Making the Grade: Passes/Fails from UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas
Chad Mendes proved once again why he is the No. 1-ranked featherweight in the world as he cruised past No. 4-ranked Ricardo Lamas in less than one round in the main event of the UFC Fight Night event from Virginia on Saturday.
Al Iaquinta also managed to pull off a close, if not controversial, win over Jorge Masvidal to move his winning streak to four while turning on the crowd after his victory and shouting any number of expletives in their direction.
Julianna Pena also returned Saturday after more than a year away from the sport as she made short work of Milana Dudieva to get back on track in the UFC women's bantamweight division.
But the results have already been returned. Today we dig a little deeper into the UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas card to see who passed and who failed. This is making the grade.
PASSES
Mendes is Money
It's hard to live up to expectations sometimes when you're the No. 1-ranked fighter in any division. People expect a certain kind of fight when the best of the best are in the Octagon, but Chad Mendes had no intentions of letting anyone down after he scorched Ricardo Lamas with an early right hand before putting away the Chicago native with strikes at just 2:45 into the first round.
The pressure was ratcheted up on Mendes even more after nearly dethroning featherweight champion Jose Aldo last October, and the hangover from a championship fight can be tough to overcome.
Mendes certainly did his part to prove that theory a fallacy after he blasted through Lamas and once again secured his spot as the best featherweight on the planet not named Aldo.
Now he awaits the outcome of the upcoming featherweight super fight between Frankie Edgar and his teammate Urijah Faber as well as the championship main event at UFC 189 between Aldo and Conor McGregor to see where he fits in the title picture.
Mendes has already said he doesn't want to sit out too long, so chances are he'll end up fighting again at some point this summer. And whichever featherweight draws his name from the hat probably won't feel like they won the lottery exactly when they step out of the cage after dealing with a ferocious finisher like the No. 1 fighter in the world at 145 pounds.
The Dude Abides
Clay Guida prides himself on being an animal in the cage and one of the most laidback guys outside of it. This is a guy who borders on obsessed when it comes to "The Big Lebowski," after all. That said, Guida must have had his rug stolen or something before his fight with Robbie Peralta on Saturday because after dominating the fight for three rounds, he decided to sound off on everything from President Barack Obama to Rafael dos Anjos to the critics who have a problem with wrestling.
The best part of Guida's speech was his announcement that he's willing to go back up to 155 pounds where he spent the biggest part of his UFC career. It might seem like a long time ago, but Guida holds wins over a number of top fighters in the lightweight division including the past two champions!
Guida took out Anthony Pettis in his first fight in the UFC with a wrestling-heavy attack that the former champion just couldn't counter. Guida also managed to break dos Anjos' jaw when they fought, and there is still a steel plate holding together the Brazilian's face as a not-so-subtle reminder of the result of that fight.
Guida has typically been a pretty soft-spoken guy throughout his career and usually allowed his high-volume, high-intensity performances speak for themselves. On Saturday, Guida reacted like he just found out he had a private eye trailing his every move and somebody was bothering his special lady. Excuse me, lady friend.
Did You See that 'Stache?
Words don't really do it justice, but hopefully everyone caught heavyweight Timothy Johnson on the prelims as the second fight of the night. His mustache was akin to something you'd see on a construction worker in the 1950s, and it was awesome. Burt Reynolds would be jealous of that 'stache.
FAILS
Don't Let It Get You
Al Iaquinta fought to a very close decision with Jorge Masvidal on Saturday, but when the decision was read that gave him the win, the Virginia faithful turned on him and started booing rather loudly. Iaquinta was irate after the fight, and when FOX UFC commentator Jon Anik attempted to ask him about his performance, the New York native instead launched into an expletive-laced tirade aimed at the crowd for essentially yelling at him.
Listen, there are always going to be raucous crowds, and some of them will boo anyone at any time in any place -- just ask Santa Claus how he feels when he goes to Philadelphia. It's part of sports, whether you like it or not. Fans who pay copious amounts of money to attend a sporting event have the right to voice their opinions, so long as they aren't throwing things or actually attacking an athlete. Cheering and booing are just a part of the deal.
Iaquinta erupted into an emotional tirade, and he's allowed to be upset, but just don't show your hand with an expletive-laced call-out that registered on the "George Carlin dirty words" scale. The problem Iaquinta will now likely face is if he goes up against a savvy and smart crowd the next time he fights. Chances are they are going to boo him just as loudly to see if they can get the same reaction.
Let them see you excited and let them see you outspoken, but never let them see you sweat.
Gray Skies Aren't Clearing
Gray Maynard dropped his fourth fight in a row on Saturday and fifth out of his past six, and it's been tough to see this one-time lightweight title contender fall so far down the ladder at 155 pounds.
Maynard had years taken off his career in two separate battles with Frankie Edgar, the second of which ended with him getting knocked out late into the fight -- and he's never been the same since. Maynard got blasted by T.J. Grant before Nate Diaz and Ross Pearson did the exact same thing. He survived to lose a decision against Alexander Yakovlev on Saturday, but that was after he got rocked and nearly finished early in the fight.
Maynard was an absolute beast at 155 pounds a few years ago. He mauled fighters like Kenny Florian to earn title shots and put on outstanding performances to top names like Roger Huerta and Jim Miller.
Now Maynard is facing an uncertain future after four losses in a row, and it's hard to believe the UFC will want to give him a fifth chance to not only get a win, but prove his chin can still weather the storm of a very tough and very deep division at 155 pounds.
EPIC FAIL
Not Again
The judges in Virginia must have forgotten their morning coffee because some of their scores were not only wrong, but all over the place to boot.
Let's start with the call in the fight between Lauren Murphy and Liz Carmouche.
Now right off the bat, let's be clear -- no one is shouting to the rooftops to see this fight again. It was not a barnburner by any means, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be judged fairly. Murphy out-struck Carmouche 46-38 in significant strikes and really controlled the action with her clinch work and takedown attempts against the cage. Carmouche managed to mount a solid comeback in round three with a takedown of her own where she quickly moved into side control on Murphy, but by that point it was already too late into the fight to get a finish.
The judges returned a unanimous-decision score with everybody handing Carmouche the second round. Yet, just about everybody scoring along at home felt Murphy was robbed of a victory.
Now let's talk about the lightweight fight between Al Iaquinta and Jorge Masvidal, which actually managed to have two judging controversies.
First, Douglas Crosby was chosen to render a verdict in the bout, and rumors swirled after the fight that he's had a longstanding grudge vs. Ray Longo, who happens to be Iaquinta's head coach. The reason that rumor started circulating was because Crosby returned a score of 30-27 in favor of Masvidal.
The more tragic part of Crosby's decision was that he might have been the only judge to actually get the final call correct!
Almost every major media outlet scored Masvidal winning the fight 29-28. Add to that the lopsided numbers Masvidal racked up by out-landing Iaquinta 83 to 55 in significant strikes. He also stuffed nine takedown attempts from Iaquinta throughout the fight. The only thing Masvidal apparently did wrong was not plodding forward over and over again and instead opting for a counterstriking battle with the more aggressive Iaquinta.
It appeared as if Masvidal had the perfect strategy until the judges decided to give the win to the guy who just aggressively attacked all night long. It didn't matter much whether he was landing, just that he was stepping forward to press the action.
The inconsistency in judging in MMA continues to be a plague to our sport, and now Murphy goes home with her second straight UFC loss while Masvidal has to restart his climb back up the top-15 rankings in the lightweight division. It's not right and it's just not fair, and something has to be done about it.
