UFC was carried in 2024 by the lethal striking of Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira, who knocked out all 3 of his challengers. The year saw the rise of Dricus du Plessis, who won the Middleweight Title from Sean Strickland and defended against former champion Israel Adesanya in one of the best fights of the year. Belal Muhammad ensured that people would finally Remember the Name by taking the Welterweight Title from Leon Edwards in July. Undefeated Ilia Topuria finally ended the four year Featherweight Title reign of Alexander Volkanovski. Merab Dvalishvili, who lost his first two UFC fights 7 years ago, took Sean O'Malley down at will to finally capture the Bantamweight Championship 33-years-old. The women's Bantamweight division attempted to find a new leader after the dominant champion Amanda Nunes retired in July 2023, with Raquel Pennington winning one of her uninspiring decisions over Mayra Bueno Silva in January, two fighters who don't belong with 100 miles of a belt, then predictably losing to Julianna Pena in October when Pena got healthy. Valentina Shevchenko regained the Women's Flyweight Championship when she avenged her loss to Alexa Grasso in September.

Carlos Prates, Charles Johnson, and Joaquin Buckley were among the breakout stars of 2024 with 4 wins each. After starting a mediocre 10-6, Prates won 11 in a row before losing to Ian Machado Garry in April 2025. Johnson won 2 bonuses, and even KO'd future champion Joshua Van. Buckley finished former title challengers Stephen Thompson & Colby Covington. PFL's top female Kayla Harrison signed with UFC, and dropped down from 150 in her last PFL win over Aspen Ladd to 135 to win both of her UFC fights, beating former champion Holly Holm in what's most likely Holm's last UFC fight. Diego Lopes won 3 fights, including defeating former 2 time Featherweight Title challenger Brian Ortega to put himself into title contention. Jean Silva made a strong impression, finishing his first 3 UFC fights.

UFC 300 was one of the biggest cards in the history of the promotion, and left us with arguably the most indelible images of badass fighting, with Max Holloway pointing to the center of the canvas to slug it out with Justin Gaethje for the final 10 seconds of their BMF Title fight, giving Gaethje a chance to steal a fight he was behind badly in, but instead putting the coup de grace on him in the final second. This event also saw Pereira retain over Jamahal Hill, Zhang Weili defend aainst Yan Xiaonan in the first all Chinese UFC title fight, and Jiri Prochazka score one of his signature comeback KO's over Aleksandar Rakic

2024 was a pretty standard year for UFC. Most cards had a good match, but they change the roster every 5 seconds, so it's hard to get a good feel for any given fighter outside of the title picture, and too many matches blend together because it's two people you can barely remember that both trained more or less the exact same way. The Apex shows have a lot of entertaining no names, but the action if often undermined by the cramped ring making it difficult to utilize proper movement and entries, and the capacity being too small for the few fans they can squeeze in to be able to energize the fighters. There's no excuse for them still refusing to go out on the road half the time.

As far as good matches go, Flyweight, the division Dana White had famously wanted to kill and embarrassingly traded off the champion Demetrious Johnson as soon as he "lost", discarding the sport's GOAT for a guy who couldn't even throw a punch and only wound up winning one UFC fight, was the hot spot. The division had 8 fights make the list and 15 different fighters. Lightweight also had a great year with 8 fights, and 14 different fighters, including the match of the year. Only Featherweight, with 6, was any kind of competition. Women's MMA had a really down year with only 3 fights total making the list between the 3 divisions. This is partly due to them signing so many women from Invicta that Invicta can barely find enough 2-1 girls to patch together a card once in a while, putting Bellator out of business, and taking the girl PFL was having the tournaments for, so the pipeline is damaged. To the surprise of hopefully no one, the heaviest divisions were the busts, with no fights from either Men's Heavyweight or Women's Bantamweight. While if you've followed my reviews, you know that there hasn't really been any good Heavyweight fighting in my opinion since the PRIDE FC days, I reviewed every match UFC itself picked as a Fight of the Night for this piece as well as the other matches that I personally thought were at least good, so it's nice to know that UFC thought little of these divisions as well.

1/20/24 UFC Middleweight Title: Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis 5R. A high level chess match. Strickland's long jab and excellent calf kick defense was kept DDP from utilizing his signature blitzing style because he was starting from farther away and couldn't productively lead with the low kick. DDP can do a lot of things, but he really had to work for everything here because Strickland is such a bad matchup. DDP's volume was much lower than he would have liked because he wasn't able to overwhelm the opponent with his rushes and unleash combos where he might miss the first punch or two but would eventually connect because he can run forward quicker than the opponent can run backwards. Early on, he was really only landing sporadically with the left middle kick. DDP opted for the takedown to try to get Strickland to back off his upright stance that was stifling a lot of DDP's striking. He probably could have kept opening up to takedown, but since Strickland would get right up so easily without taking any damage, I'm not sure how worried about it Strickland was really ever going to become. Strickland wasn't that active either because his game is about moving forward, but DDP exerted more will to always be the pressure fighter. Strickland was very accurate, and it was difficult to hit him since by not coming forward behind the jab and following it, he also wasn't opening himself up to the counter. DDP made a lot of little adjustments in round two, more feints and forcing himself to throw from closer range. Strickland was cut outside the right eye, but DDP's left eye was pretty swollen from all the jabs. DDP increased his output in each round, and that made up for his inaccuracy, bringing the connect totals to a comparable level. Strickland clearly won the first round, but the second was much closer, and by the third, DDP seemed to have enough going on to edge it, especially since Strickland had forsaken his teep, which was about the only other thing he was using beyond the jab. DDP cut Strickland with an elbow on the break early in the 4th. DDP's stance switching was starting to pay dividends, and he took a convincing lead in the fourth, opening up another cut on the top of Strickland's head and taking him down. This was the first fourth round of DDP's career, but he was clearly the fresher fighter, and this was his most convincing round so far. Strickland's team was counting on him outworking DDP in the championship rounds, but DDP continued to keep Strickland on his heels. Strickland was much less willing to surrender real estate in the 5th, and was finally fighting on his front foot. This was much more difficult for Strickland to accomplish by this point in a really hard fought competitive championship match though. He was definitely gassed, but after fading in the middle of the round, he became more determined to will himself to the victory. Strickland finished strong, delivering his best round since the 1st. This was definitely a close fight, but I thought Strickland edged it 48-47. DDP won a 48-47 split decision though. Oddly, Sal D'Amato, the one judge who scored it for Strickland gave him the 3rd round, which I think most people would agree was a better round for DDP than the 2nd round, which one figured would be the round that determined who won. This was hardly a banger, but it was a really competitive high level fight between two of the best currently fighting. Pretty good match.

2/3/24 Flyweight: Charles Johnson vs. Azat Maksum 3R. Maksum was an undefeated prospect, while Johnson was on the three fight losing streak, lucky to still have a job in the UFC at 33 years old in the less longevity oriented flyweight division. Johnson didn't look great here, but he had a lot more hustle and willpower, gutting this out after a really bad first round where he was rocked and seemed very much distracted from the damage. Maksum was more technical, but when that alone wasn't enough, he really didn't have any answers. Johnson doesn't really have defense in the traditional sense, he's just relying on his athleticism and movement for the most part. As the fight progressed, Maksum allowed Johnson to take over with his speed, which shouldn't have happened given Maksum hurt Johnson in the first and Johnson should have been slowing down in the later rounds. Maksum really just wanted to box, and didn't have answers for Johnson being unconventional. Johnson is largely a reactive fighter, but he was the one that was making changes after the first round, whereas Maksum had much less success with his left hand, and wasn't really threatening with anything else in standup. His answer was to look for the takedown, but he just couldn't convert. Johnson started off with some fancy level changing, trying to use the body and the takedown to open up the head, but Maksum floored him with an overhand right, and followed him to the ground, countering Johnson's wrestling with guillotine and D'Arce attempts. Maksum hurt Johnson again with a left hand, and Johnson was getting nailed with the couple knees Maksum threw in the fight, and of course more lefts, as he just tried to circle away while incessantly wiping his face. Maksum did a great job of intercepting Johnson with his punches early in the fight when Johnson seemed to really be having trouble with Maksum being a southpaw. Johnson had a lot of movement on the outside, but Maksum kept nailing him with the left, and Johnson wasn't avoiding or countering. Johnson had to take down into a rear naked choke attempt in the 2nd, but was too far off to the side to really threatened with it. Johnson arguably did a better job of maintaining distance once they got back up, but part of it was that Maksum was also tiring and growing more and more frustrated. Maksum was back to landing the left hand early in the third, but Johnson nicely timed his subsequent blitz, intercepting him with the low kick. Johnson was more tired in round three from all the lateral and backwards movement, but he was still making Maksum miss, and in these last two rounds, he was doing a much better job of countering off the miss. Maksum caught a kick and tried for the takedown, but Johnson applied a good ninja choke that the announcers thought was close to finishing when he released it to land an uppercut and a right hook. Maksum kept trying to counter into the takedown, but really had no luck slowing Johnson down after the first round. Johnson ducked a right hook into a takedown in the final 15 seconds, almost going into an arm triangle, but realizing he didn't have enough time, and instead getting a couple punches in before the bell to seal the comeback win. Johnson won a unanimous 29-28 decision. Good match.

2/17/24 Women's Strawweight: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern 3R. Dern's matches are throwbacks to the '90s era of specialist vs. specialist MMA because even if her opponent has a good ground game, they try to avoid using it against her. There's a lot more intensity and urgency to the positional duels than you would get in just about any other MMA match of this decade because we know how vulnerable she is on her feet, and how great she is on the ground. This match rose above the sum of what actually happened because the threat of what could happen felt real. Position dictated impending success or failure to the point you almost convinced yourself that more happened than actually did. Dern's striking was at least improving when she was with Jason Parillo, but now she was just bum rushing Lemos with her chin up because she knows her stand up just doesn't hold up to anyone who has technicality on their feet. The first round was a great example of why, in some ways, the biggest problem for Dern is that the way MMA works, she's always fighting from behind, and then fighting the clock if she can manage to get into her realm. Dern actually controlled more than half of the round on the ground, but barring something overwhelming, the round was essentially over by the time they hit the canvas. Lemos did a great job of answering what her career was going to look like going forward after failing in the title challenge against Zhang Weili in her previous match on 8/19/23. Lemos compromised Dern almost from the outset with her calf kick. Less than 2 minutes into the fight, Dern was already putting most of her weight on her right leg because her left leg was pretty much shot. That obviously didn't bode well for Dern getting the takedown in order to actually do what she does well, but her takedown game has continued to improve even though her striking game hasn't. What makes Dern stand above the other specialists is she has so much heart and courage, and never gives up on herself. Dern was able to duck an overhand right into a double leg less than halfway through the first round, and keep Lemos down for the duration. Lemos really did a nice job of defending herself on the ground for the most part. Dern was close to passing from half guard to full mount several times, but Lemos would elevate or off balance her when she tried to go. Under the 90's style of scoring, this would be a Dern round for control, but with the evolution of the scoring system focusing on damage, it's a clear Lemos round for taking out Dern's calf. Lemos' fight IQ was often questionable, as in subsequent rounds she passed on opportunities to minimalize the amount of grappling, but throughout the fight, Dern wasn't able to get anything going from half guard, or successfully mount. Dern knew she just had to create chaos in stand up because given any time, Lemos was just going to chop the calf again. That still doesn't excuse the stationary head and exposed chin, and it didn't take long for Lemos to exploit those deficiencies, dropping Dern with the right hook. Lemos was pursuing just as wildly with wide hooks looking for the finish, but Dern was hurt enough that all she could do was keep running away. Lemos dropped Dern again with a left hook, although this was kind of a delayed reaction where it felt like Dern may have gone down just hoping Lemos would follow her. Lemos did, and was pounding the crap out of her with right hands. Dern's right eye was a mess, cut and swollen, and Mike Beltran had to be close to stopping the fight, but Dern was able to hold on, and the threat of her grappling is so high, even off her back, that Lemos completely backed off and just waited to find her moment to stand back up. Dern really did a great job of stealing all of Lemos' thunder, no selling all the damage and doing her best to always seem fresh, energetic, and fired up. This really seemed to affect Lemos as the fight progressed because Lemos was wearing herself out pummeling Dern, and despite all the damage Dern was wearing with what Dana White thought was a broken orbital, Lemos wasn't seeing any signs of progress in terms of breaking Dern. Lemos seemed to have punched herself out, and was pretty hesitant, conservatively taking the calf kicks that were there without forcing anything. Lemos stuffed a takedown and came down on top, but Dern was quickly able to sweep. This fight was somewhat one-sided through 2 rounds, but Dern managed to make it about her even though she was mostly losing because of the discrepency in her danger level and competency in standup compared to on the ground. Dern looked remarkably fresh to start the third, and opened by dropping Lemos with an overhand right. Dern charged in, but when Lemos tied her up, pulled guard and worked for the same sweep rather than taking a chance on Lemos doing something at distance. Dern was able to transition from the sweep attempt to a belly down armbar and a leg lock attempt, which allowed her to take the top. Realistically, Lemos did so much more damage in the first and second rounds that one couldn't really score it for Dern, but you wouldn't know that from watching Dern's body language, or the way she continued to fight not only to win, but like she actually was winning. Dern's 3rd round win was even more impressive considering she was a replacement for Tatiana Suarez. Dern didn't really ever come close to a submission, but because of her pedigree you believed in her attempts, and it's still exciting stuff even though it never quite progressed to the point of materializing. Lemos won a unanimous decision 29-28. Dern, deaf or oblivious, hilariously started celebrating the victory. Dern actually only got the 3rd round, but post match awkwardness aside, not many fighters have the durability and mental fortitude to come back and win a round after taking that kind of beating. Very good match.

