Instant Reaction: UFC Fight Night

Jordan BreenFeb 22, 2015

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10:59 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Frank Mir jabs, turns that jab into a left hook that drops Antonio Silva and it's all misery from there. Five diving punches and three massive elbows force Mario Yamasaki into action. Your time? Just 1:40. Welcome back, Francisco Santos Mir.

And yes, that was 10 straight underdog victories to end this UFC Fight Night. It was a strange night, but an entertaining night. One I'll have a bizarre little spot in my heart for.

10:44 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's main event time at the Gigantinho Gymnasium in Porto Alegre. The last time Frank Mir won a fight, Brock Lesnar was still on the UFC roster and getting ready to face Alistair Overeem three weeks later at UFC 141. But, he's still the all-time UFC heavyweight wins leader with 14, and this will be his 24th appearance in the Octagon, behind only Tito Ortiz's 27 and Matt Hughes' 24.

10:35 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: My scorecard is 30-27, and the official cards are two sweeps and one 29-28 for your winner by unanimous decision, Michael Johnson. Complete technical, and more importantly, tactical dominance. He constantly stayed inside of Barboza's kicking range, made him gun shy, then turned up the pressure. It's a good fight that illustrates how it tends to come apart for Barboza when guys approach him with sound strategy and good counterpunching. More importantly, another consisent performance for Michael Johnson, who has slipped on a few banana peels in his UFC tenure. Joe Silva's got a lot of matchmaking flexibility there.

10:23 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's all Michael Johnson through two rounds. Barboza keeps backing himself up to the fence under the constant, even pressure of Johnson. More importantly, Johnson is fast, accurate, and throwing in deep combinations. He's stopped Barboza from throwing any real leg kick volume, and even has the Brazilian looking for takedowns. So far, it's a fantastic performance for the St. Louis native.

10:10 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's time for our co-feature, as Michael Johnson and Edson Barboza square off at 155 pounds, the winner inching closer and closer to a UFC lightweight title bid. If the underdog trend of the night is to be bought, Michael Johnson is about to put a hurting on Edson Barboza. And given how Barboza's chin has been exploited in the past, that is hardly an upset in any intellectual realm outside of betting.

9:56 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Aaaaand just like that, Alvey knocks Ferreira the hell out. “Mutante” landed a standing elbow, Alvey responded with an overhand right-left hook that dropped him, and two brutal coffin nails to seal the deal. Literally, that's eight upsets in a row, every single fight since Ivan Jorge beat Josh Shockley in the first fight of the night. Not every fight on this card has been a banger, it's had a weird, uneven pace, but it's got a ton of personality. I dig it.

9:50 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Time for a middleweight punch-up as Vitor Belfort's pupil Cezar Ferreira takes on free-swinging “Smilin'” Sam Alvey in what should be a contest not big on the pretense of defense. And, Ferreira may have some athletic advantages, but Alvey's got a better chin and is a real blood-and-guts warrior. This is another fight that could produce an upset.

9:37 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Another lackluster round, but Martins seals it with his more effective wrestling. I have it a 29-29 draw with an even first round, but it doesn't matter, cause we know the judges won't. In fact, they turn a split decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) for Adriano Martins. That's seven underdogs in a row and another exciting breakout win. This maligned card is carving out a unique little moment in history, I dig it.

9:29 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: The first five minutes was uneventful to the extent that I gave it the ol' 10-10, but Khabilov got created with his striking offense, located his right hand, worked some crafty standing elbows in and won the round. Martins briefly knocked him off balance at the very end of the round, though, and is hanging around. I'm sure many will take the fight so far as a slight to Khabilov, but Martins is an experienced, well-rouned and physically monstrous guy, and more importantly, he's showing a better gas tank and better wrestling than usual right now.

9:16 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Well, it's gonna take take some doing to have the underdog streak pushed to seven in a row here, as +400 and higher Adriano Martins, a rock solid gatekeeper type, takes on Rustam Khabilov, who in spite of his loss to Benson Henderson, is still a fantastic lightweight and work in progress. I sense this is going to be one for the chalk. The difference in wrestling here should be considerable, although Martins is a really potent top position grappler if he could ever find his way there.

9:04 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Your scores are 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for the righteous winner, Frankie Saenz, who all of a sudden gives Sean Shelby a new shiny toy to play with in the bantamweight matchmaking game. He's proving he's more than just Henry Cejudo's training partner, plus, chalk up another notable former Arizona State Sun Devil wrestler in the MMA world.

9:02 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Wow, ballsy performance from Frankie Saenz, who should in fact keep the underdog streak going at six in a row. However, Alcantara's surge to back mount could throw a monkey wrench into things. Some folks had Saenz taking the first round, though, so it's possible we even get some 30-27's for the American, or a heartbreaking split decision garbage win for Alcantara. Hold onto your hats.

