Some might need predicted a first-round stoppage when Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane met in the primary occasion of UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, however nobody might have foreseen the stoppage being because of an incidental eye poke. It was, to be frank, a bummer to see Aspinall’s extremely anticipated first title protection finish in a no contest after a important card that already had positioned a new champion atop the strawweight division, a possible No. 1 contender within the males’s bantamweight division and had hinted on the subsequent challenger for the winner of Aspinall vs. Gane.
The UFC 321 headliner will nearly definitely be rescheduled instantly — possibly even this yr — however wouldn’t it have ever occurred within the first place if the UFC hadn’t spent a lot time pairing Jon Jones with Stipe Miocic in 2023? Brett Okamoto has to surprise.
Andreas Hale and Jeff Wagenheim additionally posit that the situations are proper for Mackenzie Dern to make an prolonged reign at strawweight and that Umar Nurmagomedov might get one other title shot sooner quite than later.
The fallout of Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic continues
When one thing like this occurs within the heavyweight division, I can not assist however return to the UFC’s choice to ebook Jones vs. Miocic in 2023 (and once more in 2024, when the unique date received delayed by a yr due to harm). It was such an pointless combat. We waited over a yr for a consequence we already knew: that Jones would end Miocic, who primarily got here out of retirement. Why did the UFC try this? Cash? How a lot cash is it now costing the corporate to have a heavyweight division in ruins? If the UFC had actually needed to carry Miocic again into the fold, it ought to have pressured him to combat Tom Aspinall as soon as Jones went down for that title combat in 2023.
If the UFC had began to advertise Aspinall in 2023, think about how completely different this division would possibly look. On the very least, it would not really feel so stagnant. It won’t be setting the world on hearth as a result of, frankly, it would not presently have the depth for that, however not less than it would not really feel like a division wherein nothing has occurred for 3 years. I can not think about how irritating it’s for Aspinall, which is why his father, Andy, is speaking about fighting out their contract with the UFC and pursuing boxing. Aspinall could be the second heavyweight champion prior to now a number of years to do this if it had been to come back to cross, becoming a member of former UFC champion Francis Ngannou.
I am crying over spilled milk, and I do know it. Let me. The heavyweight division would not really feel actual good proper now, and the UFC closely contributed to that for the sake of a combat that actually was barely fascinating. — Okamoto
Mackenzie Dern is turning into an entire fighter at simply the suitable time
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Mackenzie Dern wins the vacant girls’s strawweight title
Mackenzie Dern defeats Virna Jandiroba by choice to win the ladies’s strawweight title.
Though she was 5-4 in her previous 9 fights, it was clear that Dern had been evolving because the world-class grappler was targeted on enhancing her hanging. It had lengthy been the lacking device that prevented Dern from reaching the lofty expectations set when she debuted for the UFC in 2018.
However it all lastly got here collectively for her at simply the suitable time in opposition to Virna Jandiroba.
With Zhang Weili vacating the strawweight title and there being no clear high contender to face reverse the No. 1-ranked Jandiroba, the UFC opted to opportunistically thrust Dern right into a title combat in what can solely be described as a now-or-never scenario for the fan favourite.
And it labored.
Dern, who defeated Jandiroba by choice in December 2020, used her hanging to grind out a unanimous choice and declare the vacant title. Dern managed to be efficient sufficient along with her hanging to pressure Jandiroba into takedown makes an attempt all through the combat. Jandiroba managed to take Dern down 9 occasions however was largely ineffective resulting from Dern’s excellence in grappling. With Jandiroba unable to seek out a bonus anyplace within the Octagon, she was relegated to hanging exchanges that noticed her outstruck by Dern 249-208.
To be clear: There’s a vital hole between the present champion and the previous champion. Ought to Weili resolve to come back again to strawweight after she faces Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title on Nov. 15, she would probably be a major betting favourite to regain the championship in opposition to Dern. If and till then, the brand new champion is rounding out her recreation at a time when there is not a real multidimensional opponent ready within the wings. She’s now competent sufficient in her standup to be aggressive in opposition to the division’s finest strikers (Amanda Lemos, Jessica Andrade and Yan Xiaonan), despite the fact that she has misplaced to all of them beforehand. And her floor recreation will at all times give her the sting in opposition to fellow grapplers and wrestlers, similar to Tatiana Suarez and Gillian Robertson.
She should be seen as a transitional champion till she secures her first title protection, however the evolution of Mackenzie Dern is noteworthy and has lastly seen her ascend to the highest of the strawweight mountain. — Hale
Not all title shot eliminator fights are created — or end — equally
The 2 fights instantly earlier than the title bouts each pitted championship contenders seeking to safe a golden alternative. Whereas the 2 winners might have succeeded at that, just one instilled followers with hope that if he is granted a title combat, it has a good probability of being a altering of the guard.
At heavyweight, Alexander Volkov received for the fifth time in his previous six fights, however his victory over Jailton Almeida didn’t encourage ideas that he might dethrone Tom Aspinall. Volkov has misplaced to solely two males in his most up-to-date 11 fights — Saturday’s headliners, Aspinall and Ciryl Gane. And whereas each of his losses to Gane went the gap, the second ending in a controversial break up choice, Volkov received smoked by Aspinall in 2022, dropping by first-round submission.
Why ought to anybody imagine that may change after watching Volkov get taken down seven occasions and managed on the canvas for lengthy stretches throughout his slim victory over Almeida? It could appear probably that Aspinall and Gane will run it again after their anticlimactic no contest, however even wanting past that, the place does Volkov slot in?
Then again, males’s bantamweight Umar Nurmagomedov raised his inventory by bouncing again from his solely profession loss — to champion Merab Dvalishvili in a January title fight. Nurmagomedov placed on a robust efficiency in opposition to a recreation Mario Bautista, touchdown almost 60% of his strikes and amassing 11 takedowns. Watching that whetted appetites for a second Dvalishvili-Nurmagomedov conflict. Deliver it on. — Wagenheim
