UFC 230 was this past weekend. Let’s get right to the rundown.
UFC 230
GOOD- Israel Adesanya stops Derek Brunson
Brunson tried to take Adesanya down early but it didn’t work and Adesanya started peppering him with shots. He dropped him a few times and the ref jumped in and stopped the fight. Really good win for Adesanya as he remains undefeated and continues to impress.
BAD/GOOD- Karl Roberson vs. Jack Marshman
I didn’t care for this fight much at all. I’m adding a GOOD, though, because Roberson showed good takedowns but he didn’t do anything with them. Maybe I just don’t want to seem too harsh because I thought this fight was boring as hell and I was glad when it was over. Roberson won the decision.
GOOD- Jared Cannonier stops David Branch
Branch won the first round with his takedowns. The second round started with Cannonier blasting Branch with a powerful left hand, then he was able to pounce and get the stoppage. Tough loss for Branch and good middleweight debut for Cannonier. Big win for him.
GOOD- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza stops Chris Weidman
Weidman was having success during this fight, and he likely won the first two rounds. He hurt Jacare several times, who responded with toughness and damaging shots of his own to Weidman. This was an exciting fight all the way up to the finish, which saw Jacare hurt Weidman badly with some big shots that ended the fight about halfway through the third round. Weidman has lost four of five fights but I imagine he’ll get at least one more chance because the guys he’s lost to are good fighters. Big win for Jacare.
GOOD- Daniel Cormier submits Derrick Lewis
Cormier controlled this fight with takedowns and grappling, wearing out Lewis. He was still dangerous, though, so Cormier decided to keep the fight on the ground as much as possible or against the fence. He didn’t give Lewis any room and he ended up locking in a rear naked choke and forced the tap halfway through the second round to defend his UFC Heavyweight Title. An expected win, but a good win for Cormier.
Cormier still talks of retiring in March 2019 when he turns 40 so he’s probably got one more fight left. Presumably it’ll be against Brock Lesnar, as Cormier again called for a fight with Lesnar after this win and told Brock to bring his WWE Championship Title with him. Assuming they fight, I would expect that fight to go pretty much exactly the same way this fight went. I would expect Cormier to get Lesnar to the mat and eventually submit him. Anything could happen, of course, but that’s the most likely outcome.
NEXT: ROUNDTABLE – WHO SHOULD GET THE NEXT SHOT AT JONES-GUSTAFSSON WINNER?
Cormier has said he would drop down to light heavyweight one more time to fight Jon Jones but Jones hasn’t expressed interest in that, which has lead to Cormier saying he doesn’t need the fight either but it would be a nice feather in his cap if he were to beat Jones and avenge his only loss. However, Jones is scheduled to fight Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Title. I get why the UFC wanted Cormier to vacate the UFC Light Heavyweight Title, it’s unfeasible to have one person defend titles in two divisions. As much as I’d love to see it, it’s just too much for that person and it slows both divisions down too much. So, we finally get Jones-Gustafsson 2 and Cormier (presumably) gets his big money retirement fight against Lesnar. Sounds good to me, or about as good as we can expect given the circumstances.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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