8:52 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: I think Alcantara took the opening frame, but as usual, he's slowing down quickly, and with Frankie Saenz finishing the first round pounding on top and now controlling the Brazilian easily early in round two, it looks like it could be a sixth straight bout where the betting underdog wins tonight. Saenz is actually the biggest underdog on the evening, over +700 on many books.

8:44 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Bantamweight action now with the biggest favorite on the card, Iuri Alcantara, looking to step further into 135-pound contention against longshot American Frankie Saenz. His only UFC losses have been to Hacran Dias at 145 and Urijah Faber, who he took the first round off of, but it's time for the 34-year-old to step out if he's ever going to emerge as a serious contender.

8:31 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: The scores are 30-27 from all three judges for Santiago Ponzinibbio. Rounds two and three were competitive, but Strickland did little other than jab and try to keep Ponzinibbio off of him; the clean sweep was the right call. Ponzinibbio kept landing flush, hard overhands and hooks, rocked Strickland multiple times and negated his wrestling game. Strickland showed a real chin, but he never got out of first gear and didn't do much to set up his takedown attempts. Quality win for Ponzinibbio, too, who could've really showed out on TUF Brazil if not for getting injured.

8:17 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: An early “Round of the Year” contender gets us popping in a hurry with main card action. Sean Strickland's welterweight body looks solid, but his defense... not so much. Both fighters rocked one another during the round, but Strickland is getting raked by repeated power shots from Ponzinibbio and facing a level of adversity he's never faced in his 15-0 pro career.

8:02 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: After some awkwardly paced prelims, it's main card time. We get started at welterweight, with unbeaten Sean Strickland's divisional debut against once-beaten Argentine Santiago Ponzinibbio. Strickland's decision win last may over Luke Barnatt was a complete joke and I'm not sure why he felt the need to drop a weight class, but he's still young, talented and well-rounded. Also very interested in seeing if Ponzinibbio has been able to improve his defensive wrestling; if so, he could really threaten Strickland here.

7:45 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: They had 22 minutes to go in the preliminary broadcast when Marion Reneau exited the cage and they gave her no postfight interview, which seemed weird. Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter now reporting that the production truck opted to cut the interview portion without discussing with the main UFC crew. You just can't trust a truck.

7:33 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Well, hot damn. Reneau got dropped by Andrade, instantly locked up that triangle, took her time slowly adjusting it and got the job done, earning the tap. All that action in less than two minutes. The 37-year-old Marion Reneau is one of the breakout fighters of the young 2015 fight calendar. And most importantly, a win for Reneau is a win for Doug Marshall.

7:32 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Andrade and Reneau are after it immediately. We're just 30 seconds in and it's two way action, punches and knees landing. We can already see the pattern of Andrade' punch rushes and her desire to corner and clinch Reneau, and Reneau's in-out ability and power. And as I say that, Andrade drops her with a right hand. Now Reneau has a traingle. Dammit, I'm just gonna stop typing and enjoy.

7:13 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Well, as a result of T.J. Waldburger pulling out of his fight with Wendell Oliveira due to illness while cutting weight, we're left with just the prelim main event now, with 47 minutes to go til the main card starts. Fortunately for us, the bantamweight prelim headliner between Jessica Andrade and Marion Reneau should be a scrappy, entertaining one. Doubtful it will top Karolina Kowalkiewicz-Kalindra Faria from KSW 30 yesterday, though.

7:12 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Also, Matt Dwyer's first-round Superman punch knockout is the first win for a Canadian in the UFC this year, after the missteps of Jordan Mein and Chris Kelades in recent weeks.

7:00 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Welterweight action in the cage now between Canadian Matt Dwyer and Rio de Janeiro's William Macario. I have no better intro to the fight than this tweet from SporTV and Canal Combate reporter Ana Hissa, regarding Macario's prefight preparation:



7:05 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Well, Matt Dwyer's face was all over William Macario's bedroom, now it's gonna be haunting his dreams. Superman punch rocks “Patolino” and with a delayed reaction, drops him flat on his face in the trademark Ric Flair flop. Despite being a +400 underdog and getting absolutely mauled by Albert Tumenov's head kick barrage in his UFC debut, Matt Dwyer is now 1-1 in the Octagon with a nasty knockout.

6:52 p.m. ET Chris Nelson:


6:48 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Judging turd watch update: it was Mark Collett who had it 30-27 for Silva de Andrade over Cody Gibson, while Marcos Rosales and Marco Aurelio Borges had it 29-28. This will be on the test.

