The world of MMA & combat sports is always moving, and this week was a big one. Fresh off UFC 266, we have a recap on the weekend of, a plethora of matchups made, and the retiring of a boxing legend.
Pac-Man, It’s been an honor
Although not MMA, we have stop and recognize the career of Manny Pacquaio. I believe if you’re a fan of combat sports, you have most likely watched a few boxing events. I would also find it very unlikely that when you tuned in, Pacquaio wasn’t on the card. Garnering the attention of the world as a Filipino native, he was unique and supremely skillful and had a rightful meteoric rise in the early 2000s. A case can be made for being one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He feared no one, and just wanted to fight the best. A respectful attitude and highlight reel fighting style, we should always remember Pac-Man as a legend hanging his championships in the rafters of combat sports.
Now that the dust has settled
UFC 266 was a great card, and had what every PPV event should aim for; a spectacular main event capping off the night. If you had any misplaced feelings for Alexander Volkanovski before the fight, those feelings should now turn into admiration or acceptance of Volk being the rightful heir to the Featherweight division. I understand that Max Holloway could be seen as the victor of their rematch (I definitely thought so), but at the end of the day the judges scored it differently, and Volk showed up yet again to stake claim to the division. This time however, he also showed something else that wasn’t evident in his previous fights; heart. That third round was unmistakably one of the greatest rounds in UFC history. To come back from a guillotine choke that deep can only be done by someone who will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Poor Brian Ortega. He has come up falling short yet again, and taking long term damage again as well. I believe in a universe out there, he would be the champion, showing his greatness with the belt strapped around his waist. Unfortunately, he is in his prime at the same time two legends Volk and Holloway are still around (and arguably in their prime as well). He is facing a 6 month recovery suspension from this fight, so it’s looking like we won’t see how this will affect him until May-ish of next year.
For the rest of the card, the results were pretty expected. Valentina Shevchenko remains absolutely dominant. For the sake of the fans, as well as the fighters, they need to pair her against Nunes once more. This will help the division potentially catch up as well as give the fans a supremely high interest women’s fight outside of the strawweight division. Curtis Blaydes being more well rounded notched a good W in the books coming off a nasty KO against Lewis. Robbie Lawler vs Nick Diaz 2 was a treat for long time fans, but if you take away the history, there wasn’t much to write about. Diaz not wanting this fight and pre fight comments are a story line to follow however. Something is up with his management, and hopefully we will get answers soon. Lastly, Jessica Andrade dominated Cynthia Cavillo as she should have.
The rest of the year is shaping up
UFC 267 has been announced for some time, but like clockwork, an announced fight needs a fill-in. To the rescue Dan Hooker & Cory Sandhagen! Hooker will now face Islam Makhachev after just taking a W at UFC 266. This fight has some history behind it, and will be a treat for the fans to see. Cory Sandhagen fills in for Aljamain Sterling to fight for the Interim Bantamweight Championship against Petr Yan. Talk about a better replacement! It’s not that Sterling is boring, but coming off a neck surgery and not having proper recovery time, the fight happening too soon would have not been fair to not only Sterling, but to the fans who deserve both fighters to be at their best. Sandhagen is coming off a loss against TJ Dillashaw, but was extremely controversial as most scored Sandhagen winning. It appears the UFC agreed, as he will get his shot for gold on October 30th.
UFC 269 is coming together very nicely with 3 championship fights and rising UFC stars:
Dustin Poirier #6p4p #1 vs Charles Oliviera #Champ #10p4p
Amanda Nunes #Champ vs Juliana Pena #5
Deivison Figueiredo #1 vs Brandon Moreno #Champ #11 p4p
Flyweight bout: Cody Garbrandt vs. Kai Kara-France #6
Women's Flyweight bout: Gillian Robertson vs. Priscila Cachoeira
Women's Flyweight bout: Montana De La Rosa #15 vs. Maycee Barber #13
Bantamweight bout: Randy Costa vs. Tony Kelley
Middleweight bout: Andre Muniz #15 vs. Dricus Du Plessis
Featherweight bout: Ryan Hall vs. Darrick Minner
Flyweight bout: Alex Perez #4 vs. Matt Schnell #8
Bantamweight bout: Dominick Cruz #11 vs. Pedro Munhoz #9 - JUST MADE
Sean O’Malley vs Raula Paiva #15 - JUST MADE