2/24/24 Lightweight: Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado 3R2/24/24: Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado 3R. This match was action packed, but quite a mismatch. Zellhuber had 8 inches reach on Prado, and knew how to exploit his size advantage. Zellhuber was throwing high kicks out of the southpaw stance to prevent Prado from throwing the overhand right, and using the teep to keep Prado out of range for his left hook. Zellhuber did his best to keep his back off the cage so he could avoid either by moving back or arching back. Prado applied tons of pressure, accepting that he was going to have to eat one in order to get his shots in. He definitely had a lot on his hooks, when he was able to get them off. Prado's best chance was when he could get his lead leg outside of the direction Zellhuber was circling in to head off Zellhuber, then go right away with a hook combo. Prado would close the distance by dipping in one direction, and then come in throwing the big overhand on the other side. Zellhuber's corner told him to get the jab going in the second round, and he was able to cut Prado'a right eye with it early in the 2nd. Zellhuber kept pumping the jab, and cuts were sprouting quicker than radishes. Once Zellhuber was fighting more optimally, his reach advantage was insurmountable, especially since Prado wasn't attempting takedowns or using kicks above the waist to mix things up, and maybe open up his boxing. Prado tried to slow Zellhuber down with the calf kick in the second, but even though he caused some swelling, Zellhuber was still outstriking him 2-1. Prado's right eye was largely swollen shut by the end of the round, and his nose was likely broken. Prado was a warrior, but he had no answer for the long jab, especially once he could barely see out of the right eye. Prado threw much heavier, but mostly just came up short as the fight progressed. Prado showed a lot of heart, and kept coming and coming, but he was mostly just absorbing what felt like an effortless beating. The first round was close with an edge to Zellhuber, while the next two were very clearly Zellhuber. Zellhuber won a unanimous decision 29-28, 29-28, 30-27. Good match.

3/2/24 Bantamweight: Vinicius Oliveira vs. Bernardo Sopaj R3 4:41. This was one of the year's least compelling Fight of the Night's because the match was a tale of two halves, neither of which was competitive. Sopaj was the better wrestler, and he took things to the point the announcers thought the fight was verging on being stopped, but once things stopped going his way, he had no answers, and showed a lot of bad habits. There was a 3-4 minute stretch where he was doing really well though. Sopaj's corner was screaming that Oliveira was tired 4 minutes into the fight, and Sopaj was able to take him down into the mount. Sopaj countered Oliveira's trip for the takedown early in the 2nd. Sopaj took the back and landed good series of ground punches. Sopaj tried for the rear naked choke when Oliveira finally stood, but in retrospect, this was the beginning of the end, as Oliveira shook him off and threw some big postured up punches to finally get himself into the fight halfway through. Either could have finished in this round with their ground and pound. Oliveira also landed a big high kick at the end of the round, taking the round for landing the bigger strikes, and continued to roll in the 3rd. Sopaj didn't recover that much between rounds, and Oliveira was throwing kick after kick, with some really bad reactions from Sopaj, who was stumbling around on his tenderized left leg with his hands down after every Oliveira attack. He had nothing left, and just got destroyed this round. Oliveira eventually hurt Sopaj with a low kick then finished him with a great flying knee. Pretty good match.

3/9/24 Lightweight: Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit Saint Denis R2 2:32. Poirier's striking was a lot more tight technical and diverse, but Saint Dennis was committed to taking his time and space away so he couldn't use it. Saint Denis came at Poirier as hard as he could the whole fight. Saint Denis planned on making up for what he was lacking technically by overwhelming Poirier with his physicality. He was in Poirier's face applying pressure the whole time, whether he was trying for the takedown or utilizing his striking. He was predictable in the way he closed distance, leaving himself exposed, but he's very big and strong for the division, and was definitely weighing on Poirier once he got inside. Poirier kept using the guillotine to defend the takedown. This wasn't a great idea because he really just wanted to get separation and force Saint Denis to come in again, as he was most vulnerable while closing the distance. Poirier seemed surprised that Saint Dennis was showing him so little respect, trying to just run through them. He seemed more ready in the second, countering the relentless pursuit with a good left hook then going into another guillotine. The guillotine backfired badly this time, as Saint Denis quickly mounted after escaping. Poirier had to give his back, but was able to defend the choke and get back to his feet, where Saint Denis landed a series of hooks. Saint Denis was wearing himself considerably out by this point, but he was committed to fighting this style, and wasn't going to change anything. As he became slower and more predictable about punching his way in, it became much easier for Poirier to intercept him with counter punches. Poirier cracked Saint Denis with a big left hook then tried for yet another guillotine, which was getting ridiculous. Saint Denis popped his head out, but Poirier had too much hand speed at distance, and knocked him out for the right hook. This was short, but Saint Denis was so aggressive that he got 3 rounds worth of action into a round and a half. Good match.

3/23/24 Featherweight: Jarno Errens vs. Steven Nguyen 3R. Errens, the 1st Dutch featherweight and only Dutch male on the UFC roster, was already on the outs coming in with an 0-2 record in UFC. Errens showed quite evolved striking, and was a lot of fun because he wasn't the typical cookie cutter 2020's MMA fighter. He made great use of level changes, and showed an impressive amount of diversity in his striking attack, often starting with the jab to the body then throwing a long right uppercut or the right to the body. This was setting up the overhand right, but since he kept working the body, Nguyen had a more difficult time guarding himself from it. Nguyen was an incredibly resiliant fighter. He had all the heart and determination, but lacked Errens variety. Errens landed a short right uppercut then cut Nguyen's lip with a left hook. Nguyen got his jab going early in the second, busting Errens' nose open. Errens mixed in the flying knee, some spins, even a few superkicks. Nguyen had to take down in the first round, but Errens was able to counter him a lot in the second because he settled into mostly jabbing after his early success with it. Errens threw everything in combination except the calf kick, which was making Nguyen unsteady towards the end of the second, and was a huge problem in the 3rd. Errens clinched when his teep and right straight missed to avoid the counter, then dropped Nguyen with an overhand right on the break almost at the end of round 2. Nguyen was mostly fighting out of the southpaw stance in the third because his left ankle was giving out. Errens began focusing on following the jab with the right straight to the head. Errens lost his balance after a step knee, and Nguyen pounced with a hammerfist and an elbow then went for a guillotine. Errens got back to his feet though, and Nguyen couldn't effectively walk him down due to the ankle, so Errens would back away and pepper him with the jab, forcing Nguyen to inefficiently close the distance if he wanted to do anything, which allowed Errens to counter him coming in. Errens knocked Nguyen down with an overhand left 2 minutes into the 3rd round. This fight was thorougly entertaining. The only downside was that Errens ran away with this. Nguyen had his moments, but lacked the tools to keep Errens guessing. With Errens landing half his strikes, and outlanding Nguyen by at least 11 in every round, there's no round Nguyen could have won. Errens won a 30-27 unanimous decision. Very good match.

3/30/24 Light Heavyweight: Ibo Aslan vs. Anton Turkalj R3 1:32. This definitely felt more like a regional MMA fight. It was a mostly fun slobberknocker where they were hopefully learning on the job. Aslan was applying a lot of pressure, coming forward winging huge hooks. He definitely wasn't the best trained fighter you'll ever see, usually entering and exiting on a straight line. Turkalj was a lot more technical, fighting behind the jab. The problem is he didn't have the technicality to actually exploit any of Aslan's holes, he was simply better trained at throwing what he throws. Turkalj could be pulled into a brawl, and when this happened, he was barely any more technical than Aslan, and definitely not as powerful. Especially when Aslan landed, Turkalj wanted to get it back. This led to some big fireworks at the start of the second round where they were just standing toe to toe bombing away with hooks. After the early explosions, the fight slowed down considerably in the second half of round 2, as both were gassed. Aslan recovered more in between rounds though, and was able to finish with an overhand right early in the third. Anything is more skilled than a heavyweight fight, but this light heavyweight contest felt as close to that remedial level as anything on the list. Pretty good match.

4/6/24 Featherweight: Chepe Mariscal vs. Morgan Charriere 3R. The announcers acted like this was totally amazing, but I was kind of underwhelmed. Charriere defended the takedowns and got some, but he kind of just landed single strikes when he actually had space, and Mariscal kept that from happening outside of the 2nd round by grabbing as soon as he got inside. The match was competitive enough, and came down to a close 3rd round, but I'm not sure how exciting it ever was. Mariscal pushed a high pace in the 1st, coming in behind his punches in order to get in on the legs. Charriere was defending the takedowns though. When Charriere had space, he was definitely the superior striker, but Mariscal kept creating chaos but failing to get the takedown. Charriere defended enough takedowns that Mariscal was much less enthusiastic about going full force to keep hold of him in the 2nd. Charriere was able to hold the center and snipe in round 2, cutting Mariscal outside the right eye. Charriere slowed Mariscal down with body kicks and a big body hook during this round, and was actually the one getting the takedowns in the 2nd. Mariscal landed a nice high kick to the face near the end of the round. The fight was presumably even going into the 3rd. Mariscal went back to pushing the pace, and was landing good series of hooks until he was taken down. Mariscal got back up, but Charriere dropped into an ill-advised wishful anaconda attempt. Mariscal then regained control, and landed a few more good punches. This round could have gone either way, but Mariscal's striking was the main difference. Mariscal won a split decision 29-28, 27-30, 29-28. The ever clueless Adalaid Byrd had Charriere winning every round. Pretty good match.

