The Remix, Vol. 23: Honest thoughts, impressive performances and an unsurprising return

E. Spencer Kyte

The Remix, Vol. 23: Honest thoughts, impressive performances and an unsurprising return image

Every week, we’ll release a new MMA mix tape entitled “The Remix” that looks back at not only the biggest stories of the last seven days, but some of the ones that aren’t getting enough attention too, with some weekly awards and a prospect to watch going forward added in for good measure.

If this is the end for Rory MacDonald…

Rory MacDonald advanced to the semifinals of the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix on a technicality Saturday night, moving forward after his title fight with Jon Fitch ended in a majority draw.

Then he dropped the most honest, genuine post-fight reflection I can remember when “Big” John McCarthy asked him about his performance:

 

 

MacDonald questioning his willingness to inflict pain on another man and noting that he needs to re-assess things going forward was one of the realist post-fight moments I’ve ever seen in the cage and I applaud the 29-year-old Canadian for voicing his honest thoughts.

Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year

It would have been easy to fire off some canned lines about “didn’t have it tonight” and “gotta do better next time out” while hyping up his semifinal pairing with Neiman Gracie, but instead, MacDonald spoke his truth and his truth makes a lot of sense to me.

He’s not the same guy who used to have tunnel vision for the UFC title. He’s not the same guarded, anger-fueled leader of the next generation of talents looking to make a name for himself in this sport and trying to escape Georges St-Pierre’s massive shadow.

He’s a 12-year vet, a world champion and a guy who has built a beautiful life for himself outside of the cage. He’s accomplished a ton and doesn’t seem to enjoy the physicality and punishment that is ingrained into this sport the same way he once did and that’s OK!

People change and if MacDonald has changed to the point where he opts to walk away, everyone should stand up and applaud because he’s going out on his own terms, under his own power, to pursue the next chapter of his life, which is all any of us can ask for.

If this winds up being the end for Rory MacDonald, it has been a helluva ride and I’m thankful to have gotten to chronicle some of it.

Can we please be done with all the grousing now?

When Jack Hermansson agreed to step up and replace Yoel Romero opposite Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in the main event of Saturday’s UFC event in South Florida, there were a lot of the standard 'this is what you get for a main event these days' type of comments that tend to come up whenever someone who isn’t ultra-established lands a headlining assignment.

And then “The Joker” walked into the cage and won four rounds against the perennial contender, picking up his second win in four weeks, his fourth consecutive win overall and his fourth victory in the last 12 months.

Hermansson entered the fight on a roll and kept it going on Saturday night, winning two rounds on either side of Souza having a strong five minutes in the middle stanza to secure the biggest victory of his career. He’s now earned three straight finishes to climb into the title conversation in the middleweight division, which has suddenly become very, very interesting.

Here’s the thing: If you didn’t know who Hermansson was or weren’t interested in seeing how he fared making a quick turnaround against a tenured contender like Souza, that says more about you as a fight fan than anything else.

Sure, maybe you’re not watching every fight card, but his bout with David Branch served as the co-main event of a fight card on ESPN that everyone watched because Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza were in the main event and no one was going to miss that symphony of violence. He had earned a shot like this and just because you can’t be bothered to pay attention to the emerging names in the division doesn’t mean a fighter like Hermansson isn’t deserving of an opportunity like this.

Saturday’s effort was a star-making turn for Hermansson, who hustled back into action and added to his momentum. The only way this could have been bigger was if he were to finish Souza, which he tried to do in the first when he jumped on his signature off-set, arm-in guillotine choke before transitioning to the MMA version of a “Dragon Sleeper.”

This was a really fun card despite the main event changes and the headlining act was the perfect use of a proven veteran against an emerging talent and if you think otherwise, it might be time to reconsider the depths of your fandom and what you enjoy about this sport.

In news that surprised absolutely no one…

Tito Ortiz came out of retirement for the umpteenth time this past week, signing a deal with Combate Americas just over five months after calling it quits following his first-round knockout win over Chuck Liddell in their preposterous trilogy bout under the Golden Boy Promotions banner in November.

While he’s won consecutive contests and four of his last five fights, Ortiz turned 44 in January and is officially on Comeback No. 4 now. He’s the MMA equivalent of all those veteran pop stars that bust out a “retirement tour” every couple years to add a few more doubloons to the coffers before actually retiring for real.

