UFC 291 review - Déjà vu
Nine finishes, only two decisions and a brutal knockout worthy of winning the BMF title. Safe to say that UFC 291 really lived up to the expectations. Much was said about the elevation in Salt Lake City, but most of the fights didn’t even get far enough for that to be relevant.
We all expected an absolute barn burner in the main event between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje, similar to when they went to war 5 years ago. The BMF belt was on the line, and although it’s a bit of a gimmick there’s not two more worthy competitors than Poirier and Gaethje. And to no surprise they got right after it and started exchanging, with Poirier probably edging out the first round. Gaethje landed some solid shots, but his main threats in the first round were the leg kicks which seemed to have an effect on Poirier. I’m also certain that Trevor Wittman must’ve taken some notes during his last trip to Salt Lake City, because that head kick from Justin Gaethje was almost a carbon copy of what Leon Edwards used to knock out Kamaru Usman last year at UFC 278. Feinting the cross before throwing a rear head kick when his opponent is trying to parry the cross. Poirier was out cold and the follow up shots were merely academical, and Gaethje could get on the cage do perform his usual backflip. I’m not really a fan of the BMF belt but Justin Gaethje is definitely deserving of the title, the physical belt is just too gimmicky in my opinion.
The undisputed lightweight title is the ultimate goal for ‘the highlight’ though, and he should now be next in line after Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira goes at it again in Abu Dhabi. It’s no doubt gonna be a tough task, as in Gaethje’s previous title shots has been submitted by both Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov who is very similar to Makhachev. I definitely think he has a chance against both, especially after seeing the strides he has made in the last couple of fights, being more measured and patient while also showing some of that chaos we all love.
In the co-main event, Alex Pereira entered himself into the title picture at 205lbs after beating Jan Blachowicz by split decision. There was a lot of controversy after the decision was read out and Jan himself feels that he was robbed by the judges, but in my opinion it was a fight that could’ve gone either way. I personally scored rd. 1 for Blachowicz and rd. 2 and 3 for Pereira, but the 3rd round was super close. I just felt like Pereira did a bit more damage on the feet, and that Blachowicz didn’t really accomplish much with his takedown at the end. I also think that we saw some improvements from Pereira in the grappling department, both when defending the choke in the first round and also stuffing takedowns as the fight went on. Elevation definitely played a part here as both fighters, but especially Blachowicz looked incredibly gassed at the end, but nonetheless it was an impressive performance by Pereira.
His next fight should also be for the title, and how mad is it that Alex Pereira could possibly hold belts in two divisions in the UFC by his 11th pro MMA fight. On the other end of the vacant title fight we will probably see Jiri Prochazka who vacated the belt in December of last year. And honestly, I’d argue that Prochazka is one of the better matchups for Pereira, because although the Czech submitted Glover Teixeira to win the belt, he rarely turns to his grappling so it will likely be a kickboxing match. In that scenario Pereira will have a very good chance against anyone, but someone as unorthodox as Prochazka could both end up getting caught and also catch Pereira with something wild. Although it hasn’t been made yet, it’s probably one of the fights I’m looking forward to the most now.
It’s time for Tony Ferguson to hang up the gloves now, because it’s now 6 losses on the spin for the former interim lightweight champion. Bobby Green made him look silly at times, which to be fair he can do to a lot of people, but Ferguson just looked slow and laboured in there. He actually managed to knock Green down briefly in round one, but apart from that it was one way traffic for most of the fight. Even on the ground where Ferguson traditionally has been very strong, especially on the bottom, Green just mauled him and eventually choked him unconscious with an arm triangle. Brilliant win for Bobby Green, because having a name like Tony Ferguson on your résumé can’t be a bad thing, even though this version of ‘El Cucuy’ is a shadow of his former self. Like I said, I seriously hope this is it for Ferguson, because he keeps taking a lot of punishment every single time he’s in the octagon, and only his granite chin is keeping him in the fights. I know he said that he is looking towards 5 fights and a title, but I hope someone sits down with him and makes him reconsider the next move in his career. This is not to take anything away from Green though, because he looked brilliant and can only fight who’s in front of him. He called out Jim Miller for UFC 300 which would be very fun, but if he wants a big name, a return fight for Paddy Pimblett wouldn’t be too bad either.
Just like last year, Salt Lake City delivered big time! Next week we have a very fun striking contest to look forward to between Cory Sandhagen and Rob Font, and UFC 292 in Boston is also on the horizon, where Sean O’Malley gets his first shot at bantamweight gold against dominant champion Aljamain Sterling. We’ve had some weird matchmaking lately, but the next few weeks are looking really tasty!