4/13/24 BMF Title Lightweight: Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje R5 4:59. Even though this fight was disappointing by the remarkable otherworldly standards of Gaethje, with only the Khabib Nurmagomedov debacle inarguably being a less entertaining fight, somehow even a somewhat unsatisfying Gaethje fight still winds up being the most memorable fight of the year in many ways. Even though it took 3 rounds for this strategic fight to really get going, and by then Gaethje was semi handicapped, it was ultimately a great example of the reason most fans actually watch MMA. It's not about the GSP's of the world doing their best to calculate how to grind out the decision or the Colby's embarrassing themselves with their endless string of cringy and detestable remarks, but seeing two highly skilled warriors push their body to the extremes it can endure, and one going out on his shield. Holloway looked much better at 155 this time. Having more time to make the transition, he was able to bring his power without sacrificing his speed. He fought a great tactical fight using his length and speed that kept Gaethje from getting his hands or combos going until he was already quite compromised. Gaethje tried to use the right calf kick to set up the left hook. The calf kick was ultimately his best weapon, but the hooks were never really there, and he would get countered when he threw his hands long or wide. Both landed in an exchange, but Holloway got in a damaging left hook midway through the 1st. This was a very patient first round though, and Max made no attempt to capitalize. Instead, Holloway stuck to his strategy of mixing his right hand, notably throwing the right to the body to bring Gaethje's hands down. This was shaping up to be a battle of wills, with Gaethje looking to drag Holloway into a fire fight, but Holloway staying long and patient, closing the distance fast when he needed to. Max exploded Gaethje's nose with a spinning solebutt at the very end of the round. Gaethje had recently had surgery to correct his breathing, but here he was again, forced to breathe from his mouth the next 4 rounds. Up until this point, the fight was pretty even, but Max had seized the momentum, and did a great job of keeping it. Gaethje was already somewhat distracted the rest of the fight, touching his nose and dealing with the blood dripping into his mouth, which was now always open to breathe. To make things worse, he also had to deal with getting gouged in the left eye on the first big exchange of round two. Gaethje continued, but I don't know how well he could really see for most of this round. His eyes were probably filled with water prior to this from the broken nose. He was pretty much just staying away, trying to come in with a combo every now and then. Holloway then gouged Gaethje in the other eye! I know Holloway wasn't trying to cheat, but a bad one to each eye in the same round is too fight altering to not be a deduction. Marc Goddard didn't do his job by trying not to get involved. At this point, Zatoichi might have had a better chance of figuring out a way to win this fight. Gaethje landed a good low kick late, but couldn't really get his combos going, or do much with his hands in general. In terms of legal strikes, it wasn't a big round for either, but in terms of damage sustained, it was a huge round for Holloway. Gaethje had to protect his nose and his chin (since his mouth was open to breathe), so he couldn't fight as aggressively as he normally would. Trevor Whitman wanted him changing angles or exiting after 2 strikes maximum to try to mitigate Holloway's ability to answer. Holloway started getting more aggressive midway through round three, landing another spinning back kick, which was a great and shockingly accurate weapon for him all night, and wobbling Gaethje with a right. Holloway was looking too fast, and Gaethje was looking slower and more hesitant than normal, partly due to Max, and partly due to injury. Gaethje was finally able to back Holloway in the fourth. This was a much better round for him, though when he would stop, Holloway would land to the nose, and Gaethje would kind of wince or flinch. When the combinations elongated, Holloway would use his speed and evasiveness to avoid and land good shots back. This was a much more active round for both. Gaethje got Max to bite at the level change, and came over the top with the right for the knockdown. Gaethje did a better job of staying close and throwing tight shots in the 4th. It was surprising that with all the calf kicks Gaethje landed that Max wasn't limping or showing the damage. Gaethje landed a nice body shot then overhand right, but Holloway beautifully answered with the spinning solebutt. Holloway did a great job of following up hurting Gaethje 2 minutes into round 5. This was a big fast explosive flurry that threatened to finish the fight. Gaethje eventually managed to wing big overhands with his back against the cage to get Max to back off, and go back to just picking him apart. Realistically, Gaethje had to go because time wasn't on his side, but Whitman could see that he was still hurt badly, and was urging him to get his legs back before he made a final push. After a desperation koppo kick by Gaethje, Holloway gave us what immediately became one of the all-time iconic finishes of MMA, totally suitable for BMF madness, when rather than being content with the clear decision victory, he instead pointed to the center of the octagon and urged Gaethje to throw down with him for the final 10 seconds. An amazing flurry of huge, wild barroom brawl striking followed. Almost nothing was actually landing, but when Holloway finally connected with an overhand right, he face planted Gaethje with 1 second left for the KO of the year, perhaps the century! It wasn't a meaningful KO in the sense that Holloway was ready to win a 49-46 decision, but it said a lot about these fighters being here to fight. It's one of those viral moments that get shared, re-shared, and imitated to the point that despite both being champions and Hall of Famers, it's what both will be most remembered for. I think the 1st 3 rounds were just fine, good high level MMA, just not the level of excitement we expected from these two. Gaethje had kind of lost the fight by the time it really got good, but he did enough to make us believe, and the final 2 rounds were quite eventful. I was disappointed with this when it happened because it felt like Gaethje's injures kept the fight from really firing the way one would expect, but he somehow gutted out two really eventful rounds down the stretch to make up for fight's slow start, and Holloway was happy to entertain once he was confident he could still win that way. Very good match.

4/13/24 Light Heavyweight: Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic R2 3:17. Rakic has a lot more technique, and fought a great smart fight, beating up Jiri's legs on the outside and when he came in rather than headhunting. Jiri has so much more power and speed, and will keep putting himself in harm's way until someone goes down. He's a great fighter to watch because it's kill or be killed. Rakic has never been known for his entertainment value, but Jiri's determination kept forcing him to fight, and turned this into Rakic's most entertaining match, even though Rakic still did his best to keep exciting things from happening because brawling with Prochazka isn't his path to victory. Jiri lost the technical battle badly, and his left calf was toast. Eventually, he just had to wade into danger, trying to use what was left of his movement to make something happen before it was too late. Because his nature is to go second and rely on ducking or dipping then answering back with a punch from an odd low angle, he throwing enough to create much disturbance for most of round 1. Following in the footsteps of Alex Pereira, Rakic's real game plan was to beat up the lead calf, and by midway through the first round, Jiri was already having trouble putting weight on it. Rakic did an excellent job of timing the low kick when he had Jiri backing or when Jiri was taking his first step forward, and was largely able to stay back and use his low kick with some hand fighting and jabs to maintain distance. Luckily for Jiri, Rakic's strikes aren't nearly as lethal as Pereira's. Jiri stuck with his game plan of pushing forward even though he wasn't really able to get any attacks off, and was really just getting picked apart throughout the first round, upping the aggression and amount of in your face pressure minute by minute even though Rakic's smart choices kept him from being able to counter that much. Jiri finally landed a good right hand off a left high kick fake, although Rakic connected at the same time. Jiri then stunned Rakic with the right hook on the inside. The big difference here is that when Jiri connected, Rakic was hurt, and he was able to swarm him and follow it up, while Rakic landed his single shots, but was never able to stun Jiri and go on a run. Rakic stayed disciplined, fighting a responsible fight behind the jab, and Jiri was very reticent to fight southpaw to protect the worse leg because it hamperes his offensive capabilities. Jiri was running out of time physically, so he increasingly cared less and less about what Rakic was doing, and just had to do his best to get in Rakic's face and turn it into more of a brawl where he could utilize his physical advantages, especially after landing a left high kick. The more Jiri was able to make this a choatic fight where they swung big, the more it favored Jiri, who has the speed, quickness, and power advantages, and is way more creative. Jiri hurt Rakic with a big right hand, and Rakic tried to run away, but Jiri just kept landing while chasing him down. Rakic seemed to accidentally cause a head butt lunging forward, and then stumbled, which allowed Jiri to push him down and flurry from the top for the stoppage. This was a really exciting comeback from Prochazka, who never gave up on himself despite getting no results early, and getting physically hampered in the process. The match was a little short, but this never felt like a match that was going to go three rounds because Jiri's leg was going to falter if he couldn't make Rakic malfunction first. The thing about Prochazka is he can always be counted on to have that courage to risk being finished to do what he has to in order to win himself. Excellent match.

5/4/24 UFC Flyweight Title: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg 5R. While there weren't a ton of great moments in this, it was a really consistently competitive high paced match that evolves well, and doesn't get repetive. Pantoja is certainly the more skilled fighter, but still seemingly had quite a challenge solving the riddle of Erceg, who is very long for the division, and a strong counter puncher. Erceg couldn't strike freely though because he had to worry about the takedown, and Pantoja was regularly crashing in behind the jab, trying to lock Erceg up or take him down. Erceg obviously wanted to hold his ground so he could counter punch more effectively, but because Pantoja is so good at working his way in by mixing things up, even when Erceg landed the counter, he still probably got clinched at the very least. Pantoja has so many options, and does so many things well, that he was getting in one way or another, sometimes taking a shot in the process, but tending to win the war if not also the battle. Erceg realized that looking to be second wasn't the way, and led a lot more after the 1st round to mitigate some of Pantoja's relentless pressure, and keep him off his legs. Once Erceg began fighting behind his jab, his counters began to become effective because he could pull Pantoja into his right hand while he was sliding out of the pocket. Erceg really need to step up his volume because hesitating meant that Pantoja was going to get his back off the cage by exploding in with a combination. The more Erceg threw down the middle, the harder it was for Pantoja to blitz. Pantoja did a good job of answering the jab with the calf kick or the body hook though, and if it was a one for one, Pantoja wins that, so Erceg had to be really mindful of how he was following his attack with his power punch or movement out. Erceg cut Pantoja with a right elbow counter 3 minutes into round 3, but Pantoja still plowed through and got the takedown. Even though Pantoja took his back, there was a solid argument that Erceg was now up 2 rounds to 1, but both corners claimed it was 3-0 Pantoja. Pantoja was very effected by the cut, and seemed very weary and hesitant in the fourth, a round he largely took off. Erceg had a good double leg to start the fifth, but when he couldn't secure the position, he needed to back out rather than get involved in a scramble with Pantoja, which he predictably lost. Erceg went for another takedown late in the round, and got reversed. Pantoja definitely won the 1st and the 5th, and was overall the more consistent and effective fighter. It really comes down to round 2, where Erceg did more damage, but had less overall success. Pantoja's experience showed in better decisions and more persistent strategy, but he definitely didn't win 4 rounds here. I thought this would be a split decision, but I can buy the 48-47 the two less unreasonable judges had. Very good match.

5/11/24 Welterweight: Trey Waters vs. Billy Ray Goff 3R. The match shaped up to pit Goff's forward pressure vs. Waters exceptional reach, but Goff's pressure won out in terms of dictating the pace and distance of the fight. The first 9 minutes where Goff fought pedal to the metal, never giving Waters a break, were excellent. Both were fighting with their hands low, with neither putting much effort into avoiding the shots. Goff did a good job of kicking the lead leg that Waters was heavy on early, but Waters would land his straights while Goff was trying to close distance. Goff quickly switched to brawling, chasing Waters with hooks, and this became very reckless and action packed. The last 30 seconds of round one was great. Goff hurt Waters with a hook, and kept throwing one hook after another trying to capitalize, but Waters almost had a flash knockdown with a hook. Goff got right off his knee, and kept winging more hooks until the bell rang. Goff was having success with the elbow in round 2, but still couldn't follow it with the takedown. It didn't help that Goff just kept going for the high single rather than chaining his takedown attempts. Goff finally slowed down after what are stunned him with a couple right hooks late in the second. Goff's technique broke down, but he kept pushing through the fatigue. The first nine minutes were definitely a lot better than the last 6 minutes because Goff pushed the pace so hard that they were both flat out exhausted. The slower pace favored Waters for sure, as he was much more able to snipe now. I thought the fight was much closer than the 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 they scored it, with there being an argument that Goff won round 1 & 2 for consistency. Very good match.

5/18/24 Featherweight: Lerone Murphy vs. Edson Barboza 5R. It was an entertaining fight since it was a lot of toe to toe action, but Barboza took more strikes than ever, and won the 1st round, at most. His performance was like the aging boxer who doesn't have the legs anymore, but still has his power, and tries to rely on that. Edson spent too much time standing in front of Murphy covering, and not enough time moving and angling. He had moments in each round, but generally just got outworked. Murphy cut Barboza off well, and didn't allow him to fight at distance. Murphy utilized a lot of feints, and kept the pressure on. He conceded there was no avoiding the leg kicks, but would try to either go first and back Barboza with punch combos, or answer the kick with his straights. Barboza hurt Murphy with an up kick at the end of round 1. Barboza adjusting to trying to land the job to set up the low kick was working more successfully then just trying to lead with a low kick. Murphy got his 1-2 going midway through the second though, wobbling Barboza with a right. Barboza was hanging out against the fence for the rest of the round, not firing back often enough. He finally tried for a spinning kick, but slipped and fell. Murphy would try to answer one kick with 2 punches. Murphy landed a spinning heel kick late in the 3rd. Barboza wanted to hold the center, but just wasn't willing to put the effort into circling to maintain it, so Murphy would back him with his pressure. Murphy's nose was looking pretty bad from Barboza's jabs, and Barboza landed a spinning heel kick in the 4th, but he was getting outworked more and more. Had this been a 3 round fight, maybe Barboza has enough in the tank to go hard and take the round, but the 2nd half of the fight was a steady decline where he was just hoping to trade. Murphy won a unanimous decision 49-46, 50-45, 50-45. Good match.

