With the UFC’s return to Minneapolis generating too many things that I want to discuss in greater deal, I wanted to start this week’s edition of The Remix by giving a shout out to Cage Warriors for running its Night of Champions show on Saturday in London.
The event, officially Cage Warriors 106, featured six title bouts and produced two results that should get consideration in the year-end awards race, which I’ll get to later. While it wasn’t a major item of discussion this week in North America, I know this was a huge deal in England and the European fight scene and is the kind of blockbuster show I’d like to see more promotions try once a year as a way to really demand attention from a wider audience.
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KSW does well promoting all of its shows and is gaining steam, but there are plenty of other regional outfits that have quality athletes who just need a little more exposure in order to gain the momentum needed to graduate to the next level and giving them a chance to shine on as big a stage as possible would be a cool way to build their names and that of the brand as well.
Obviously, it’s easy for me to say since I’m not the one footing the bill or having to think about how having six title fights on one card impacts the next show, but that’s the beauty of being a regional promotion — the next show isn’t necessarily next week and you’re not beholden to anyone to have championship fights in the main event.
Congrats to Graham Boylan and the crew and don’t be surprised if a couple of competitors from that show find their way to the UFC or Bellator in the second half of the year.
And now, onto the rest of my weekend thoughts.
Franics Ngannou’s impressive win doesn’t really change anything
Francis Ngannou is a truly terrifying figure in the cage — a hulking mass of violent potential whose kicks sound like a home run being launched into the upper deck and whose sheer presence in the Octagon causes you to tense up with anticipation and nervous energy because you know at any point, the Cameroonian heavyweight could uncork a right hand that stops the fight in a flash.
All of that was known heading into Saturday’s night main event at the Target Center in Minneapolis and yet as soon as Ngannou and Junior dos Santos started making the walk to the cage, everyone got filled with that radiant energy that accompanies fights of great consequence or violent potential.
After trading hard kicks with dos Santos early, Ngannou made the former champion pay for reaching on a right hand, evading the shot and clubbing “Cigano” in the face from behind, forcing him to the canvas where the follow-up blows quickly brought the fight to an end.
It was an affirmation of all the things we already know about Ngannou and another tremendous showing in his quest to re-establish himself as the inevitable menace in the heavyweight ranks after a disappointing and somewhat embarrassing start to 2018.
Following the win, Ngannou called for a title shot and spent time crouched in the cage, speaking with UFC President Dana White through the fence, making his case to the man who will ultimately decide what comes next for him. From a pure sporting standpoint, Ngannou is the unquestioned No. 1 contender in the heavyweight ranks and there is no fight that makes sense for him next besides a date with the winner of the UFC 241 championship rematch between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic.
Sign us up!@Francis_NGannou wants the winner of #UFC241! pic.twitter.com/n4HhPtSaod
— UFC (@ufc) June 30, 2019
Yet despite amassing stoppage wins over Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez and now dos Santos in 142 seconds combined, all in the span of eight months, those conquests have done nothing to answer crucial questions about his wrestling, which is what will ultimately determine his success in a bout with either Cormier or Miocic.
What made his fight with Miocic at UFC 220 so tantalizing was that Ngannou was fresh off sending Alistair Overeem’s head into orbit and no one was sure that Miocic would be able to (a) avoid getting hit with something nasty or (b) use his wrestling throughout the fight to neutralize the challenger’s immense power.
Miocic did both en route to a unanimous decision win and the idea of Ngannou being a 'once in a lifetime' conqueror who could not be stopped evaporated, bringing his confidence along to ride shotgun.
His confidence is clearly back and his power is undeniable, but the questions about his wrestling remain and make it difficult to get all the way hyped for seeing him challenge for the title again because while a jaw-dropping knockout is possible, seeing Ngannou get wrestled into oblivion again feels like the greater inevitability.
“Joey Two-Times” still in uncertain waters
Joseph Benavidez registered his second consecutive win in a rematch on Saturday night, stopping Jussier Formiga for a second time in the co-main event of the evening.