What’s crazy to me — and I guess I’m contributing to it by writing about it here — is how Ortiz remains a relevant story in MMA or even someone that we feel deserves coverage at this point.

With all due respect to what Combate Americas is building, this is like getting real excited about a former MLB MVP inking a contract to play Double A ball for the Montgomery Biscuits, Amarillo Sod Poodles (Go Soddies!) or the Altoona Curve. (Note: those are all real teams).

Who is he going to fight? Does it even matter? Why are we still paying attention to this dude when our time would be much better spent, I don’t know, getting familiar with the emerging talents competing at the highest levels who are actually relevant.

By the way, my money is on Ortiz announcing his retirement again before or after his next fight before coming back and doing the same thing two or three more times.

Fight of the Weekend: Cory Sandhagen vs. John Lineker at UFC Fort Lauderdale

It was really terrible that the crowd at BB&T Center booed during Sandhagen’s post-fight interview because regardless of whether you liked the decision or not — Sandhagen won by split decision — these two lunatics put on a helluva fight and both men deserved nothing but applause for their efforts.

This was a massive step up for Sandhagen, but he showed he belonged and was confident from the jump, sticking Lineker with a variety of strikes and happily wading into dangerous territory against the Brazilian powerhouse. Over the first 10 minutes, they went back and forth, Sandhagen connecting at the higher clip and Lineker landing with more power.

Down the stretch, the American started to fade and Lineker came on strong, clipping Sandhagen late and clamping onto a guillotine choke at the end of the fight that sent a fountain of blood spurting out of Sandhagen’s nose.

I get the whole 'they bought a ticket, so they can boo if they want to' argument, but if you’ve paid to go watch an MMA event, how are you booing the best fight of the night?

Submission of the Weekend: Salamu Abdurakhmanov def. Brett Cooper at ACA 95

Warning: the end of the video below is a little unsettling; not in any kind of terrible way, but it’s still a difficult watch if you don’t understand what is happening.

I love me a good choke and this is a great choke from Abdurakhmanov, who wraps up the well-travelled Cooper, hits the roll and squeezes, putting him to sleep in a flash. You can see the second it happens because his arm just goes limp.

 

 

Now 11-1 overall and on a six-fight winning streak, Abdurakhmanov is yet another Russian name to remember because with the UFC seemingly poised to make a least one trip there per year, there could be another wave of fighters from the region signed to compete in the Octagon and middleweight could always use another new addition. 

Knockout of the Weekend: Matt Perez def. Justin Tenedora at Bellator 220

These guys were the third fight of the night on Saturday in San Jose and had a combined seven fights between them coming into the evening, so neither is in prospect range at this point and chances are high that they will never be mentioned in The Remix again.

But the way Perez managed to escape Tenedora’s first-round triangle choke attempt has to be acknowledged:

 

 

Just as powerbombing your opponent (or slamming them in general) isn’t usually a great way to escape a submission, straight up punching them doesn’t often work that well either, but when you can posture up and drop bombs like Perez did here, it can prove to be very effective.

Prospect to Watch after this Weekend: Jack Shore

There are a bunch of different athletes who could have landed in this spot — Jason Soares, Salahdine Parnasse or Roosevelt Roberts to name three — but my money lands on the 24-year-old from Wales.

Shore retained his Cage Warriors bantamweight title with a third-round submission win over Scott Malone on Saturday, pushing his record to 11-0 in the process:

 

 

Shore went 12-0 as an amateur and has continued his winning ways as a professional and the more impressive part of it is that he’s only gone the distance once, when he scored a unanimous decision victory over former UFC competitor Vaughan Lee at Cage Warriors 92.

In addition to being a proven finisher, you have to like the diversity you see from the Tillery Combat MMA Academy product. He’s not just a jiu-jitsu guy or only knocking people out with power shots on the feet; Shore has six submissions and four TKO stoppages in his 10 finishes, which underscores what a difficult matchup he is at the moment and the potential he possesses for moving to the next level.

Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year

Malone isn’t an easy out, neither is Mike Ekundayo, whom he beat last time out, but Shore stopped both in the third round and should be on the short list of bantamweight fighters primed for a promotion to the UFC or Bellator in the near future.

By the way, Parnasse is a legit, legit prospect — 21 years old, already 13-0-1 and KSW featherweight champ. A couple more wins over seasoned, savvy foes and he’ll have Zabit-level buzz.

E. Spencer Kyte