6/1/24 Welterweight: Bassil Hafez vs. Mickey Gall 3R. Hafez was a wildman throughout, while Gall started cautious, but really picked it up in the 3rd, which was one of the best rounds of the year, with both pushing for the finish. Hafez had faster hands, and was much more aggressive. Some of his aggression wasn't really serving him though because he was gassing himself overthrowing. Hafez was better when he threw combinations, or slipped and countered, then when he hunted the one big shot. Gall was hesitant in the first round because Hafez's responses were better than Gall's jabs. Gall had a late right hook counter that was the best strike of the round though because Hafez through harder, but wider, and his aggressive pressure for the one punch KO style was fatiging. Hafez wanted to create chaos, but Gall remained patient. What Gall had in his favor is that he knew Hafez was going to come forward. Hafez was more active and more consistent, but Gall landed the more damaging punches in the first half even though he was staying within himself a lot more. The problem is his jab was slow and his reactive offense was just too sporadic. Hafez hurt Gall midway through the second, but Gall just got on his horse each time he was stunned, and Hafez wasn't able to cut him off, so Gall would recover with time. Even though Hafez had a full camp this time, he was still slowing down in the second half because he puts so much into each shot. The third round was gas because Gall couldn't count on having won either of the first two rounds, and had to become more aggressive. Gall knocked Hafez down with the right hand 2 minutes into the third. Gall was definitely looking for the KO now. Lots of good shots landed by both. Gall was gutting this out. Pushing forward into danger isn't the style he wanted to be fighting, but he couldn't keep being patient and reactive if he wanted to potentially win. Hafez wanted the finish so bad he slowed himself down, but he kept pushing through, looking for the finish rather than the win. Hafez won a unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27, 29-28. Very good match.

6/1/24 Lightweight: Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier R5 2:42. This was the worst Fight of the Night of 2024. Not only was Gall vs. Hafez a much more exciting match, but this match was too one-sided to really even be compelling. Sure, Poirier had a chance because he's Poirier, and we've seen him just knock the opponent out before. However, if this was on the undercard, no one would have even talked about it, much less claimed it was somehow good. Makhachev is such a great wrestler, and Poirier had already been humbled by Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was in Makhachev's corner telling him how to do it again. Makhachev had a quick takedown against the cage, similar to what Khabib did to Dustin, and controlled the rest of the first, looking for a Kimura and a rear naked choke, but not really threatening with anything. This just set the tone for a match where Poirier had little margin of error. Of course, Makhachev probably isn't going to win simply by taking Poirier down, but nothing productive was going to come from Poirier being on the ground with Makhachev. Poirier stayed off the cage in round 2, but the threat of the takedown was still so high that Poirier was hesitant and ineffective in stand-up. This was really the story of the fight. It wasn't so much what Makhachev did once he got the takedown, but that Poirier felt like he had to try so hard to avoid it that he had to adjust his entire striking game. He couldn't stay in front of Makhachev for too long even in the center, and had to be cognizant of not reaching, lunging, or overextending in any manner that could leave him prone to the takedown. I think Poirier did enough late despite the Makhachev takedown against the cage to win the round, but this wasn't a very entertaining or eventful round, and it definitely could have gone either way. Early in the third, Dustin clinched after eating a lead uppercut and a clinch knee, which allowed Makhachev to then drive him into the cage and take him down. Poirier almost got armbarred sneaking out the back of Islam's mount, but he made it back to his feet. Poirier's nose was shattered from a clash of heads, and his left eye was swollen from a right hand. Poirier definitely even lost the stand up in this round. Poirier hurt his leg defending a takedown against the cage midway through the 4th, but this didn't noticably hamper his performance going forward. Poirier cut Makhachev with a left elbow, and had a good flurry of body punches against the cage after a nice switch freed him from Islam's clutches. Poirier possibly won this round, but it was more likely that Makhachev was up 4-0. Poirier was finally able to follow up the jab in the 5th, but you could see why he was so hesitant because any chance Makhachev had to duck into a takedown was going to be another round in his favor. Makhachev's takedown here was the beginning of the end. Islam actually swung Poirier's leg to ultimately get him down after it seemed like Dustin was almost free, and then tapped him to a D'Arce. The judges had this closer than I did, with Chris Lee giving Poirier 2 rounds, and the other judges giving him a round but not agreeing on which one (2 or 4). Poirier would have lost a unanimous decision because he wasn't winning the 5th, but for our purposes, it's more notable that none of the rounds had any big or sustained action. Average match.

6/15/24 Women's Flyweight: Gabriella Fernandes vs. Carli Judice 3R. This was definitely artistry vs. brute force. Judice is a lot looser, more fluid and flowing with her footwork and striking, but Fernandes is decidedly more powerful. Judice is only 25 with just 4 fights, but her striking technique, movement, and diversity might actually be far beyond all but the big name women's strikers. She's all rhythm and timing. She doesn't load up at all though, which is technically correct most of the time, but it remains to be seen whether she will be able to pick her moment to try to hurt or finish the opponent or just be an active point fighter. Fernandes was already slowing down late in the 1st from Judice's movement, angles, and varying techniques. Fernandes recovered considerably in between rounds, and started the 2nd strong, swarming Judice and landing some big punches. When Fernandes slowed down again in the 2nd half of the round, and Judice started to come on again with her movement, Fernandes shifted to wrestling, tying her up on the cage. Judice was the one that got the takedown with an outside trip, but the round was almost over by then. This was definitely a round a piece by any reasonable scoring. Judice was much better at distance because she had the jab to connect, but could also set up her middle kick and spinning back kick. Judice was using her jab well to start the third, following with a good right hook, but Fernandes had a flash takedown, evening the takedowns at 2 a piece. Fernandes was looking very tired again though, and wilting to Judice's volume. Judice clearly won round 3 by dramatically outworking Fernandes. This should have been a clear 29-28 decision for Judice, who just had too much going on for Fernandes to keep up with, but only Adelaide Byrd managed to score it that way, and agreeing with her coin tosses makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me, although there's always a 50/50 chance she'll score it heads. Michael Bell and Chris Lee both gave Fernandes the 1st, based perhaps on a late rally when she was looking winded? The main thing in favor of Fernandes is Judice reacted to her power and had more marks. Judice outlanded Fernandes 63-43 in the 1st though, and 79-35 in the 3rd. Good match.

6/22/24 Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon 3R. High pace, high output striking match, though Gordon did his best to fight a grindy style. Gordon attempted several single leg takedowns, backing Haqparast into the cage, then releasing to land the right hand. Haqparast relied on his speed advantage. He was able to keep his hips clear by circling away and then momentarily plant to punch Gordon. When Gordon wasn't pressuring, Haqparast was nailing him with the big left hand behind the jab. Gordon was pretty consistent about keeping the pressure high though, and he was winning when he was able to take away Haqparast's space and movement. Haqparast had a decided advantage in handspeed as well as footspeed. He was able to pick Gordon apart when he had room, so it was important for him to hold the center of the octagon. Gordon cut Haqparast under the left eye midway through the 1st. Haqparast was doing a good job of circling left, and allowing Gordon to pursue into his left hand. Gordan won the majority of the round 1, but Haqparast came on with his quick hands in the final minute and a half. Gordon continued to grind in the second, doing a better job of dictating an inside fight where he was able to score with his dirty boxing. Both showed some good fighting on the inside, with Haqparast landing a number of solid uppercuts. Gordon really came on in the second half of round two, getting his hands going at distance, as well as in close quarters with a series of right straights then right uppercuts. Haqparast managed to avoid the high kick and circle away, but Gordon hurt him against the cage again with right hooks and uppercuts. Haqparast was slow to recover, and really didn't get anything going again until the final 15 seconds of the round. The final portion of this round was nonetheless some of the best action of the fight, with Haqparast trying to mount a comeback when he got back to space. Haqparast rejuvenated between rounds, and started the third round strong, holding the center. This was definitely the most action packed round, as both were doing their best to will themselves to victory. There were a lot of nice exchanges in this round, but Gordon had more in the tank, and was thus willing it a bit more effectively. He managed to start walking Haqparast down again, and his fighting out of the southpaw stance, leading with the right hook was giving Haqparast trouble. Haqparast defended double figure takedowns, but was worn out from being on the defensive so much it felt like the fight might just come down to conditioning, with Gordon walking Haqparast down faster than Haqparast could back away. Haqparast didn't have the legs anymore, so he had to just stand in front of Gordon and exchange. Gordon had so little success with his takedowns though, and was doing well with his hands, so staying away from Gordon was much less of an issue. There wasn't a lot of defense in round 3, but both had a high output, and we're doing what they could to squeak out the victory. Gordon's right jab was doing good work in the third. While they were landing roughly an equal number of shots, Haqparast's strikes didn't have the same zip on them as they did in the first round. Neither man's right eye was looking too great by this point. I think Gordon did enough to win this round based upon quality of strikes, but it was a really good, back and forth round we're Haqparast outlanded Gordon 74-70. Gordon losing the split decision 29 to 28 felt extra bad considering he already lost one of the all-time robberies to Paddy Pimblett. Good match.

6/22/24 Middleweight: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez 3R. Very boxing centric fight where both did a good job of fighting behind their jab, but Gastelum had to work harder because he gives up so much reach. Gastelum did a better job of following his jab up, and also had kicks in his arsenal, whereas Rodriguez landed one good low kick, but that was his about the only one he even tried. Gastelum's stamina was in question because he missed weight again, this time so badly he couldn't even agree to a catch weight of 10 pounds over (180). He was the one pushing the pace, insisting on coming forward constantly to stay in punching range. Bisping called Gastelum on this borderline cheating, theoretically living it up every night on steak and potatoes, though he's still sore at Gastelum for starching him in 2:30 7 years ago. Still, by not informing Rodriguez until Thursday, he got to be the heavier fighter and have better conditioning because he didn't stress his body trying to make weight like Rodriguez did. Though Gastelum's defense wasn't as good in rounds 2 and 3, this weight advantage was arguably what allowed him to maintain his pressure and high output throughout the fight. Rodriguez did a better job with his counter combos in the second to theoretically even the fight. He did a good job of working the body, and generally placed his shots very well. Rodriguez landed the best shot in round 1 & 2, but wasn't able to follow them up. Rodriguez was the one that was looking tired in the third though. The takedown was there for Gastelum because Rodriguez was standing very upright, plus it helps that Gastelum probably walks around at 220 or so when he's reviewing burritos for his Missing Weight podcast. Though Gastelum generally wasn't that interested in shooting, he did have 4 takedowns, which is something we haven't seen from him in recent years, and gave him breathers if nothing else. Gastelum's 2 takedowns and 2:17 of countrol definitely helped him win round 3, which was otherwise pretty even when it came to total strikes. Gastelum won a unanimous decision 29-28, 30-27, 30-27. Good match.

6/29/24 Featherweight: Andre Fili vs. Cub Swanson 3R. Swanson is one of my all time favorite fighters, and I've always enjoyed Fili as well, but this was one of the dullest and most uneventful Fight of the Night winners ever. Round one hardly had any contact. It was more of a dance, 1 step forward, 1 step back, where the battles were controlling distance and dictating position. Fili is the longer fighter, and he used his movement to stay at kicking range and land a few kicks from the outside. Swanson was trying to walk Fili down, but was having a hard time getting to the point where he could actually throw his hands. I thought he should have kicked because it was both a long range fight, and one where Fili was largely on his bicycle, but it felt like Cub was mesmerized by the snake charmer. The guns were largely holstered in round 1, but Cub was able to open up a little in the subsequent rounds. Cub tried to come out a little more aggressive in the second, but got taken down off the level change. Fili couldn't keep Cub down, but the level change was the strategy anytime Cub tried to make something happen. Cub landed some good punches in the second, but mostly single shots. He wasn't able to get in the flow because his boxing was always interrupted by Fili's clinching. Cub won the second round to even up the fight, but Fili was really keying on his lead right hand in order to drop into the takedown attempt. Swanson did a great job of getting right up when he was taken down, which is what allowed him to not only stay in, but potentially win the fight. In the last two rounds, it felt more and more like Swanson was the one who was trying to do some real damage, whili Fili was largely just trying to hold the Cub off. That doesn't mean that Fili didn't do some useful stuff too, but in a fight that was this close, you didn't really want to give off the impression that you were the guy who was trying not to lose. Swanson landed the best shot of the fight when Fili ducked his left, but Swanson landed a short right hook when Fili came back up. Cub closed the distance and landed a couple good punches before the bell. I felt that he did enough in the second and third round, combined with Fili really seeming like he was largely out there to slow Swanson down. Fili got 29-28 from the actual judges though, with Swanson only getting the nod from Adalaide Byrd. Even more surprising to me is that both Mike Bell & Ron McCarthy gave Fili the 3rd, where you could at least point to Cub doing a few things of note. Average match.

