Sherdog.com’s 2017 All-Violence Team

2017 All-Violence Third Team

Heavyweight: Curtis Blaydes
Light Heavyweight: Dominick Reyes
Middleweight: Paulo Henrique Costa
Welterweight: Mike Perry
Lightweight: Dustin Poirier
Featherweight: Zabit Magomedsharipov
Bantamweight: Nathaniel Wood
Flyweight: Ariane Lipski
Strawweight: Weili Zhang

HEAVYWEIGHT: I could have just as easily given UFC heavyweight Stipe Miocic an easy pass to his third-straight All-Violence team for punching up Junior dos Santos so easily, but as great as Miocic is, his year was three combos on a faded “Cigano.” Instead, we will show love to a quality heavyweight prospect who a year ago was training at a UFC Gym franchise before moving to Elevation Fight Team. “Razor” Blaydes should have been 3-0 on the year, but his complete mugging of Adam Milstead in February was overturned cause he smoked weed. Boo. In July, he wound up against the surprisingly improved takedown defense of crafty striker Daniel Omielanczuk, but debuted a powerhouse jab of his own to sweep all three rounds on the scorecards. Blaydes really showed his developing style at UFC 217 though, positively pounding Alexey Oleynik for seven minutes en route to a doctor stoppage. The Chicago native is huge, hits hard, is a rugged wrestler and his 4.75 significant strikes landed per minute is seventh all-time among UFC heavyweights with at least five fights and the 26-year-old still largely operating on instinct in the cage.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: Perhaps not what you’d expect out of a Joe Stevenson understudy, Dominick Reyes went 4-0 on the year, including a pair of wins in the Octagon. He’s an athletic 6-foot-4 southpaw with a natural knack for the “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic special: he levelled Marcus Govan with a left head kick in 27 seconds, left him stiff as a board; four months later at Legacy Fighting Alliance 13, he makes a taunting Jordan Powell go viral in 53 seconds by doing the exact same shin-to-the-face routine. In his UFC debut, he tore Joachim Christensen apart with punches the minute he threw, the fight lasting just 29 seconds. Maybe just to break up the monotony of smoking people on the feet in under 60 seconds standing, at UFC 218, he just mauled Jeremy Kimball on the ground and choked him out with ease. Just one of “The Devastator’s” eight pro opponents has lasted longer than a round.

MIDDLEWEIGHT: Two things intrigue me about Paulo Henrique Costa. One is how exactly he pulled off a 180 in fight style and strategy after playing a hard-charging wrestler on “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3.” The other is the simple fact that since his proper UFC debut this year, he’s fought virtually identically in every fight, regardless of opponent and mowed down all three foes in almost a morbidly amusing fashion. No, Garreth McLellan, Oluwale Bamgbose and the present form of Johny Hendricks are in fact are a fairly defensively trash trio, but Costa treated all three of them even worse than that. There is something magnetic about how “Borrachinha” just marches forward and applies such overwhelming pressure, launching hooks and uppercuts, working all three sections of the body with his heavy kicking offense. Costa doesn’t qualify for Fightmetric’s all-time statistical categories as a result of his 3-0 UFC mark not making the five-fight minimum. However, Costa is presently landing 8.28 significant strikes per minute; for reference, Joanna Jedrzejczyk lands 6.76 and Max Holloway 6.20.

WELTERWEIGHT: There were literally another worthy half dozen candidates I could’ve chosen for the final 170-pound spot, but this just felt right. Mike Perry is not the MVP of the 2017 All-Violence Team, he is the mascot. Let’s be clear: no matter what you think of his personal foibles and antisocial traits, “Platinum” put in work this year. Him lumberjacking Jake Ellenberger in the face was as raw as any knockout this year. He completely obliterated Thiago Alves’ late replacement, poor Alex Reyes, brother of fellow All-V team member Dominick. Yes, he lost to Santiago Ponzinibbio, but he fought his ass off, survived a knockdown from a counter-spinning back fist that would’ve killed most folks and Ponzinibbio’s first team on this damn list. Perry is one of the best hopes we have at replacing Matt Brown in retirement, a genuine technical brawler who can attack with multiple weapons from multiple ranges, but has a modicum of patience and set up his attacks. Even the fact his signature KO of Ellenberger was a chopping standing elbow, a technique we saw much more of this year, makes him fitting. For better or worse, Mike Perry has come to symbolize the newest crop of self-promoters and all-action fighters in the UFC.

