Making the Grade: Passes/Fails for UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. LaFlare
UFC Fight Night from Brazil on Saturday featured a card filled with up-and-comers and top-15 hopefuls, and while the card didn't showcase any major names, the fighters still put on excellent performances.
From the early prelims to the main card, the finishes came fast and furiously all the way up until the main event, which unfortunately ended with a bit of a thud.
But we already know the results from UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. LaFlare, so we're going to dig a little deeper and talk about the passes and fails from Saturday night.
This is making the grade.
PASSES
A Round of Applause for the Bad Guy
Former "Ultimate Fighter" Season 1 competitor Josh Koscheck lost his fifth fight in a row on Saturday night and while he didn't want to commit to it after the defeat, the writing is on the wall that this likely will be his last trip to the Octagon.
During his tenure with the UFC, Koscheck never won a title and competed for the belt on only one occasion, but that doesn't diminish his contribution to the history of the sport and how he should be remembered if this really is the end of his career.
Koscheck was the original bad guy of the UFC in a post-"Ultimate Fighter" universe. His rivalry with Chris Leben on the first season of the reality show helped boost ratings and make "The Ultimate Fighter" a viable success long before Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar were duking it out in the finale.
Koscheck went on to have a decade-long run in the UFC and was undeniably one of the most disliked and reviled fighters on the entire roster — and he ate it up with a spoon. Every time he won, Koscheck would step to the center of the Octagon with his maniacal grin that just drove people crazy. Before Chael Sonnen was giving over-the-top promos or Conor McGregor was challenging an entire country to a duel, Koscheck just had to smirk at a crowd and they were ready to riot.
And Koscheck wasn't all talk either. He took out a laundry list of top fighters in his day, from Anthony Johnson to Paul Daley to Matt Hughes, and he did so with impressive finishes along the way.
If this really is the end of Koscheck in the UFC, hopefully new fans won't judge him by his recent skid alone because what he did for the sport and the welterweight division during his career won't soon be forgotten.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Lives!
Just before Saturday night's card, main event fighter Demian Maia voiced his complaint about the way the rules were set up in MMA and how they were not conducive to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters being able to ply their craft on the ground. In his previous 14 fights, Maia had pulled off only one submission and that's saying a lot considering the pedigree he has in grappling.
But the Saturday's fights told a different story.
Six fights came to a close thanks to a submission, highlighted by Godofredo Pepey pulling off a spectacular jumping triangle choke to finish off Andre Fili in their bout to start the main card. Leonardo Santos and Gilbert Burns, two notable Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, also pulled off impressive submissions.
Pulling off a submission these days is definitely harder than ever because fighters have gotten so good over the years at not getting caught, but Saturday night proved Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is still alive and well and thriving in the Octagon.
Rousey and McGregor = Pay Attention to This Show!
Let's not kid ourselves — UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. LaFlare was low on star power after injuries decimated the majority of the main card, but the UFC marketing team still managed to get a whole lot of eyeballs on this weekend's card by scheduling some pre-fight activities no fight fan could ignore.
The kickoff to the weekend was a press conference featuring local Brazilian hero Jose Aldo and his next opponent, Conor McGregor. The disdain between these two featherweights is palpable and the crowd in Rio came unglued whenever McGregor opened his mouth to speak. Then the UFC announced the UFC 190 main event between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia.
Rousey (known as Honda in Brazil) might be the most beloved American fighter in Brazil, so bringing her to the show was a no-brainer.
It was a great marketing ploy to bring eyeballs to the show so well done,UFC!
FAILS
Take a Chance
UFC president Dana White said after the main event that if he had one complaint, it would be Maia not taking any chances that could have resulted in a finish in his five-round bout with Ryan LaFlare, and he's absolutely correct.
Maia took LaFlare down at will throughout the first four rounds, routinely passing his guard and getting into dominant positions. Despite his obvious advantages on the mat, Maia really came close to a finish only once in the fourth round when he was fishing for an arm triangle choke. Outside of that, Maia sat in mount for several minutes over the course of four rounds and did minimal damage to LaFlare and barely looked to go for any submissions that could have cost him top control.
The fact is Maia had plenty of opportunity to go for any number of finishes during his fight with LaFlare, but he favored position over submission. There's nothing wrong with just being dominating on top and not allowing an opponent a moment to breathe, but Maia desperately needed to put this fight away and by the fifth round he didn't look like the winner — he looked like a guy who barely had enough energy to hold on for the final bell.
The Four Horsewomen Are No More
Let's get the formality out of the way: Ronda Rousey is by far the best fighter in the world in the women's bantamweight division and probably the most dominant champion the UFC has seen since Royce Gracie was tapping out 300-pound fighters during the first few events back in the early 90's.
That said, Rousey's teammates have not found nearly as much success in the Octagon despite an ominous nickname touting them as "The Four Horsewomen" of MMA. It was an old concept borrowed most recently from the 1980s pro wrestling tandem known as the Four Horsemen, with "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair at the head of the table along with a stable of top teammates who ruled the sports entertainment world for nearly a decade.
"The Four Horsewomen" included Rousey, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir (who isn't in the UFC, or fighting at 135 pounds). Outside of Rousey's dominant streak, the other three fighters in the group have gone a combined 1-7 in their past eight fights (inside and outside the UFC). Baszler was the latest to fall short after Amanda Nunes put her down with a crippling leg kick in a featured bout on Saturday night in Brazil.
It was fun while it lasted, but at this point "The Four Horsewomen" are no more. Don't tell that to Rousey, though: She said her main motivation to beat Correia is because the Brazilian went after and beat Baszler and Duke to get her title shot.
EPIC FAIL
The Referee from Hell
Brazilian referee Eduardo Herdy, supposedly a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, blew the worst call in the history of the sport on Saturday night when he stopped a fight between Leandro Silva and Drew Dober for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Silva had Dober in a guillotine choke momentarily, but it was clear the hold was slipping and the American fighter would soon break free and get out of any danger. Somehow, Herdy decided to stop the fight and declare Silva the winner despite the fact that Dober was conscious, never tapped out and was actually about to land in the dominant position on the ground after slipping out of the guillotine.
Herdy made a colossal mistake and he should be held accountable for it.
Herdy didn't just stop a fight early or not allow a fighter a chance to come back after getting caught. He flat-out blew the call and needs to be pulled from all future shows and disciplined. Maybe he can work his way back to the big show at some point in the future, but he just managed to pull off the worst stoppage in UFC history, and that's really saying something considering the 20-plus years of fights that have taken place inside the Octagon.