7/13/24 Lightweight: Jean Silva vs. Drew Dober R3 1:28. Jean Silva just beat Charles Jourdain at 145 two weeks ago at UFC 303. Now he's here destroying hometown hero Dober at 155. Silva had the speed advantage, and given Dober is one of the smallest lightweights at 5'8", managed to only be giving up an inch in height. I don't know about Silva fighting at 155 permanently because this opponent is one of the smaller fighters in the division, but his power more or less held up here, and he was clearly the much smarter and more technically sound fighter. I like Dober, but he fought too much like Diego Sanchez, just plowing straight in and hoping for the best. He really fought like the smaller fighter in that he was all aggression, just trying to get inside. The problem is he has no deception, and Silva was doing a great job of countering him coming in, busting his right eye up quickly, and just hitting it over and over again because Dober had little defense beyond blocking with his face. Dober would just come straight in without any feints, and Silva would see him take the 1st step, and crack him in the right eye with the check left hook. I want to say this was just a tremendous counter striking clinic by Silva, but Dober really didn't make him do much different. There was a period late in the first when Dober began to hesitate, but Silva was fine with pushing forward, and keeping Dober on his back foot. Dober began to mix his attacks up in the second, and even if he wasn't landing with his body straight or spinning kick, he was giving Silva more to think about. Dober was crashing in and getting the clinch, but again Silva nailed him with the left hook on the way out. Still, all of this was predicated on Dober stepping forward, and Silva was ready for that no matter what Dober was planning to attack with. The only big success Dober had was due to Silva being distracted by Dober's corner. This sounds like pro wrestling, but whatever they were yelling drew a response from Silva, and Dober finally got a big left in due to Silva's lack of focus. Since Silva would just land the hook as soon as Dober took his step forward, Dober tried to just fight through it, land his power punches on the inside to make up for the damage he took getting there. I don't want to make it sound like Dober wasn't doing anything, he landed his share of shots, it's just that he was almost always getting hit in order to land, while Silva had much better feints, footwork, and all around deception to be able to land without eating counterfire. Dober wasn't countering when Silva came forward, so Silva wasn't afraid to back him up with a jumping knee, then let Dober charge into the hook again. Silva wobbled Dober with a spinning elbow counter just before the end of the second round. The fight should have been stopped before the 3rd round started, as the cut was already big enough you could have started working on pulling Dober's brain out through his eyebrow. The gash got a lot worse in the 3rd, as it was opening further with each shot, and looking more and more gruesome by the minute. Silva continued to look for the spinning elbow in the third to finish off the eye, which looked similar to when they used the razor to cut Rocky's eyelid so he could see, except Dober's cut was a ridiculously deep gash across his whole eyebrow rather than the eyelid. The 2nd worst in the business, Herb Dean, was a seemingly asleep on the job, as usual. Silva did his best to get Herb to stop the fight after opening the cut up further with another spinning elbow, but apparently Herb was having too good a time enjoying the action. One more good shot and the skin might have been flapping over his eye. This really felt like it was to the point that Silva could have messed up Dober's vision for life, so it was lucky for Dober that Silva just wanted to win the fight rather than take him out. As always, there was no quit in Dober, and the fans were really into supporting him. The guy is all heart, and also one of the reasons you need a competent ref is to protect fighters from themselves. In any case, Herb finally asked the doctor to check the cut out, and this time the doctor stopped it. Good match

8/3/24 Middleweight: Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk 3R. Another odd choice for Fight of the Night, as this was basically hard gym sparring. Magomedov is very bouncy, and does a good job backing out of danger. When he has time to plant, he can throw a wide variety of kicks. His hands aren't really that impressive, but he's effective with elbows and knees, and he can use the sidekick to somewhat replace the jab. Magomedov was able to cut Oleksiejczuk with a standing elbow late in the first. Oleksiejczuk did a good job of staying in Magomedov's face, but wasn't throwing that much, and didn't seem that accurate when he did. Even though Oleksiejczuk kept coming forward, it rarely felt like Magomedov was being tested or stressed. This was a pretty big mismatch, and it felt more like Magomedov was practicing with an opponent who was no real threat. Oleksiejczuk showed perseverance, but even though this was a short notice fight where Magomedov making a movie rather than in camp, willpower only took Oleksiejczuk so far. Oleksiejczuk had a couple of takedowns, but that was about it. For some reason, Clemens Werner gave Oleksiejczuk the 1st round. Average match.

8/17/24 Lightweight: Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot 3R. Gamrot has improved his striking to the point he didn't just seem to be a one-dimensional wrestler in this fight. Of course, Hooker's striking defense is so bad almost anyone looks like a striker against him. Still, Gamrot was a lot more willing to try to strike in this fight, and by not really defending it, Hooker was able to pull an entertaining fight out of even Gamrot, who normally just tries to control with his wrestling like it's the height of the GSP era. Hooker's takedown defense has also improved quite a bit, and he was able to repeatedly use the guillotine without actually trying to go all in by adding the bodylock portion to thwart Gamrot's takedowns. Gamrot was able to back Hooker with a punch combo, and then take Hooker down when Hooker stepped in with a kick. When Hooker got back up, he tried to push the pace, but stepped into a body punch, and Gamrot used a guillotine to gain control on the ground. Hooker rocked Gamrot with a left hook, and landed some more good hooks until Gamrot dove for the leg. Hooker got a mouse and cut under the eye, and was losing throughout the middle portion of the round, but the late surge was the significant damage of the round, and enough to edge it. Early in the 2nd, Gamrot once again caught the right kick and drove forward for the takedown. Gamrot controlled most of the first half of round two after the takedown, and landed a couple good hooks right after Hooker got back to his feet, but Hooker guillotined him when he tried his next takedown and landed some good elbows. This was a Gamrot round, mostly for control. Gamrot once again caught the right middle kick to start the third, but this time Hooker was even able to use the guillotine to prevent the takedown off that. Gamrot was looking tired in the third, his stamina used to be much better than this, and Hooker was just walking him down. Hooker had his hands low, and was basically not even trying to himself though, so Gamrot was still landing some solid shots. The third round should have been an easy win for Hooker, but his striking defense was just so bad that Gamrot managed to keep it close. Hooker's left eye was pretty close to shut, but he landed a nice left hook just before the bell to the seal the 29-28 split decision. Good match.

8/17/24 UFC Middleweight Title: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya R4 3:38. One of the most interesting matches of the year on paper, and it actually lived up to the hype. It was fascinating because this was one of the rare matches where the fighters were very different strikers stylistically, but still may have been evenly matched enough that the strategy wasn't going to be for the less rangy or less technical one to do their best to instead rely on their wrestling. Adesanya is incredibly technical, one of the fighters most responsible for finally raising the highest level of MMA striking to something resembling his previous profession, kickboxing, with his reliance on fakes, feints, stance switches, and more evolved striking combos to constantly thwart foes that hoped they were going to be able to take advantage of his striking leaving him prone to their grappling. Izzy edging forward was obviously much safer than DDP rushing forward, but Adesanya still couldn't be as aggressive as he would have liked because there's a real threat of DDP taking him down, whereas DDP knows he doesn't have to worry about Adesanya's wrestling. Izzy keeping his jab hand out much of the time helped him maintain distance, and he did a lot of misdirection to try to create an opening. He mostly just wanted to touch DDP with his jab so he could follow up, so sometimes even the jab itself was largely just another distraction, while other times he really stepped into it to do damage. Adesanya has a 4 inch reach advantage, so his goal against DDP's very disciplined high guard was to go to the head in between the block and then follow the jab with a body shot. Adesanya did a great job of working the body, but DDP always kept his hands high protecting his head, so while he conceded the shots to the midsection and legs, he refused to give Adesanya the opening for the high kick knockout. In contrast to the technically proficient striking of Adesanya, du Pleisis is one of the most unorthodox and unconventional strikers around. He violates the core tenets of striking by blitzing straight in, leaving his feet on many of his strikes, lunging at the opponent with loopy hooks, and so on. He is often underestimated because his striking isn't very smooth or technically refined, but there is method to his madness, and his awkwardness makes him difficult to fight. He sets a lot of traps, and also has really bad body language that often makes him seem to be either gassed or hurt. He does a great job of disguising his rushes behind his stance switches, so he's not just biting down on the mouthpiece and doing the Bald Bull charge like Diego Sanchez. DDP is already in range when he starts his blitz, and has a great forward drive on his super fast explosions, making his timing tricky and the amount of distance he's able to cover quite surprising. While his style isn't one you would look to teach because it's only possible for someone with amazing gifts of speed, athleticism, durability, and physicality, he has enough heart and determination to continue mustering the energy to charge full speed and put everything into his punches despite getting hit a lot round after round. It's difficult to describe DDP's style without underestimating him, but while DDP may not be elite at any one aspect of MMA, he's incredibly durable and very well rounded, having trained in judo, wrestling, and kickboxing from a young age, and he actually tries to put together sequences where he incorporates as much of his skill set as he can. His blitz is setting up his wrestling, and his wrestling is setting up his punching while holding a bodylock, and this punching while wrestling the opponent is setting up his choke. He doesn't think of all these skills as separate entities, but rather a chain of potential events where one method of attack gives him various options for the next, and he just keeps choosing the best follow up based upon the opponents reaction. He's a great MMA fighter because he's able to put all his skills together into these combos and sequences, instinctually doing the right thing at the right time, or at least forcing his opponent to defend in a manner that provides him options to continue on the offensive. His physicality certainly makes up for a lot, but he's just really difficult to deal with because he not only applies a ton of pressure, but can almost simultaneously do it in multiple disciplines. The way their styles mixed was riveting even during the slower portions, but this was certainly a back-and-forth war that was controlled by whoever was currently coming forward. It made sense that Adesanya's gameplan was to keep du Plessis from charging at him, but that's not the way he normally fights. Adesanya usually moves laterally or backwards a lot more, looking to draw the opponent into a huge counter shot. Today he took the fight to DDP as much as he could, but DDP absorbed it until he made his aggressive pushes back. This was still tactical work from Adesanya, but different tactics, and DDP's charges made it a lot more of a fire fight than you'd normally see from Izzy. Adesanya would start the rounds holding the center, with DDP giving him that control, but holding his ground beyond that. After a few minutes, DDP would start coming on with his bursts. When du Plessis goes, he forces as much offense as he can get away with. He's not a position fighter beyond trying to start his charge from as short a distance as he can, and he's certainly not someone who aims for incremental advantages, as his sequences are a barrage where he applies as much pressure as he can, and immediately seizes an opening when the opponent's defense can no longer keep up with his offense. DDP generally throws a big overhand right then closes a lot of distance with the long left follow up, and will keep going from there into another punch or a takedown if his opponent doesn't circle off. While to some extent the difference in the fight was that DDP had 4 takedowns, this is somewhat deceptive because the story of round 2 where Adesanya was able to get up, but not get free didn't have much to do with the rest of the fight. The important aspect was that DDP's takedown attempts were always on his own terms. He could exploit an opening, but he was never grasping in desperation, praying for a respite from Izzy's standup like most of Adesanya's opponents. DDP was able to stand with Adesanya for as long as he needed to, and in fact the final striking numbers were almost equal. Izzy felt his shot was coming because DDP kept reacting to the body punches, but Adesanya couldn't really land much to the head beyond what he was able to get in between the block, the uppercut or the jab straight down the middle. Round 3 was the best round of the fight. It was more wide open with more activity and big shots from both. Adesanya was backing du Plessis early, which made DDP's blitzes easier to defend because he was already on his back foot or too far away, so DDP started to pressure Adesanya before he could establish distance. Adesanya still seemed somewhat hurt from the big punches earlier in the round, and was now willing to exchange a lot more often. When Adesanya wasn't under pressure, he could land under or around the block, but then Dricus would probably try for the takedown, as we saw early in round 4 when Adesanya came forward with a nice 4 strike combo, but then had to defend the grappling. Adesanya had landed almost every body shot he threw in this fight, and it felt like it was finally about to pay off. Adesanya had good success following the jab with the uppercut in the later stages. DDP was looking tired, and Adesanya's confidence was rising as he was picking DDP apart, but it immediately became apparent how fatigued Adesanya actually was when DDP got another wind and quickly turned things around by pressing forward again. DDP making it messy wasn't a big issue when Adesanya was fresh, but in the 4th round when he was tired, he was backing straight out, or just turning and running away from DDP, first sideways and then when he got rocked, full on turning his back to him. The greatness of DDP in chaining his attacks together was on full display, mixing his power punches into his takedown attempt, which opened up the backpack, and led to the rear naked choke. Adesanya was initially dropped to a hand and a knee from a lead right, and he never really recovered. He stopped defending properly due to being disoriented, and just turned and ran. DDP landed 5 unanswered on the blitz then took Adesanya's back, with Adesanya reacting to all this really slowly. Dricus didn't even have the choke under the chin, but still finished because his offensive sequence was just faster than a rocked and defenseless Izzy could think to defend. This fight just turned so fast. You went from thinking Adesanya was going to win this round at worst, making the 5th round winner takes all, to seeing du Plessis steamroll him and capture the title by becoming the first fighter to submit Adesanya. This was a great gutsy performance by DDP where he really cemented himself as the man at 185. Very good match.