LIGHTWEIGHT: Consider this a minor consolation prize for the way the Eddie Alvarez bout turned out. Dustin Poirier is no stranger to offense - - he made this team in 2012 as a featherweight - - and perhaps it has been part of what has held him back in his career, often getting too reckless in the pursuit of action. In 2017, “The Diamond’s” offensive game was more on point than ever, as he balanced his active, ambidextrous striking attack with clever wrestling against Jim Miller, then was really putting the heat on Eddie Alvarez until the moments preceding the unceremonious illegal knees. However, the American Top Team product synthesized all parts of his attack more brilliantly than ever against former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in November, dinging “Showtime” with punches, taking him down five times, hacking his face open, then making him tap to a body triangle under constant, unyielding pressure. More and more with each fight, Poirier is increasingly well-rounded in his attack, flowing naturally between each phase of the fight and whooping ass while doing so.

FEATHERWEIGHT: Aesthetics, aesthetics, aesthetics. We’ve got a 6-foot-1 Russian ballerina over here. Easily took “Fight of the Night” honors in his two UFC appearances this year Zabit Magomedsharipov and it’s not hard to see why once you pop the tape on. Magomedsharipov is not a high-volume fighter, but rather stalks his prey judiciously, jabbing, throwing long, lancing crosses and of course, lots and lots of spinning s---. Coming into his UFC debut against Mike Santiago, he dealt with a staph infection during training camp, but who else did you see in the Octagon this year land a “Showtime” kick? Since coming under the tutelage of Mark Henry and Ricardo Almeida recently, the Russian seems even more content to work his scrambling game, which suits him just fine as his wrestling and submission attack continue to improve. Against a very dangerous, explosive fighter in Sheymon Moraes, Magomedsharipov took him down 11 times and was credited with 10 guard passes, most of them frenetic knee-on-belly and back mount attempts. That’s of course to say nothing of the beautiful anaconda choke to end the bout. The aforementioned Henry says that he thinks his new shiny toy could once day destroy Conor McGregor. Of course, everyone likes to make headlines, but that’s the sort of confidence Magomedsharipov’s whirling dervish routine inspires.

BANTAMWEIGHT: I can hear your confusion. “Who the hell is Nathaniel Wood?” First of all, how dare you, he’s Cage Warriors’ bantamweight champion. Secondly, his 2017 campaign was thrilling and ended with two minutes and change of some of the wildest brawling you’ll ever see, the largest reason for his inclusion on this list. Nearly all of Wood’s bouts feature him backing up his opponents until he lands a hard counter, backs them up to the fence, then starts unloading with both hands. His preferred attack is essentially Phil Baroni killing Dave Menne, but with more body work. British UFC veteran Vaughan Lee and Switzerland’s Marko Kovacevic both got clattered by Wood the minute he got their back to the fence and unloaded, dropping them both in a heap on the cage. However, Wood just about broke my brain in September in his Cage Warriors title defense against then-undefeated Welsh prospect Josh Reed. Go watch this fight, immediately. The whole fight is just 2:19, yet it’s still a legitimate “Round of the Year” candidate. And it ends up with Wood endlessly punching his foe up against the fence, naturally.

FLYWEIGHT: She’s “The Violence Queen,” it’d treasonous to not afford 23-year-old Ariane Lipski her second consecutive All-Violence berth. Last year, the Brazilian appeared as a prospect flourishing on account of her powerful muay Thai striking and natural punching power. This year, the Rasthai product flexed her grappling chops all year long, easily armbarring Romania’s Diana Belbita to become KSW’s first-ever women’s flyweight champ, then defending that title against fellow Brazilian Moriana Morais in a mere 58 seconds, hitting a sweet sitout to a take of the back, sinking the rear-naked choke simultaneously. She’s the most dynamic finisher at 125 pounds and is full of untapped potential, so her nickname may be even more fitting in the years to come.

STRAWWEIGHT: No one on this team took more victims in 2017 than Weili Zhang, the first ever Chinese All-Violence rep. A standout for Kunlun Fight in her native country, Zhang went 7-0 on the year, fighting six times in her home promotion. In her lone trip abroad, she destroyed Ye Dam Seo at Top Fighting Championship 15 in South Korea, knocking her silly with a tight, inline elbow. Unlike so many of Chinese’s fledgling MMA standouts, Zhang is not a sanda stylist; she’s an aggressive and powerful kickboxer, but most of her game is predicated on hard clinch fighting to set up trips, getting to full mount then punches, elbows, elbows, man oh man, so many elbows. Since losing her November 2013 pro debut via decision, Zhang had stopped every single opponent until meeting Aline Sattelmayer this past June. Weird trivia note: Zhang ended the year by armbarring Bianca Sattelmayer, the polyamorous sister wife of Aline. They’re fighting in their native Brazil to enter into a legal poly triad marriage with their husband, fellow fighter Ricardo Sattelmayer. You can’t write this stuff. Anyhow, Zhang is an elite prospect in need of a bigger stage and she’s one vicious customer. She’ll beat up you, your sister, your wife and your sister wife.