After a lot of people question this past weekend's card in the days leading up to it, the card delivered 10 finishes. Now, simply having the fight end inside the distance doesn't necessarily make it interesting or exciting, but it does help. At the very least, it ensures that the fights that you weren't interested in didn't overstay their welcome. At the very least, we got some nice highlights and like I said, it wasn't going to be the worst card of the year like I lot of people were predicting. Being that there were so many finishes, the winners will come out of this fight with some decent momentum. I am just going to take a moment to talk about their performances and try to suggest some potential opponents for their next fight.
Mayra Bueno Silva got the night started with a weird armbar that led to some debate as to whether or not Stephanie Egger actually tapped or not. While it wasn't clear on any replay, the fact that Egger never really disputed the call told me everything I needed to know. She didn't really ever play into the fact that she may not have tapped even when the referee wasn't doing anything. Silva let go, but Egger didn't really react when she did. If she hadn't tapped, when Silva let go of her arm, she almost assuredly would have then tried to solidify top position and started looking to land strikes, but she didn't do anything of the sort. It was a pretty quick fight overall, so there isn't a ton to say about what actually happened. Egger got the takedown that she needed, but she wasn't careful enough and got submitted from the guard. That was always a possibility that I would have thought she would be more prepared for. Either way, it was a good win for Silva, who's style will keep her in the UFC for as long as she can be competitive. Depending on exactly what weight Josiane Nunes is looking to compete at, I would like to see her as Silva's next opponent in a fight that I think would be pretty fun.
Cory McKenna bounced back with a submission win early in the second round. It was good to see McKenna get back to a more grappling heavy style and the results were what they were. I think the path for McKenna to have a very productive career is for her to lean more into her grappling. She tried to strike last time out and I just don't think she is that type of fighter. She's undersized, limited athletically, and doesn't defend strikes well. She isn't an amazing grappler, but she's a pretty solid one and that needs to be her plan A going forward. I think she can win a fair amount of these lower level fights with that type of game. I wouldn't expect anything too interesting or crazy for McKenna in her next fight though. I think someone like Vanessa Demopoulos, Maria Oliveira, or Piera Rodriguez are the types of opponents McKenna would be looking at.
Bryan Battle got a quick finish of Takashi Sato in a very impressive victory. It was his first time cutting down to welterweight and he seemed to do so without too much of an issue. I was at least a tad worried that someone who takes as much damage as he does would be effected by dropping down a weight class, but he took a few shots and he didn't look any different than normal. He fired off a high kick that Sato never saw coming and finished him pretty dramatically. Battle is one of those guys who doesn't jump off the screen as being a problem, but his combination of cardio, toughness, and an all around skill set will present a matchup problem for a lot of the bottom half of the division as he'll just be able to take advantage of wherever his opponent is weaker. He called out Ian Garry and I kind of like that idea if I'm being honest. If not him, I think someone like Matt Semelsberger, Gabe Green, or Court McGee would sort of fit the tier of fighter that Battle needs to be in next time.
Michal Oleksiejczuk knocked out Sam Alvey in his debut at middleweight. For obvious reasons, it is a bit difficult to say exactly how he would have looked in a more competitive fight, but he did seem to make the weight without too much of an issue. His kickboxing was as good as we have come to expect, albeit in a matchup that was tailor made for him to win. My best guess is that Michal will end up facing another middle third of the division kickboxer type. Marc-Andre Barriault seems like the no brainer fight to make to me. Maybe someone like Abdul Razak Alhassan or Puna Soriano could be an option as well.