8/24/24 Light Heavyweight: Caio Borralho vs. Jared Cannonier 5R. Borralho just had too many advantages here, but stamina wasn't one of them. When Borralho was fighting optimally, Cannonier could have his moments, but that was about it because he was stuck being reactive. The fight swung a lot more than it should have though because Barralho wasn't able to expend enough energy half the time, and this inconsistency from Borralho kept letting Cannonier back into the fight. Borralho did a good job of utilizing his reach advantage and his hand and leg speed, staying on the outside and sniping Cannonier. Cannonier had a bit of success in round one when he actually threw, but that was the problem, he just wasn't active enough. Cannonier did a much better job of walking Borralho down and landing his hooks in the second. This was largely only possible because Barralho, who was very light on his feet in the first, would get lazy with his footwork in the subsequent rounds, as he was already seeming to have stamina issues. Borralho was extending with his fingers out, gouging Cannonier in the first, and nearly missing in the third, which caused Cannonier to lose his mouthpiece. Borralho hurt Cannonier late in the third following his jab with a powerful left. Cannonier busted Barralho open below the right eye in the 4th. This round started as a Cannonier round, but ended as a Barralho round, so the fight could have been even, or 3-1 Barralho, though the later seemed more probable. Barralho dropped Cannonier out of nowhere with a 1-2 down the middle in the 5th. The way Cannonier crumbled, I assumed the fight was over, but Cannonier somehow hung in long enough eating and blocking punches and elbows that Barralho tired himself out. This still wound up being a 10-8 round, which ultimately made the final scoring 49-45, 49-45, 48-46 a lot more lopsided then the minute to minute action was. Good match

9/7/24 Women's Flyweight: Natalia Silva vs. Jessica Andrade 3R. Silva is potentially a future champion in this division. She's really fast, owning things at range, but also being able to get kicks to the body and head in from surprisingly close range due to her excellent lateral movement and general flexibility. Her kicks are so speedy and her taekwondo background allows her to throw with more dexterity and less convention, surprising opponent's who are just used to vanilla kicks. Andrade fought the way she had to, keeping the pressure on and doing her best to keep Silva's back near the octagon, but this was a terrible matchup for Andrade because taking away Silva's space doesn't hamper her style the way it does most. Since Silva is moving sideways to create angles, she still wasn't there for Andrade to even attempt her big overhand right, and was just moving laterally to keep opening up her kicks. As long as Andrade was in Silva's face, she could potentially time her movements and land the big hook, particularly is Silva was changing directions. In open space it was obviously a lot easier for Silva to be more dynamic with her kicks, but she was at worst outpointing Andrade even when Andrade was executing her gameplan as best as she could. Andrade's style is so dependent on overpowering the opponent, but when her opponent has a chin and can move effectively, there's not a lot she can do. Andrade still landed most of the best shots, but she just doesn't land enough to win rounds, so if she can't get a KO then she's out of luck. Relying on big punches and clinch work is better suited for when Andrade is at 115 lb because she's so short at 5'2" that it's obviously more difficult to just brute force at higher weights, but she's also been fighting a lot more often since her financial troubles from her former coach supposedly embezzling money combined with getting divorced, so with 7 fights since January 2023, it might be harder to stay at strawweight? Andrade arguably won round 1 because she landed 2 big hooks and a superman punch, but Silva had more volume, outlanding her 33-24. It wasn't really even competitive after that though. Silva used her jab a lot more in round 2, and beyond helping her maintain a little more distance, this was key because it was that much more difficult for Andrade, who lacks reach to begin with, to win hook vs. straight exchanges. Despite Dominick Cruz being the only UFC announcer worth listening to, I didn't like his idea of Silva clinching to stop Andrade from throwing haymakers on the inside, as I don't think she did productive things in the clinch, and would rather her just keep outlanding Andrade by moving laterally. I would have preferred she use her speed to fully circle out to the center though the way Adesanya was doing against DDP, as in the center she had a massive advantage. When Silva had that little extra space, her kicks and jab were too long and fast for Andrade to really even get into range. Silva's side kick, hook kick, and spinning heel kick were super fast. Silva hurt Andrade with a left hook 3 minutes into round 2. Andrade had moments, but is too predictable and limited in what she does to be consistent. Of course, we've seen her just need 1 big shot or even slam many times in the past, so she was certainly in it enough that her arguably being down 2 rounds wasn't necessarily meaningful. Andrade's nose was bloodied, but she managed to avoid big shots for the most part. Silva outlanded her big in rounds 2 and 3, by 26 and 32 respectively. Silva won a unanimous decision 30-27. Good match.

9/14/24 Lightweight: Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber 3R. Despite an incredible pace and a ridiculous amount of strikes thrown, Ribovics vs. Zellhuber just kept getting better and better each round, with a final round that was an all-timer. Both fighters threw over 300 significant strikes, with the 3rd round boasting a combined 307 significant strikes thrown. Ribovics insane 92 significant strikes landed in round 3 ranks 10th in UFC history, while his 191 attempted ranks 4th. One of the crazy things about this fight is despite being a banger, it was still a good technical fight rather than a chaotic brawl where they were just winging sloppy hooks. Both had good game plans that they stuck to. Ribovics was giving up 8 inches in reach, so obviously he had to close the distance, but he did it technically, and with deception. He kept coming forward with a combo, doing a nice job of mixing the hand he was throwing first and the quadrant he was attacking. Ribovics often finished with a kick on the stance switch, but if he threw a kick first, he usually didn't immediately follow. Ribovics wasn't overaggressive, and he wasn't just biting down on the mouthpiece and coming straight in. He was throwing the first shot when he was closing distance, so it was difficult for Zellhuber to just hit Ribovics before he landed the first strike. Zellhuber was trying to maintain distance at all times by not only fighting behind his jab, but keeping his arm extended in between punches, and using it to push off with when necessary. Zellhuber was certainly the less combo heavy fighter. His goal was to stay long, keep Ribovics off him rather than coming forward behind his jab to land a series of shots. Ribovics did a great job of getting inside and keeping his head moving, so he surprisingly wasn't getting hit back too often while he was throwing his combinations or exiting. He stayed low well, and worked the body, but he never tried to level change to even make Zellhuber consider a takedown. Despite their completely different striking styles, they were incredibly evenly matched, and no one had an advantage for long until the 3rd round. One of the only counters Zellhuber landed was a right elbow early in the 3rd that dropped Ribovics when he was trying to exit after finishing his combo by landing a left. Ribovics barely took a break when Zellhuber gouged him after the knockdown, and came back with a lead uppercut/overhand right combo at 3:15 that sent Zellhuber wobbling. After 30 seconds of Ribovics throwing as fast as he possibly could against the cage, Zellhuber tripped while running away. Zellhuber wasn't answering back, and he was certainly in drunken boxing mode, but he was dipping, ducking, and rolling Ribovics fast shots. Part of the problem is Ribovics was also so excited that he just threw as often as he could rather than measuring his blows a little more, and trying to make sure he landed one big one rather than just mashing buttons. Zellhuber finally started throwing back after another 30 seconds, but was clearly still hurt badly, and just operating on instinct. Ribovics threw what Daniel Cormier exaggeratingly claimed was 1000 punches in the final 3:15 trying for the knockout, but this still wasn't just one way traffic, as Zellhuber did his best to fight back in the final 2 minutes. This was truly an insane and amazing round. Round of the year for sure. The first 2 rounds were consistently good, competitive stuff that could have gone either way, but nothing off the charts like the 3rd where their heart and desire really came to the forefront. While they were trading constantly, they had so many options and adapted so well to what the other was doing that their exchanges didn't become samey outside of maybe the hooks Ribovics was throwing while trying to finish Zellhuber in the 3rd. Ribovics won a 29-28 split decision. Excellent match that will be remembered for a long time. Excellent match

9/14/24 Flyweight: Joshua Van vs. Edgar Chairez 3R. An interesting fight with an exceptional 2nd round. Attempting to take a month off from training after getting knocked out by Charles Johnson on 7/13/24, Van wound up fighting again 2 months later. Chairez looked great in round 1, using his reach to keep Van on the outside. Van is very boxing heavy, but Chairez would keep scoring with the left jab and body kick or the right low kick. Chairez fought really confidently in the 1st, dropping Van 4 minutes in with a right straight counter to a right low kick. Van came on early in round 2, repeatedly hurting Chairez with the left hook to the body then following it up with the overhand right. This was a great round for Van, and the fans, as Van was going to town on Chairez until he seemed out on his feet. Just when you started thinking maybe they should stop the fight, Chairez landed a spinning backfist out of nowhere and followed with a jumping knee, but Van took him down. Chairez was really never the same after eating these body punches. I don't mean he didn't recover well enough, but mentally, he just had a hard time getting back to what won him the fight in the 1st round. When Van let Chairez back up, Chairez was so concerned about defending the body that Van basically had free hooks to the head. Chairez momentarily reestablished the jab, and was hurting Van following with the right hand, so Van took him down again. Chairez maintained enough forward pressure in the 3rd while fighting behind his jab that it was difficult for Van to get the body hook in during the early portion. Van tripped Chairez 2 minutes in though, and took the top. Van's conditioning held up despite not really having a training camp, and though he took an ill-advised gamble on a heel hook, he was able to take Chairez down again, and grind out the 29-28 decision. Chairez was definitely hurt a lot in the scoring by the takedowns, and definitely Van's wrestling was the difference in the 2nd half of the fight because Chairez did the better standup work in the 3rd. Good match.

9/14/24 Flyweight: Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode' Osbourne 3R. This wasn't the most exciting fight I've ever seen, but it was entertaining because it was unconventional, and both guys kept trying for the finish consistently. That resulted in some fatigue, but that aided the opponent in their finishing attempts. Osbourne dropped Rodriguez less than 40 seconds in, countering a right low kick with a right hook then spent the next minute and a half trying to finish with a deep triangle. Rodriguez eventually escaped the submission and landed a few elbows, but he wasn't really controlling any part of Osbourne, so Osbourne should have got back to his feet while Rodriguez was still half out of it rather than accepting being on his back for the rest of the round while Rodriguez recovered. Osbourne had a deep guillotine defending the takedown to start the second, but he never controlled the legs, so it went nowhere, and Rodriguez took his back. Rodriguez wound up raining elbows down on him from mounted body triangle. Osbourne nearly regained the top, but was too slow to actually scramble. Rodriguez ultimately maintained the body triangle whether he was working from the back or the front. Between his lengthy triangle attempt in the first, and the consistent body triangle Rodriguez in the second, Osbourne was gassed, and kept making just enough progress to put himself into a position to escape, but then not exploding to actually do so. Finally, he turned into top control at the end of the second round and landed a few good punches before time expired. This was obviously not enough to steal the round after Rodriguez landed several good shots, and threatened to choke him out, but this shouldn't have been a 10-8 round either. Osbourne somehow managed to recover well to start the third, but despite moving with a renewed speed and energy, Rodriguez landed a good left hook 2 minutes in. Osbourne landed a few combinations, but was slow on the exit because he was tired. He managed to take down Rodriguez with a minute and a half left, but Rodriguez working for a Kimura allowed him to stand right back up. Osbourne shot again, but Rodriguez stuffed it, and finished on top. Rodriguez won a unanimous decision 29-28, 29-27, 29-27. Good match.