After showcasing his otherworldly scrambling abilities when the Brazilian tried to climb on his back and control him on the ground, Benavidez started getting loose with his striking and started to wear down Formiga. Once it was clear he was hurt, Benavidez went in for the kill, eventually forcing Formiga to wilt under the unrelenting barrage of offense with less than 20 seconds remaining in the second round.
It was a great performance and a statement victory for the 34-year-old divisional stalwart, who dubbed himself “Joey Two-Times” while calling for a rematch with champion Henry Cejudo.
Much like with Ngannou, it is absolutely the only fight that makes sense for Benavidez going forward, but the reality is that the likelihood of it happen feels even less than seeing Ngannou fight for the heavyweight title again does.
The fact that Cejudo just had shoulder surgery and is likely out until 2020 complicates things, but even if the reigning flyweight champion were healthy, I still don’t think this fight would be high on the list of “Fights to Make” for the UFC. We know it’s not high on Cejudo’s list because as soon as he won the bantamweight title, he called out Dominick Cruz, Urijah Faber and Cody Garbrandt before suggesting he might eventually chase the featherweight title too.
This is where purging the division and moving towards disbanding it late last year only to issue a stay of execution now that Cejudo can parade around as a “Double Champ” comes back to hurt not only the UFC, but Benavidez specifically.
He’s just stopped the No. 1 contender, is 9-1 in his last 10 fights and there is literally nothing else for him to do at flyweight other than face Cejudo, who has shown zero interest in returning to the 125-pound weight class, despite claiming he was fighting to save the flyweight division.
He could keep fighting whomever is available like he’s been doing for the last five-plus years, but to what end? What good does beating Alexandre Pantoja or Deivison Figueiredo do? Interim titles carry no real value and an interim flyweight belt would be an absolute farce given that there are 13 fighters remaining in the division.
As soon as Cejudo knocked out TJ Dillashaw in January, the UFC should have done an immediate about-face — just throw up your hands, say, 'We screwed up' and start signing back all the flyweights who were released and the ones with upside from outside the organization because even if things still played out the way they did with Cejudo claiming the bantamweight title as well, at least then there is still a bustling division with fighters jockeying for position in the title chase in his stead.
Instead, a skeleton crew remains, Cejudo’s focus is elsewhere and a guy who has done everything that has been asked of him and deserves another chance to capture the title that has eluded him to this point in his career is forced to tread water for the foreseeable future.
A little love for all the middle-class fighters out there
Just as I don’t think calling someone a "gatekeeper" or "journeyman" are derogatory statements, I also see nothing wrong with classifying someone as a middle-class fighter in their respective division.
Everyone knows exactly what group of competitors I’m talking about when I say, 'the middle class of the (insert division),' so why do we often act like being the 23rd best middleweight in the UFC or the 19th best bantamweight or somewhere in the 35-40 range in a loaded division like lightweight or featherweight or welterweight is bad?
Saturday night’s main card featured a pair of middle class lightweights showing not only how important the demographic is to the vitality of the division, but also delivering statement performances that help reframe and clarify the hierarchy in the 155-pound weight class.
First up, Drew Dober absolutely picked apart Marco Polo Reyes, bombing on the TUF: Latin America alum until he crashed to the canvas in a heap. The 30-year-old Nebraska native and Elevation Fight Team member currently sits somewhere between 25-40 in the lightweight division, having been submitted by Beneil Dariush in his previous fight.
In the very next fight, Vinc Pichel rallied after dropping the opening round to Roosevelt Roberts to claim a unanimous decision victory over the previously unbeaten prospect. Pichel is in that 25-40 range too, having won five or his last six, with his only loss coming to undefeated Top 15 talent Gregor Gillespie.
Dober’s win not only helps solidify his place in the division, but also re-affirms Dariush’s position by extension, while Pichel’s victory highlights that Roberts isn’t quite ready for prime time and narrows the scope of where he sits in the pecking order, all of which combines to help dictate and determine how we rate and rank these athletes.