Terrance McKinney finished another fight in the first round. After stepping in on short notice and taking his shot against Drew Dober, he dropped back down in competition against Erick Gonzalez. McKinney showed some self control in this fight and tried to fight a more patient style. I think coming into fights with a targeted plan is the next step in the evolution in the game of Terrance McKinney. We obviously need to see him pace himself better as well so that he is capable of fighting for a full 15 minutes whenever he can't get that early finish. If he can make those advances in his game, he could be a real problem for a lot of guys in this division. He called out Paddy Pimblett, but he seemed pretty aware that the UFC would have no interest in making that fight. I think that is the level of fighter that is appropriate for both, but McKinney is far too dangerous for the UFC to want to make that fight. I think someone like Michael Johnson, Jamie Mullarkey, or Marc Diakiese would fit for McKinney. Maybe even someone like Clay Guida, who I thought was supposed to be fighting Dan Hooker, but I'm not sure what happened to that rumor.
Serghei Spivac finished Augusto Sakai in pretty dominant fashion. He was able to get to his takedowns early and often. Even when Sakai was able to work back to his feet, Spivac was usually able to return him to the mat in somewhat short order. He eventually got Sakai to tire out and then the ground and pound just became too much. That was pretty much a vintage Spivac style fight. He was also able to compete when the fight was standing, which is a good sign that his striking is continuing to progress. He has moved up to 12 in the rankings and I expect that he may be in line for a top 10 opponent. I think a Chris Daukaus fight would make sense for him. I don't think a Jairzinho Rozenstruik matchup is a bad idea either.
Juliana Miller became The Ultimate Fighter after picking up a TKO victory. She is a very raw prospect right now, but she has some tools to work with. She's extremely big and physical for the division, which is her best attribute right now. She was able to get takedowns somewhat easily and then control the fight from top position while landing hard ground and pound. For her sake, I hope that they give her some time before she makes her legitimate UFC debut as she has a lot of development that she still needs to do. Her striking is very basic and rudimentary and needs to be improved before she can really look to compete at the UFC level. If they do opt to give her a fight on a normal turnaround, I think Hannah Goldy and Shanna Young are the types of opponents she would be looking at.
Mohammed Usman also became the Ultimate Fighter after a knockout win. Usman is a big, powerful guy who can get knockouts like we saw last weekend. Much like Miller, he also needs to refine his game in order to really be able to compete at the UFC level. He has to get his game somewhere beyond just throwing wild hooks and attempting to land a power shot on the chin. He either has to find a way to increase his volume, become a cleaner, more technical striker, or, ideally, some combination of the two. I think the fights for him would probably be Jared Vanderaa, Chase Sherman, or Justin Tafa.
The final winner to go over here is Geoff Neal, who is coming off of a massive win over Vicente Luque. It was Neal's best performance in awhile and could have been the best of his entire career. Finishing Luque is no small achievement either. Neal's striking looked crisp and he was able to really let his hands go more than he had been recently. It was really nice to see Neal get back to what had him pursuing a title prior to his severe health problems over the last few years. Neal has moved up to the number 8 spot in the rankings and is kind of in a weird spot. Belal Muhammad is booked against Sean Brady, so those two are out and Neal isn't that far removed from losing to Wonderboy Thomspon, so I don't think that fight is run back. The basically leaves us with Gilbert Burns, Jorge Masvidal, and Shavkat Rakhmonov. I don't think Shavkat will be the fight as that just feels like a strange matchup to me, although, I suppose the UFC could use that as a way to move Shavkat up in the rankings if they really want to. I sort of like Shavkat against Michael Chiesa, but that's just me. I'm not really sure exactly how the Masvidal situation is going to work itself out. I'm not really sure what his status even is given the legal situation. Even if he were able to fight, I'm not sure the UFC would really be looking to book him with all of this hanging over his head. I think the Burns fight makes plenty of sense. Burns has had some really tough fights recently and is probably due for a bit of a step down or at least put in a situation where he needs a win before he starts fighting up again. It is also well documented that Luque and Burns are very close, so maybe Gilbert would feel the need to get that win back for his friend. I don't really think there's a better fight on the table for either one of them right now, so that is the direction I would look to go.
What do you guys think? Who was your biggest winner of the night? What was your favorite performance? Who do you want to see some of these winners fight next time out? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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