What mattered most at UFC 289 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver? Here are a few post-fight musings …
5
Chris Curtis saved by another bad break
Chris Curtis experienced a fight-altering clash of heads for the second consecutive bout in his matchup with Nassourdine Imavov, but this time it saved him a likely loss.
Curtis (30-10 MMA, 4-2 UFC) was enraged earlier this year when a head clash with Kelvin Gastelum derailed his performance en route to a loss. The referee didn’t acknowledge it, and he was unable to regather his wits enough to pull ahead in the contest.
This time, the illegal contact was seen, but the damage was done. Curtis’ vision was compromised, and he suffered a gruesome cut. As a result, the fight was deemed a no contest. It’s an unfortunate repeat occurrence, but Curtis has now been on both sides of the coin. He wasn’t doing great in the fight with Imavov (12-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) midway through the second round, and the no contest was a better outcome for him than a defeat would’ve been.
4
Canada's perfect night a potential turning point
Let’s be honest here: The UFC scene in Canada has been stagnant for many years. Really since the retirement of Georges St-Pierre, then the subsequent UFC departure of Rory MacDonald.
The country, which this writer calls home, is one of the most MMA crazed in the entire world. Things have been stagnant for several years now, though. There are various reasons why that is, but the COVID-19 pandemic definitely played a crucial role, not only because the UFC could not put on events in Canada, but because the travel restrictions around the border prevented athletes from going abroad to get fights.
If a rebirth is coming, UFC 289 seemed like a pretty good starting point. Fighters representing Canada went 6-0 on the card, with surging welterweight Mike Malott (10-1-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and streaking women’s flyweight Jasmine Jasudavicius (9-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) looking particularly promising in terms of potential.
It’s going to be impossible for anyone to reach the same level of fame and success as St-Pierre. He is an unreachable bar. However, simply getting some Canadian fighters in the conversation of being ranked is a giant leap from where the country has been in recent years, so it’s certainly a win.
3
Appreciate Charles Oliveira
Before we get into the aftermath of Charles Olivera’s first-round TKO of Beneil Dariush and what it means for his career going forward, let’s first just take a moment to acknowledge who is undoubtedly one of the greatest fighters in the history of this sport.
The resume of Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) speaks for itself at this point: the most finishes in UFC history, most submissions in UFC history, most bonuses in UFC history, and the list goes on and on as far as his accolades.
There are a number of fighters who have carved out a prominent position in the UFC through longevity records and consistent success. We just talked about this with Jim Miller in this column last week, but Oliveira is very different. Whereas Miller and someone like Donald Cerrone got high on key statistical lists against a lot of mid-level competition, Oliveira is etching his place in history against the absolute best competition available.
Oliveira has finished Dariush, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, and Michael Chandler all within the past two years, and it’s almost hard to properly contextualize what a significant accomplishment that is. He’s won 12 of his past 13 fights, and his evolution from a 21-year-old kid who joined the UFC roster in August 2010 has been a true pleasure to witness.
2
Oliveira's approach to Islam Makhachev rematch
Now that Oliveira’s well-deserved praise is out of the way, let’s spin things forward. As noted above, “Do Bronx” has finished every name in the current top five of the UFC’s official lightweight rankings – except for one man.
That man is the reigning champion Islam Makhachev, who dominantly took the belt from Oliveira at UFC 280 in October. Makhachev is the only person to have beaten Oliveira since December 2017, and it appears he’s going to have to show he can do it again with what looks like a rematch between the two on the horizon, potentially in the same venue and location as their previous meeting with the octagon headed back to Abu Dhabi for UFC 294 on Oct. 21.
It’s the right fight to make based on rankings and merit, but there’s some questions to be asked about whether Oliveira is setting himself up for success, or simply a repeat result. The Brazilian has been adamant from the moment he dropped the strap to Makhachev that his performance at UFC 280 was an anomaly. Oliveira has said multiple times he wasn’t himself on that night, but he hasn’t been able to pinpoint exactly why.
Moreover, Oliveira almost refuses to acknowledge the loss. He claims he’s never watched the fight back, and vows he never will because there’s nothing to take away from it. On the surface that seems like a wild misjudgment going into a rematch, but who am I to say that it’s wrong? Oliveira has been a sensation in the cage during this run, and perhaps this is just the approach that works for him heading into a rematch.
One thing I can say with certainty, however, is that Oliveira is positioning himself for a lot of public backlash if the rematch goes awry. He will be relentlessly criticized for turning his nose up at the first fight against Makhachev and not using it as a building block going into a rematch. If he wins, though, he’ll look brilliant and much more stock will be put into his claims he just wasn’t there for the initial meeting.
1
Farewell to the female GOAT
Amanda Nunes said sayonara to the sport of MMA after a nearly effortless dismantling of overmatched challenger Irene Aldana to win a unanimous decision in the main event.
Although an argument can be made that Nunes (23-5 MMA, 16-2 UFC) walking away now is premature given she still seems to be at the height of her powers, there’s also an equal argument that the timing is perfect.
Nunes has done all that a fighter could want out of a career, and more. She rose through the rankings, captured a UFC title, defended said title, won a second belt in a different division, defended that title, lost one of her belts, gained it back, then defended it again. She’s seen every peak and valley imaginable, and attained all the perks through the process.
One thing that was evident from Nunes’ post-fight press conference is that she is starting to deal with some of the physical consequences of competing in this sport for so long. It’s not the obvious one we’d all think of with brain damage, but instead her body breaking down and the training camps becoming increasingly difficult. She’s still an A+ product in the octagon, but how long is it worth rolling the dice?
My MMA Junkie colleague Danny Segura said it well on Twitter in the moments after Nunes’ retirement announcement: “Nunes retires with money, health, legacy and on top of the fight game. … Few leave with one or two of those things, and almost nobody leaves with all four.” Those are facts.
Outside of bringing in some more paychecks (which would be a perfectly valid reason to stay around), there’s nothing out there that would bolster Nunes’ legacy. What does going back up to 145 pounds to defend against Norma Dumont do for her? Nothing. What would a second win over Julianna Peña or Raquel Pennington do for her resume? Pretty much nothing.
When looking at it that way, Nunes’ retirement seems perfect and comes under circumstances every other fighter in this sport could only dream to replicate. It’s a big loss for MMA and the UFC to have the greatest female fighter of all time exit the scene, but anyone who gives her flack for going out now is only doing it out of selfish interests.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 289.