We often get so caught up in what’s happening at the top of each division and the energy of watching new names on the rise that we forget about the robust middle class that is vital to making the entire machine work. The UFC needs guys like Dober and Pichel in order to keep things moving at lightweight and get a rough idea of where everyone fits, plus, they’re the kind of reliable hands you need to add depth to fight cards and who can be counted on to deliver entertaining performances every time out.
Here’s to the middle class!
Fight of the Weekend: Ross Houston vs. Nicolas Dalby at Cage Warriors 106
The main event to Cage Warriors’ blockbuster night of fights produced one of the most unique and memorable stoppages I can recall as the welterweight title bout between Houston and Dalby had to be called off two minutes into the third round because the canvas was so slick with blood that referee Marc Goddard deemed it unsafe to continue.
Yeah.
It was too bloody for them to safely maneuver their way around the cage, so the bout was halted, declared a No Contest and they’ll run it back down the line.
And it’s not like this was some lopsided fight where a stray cut started gushing and caused the stoppage. This was an absolute crackerjack between the resurgent Dalby and the undefeated Houston where both men were dripping crimson and responsible for the Pollock being painted on the canvas.
Actually, it was more like a Rothko.
Either way, it was an outstanding fight and if you don’t make a point of tuning into the rematch whenever it comes together, I can tell you right now that you’re going to be missing out.
Submission of the Weekend: Mads Burnell vs. Dean Trueman at Cage Warriors 106
Burnell has been on a mission since being released by the UFC following his loss to Arnold Allen in May 2018.
The Danish featherweight quickly signed with Cage Warriors and got back into the win column with a first-round win before the end of last year and followed it up with a 50-second finish in March to set up a date with Trueman for the featherweight title.
Saturday night in London, Burnell continued his run of success by finishing Trueman with what is becoming his signature submission — the rarely seen Japanese necktie.
Mads Burnell gets it done!
— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) June 29, 2019
Fast as lightning! he locks up the choke for the submission win ⚡️ #Cw106 pic.twitter.com/8L6utORMxl
The Japanese necktie is a cool alternate to a D’arce choke where you lace the arm over the arm and under the neck like a D’arce, but lock your hands instead of grasping the bicep. From there, you trap the leg as Burnell did, lower your shoulder and press your hips in, creating the compression that prompts the tap.
Knockout of the Weekend: Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga at UFC Minneapolis
I already talked about the predicament Benavidez finds himself in and how he swarmed Formiga as soon as he saw he was wilting, but I wanted to include his finisher here again because one of the knocks on the flyweight division was that no one likes to see little guys fight and they’re just point fighters.
>>GIF: Jennifer Lawrence mouthing "OK" and giving thumbs-up with "LOL whatever" expression<< pic.twitter.com/moQrSMGM8h
— Rhoda Nightingale (@Rhoda_Night) June 21, 2019
Prospect to Watch after this Weekend: Chase Hooper
Remember Chase Hooper?
No?
Well last season on the Contender Series, Hooper was a mop-topped 18-year-old who pushed his record to 6-0 with a win over Canaan Kawaihae. While he didn’t earn a contract, the Pacific Northwest product (Enumclaw, stand up!) impressed Dana White enough that the UFC boss gave him a development deal.
Friday night, “The Teenage Dream” pushed his record to 8-0-1 with a first-round submission win over Luis Gomez at Titan FC 55.
I’m honestly kind of surprised that Hooper’s return to the Contender Series hasn’t been announced as of yet because all the other fighters on developmental deals have been brought back and given another chance to earn a contract and one would think that an unbeaten 19-year-old featherweight with obvious upside coming off the best win of his career would be worth another look.
That being said, there are still a couple weeks where the fight cards haven’t been announced and as long as Hooper came away from Friday’s win without an issues, don’t be surprised if he’s added to one of the cards in August.