HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC 262

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist

UFC 262 was last night and featured some finishes and crowned a new UFC Lightweight Champion. Let’s get to the rundown.

UFC 262
GOOD- Edson Barboza stops Shane Burgos
Barboza came out firing and landing some good kicks. No surprise there. Burgos fought back but Barboza did more damage in the first round. Burgos almost got stopped in the first round, but he made it through. The second round saw Burgos start landing heavy body shots. Barboza fired back but Burgos did a lot of damage. Some strangeness occurred in the third round, as Barboza caught Burgos clean with a good punch. Burgos seemed to shake it off, but then stumbled backwards towards the cage and Barboza finished him with punches. That was a very delayed reaction. Good win for Barboza.

GOOD- Viviane Araujo vs. Katlyn Chookagian
Not a lot happening in the first round. Very close so far. Araujo got a takedown in the second round but Chookagian survives. The third round saw Chookagian throw and land a lot more strikes, and that gave her the round and decision victory. Good win for Chookagian.

GOOD- Matt Schnell vs. Rogerio Bontorin
Another slow starting fight, though it did heat up in the latter half of the first round. Both fighters landed some good shots. The second round saw Bontorin stun Schnell with a left hand but he survives. Bontorin landed more strikes in the third round as well, and that got him the decision victory. Good win for Bontorin.

GOOD- Beneil Dariush vs. Tony Ferguson
It’d be easy to say that Ferguson is done. Hell, I’m already seeing that from people. This loss won’t do much to counter that assessment. And there’s a lot of validity to that, I think Ferguson has just taken too much damage over his career. However, I will say that Dariush looked really good here and Ferguson still looked fairly good himself. At least, to me he did. I know he’s now lost 3 fights in a row but I don’t think he looked as bad as some are saying. Maybe I’m biased, though? But I really think Ferguson hasn’t fallen off that Tom Brady cliff that Max Kellerman keeps talking about. Or used to talk about, I don’t actually watch First Take, I just hear second-hand about the stupid things he and Stephen A. Smith say.
Anyway, Dariush won the decision and fought very well. Good win for Dariush.

GOOD- Charles Oliveira stops Michael Chandler
This was for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. Oliveira survived a hellacious assault in the first round, getting dropped and bloodied up. Chandler really showed his power and Oliveira really showed his toughness. Oliviera dropped Chandler early in the second round with a powerful left hook. Chandler got back up but ran into a big flurry from Oliveira and that was it. Oliveira is now a UFC champion. He also holds multiple UFC records like most submissions at 14 and most finishes at 17. He’s also won 9 fights in a row. I imagine the winner of Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor 3 at UFC 264 on July 10th will be Oliveira’s first title defense. It’ll be hard for me to pick against Oliveira no matter who he fights, especially after this win.

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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