First off, what a card! Going in, I was a bit skeptical about some of the fights excluding the co-main and main but that is the beauty of this sport, any fight can be a fight of the night.
Honorable Mention: Can we keep the pace of the fights up when the card is moving fast?
I guess you can call this more of a complaint than a takeaway but when the fights are moving as fast as they were can we have the card keep up in between fights? I know it sounds stupid to complain about something this small after that great card but being punished as a fan for a R1 KO was a 20+ min wait for the next fight to start just flat out stinks. You could cut that time in half and still get all the background for the fight in before the walkouts. Especially when you think about the fans what around the world in all different time zones, if the fights are allowing you to speed up the show, you should speed up the show. Take a play out of the MLB playbook and speed the whole thing up, it would be an absolute win for fans. I understand it’s probably (definitely) to get some ads in but still…booo. Alright now for the actual takeaways.
We should all be rooting for Jared Gordon
What a rocky year for Jared Gordon. Gets screwed in the Paddy Pimblett decision and then has an unfortunate headbutt against Bobby Green that ended the contest. I’m glad he was able to capped it all off getting back in the win column especially in his home state. And what a post fight interview, from shooting heroin in Penn Station to knocking dudes unconscious in Madison Square Garden…a true New Yorker success story.
Gordon is a talented fighter and I’m excited to see him get a crack at the top 15 because he deserves it.
BSD is is going to be a force in the lightweight division.
Benoit Saint Denis came into this fight on a roll and keep it going with a R1 Chito Vera-esque head kick KO over New York local Matt Frevola. Frevola was an almost +200 underdog at close which I thought was a little steep with him also being on win streak with all finishes but he was simply outmatched by the frenchman. Denis will now most certainly break into the rankings in a top heavy division so I’m interested to see who they give him next. Theres a few people hanging around the middle of the LW rankings that I’d like to see him skip (RDA, Dan Hooker), someone like Matuesz Gamrot makes a lot of sense with how dominant he looked this weekend. Denis is 5-0 at LW and has yet to see a third round, hoping for one more win so he can shake up a stagnant top 5.
Diego Lopes is star in the making.
This is an obvious one. Lopes has been a fan favorite all year and this fight showed the world why. Now with back to back first round finishes, Lopes is electric on the feet. The spirit and power he has in his hands will take him far in a loaded division. He does get hit and that was shown in this fight which could be an issue with tougher opponents but for now we’ll all keep riding the Lopes train.
Tom Aspinall is changing the heavyweight division.
What a moment for the English fighter. From blowing out his knee in a fight that would’ve set him up for a title shot just over a year ago to Interim Champ looking for a shot at Jon Jones. I was on the fence in this fight with both fighters being equally as dangerous in my eyes. But I truly underestimated the speed of Aspinall. His head movement to slip punches and kicks is truly special and completely neutralized Sergei Pavlovich. The heavyweight division hasn’t been known for their fighters technical abilities but Apsinall is a new breed of heavyweight that we’ll be seeing for a long time.
Apsinall vs Jones is absolutely the next fight to make but if Jones isn’t ready and Aspinall doesn’t want to wait I would love to see him back in the octagon early next year. I love Stipe but if he cuts the line for the Jones that is a complete disservice to Tom Aspinall.
Alex Pereira is building a legitimate case for GOAT combat sports athlete.
Poatan defeated Jiri Prochazka by TKO inside a minute of R2 to make him the 9th ever UFC fighter to win a belt in two different weight classes. Although it was a controversial ended as referee Marc Goddard stopped the bout a bit prematurely in some people’s eyes, this fight was everything we thought it would be in the brief time it went. A back and forth affair with Pereira ultimately landing the patently left hook that dropped Jiri to his knees leading to a barrage of elbows and a stoppage. Pereira is now 3-0 at MSG dining so with 3 memorable KOs, he is the King of the Garden until further notice.
Despite calling out Israel Adesanya in his post fight interview, (which was awesome by the way) it will most likely be Jamahal Hill for the Brazilian kickboxer.
Taking a step back from all that, Pereira has cemented himself in the combat world as truly one of the best to ever do it. A two division champ now in both UFC and Glory, we may never see a run like Pereira’s ever again. What I also think makes it so special from an entertainment perspective as well is his style. He isn’t the most careful fighter on the roster, often leaving his hands down, and his ground game isn’t great but lethal leg kicks and thunderous knockout power make him one of the most dangerous men in all of combat sports.
I can’t wait to watch another fight of his and I do hope we can see him fight Izzy one last time at LHW for the UFC rubber match.
Bonus: Joshua Van is a name to remember
I couldn’t write this without at least mentioning Joshua Van. Just an incredible showcasing of talent, speed, and grit. After losing the first round, Van slowly turned it on in the second and third with immense volume to the body. This level on patience and poise for a 22-year-old fighter is going to carry him far in the flyweight division. The post Moreno-Figueiredo saga state of the flyweight division looks to be in good hands as these fights continue to be some of the best on every card. Pantoja-Royval can’t come soon enough.
The Turtle 