9/28/24 Flyweight: Daniel Barez vs. Victor Altamirano 3R. Altamirano was the better fighter here. He had a lot more volume, diversity, and output, but Barez had much better hands, hit a lot harder, and most importantly managed to drop Altamirano in each round even though he didn't do a whole lot else. Barez really only had a big right hand, and Altamirano was able to do a good job of keeping him away with kicks and movement, as well as using left high kicks to hold Barez's right hand by forcing him to block with it. Altamirano had the reach advantage and tried to fight long, keeping his arm extended to maintain distance. This didn't really last long though, as Barez would walk him down even though he wasn't actually throwing much, so Altamirano would wind up with his back near the cage, even if he was still a lot more active of the two. Barez had an early knockdown, countering a left front kick with a right straight to the jaw when Altamirano's hands were too low. Altamirano recovered quickly, and was able to reestablish his distance strategy, even though he was the one with his back to the cage for the rest of this round and the next. Altamirano, who was a lefty, used the right side kick a lot in round two to back Barez. He was also looking to mix things up by blitzing with the left straight lead, but he didn't seem confident enough in this technique, or coming forward in general. Barez mainly loaded up, and looked for the powerful right hand, but since he wasn't really utilizing any deception or distraction, it was tough to find an opening. Since Barez wasn't really able to strike his way into range, he kind of just relied upon Altamirano either waiting too long to throw anything or getting sloppy with his defenses and footwork on his exits. Barez kept waiting for Altamirano to throw the left kick to go, but then he couldn't fire back with the hand he was blocking with, which was his only real weapon. At the end of round two, Barez was able to back Altamirano into the cage enough that Altamirano had to move laterally, and Barez timed him with the jab then big right for another flash knockdown. Altamirano had his own flash knockdown early in the 3rd, breaking Barez's nose by countering the 1-2 with a spinning backfist. He was the better fighter overall, but he only had this 1 moment, whereas Barez had 1 in each round. Nobody knows how to score knockdown in MMA because there's no agreed upon 10-8 like in boxing and kickboxing, but it seems like a knockdown will get you a 10-9 round if the fight is basically all standup and you aren't badly outlanded . Altamirano's corner figured they probably lost the 1st two rounds due to this. In the 3rd, each had a flash knockdown, so it was back to just who had the better overall round, and Altamirano controlled outside of the final seconds. Altamirano came forward in the third, and his kicking was much more effective now that he was in the center of the octagon, rather than being on his back foot all the time. Altamirano kept a much higher pace in the third, though he would fall back into backing up from time to time. The biggest problem with this fight is that even though there were several highlights and they theoretically kept a high pace, it was somewhat repetitive in that Altamirano mostly threw left high kicks, and Barez spent too much time waiting for the one big right. Barez pointed to the mat ala Max Holloway with 8 seconds left, and started throwing big haymakers. He actually dropped Altamirano with a left hook, probably because Altamirano hadn't seen it all fight, and was just worried about the right hand. Barez won a unanimous decision 29-28. Good match.

10/5/24 UFC Light Heavyweight Title: Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. R4 4:32. Even though Roundtree only won a round, given the opponent was Pereira, it felt like he overacheived quite a bit. Pereira had to always respect his power and explosion, and couldn't open up against him. The biggest difference between the two is that Pereira requires very little movement or tells in order to connect, whereas Roundtree needed a decent amount to go right in order to actually land anything because he had to cover so much distance, luckily Roundtree closes distance exceptionally fast. Pereira is an incredibly long fighter, but he likes to keep himself relatively close to the opponent, stay in their face and make them surrender position. Pereira won the space battle consistently, forcing Roundtree to be the one who backed, which meant that when Roundtree exploded forward, Pereira had plenty of open space to temporarily utilize to avoid the rush. Roundtree has never been a cardio fighter, and having this challenge come at altitude against the fighter who was forcing him to back up made things that much more difficult for him. John Wood tried to get Roundtree to add a third shot to his combination because even though Roundtree would be exploding forward when he actually threw, most of the time he was basically done throwing before he gained enough ground on Pereira to get into range. Pereira would use the right high kick to freeze Roundtree, then follow with the calf kick while Roundtree was still planted. Roundtree was too willing to surrender space, and that left him breathing heavy by the end of the first round. Even though Pereira was staying in front of Roundtree, Roundtree still had to explode to really get anything going, otherwise with the reach disadvantage, Pereira would rather easily just lean or step back. Roundtree looked much better at the start of the second round because he was holding the center of the octagon and fighting behind his jab, but he didn't stick with it. Roundtree's right calf was starting to give him issues, but he surprised Pereira by ducking the right high kick rather than blocking it, which allowed him to answer with a right hook when Pereira was off balance. This made Pereira think twice about trying the right high kick/left calf kick combination again, which was key for Roundtree because he couldn't take too many more of them. Roundtree was able to push forward with a couple solid combos late in the round, and do some damage with a partially deflected high kick just before the bell to take the second. Roundtree had Pereira backing up after a good left hook and body kick early in the third. Roundtree just didn't have the stamina to maintain any kind of forward pressure though. Roundtree presented enough of a threat that Pereira was only throwing single shots now that he'd given up on using the high kick to set up the calf kick, but Roundtree wouldn't swallow up space after Pereira exited to keep Pereira out of this game plan of landing a single shot and backing just enough that he probably wouldn't take a counter before stepping forward again to repeat the process. The more Roundtree retreated late in the third, the easier it was for Pereira to take another step forward and hit him again. Rountree was growing increasingly more stationary due to both fatigue and beat up calf, and now Pereira was just nailing him in the right eye time a fter time with the left jab. Roundtree started swinging more and more aggressively trying to keep Pereira back with his fists since his movement was lacking, but also due to that, he wasn't closing distance in the process, and was just coming up short and taking big counter fire. The cut on Roundtree's right eyebrow became so bad that he had to basically keep his right hand over it in a hopeless effort to protect it, and now he was just completely getting picked apart. The fight was over, but Mark Goddard didn't quite have a reason to stop it yet. Khalil almost managed to gut out the round, but Pereira finally ended it with two body hooks and an uppercut. Good match.

10/12/24 Flyweight: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira 5R. Taira is a grappling specialist who can get the fight to the ground, and probably the best submission fighter in the most technical division in the UFC once he gets it there. While Taira is a control grappler, he's one that is actually fun to watch because he's controlling to submit rather than simply trying to stifle the opposition. He utilizes a lot of movement to stay a step ahead, and is super smooth in his position changes. He has an elite body triangle, and can just keep sliding around his opponent's body, from front to side to back or vice versa with such ease that he easily negates the opponent's attempts to escape while continuing to pursue the submission win. Taira's standup is weak though, with no head movement and only a pretty good right hand that he doesn't have enough footwork or strategy to utilize, just entering and exiting on a straight line. He's really just coming in behind a right hand in order to duck into a double leg, but even with everyone knowing what he wants to do and how he plans to do it, he managed to take Royval down 6 times, and keep Royval down for lengthy periods of time. Royval is a wily veteran with a lot of cardio, pressure, and volume. He just lacks a jab to win the title, which not only keeps him from doing damage while setting up his power, but also limits the number of openings he actually creates, and his ability to put the series of good shots together that would finish. Royval was often fighting out of a side stance, which allowed him to fight longer and helped keep Taira off his hips, but he didn't use the side kick at all, and there wasn't really anything the opponent needed to defend coming first from the lead side. He relied to heavily on left body kicks, and Taira was sometimes able to catch these and initiate a grappling sequence. Royval's standup became more formidable when he sometimes led with the right uppercut or hook, both of which commanded respect and attention. They forced him to be more square to Taira though, which increased the chances of Taira ducking into a takedown. This was an old school striker vs. grappler match, and in this case, the fact that both fighters had their strengths and weaknesses made it more interesting. It helped that Royval has enough submission skills that he was willing to engage on the mat, and really went after the finish, but he'd lose position when his gambles backfired, while Taira made sure he maintained control throughout. Round 3 of Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber is still arguably the round of the year, but Royval and Taira gave us a gem of a 3rd round that's not unreasonable to put in that conversation. Royval finally began showing some variation on the right side, leading with the uppercut, which had some pop on it, and sometimes also using the right hook rather than the jab. Royval was connecting a lot harder and more consistency with this type of offense, and he had Taira in trouble midway through the third. Taira dove after a desperation single leg, and while this didn't work, he held on long enough that Royval decided to engage him in the grappling, which was predictably a mistake. Royval realized this, and disengaged quickly enough after his takedown attempt failed, landing a good uppercut on the break. Taira was slow attempting another desperation takedown, coming up short and exposing himself to a big knee. This was an excellent round with Royval doing a lot of damage, but Taira showing a lot of heart and determination to not only survive, but create a potential last second finish. I was super impressed that Taira was able to come back and take round 4, which wasn't all that different from round 2, but most fighters aren't able to recover enough mentally, physically, or probably both to just be back to business after a round that went so badly. With the fight even on reasonable scorecards going into the 5th, Royval listening to his coaches adjustment to his grappling defense proved to be the difference. By getting his back to the mat when Taira took him down rather than giving up his back, Taira didn't have the space to apply the body triangle. Royval was thus able to get to his knees and stand up. Taira was a lot more aggressive in stand up in the final half of round 5 because he knew the fight was on the line, and he needed to make something happen one way or another, even if it was just setting up dropping into the takedown as usual. Royval was very accurate with his strikes down the middle though, and was busting up Taira's nose pretty consistently. Royval defended another takedown attempt with a guillotine, and made a beautiful move, rolling Taira over to his back. As soon as Taira popped his head out, Royval took his neck and flattened him out for a rear naked choke attempt. Part of the reason this fight was so good is that it was up for grabs until the final minute. If Taira gets the takedown and closes it out on top, he probably wins the fifth round even though he clearly took more damage in the stand up. Royval closing it out with a submission attempt where he utilized his own body triangle felt like the perfect stamp on him winning a match where he'd lost two rounds to Taira utilizing this same technique. In the end, it felt like Royval's experience was what pulled it off. He made the key defensive adjustment, and understood that he needed to take what was there in the final round. Taira lost the split decision 48-47. Very good match.

10/19/24 Featherweight: Darren Elkins vs. Daniel Pineda 3R. Elkins is a strong wrestler who usually winds up in high action standup fights. Pineda was an interesting opponent for him because he tried to use Elkins wrestling against him, rather than focusing on keeping him from doing it. Pineda did his best to answer Elkins style, but Elkins was generally the one asserting himself, with Pineda coming up with counters that lasted a minute or two before Elkins regained control. This was an active back and forth grappling oriented match, something that has largely become a thing of the past because it's difficult to get a submission in modern MMA, and striking generally shuts it down. Pineda was all in on the usually low percentage strategy of countering with the guillotine. He never succeeded, but Pineda certainly gave an entertaining display of BJJ. There was a great scramble early where Elkins tried to consolidate his single leg, but Pineda tried to secure his guillotine. Pineda was briefly able to mount three times, but kept getting rolled back until Elkins wound up with top control. Pineda used the cage to get back up, but then attacked the guillotine again, taking it back to the canvas. Pineda did land some ground and pound, and was cut around the eye in stand up early on and from a big Elkins ground elbow later, but the majority of this round was fighting for guillotines. Pineda jumped guillotine on Elkins double in the second, and turned it into a triangle attempt. Pineda took some more big elbows for his trouble, reopening the cut. They slugged it out in first half of the 3rd round. No idea how they were scoring this, maybe around to peace maybe Elkins up two, who knows since Elkins had more damage and more control, but Pineda presumably came closer to finishing. Elkins is the more durable fighter, but hadn't been able to wear Pineda down with his pace to the point he would start making concessions. Elkins got a takedown midway through, and was able to grind it out with wrestling and ground and pound. Elkins won a unanimous 29-28 decision. Good match.

