The UFC returned to Houston, Texas tonight with a star-studded card headlined by a middleweight championship rematch. It was a very exciting night full of thrilling fights, memorable performances and another impressive championship performance from a dominant champion.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the night and break down the three fights we looked at in our UFC 271 preview.
Prelim Highlights
Kyler Phillips put on a show in his bantamweight bout against Marcel Rojo. Phillips’ superior athleticism allowed him to beat Rojo to the punch, quite literally. Still, Rojo was very game and hung in there through everything Phillips threw at him. The most significant strikes were some low kicks from Phillips that absolutely battered Rojo’s left calf. Phillips scored a takedown in the third and, after various submission attempts, he forced Rojo to tap with an armbar. It was a big win for a talented young contender.
In one of the most bizarre decisions in recent memory, Casey O’Neill won a split decision over Roxanne Modafferi. It was a puzzling result because it was clear to everyone who watched that O’Neill dominated the fight. The commentary team discussed the ineptitude of the judge who scored the fight for Modafferi despite her being on the wrong side of the second biggest significant strike differential in the history of the division. Regardless, it was a strong performance from Modafferi, who called it a career and got a lot of respect from the fans in attendance.
In the final prelim, UFC legend Andrew Arlovski stepped into the octagon for the 37th time to take on Jared Vanderaa. It was an evenly matched fight for the first two rounds, but Arlovski’s experience allowed him to control the pace. Vanderaa managed to be the aggressor in the final round but it wasn’t enough to make up for the first two and Arlovski won a close split decision.
Main Card Highlights
There was certainly an uptick in intensity once Bobby Green and Nasrat Haqparast stepped into the octagon to kick off the main card. Right from the beginning, it was clear Green had a decisive speed advantage and that made a huge difference. Green put on an absolute clinic with his boxing skills, landing jabs and straight rights all fight long en route to a decision victory. Haqparast proved his toughness by hanging in the pocket for three full rounds but it was an incredible performance from Green. If he doesn’t find himself in the top 15 in the UFC’s lightweight division after this, I don’t know what he has to do.
In another exciting lightweight bout, Alexander Hernandez took on Renato Moicano. The two fought a very close first round with each fighter getting the upper hand for a moment. In the second though, Moicano landed a huge right hand that stunned Hernandez and backed him up. Moicano also landed a knee to the body as his opponent desperately tried to take the fight to the floor. Being the grappling expert he is, it didn’t take Moicano long to take the back and sink in a choke and force a still reeling Hernandez to tap out. Moicano is another guy that should find himself in the rankings his next time out.
Jared Cannonier def. Derek Brunson
In a potential championship eliminator, these two middleweight contenders clearly knew there was a lot on the line in this one. Brunson showed off his relentless wrestling in the early going, constantly pressuring Cannonier with takedown attempts. Cannonier defended well for most of the first round, but Brunso did manage to take him to the floor on multiple occasions and nullify his dangerous striking. In the second though, the momentum shifted when Cannonier landed and early right hand and Brunson never seemed to fully recover. All of his energy seemed to be sapped and Brunson continuously walked into Cannonier’s shots. Cannonier eventually landed a huge elbo that rocked Brunson and led to a brutal knockout. In his post-fight interview, Cannonier made it a point to get Dana White’s attention before demanding he get the next middleweight title shot. He is certainly deserving of that.
My pick: Cannonier via decision
Result: Cannonier via 2nd round knockout
Tai Tuivasa def. Derrick Lewis
The energy was on another level at the start of this one as both of these guys are absolute fan favorites who can end a fight in the blink of an eye. The crowd was behind Lewis, with him being the hometown guy, but it was clear they also love Tuivasa. While everyone in attendance was expecting these two guys to throw hands right off the bat, they actually came out a bit more measured than we’ve seen before. Tuivasa utilized leg kicks and the clinch game while Lewis actually scored a couple of big takedowns. Lewis landed a few big shots in the first round, but Tuivasa was surprisingly largely unphased. In the second, both guys appeared to be more willing to open up their striking a bit and we got the wild exchanges we expected and hoped to see. Both guys landed several times but it was Tuivasa’s punches that appeared to have more of an effect. He got Lewis up against the fence and landed a devastating elbow that dropped him and secured the victory. Tuivasa is clearly ready to take a big leap in the rankings and might only be one more win away from a title shot. Of course, we got another celebratory shoey after the fight as well.
My pick: Tuivasa via 2nd round knockout
Result: Tuivasa via 2nd round knockout
Israel Adesanya def. Robert Whittaker
It can be tough to sell a rematch when one fighter knocked the other one out in their previous meeting. That was not the case for this one though as the dominant champion Adesanya and the former champ Whittaker feels like a great matchup on paper. The first round proved otherwise however as Adesanya just wouldn’t allow Whittaker to get anything going and showed that his striking is just on another level. It was a dominant round for the champ.
The second round brought a complete switch though as Whittaker started to land his left hand a bit and even managed to score a takedown. He wasn’t able to control the champion for long and may have still lost the round but it was enough to give Whittaker some confidence and make this a fight again. Every round was very close from there on out, with Adesanya’s success coming mostly on leg kicks and Whittaker’s coming from takedowns. Neither fighter ever really did a ton of damage after that first round but both certainly did some things to score points.
It was a very close fight that went the distance and was left up to the judges. In the end though, Adesanya did jut a bit more than his challenger and scored the decision victory to remain the undisputed middleweight champion. After the fight, the champ seemingly accepted the challenge that was offered by Jared Cannonier earlier in the night. That would be a very exciting fight but Cannonier would have to show us some skills we haven’t seen before because he is not going to outstrike Adesanya.
My pick: Adesanya via 5th round knockout
Result: Adesanya via decision
The UFC will return to ESPN on Saturday, February 19th for UFC Fight Night: Walker vs. Hill. Be sure to check back for a preview of the event.