is able to get underneath Eye after she gets a little redundant on the strikes. Eye really turns it up in rounds two and three, and runs away with it. This fight might have meant something if Eye didn’t blow weight by FIVE POUNDS. She should probably be less concerned with getting on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and a little more focused on making weight.
SRS’ Rec: Watch the highlights. It’s a top 5 fight, so it’s high level at least.
Brandon Moreno beats Kai Kara-France, UD
KKF found a lot of success with his right early, but Moreno gets inside. KKF goes to the body and the legs a lot more, but Moreno is able land to the head a little bit more. KKF ends up with a slight striking total advantage, but this is a ball to watch. They’re going in there and throwing it all at the wall and trying to win the fight. Brandon Moreno pushed through just a little bit harder and got the win. Moreno got cut last year, brought back this September, and looks great. He shouldn’t have been released anyway. KKF gets his first UFC loss.
SRS’ Rec: Hell yeah, man. Watch this. One of the best UFC Flyweight fights ever.
Chase Hooper finishes Daniel Teymur, R1.
Chase Hooper was born in 1999, and that’s mind boggling to me. Next year we’re probably going to see the first UFC fighter born in the 2000s. Hooper has to take some shots to get Teymur to the grappling positions that he wants. He takes the back while standing, and the dude is an octopus. He’s got limbs everywhere and drags it down. Rear naked choke is locked in, but SOMEHOW Teymur gets out. Ground and pound ends up finishing it. Teymur has lost three of four in the UFC, and is probably done in the UFC.
SRS’ Rec: Yeah, watch it. Hooper is going to be special.
Matt Brown blasts Ben Saunders, TKO R2
I was in the house for Erick Silva vs. Matt Brown. I’ve seen a lot of people perform and compete at US Bank Arena. I’ve never heard it that loud. Saunders pulls guard and ties up Brown pretty well early on. You have the rust of Brown against the rough patch of Saunders. Eventually Brown is able to overcome the tight game of Saunders. Saunders is hanging around on his back and Brown makes him pay for it. Earlier on in the round, a head kick landed. Brown is back at it. I’m a little surprised he didn’t get caught in a sub, but a win is a win.
SRS’ Rec: Watch the finish
#14 Omari Akhmedov def. #10 Ian Heinisch, UD
Akhmedov has a pretty nice slam on Heinisch early on. It’s a little back and forth. Akhmedov gets the decision. There ya go. That’s about it. Heinisch is probably going to drop out of the top 15 now with back-to-back losses and a 2-2 UFC record. He was already overrated in that regard anyway, but Akhmedov is now unbeaten in his last six fights and is much more deserving of a top 10 spot.
SRS’ Rec: No
#10 Irene Aldana def. #2 Ketlen Vieira by KO
This is a tale of two fighters. Viera is the hot new talent on the block, and Aldana is working her way back up after disappointing early in her UFC career. Her left hand didn’t disappoint, though. She cracks Viera and knocks her cold. Aldana has now won five of six and is in the title conversation. I don’t think she’ll win it, but she’s in the conversation for sure. Viera had come at her hard, looking to make a statement, but it didn’t work.
SRS’ Rec: Oh Yeah. This was good.
#14 Geoff Neal crushes Mike Perry, R1 KO
Neal knows he’s going to need a couple of more wins before he gets a title fight. He totally crushes Mike Perry, and is the first person to finish him with strikes, which is what he says he wanted to do. Cormier pleads with Sean Shelby to match Geoff Neal up with Santiago Ponzinibbio. This is over in about 90 seconds. Neal is must watch, and Perry is still coasting off his first couple wins.
SRS’ Rec: YES
#4 Petr Yan Crushed #12 Urijah Faber
This really seems like a booking that is set up to make Yan off of Faber. Faber is reacting pretty heavily to Yan’s shots. Round two, Faber sells them by eating canvas and getting busted open hard. The referee even stops the action and checks the cut, but Faber is good to go — relatively speaking. Somehow Faber makes it out of the second round. In round three, Yan breaks contact off a clinch and lands a head kick to finish the fight.
SRS’ Rec: Just watch the highlights
#1 Marlon Moraes defeated Jose Aldo via SD
Moraes is going right at Aldo, hard. Aldo gets aggressive and lands big strikes, but is taken down at the end of the first round. Both guys traded huge power strikes in round two. Aldo to the body, Moraes to the head. Jose Aldo remains on the offense and looks good at 135. I’m sure 135 cuts aren’t a grand idea, but he worked well. I had Aldo slightly winning here, but it was so close that I can’t really be mad at this decision.
SRS’ Rec: Yes, but highlights if you’re strapped on time.
UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship
Amanda Nunes (c) outlasts Germaine De Randamie, UD
GDR never lost her Featherweight title, so this is an interesting one from a lineal perspective. Nunes takes De Randamie down early, and then applies a guillotine after a scramble. GDR is able to land a punch upon the exit and clamp down well, but is taken down. Amanda Nunes throws heavy ground and pound from a standing position. GDR survives an arm triangle and the round. De Randamie connects with a couple of good strikes in round two. That stand-up from the ref was way too fast. Especially with Nunes wailing away at GDR’s ribs. This allows De Randamie to land great strikes fomr the clinch. De Randamie knows her sweet spot is the clinch now, but always risks being taken down when she throws strikes from there. Nunes controls most of this fight, but De Randamie seems like she threatens big time at least once per round. It wasn’t in doubt before this fight, but Amanda Nunes is the greatest female MMA fighter of all-time.
SRS’ Rec: Highlights.
UFC Featherweight Championship
Alex Volkanovski defeated Max Holloway
Volkanovski actually has a reach advantage, despite the big height discrepancy. At least according to UFC’s numbers. Volkanovski attacks the left leg exceptionally well, causing Holloway to change stance. This fight is a really good chess match, but Volkanovski is getting the upper hand. He’s fresh, switching up punches, inside and outside leg kicks, body kicks. Late in the fourth, Max switches back to his original stance and just deals with the leg strikes so he can give himself a chance. They’re talking trash to each other. This has turned into a hell of a fight, round four was easily the best that we’ve seen. Hollloway’s only chance is to stay in his stance and go for broke in the final round. He tries, but it’s not enough. Volkanovski is taking off with this and he’s going to be the new champion. Wild.
SRS’ Rec: Yes.
UFC Welterweight Championship
Kamaru Usman (c) defeated Colby Covington via TKO R5.
Important to note that Covington never lost his interim championship, so this is effectively a title unification without it actually being called one.You can tell Usman is eager to beat Covington here. They’re throwing, and it seems like Covington slightly took the first round, but they’re in there throwing. The technique isn’t the best, but out of two wrestling specialists, there’s a great amount of head movement and slipping. Covington is utilizing range much better than Usman so far. They’re just trading, and it’s awesome. Serious Fight of the Night contender. Usman stumbles Covington towards the end of round two. Usman keeps the pace, Covington slows down, but cracks Usman big time. He eye pokes Kamaru, which slows his momentum. Colby Covington claiming he got poked in the eye. He got punched. Covington says he broke his jaw. He was pretty blatantly covering it for an extended period of time earlier. Covington, with a broken jaw has his best round since the first. Usman ends up finishing Covington in the fifth round. This was unbelievable. This is a fight of the year contender.
SRS’ Rec: MUST WATCH