10/26/24 Catchweight: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai 3R. This wasn't the most consistent or exciting match, but it had moments that made it seem a lot better than it actually was. It felt eventful because there was massive swelling, a lot of blood, big heart and big damage all around. Rebecki is a relentlessness pressure fighter with a lot of power who was willing to take one to give one if he had to. The first round here was mostly one-way traffic though, with Rebecki seemingly breaking Orolbai's right orbital with an overhand left. The eye basically swelled shut between the 1st and 2nd round, with an elephant man looking hematoma. A lot of the allure of this fight was that Orolbai didn't give up despite having little to no vision in his right eye. Orolbai had to fight a lot more aggressively starting with the second round because the fight could get stopped at any time. He tried for an early takedown, and while that failed, he was able to land a big right uppercut just after the break. Rebecki may not have been landing that often, but when he did connect, it was a big shot to the swollen eye. Rebecki got a nasty cut under the right eye from an accidental headbutt as Orolbai was dropping down for the takedown late in the 2nd. Rebecki was able to get back up, but ate a big elbow before the round ended. This round could have gone either way. Early in the third, Rebecki intercepted an elbow with a short right hand, then dropped Orolbai with a left hook. Rebecki landed big ground punches, but Orolbai got back up and took more punches until he was taken back down. Orolbai kept moving, but it was all one-way traffic, and Cormier was calling for the stoppage. It was awesome that Orolbai somehow willed himself to survive, much less getting the reversal on the ground with 1:15 left. Rebecki wore himself out failing to finish, and Orolbai came on in the final stand-up segment because Rebecki wasn't moving much anymore. Orolbai landed a couple good shots, by no means enough to even remotely consider giving him the round, which up until that point should have been 10-8 for Rebecki. Rebecki won a 29-28 split decision. It's crazy that Jacob Montalvo scored it for Orolbai because the only round you could possibly give Orolbai was the second, and that was more of a toss-up with Orolbai outlanding by 2. I'm fine with giving him a round, but even then, one wonders if one of the judges didn't realize the big damage wasn't from a strike? Good match.

10/26/24 Welterweight: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal 3R. Leal stepped in on short notice and wore down favorite Fakhretdinov, who is 20-0-01 in his last 21, with his pressure and in your face style. Fakhretdinov was looking to both use his own boxing and to counter Leal's by dropping into the double leg. Leal was able to get right back up though after getting taken down early, which allowed him to still be aggressive throwing his strikes. Leal did a good job of landing the calf kick, and Fakhretdinov's movement was already compromised after the second one. Leal got his left straight going in the later part of the round, while Fakhretdinov still just tried to do the same thing. Fakhretdinov landed a similar number of strikes, but all the damaging ones seemed to come from Leal. Leal continued to gain momentum as he began putting together the left to the head with the right low kick. Fakhretdinov couldn't get the takedown after scoring one early in the first round, and began to give up on it. He did have a nice combination of a push kick and a left hand to set up a good right hand midway through the second. Leal was content to stand in the pocket because he was able to back Fakhretdinov with his jabs. Leal was cut late in the second round, and Fakhretdinov finally got another takedown with 15 seconds left to finish on top. Leal showed some nice body punching early in the 3rd. Leal was looking tired in the third throughout this round though, and now his low hands style was starting to work against him because his stationary head was just there to be hit. Leal was able to duck into a brief takedown, but for the most part, the more he waited, the more he got caught. Fakhretdinov landed 52 of his 109 total strikes in the third to finally take a round. The fact that his strategy was to take Leal down, and he only got 2 out of 19 should tell you all you need to know about how to score this fight, but the crazy judges came up with a unanimous 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 win for Fakhretdinov despite Leal closing the fight as a 21-1 favorite after starting as the underdog. Jon Anik was speechless over Fakhretdinov getting all 3 rounds, while Daniel Cormier actually told the Russian translator to sit down because he wasn't going to be needed just before the decision was announced. Good match.

11/16/24 Lightweight: Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler 5R. Chandler wasted potentially the last two good years of his career not fighting he who will never pass a legitimate drug test or fight again. He finally came back without getting his big payday, and was tasked with fighting a younger better fighter who had been active during that period. It didn't go well. We know what Chandler is, and he's just got less size and skill than the former champion. Chandler eventually made it dramatic, but was mostly getting picked apart here in the 1st 4 rounds, either losing to the length and speed of Oliveira on his feet, or getting squeezed in a reverse mount on the canvas. Chandler was doing a good job of landing the jab until Olivera took him down and kept him there for the rest of round 1. Chandler slipped trying to find open ground after eating a series of punches, and was nearly taken down early in the second. Oliveira was landing clean shots too easily in this round, and Chandler kept having to run away to try to reset. As great a submission fighter as Olivera is, I kind of wondered if it was even worth taking Chandler down in the middle of this round because he was cracking him so easily on his feet. Of course, Chandler's chance to win is in stand up, so the takedown would have been the strategy going into the fight. Chandler was certainly taking a beating from elbows on the ground. Oliveira spent most of round four trying to get the choke. Ultimately, Chandler was once again too predictable and one-dimensional. Unable to get anything going by creating chaos or turning it into a brawl, he didn't have a lot to offer Oliveira in a technical fight. This was by no means boring, but there were 3 1/2 rounds after the 1st few minutes of round 1 where this just wasn't a competive fight. Chandler hurt Oliveira with a big right hook in the 5th, but slipped trying to follow with a left haymaker. He was almost taken down from this, but ended up on his knees landing big elbows. Chandler was finally in it with a chance, and did a good job smashing from the top until he tired and Oliveira threw up a triangle. That got the fight back to standing, and Oliveira regained control on the ground going for the choke again, with Chandler jumping backwards a few times trying to slam Oliveira off before the final bell. The 5th round was excellent dramatic stuff with both fighters having a chance to finish, but the rest of the fight was largely just whatever. Oliveira won a unanimous decision 49-46, 49-46, 49-45. Above average match

12/7/24 Flyweight: Joshua Van vs Cody Durden 3R. This match boasted a high pace, and had a lot of clean shots. Unfortunately for Durden, the majority of them were landed by Van. 23-year-old Van is one of the best athletes in the division, making Durden seem in slow motion during the second half of this fight after Durden wore himself out then Van landed clean shot after clean shot. Round one would previously have gone to Durden for control, but in a wiser era, Van's striking was worth more than Durden using Khabib tactics to prevent him from getting back up. Durden's striking was at least effective in setting up the takedown. Durden had 3 minutes of control, but the clinching seemed to be tiring him out more than young Van. Van got his jab going early in the second, and hurt Durden with a high kick. Van was holding the center now, which made it much more difficult for Durden to secure a takedown. Durden was looking wobbly, and wasn't able to recover because he kept getting hit with more clean shots. Durden slowed down considerably, and Van kept the heat on. Durden was increasingly engaging in drunken boxing, just throwing wobbly loopy arm punches, while Van continued to land hard despite having much more direct, compact, and efficient motions. Van's connect percentage was ridiculous, and he never slowed down or let up. Durden showed a ridiculous chin, and great heart to stay in the fight. It was interesting that Durden's corner told him he needed to finish. Perhaps that was a motivational tactic, but one would think they would have thought that he won the first round given he executed what was presumably his game plan for the majority. Regardless, Durden's only chance was to take Van down and grind him out, which presumably he was much less apt to do if he thought he needed to finish him. Durden went for the takedown after getting rocked with a left hook, but that was simply because he was woozy. Durden's right eye especially was bloody and bothering him. Van landed a big right hand counter in the final 30 seconds that seemed like it should have finished Durden after all he'd withstood, but he still didn't even go down. Van won a unanimous decision 29-28, 30-27, 30-26. Good match.

12/14/24 Flyweight: Manel Kape vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva R3 1:57. This fight had a ton of speed, high paced with a lot of action, but it was rather one-sided. Kape had the clear speed advantage, and was really trusting his movement, keeping his hands at his sides and just dodging all sorts of blows. He was trying to bait Silva in with his antics, getting him to overcommit, so he could land the big counter counter. What made it a mismatch is that Kape didn't need to counter, with the combination of length and speed, he could land the jab or low kick on the outside if Silva didn't take the fight to him. When they were inside, Silva had more of a chance, but Kape had such superior defense that he kept Matrixing blows, and landing back. Silva was only able to slow Kape down some with a couple of low blows, but not much he intentionally did was really working with any consistency. He would land a big hook here and there, but he couldn't gain momentum. Silva was trying to get the takedown, but Kape would move right back or shuck him off anytime Silva tried. The action picked up considerably in round 2 when Kape began landing short hooks and styling, providing Silva opportunity to attack emotionally and aggressively. Silva leveled Kape with the third nut shot, finally getting a point deducted. Kape was still limping when the fight was restarted. Silva was really opening up now, while Kape was styling, giving Silva every opportunity to either land huge against an opponent who wasn't in the proper position to defend himself or overcommit and get knocked out. Silva's face was getting busted up, but he was also down 2 rounds plus a point, so he didn't have much choice but to keep going for the finish. This second round was very exciting, even if Kape was being a jerk. Kape was overconfident to the point he was talking to Dana White between rounds, calling for his title shot. Silva began cracking Kape at the start of the third. He was fighting recklessly, but he didn't have much choice. Silva is a finisher, too, and as soon as he stopped, Kape just picked him apart with hooks. Kape landed a liver kick that was basically the end of Silva. He kept coming with hooks until the fight was stopped, but Silva had basically already been rendered unable to defend himself, so Keith Peterson could have stopped it sooner when Silva turned his back. Kape made a lengthy petition to Dana for the title shot after the match, which would make sense given Pantoja has cleared out the division and Demetrious Johnson isn't coming out of retirement. Good match.

12/14/24 Featherweight: Cub Swanson vs. Billy Quarantillo R3 1:36. The action packed war you knew you'd get from these two fan friendly fighters. When Swanson was fresh, Quarantillo just didn't have the speed or disguise to match him. Swanson has so many options, and used very purposeful fainting and misdirection to disguise what he was eventually going to throw. Quarantillo tried to be the aggressor, but Swanson would hop backwards then step back in with the long straight left and money right hook or overhand. Quarantillo did his best work when Cub was close to him, countering pretty effectively before Swanson was able to reestablish distance. He put out massive volume to try to make up for Cub having more accuracty & firepower. In the end, that right hand that Quarantillo wasn't seeing all fight was his downfall. Cub once again used the left hook to set it up, and finally caught Quarantillo clean across the chin with the shot that he wasn't defending against. If this is Swanson's final fight, this walkoff KO finish to a record 12th Fight of the Night is a storybook ending to one of the most exciting careers the sport has ever seen. Excellent match.

These were ranked over a very lengthy period of time. I'm pretty confident in the top 9, but 10-25 are a lot more interchangeable, and there would surely be some movement if I binge watched them all.

Excellent
1. 9/14/24 UFC: Esteban Ribovics vs. Daniel Zellhuber 3R
2. 12/14/24: Cub Swanson vs. Billy Quarantillo R3 1:36
3. 4/13/24: Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic R2 3:17

Very Good
4. 10/12/24 UFC: Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira 5R
5. 8/17/24 UFC Middleweight Title: Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya R4 3:38
6. 2/17/24: Amanda Lemos vs. Mackenzie Dern 3R
7. 3/23/24: Jarno Errens vs. Steven Nguyen 3R
8. 4/13/24 BMF Title: Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje R5 4:59
9. 5/4/24 UFC Flyweight Title: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg 5R

Good
10. 9/28/24: Daniel Barez vs. Victor Altamirano 3R
11. 6/22/24: Nasrat Haqparast vs. Jared Gordon 3R
12. 7/13/24: Jean Silva vs. Drew Dober R3 1:28
13. 9/14/24: Joshua Van vs. Edgar Chairez 3R
14. 6/22/24: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Daniel Rodriguez 3R
15. 6/15/24: Gabriella Fernandes vs. Carli Judice 3R
16. 2/3/24: Charles Johnson vs. Azat Maksum 3R
17. 2/24/24: Daniel Zellhuber vs. Francisco Prado 3R
18. 12/14/24: Manel Kape vs. Bruno Gustavo da Silva R3 1:57
19. 10/5/24 UFC Light Heavyweight Title: Alex Pereira vs. Khalil Rountree Jr. R4 4:32
20. 10/26/24 UFC: Mateusz Rebecki vs. Myktybek Orolbai 3R
21. 8/17/24: Dan Hooker vs. Mateusz Gamrot 3R
22. 9/7/24: Natalia Silva vs. Jessica Andrade 3R
23. 9/14/24: Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode' Osbourne 3R
24. 10/19/24: Darren Elkins vs. Daniel Pineda 3R
25. 10/26/24 UFC: Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal 3R

Heavyweight 0
Light Heavyweight 4
Middleweight 4
Welterweight 3
Lightweight 8
Featherweight 6
Bantamweight 1
Flyweight 8
Catchweight 1

Women's Bantamweight 0
Women's Flyweight 2
Women's Strawweight 1

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