UFC260 - Takeaways
with UFC 260 wrapped up there seems to be quiet a bit of changes coming through the UFC. We had rising contenders, former stars fizzling out and a new king on the throne of ‘Baddest Man On The Planet’. The event is a big turning point for multiple division s as it hosted pivotal match ups through-out the card, explicitly the main card. The prelims delivered an entertaining night and carried its own calvary of matchups. The biggest takeaways from the event have to be the the ones that define the movement of the division and the company for the coming years, heres ours.
#1 Enthroning Francis Ngannou as ‘The Baddest Man On The Planet’
The generational mammoth of a man, Francis Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) and his Ineluctable champion status has finally come to fruition. The predator has always been one of the scariest men on the planet but now officially holds the title as ‘Baddest Man On The Planet’. Although it only took 5:52 of fight time for Francis to take the crown from former champ Stipe Miocic, this time far eclipses any of Francis former opponents. They lasted a total of 2:42 seconds over the course of four fights. Francis Ngannou is a once in a lifetime knockout artist with insane natural power and athleticism, even though Stipe once nullified the predator, his progression was just too great going into this fight.
Not only did Ngannou showcase some defensive capabilities in a grappling perspective but even had spurts of offence against the CSU D1 competitor. His IQ for the game has grown immensely since the previous match up and deservedly, is now called the baddest man on the planet. This puts their match up at an even series of 1-1 and with Stipe recently turning 38, time is ticking for a trilogy match up between the heavyweight goliaths.
#2 The end of an Era, Reebok is out, Venum is in.
After 6 long tumultuous years, Reebok has essentially become uniform at the workplace for UFC athletes, it now falls in the hands of Venum to take over as the new clothing sponsor of the UFC. There is no doubt that fighters are excited to see this deal end, the compensation was arguably minuscule, but the real endeavour was the striping of personal sponsorship and individuality of fighters. I carry a personal belief that this stifled fighters ability to appeal to their own individual markets through various brands that would connect different fans to like minded fighters. The ability to market the fighters in such a flexible way has likely slowed the progression of MMA marketability, without talking about the obvious financial implications of missed opportunities.
On the inverse, the Reebok brand is a giant in of itself that gives the UFC the credibility it needed as a massive sports organization. While the Reebok deal was necessary to legitamize MMA in 2015, that’s no longer the case today. Once Reebok had served its usefulness, fans and athletes alike got a sense that they were being ripped off. All of the finicial issues could have led to lost fights, potentially unsigned athletes and more.
Labouring over these potential issues has led the same athletes and fans to keep a close eye out for the new Venum deal which Dana says will compensate fighters better, but that’s about all we know at this point. Will they have individual sponsorships? How significant will compensation increase? All of these questions will be answered in time as the brand deal is set to begin on April 10th at UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Vettori. The marker is set at an average of $6.6 million a year in total compensation on average where Reebok paid out a total of $39.3 million over the course of six years.
#3 Sean O’Malleys return
O’Malleys return on Saturday is something most could only hope for. He controlled the fight for a full three rounds over his opponent Thomas Almeida. After a devasting loss to Marlon Vera, this is exactly what O’Malley needed to reset his superstardom. The loss to Chito Vera has ignited both sides of sugars supporters and detractors, the conversation over whether he was beat or whether he lost due to injury over a rare Peroneil Nerve shot that saw O’Malley lose control of his foot and the fight, resulting in a 1st round TKO loss, the first of his career.
For months O’Malley endured constant berate from fans about his “weak ankles” that only seen the fighter antagonize the crowd back again and again, paying homage to this in his post-fight press conference when asked about his hobble out of the cage he responded “that was a big f*ck you to a lot of people, i’ve been getting getting messages for 8 months, ive been having to deal with ‘weak ankles’”. After the Vera fight Suga was quoted as saying “still undefeated”. While this is technically untrue, a new stat has emerged for O’Malley that is not getting enough attention, 1-0 dad O’Malley. Since O’Malley and his fiance Dani had their first child 5 months prior, the fighter has found himself Undefeated once again, albeit in a different category.
O’Malley has earned himself a name after a performance so commanding, with even a recent name popping up as reputable as Dominik Cruz. The former champion had texted Chael Sonnen, who was on the set of ESPN talking about O’Malley saying to throw his name into the hat. The match up would be extremely competitive and would ultimately dictate the trajectory of either of their careers for years to come.
#4 Tyron Woodley - Possibly farewell
It is no secret that Tyron Woodley has been struggling as of late in the upper echelon of the UFCs welterweight division. Tyron has amassed 4 straight loses since being the divisions king, with his most recent coming by 1st round submission delivered by Vicente Luque on saturday night. Woodleys possible farewell is marked not only by the treacherous skid he has been enduring, but he also fought the last fight on his contract in Luque as confirmed on Helwani's UFC 260 pre fight show . With recent high profile cuts like Yoel Romero, Junior Dos Santos and Allistar overeem, at 38 it may be the last time you see Tyron Woodley in the UFC.
The departure could be a turning point for the UFC, with former champion Woodley potentially gone it opens up the floodgates to a litany of talent. Not only has Luque emerged a contender but the last three men to defeat Woodley are all either title contenders, Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns, or the champ themselves in Kamaru Usman. Normally, we would refer to someone who producers contenders off loses as a gatekeeper, and without a guy to beat to enter the top 5, it would really open the doors for some pivotal matchups within the welterweights top 15.
#5 Menifields Rebound
The ‘Atomic’ light-heavyweight in Alonzo Menifield (10-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) was a high Prospect coming out of Dana Whites Contender Series. With a jaw dropping seven fight tear that were all by way of finish in either the 1st or se2nd round through notable organizations like RFA/LFA, Bellator and even two fights on DWCS. Menifeild was an anticpipated product coming into the UFC. Menifield went on to take two more 1st round knockouts in his first two fights against Vincius Moreira and Paul Craig with the organization before meeting a two fight skid with his first decision ever against Devin Clark and TKO loss to Ovince St. Preux.
Menifield really stood out after defeating a name like Paul Craig in his second UFC fight, especially in the 1st round. Craig is a vet with incredible grappling skills that’s challenged in the top 15 multiple times, the dismantaling by Menifield was a defining moment for Alonzo and the trajectory of his career. that was slowed down when he not only lost his first full distance fight that saw notable exhaustion, but also his first TKO loss. Menifield was loooking to turn around what was a storied beginning turned tragedy.
On Saturday night he got into the cage with the LFA light-heavyweight champion, Fabio Cherant, and made quick work with another 1st round finish by submission. This adds to his total finishing record of 10 for 10 still holding a 100% finish rate. It seems that Alonzo Menifield is posed for another run at the top 15 after a destructive beatdown of his debutant opponent, showing everyone that he still belongs here. With Paul Craig sitting at #14 maybe a rematch is in order for the violent contender.