6:42 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Holy violent finish. “Tractor” ran out of gas in a hurry pressuring de la Torre into the fence, eating clean punches and clinch knees to the head and body. Perfect counter left hook from de la Torre off of a low kick dropped the Brazilian and he swarmed to finish with nearly a dozen right hands. I love a conclusive finish as much as the next guy and I am a champion of referee Leon Roberts, but the Roberts was about four punches too late there, which is crazy, since he was staring right at the vacant dos Santos.

6:37 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: As of right now, we've got 23 “Trator” or “Tractors” in the FightFinder. Nine “El Cucuys” or some other spelling to my count. You know, in case that's important to you. I personally think de la Torre should be “McDLT.”

6:35 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Time for featherweight Mike de la Torre to try to exorcise some demons. In his UFC debut last year in Quebec City, he got ripped off against Mark Bocek despite hideously deforming his face. In his second appearance, he was tapped out easily by Brian Ortega, who then tested positive for the Black House original recipe. He gets the chance for his first UFC win against a solid-if-unspectacular “Tractor” Tiago dos Santos.

So many tractors in the UFC these days. When I was your age, we just had lots of pitbulls and tons of diesel.

6:34 p.m. ET C.J. Tuttle: Just because an event is going on, it’s not stopping UFC from continuing to stack its UFC 187 card in May. The newest edition comes in the form of John Dodson versus Zach Makovsky. Peep the details here.

6:25 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Wow, Douglas Silva de Andrade wins -- which is fine -- but he gets a 30-27 scorecard? He got his ass kicked in the third round. Thought Gibson took the first, but that opening five minutes was the swing round. But man oh man, 30-27. We've got our first turd watch of the evening, excited to see which judge is responsible.

6:23 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Gibson's longer, straighter punching just accumulated over time and really wore down Silva de Andrade, and the last two minutes were largely the “Renegade” bashing the Brazilian around with both hands, just unable to actually put him away. I've got it 29-28 for Gibson, for prepare for the chance that the judges give the first two rounds to Silva de Andrade, and everyone screams hometown cooking. That first round was legit competitive.

6:23 p.m. ET TJ De Santis: I have it 29-28 Gibson. I won't feel too badly when the judges score it for the Brazilian. However, I do feel that the right card goes the way of "The Renegade." Pretty fun fight, glad these guys got to fight on television.

6:19 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: It's gut check time as the third round rolls on. Gibson took a close first round on my scorecard, though Silva defended the takedowns well. The Brazilian dropped Gibson in the second, though the Tachi Palace mainstay got to his feet and recovered. It's back-and-forth business with two minutes to go. Any serious salvo of offense could swing the fight for the aggressor here.

6:12 p.m. ET TJ De Santis: Nice start for these to bantamweights. I remember calling a few of Cody's Tachi Fights where it would take him a round to a round and a half to get things going. I think he has put those issues behind him.

6:05 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: And we're quickly back into action with bantamweights Cody Gibson and Douglas Silva de Andrade already getting introduced by Bruce Buffer in a mere matter of minutes. Gibson lost via heartbreaking guillotine choke with seconds left on the clock in the second round to Manny Gamburyan last September, but he's still a far more well-rounded, polished fighter than Andrade, who has a big glossy record based on clobbering mediocre Brazilian opposition. He is damn aggressive, though, and has a lot of power.

5:59 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Ivan Jorge and Josh Shockley go the 15-minute distance, and “Batman” wins three 29-28 scorecards for the unanimous decision, bringing his UFC mark to 2-1 and possibly handing the 0-2 Shockley his papers. However, the fight was more entertaining than expected, if not particularly technical. Jorge almost got clobbered seconds into the fight, squandered a solid arm-triangle choke opportunity and pulled Shockley into full mount on top of him in the third round.

But, Brazil is up 1-0! Gotta get that home winning percentage back up.

5:44 p.m. ET TJ De Santis: I can't recall the last time a guy was so calm while being on the wrong end of side control. However, he nearly took a nap after "Batman" was able to advance position. Shockley is poised but will need a sense of urgency when taken down in this fight. He is doing quite well on the feet. If he can keep it there maybe he can get the win. But his is either going to get caught on the floor or time will be his ultimate undoing.

5:38 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: While some recent UFC cards have unfortunately buried undercard gems early in the evening in favor of putting insipid garbage on TV -- I'm looking at you, Daniel Kelly and Patrick Walsh -- this card dispenses with that trend and seeks to get what might be the most painful part of the night over with immediately. First up, southern Brazilian journeyman “Batman” Ivan Jorge tangles with American wrassler Josh Shockley.

Shockley was absolutely ripped by the surprisingly skilled Jason Saggo in Vancouver last June. Jorge is a physically strong but vanilla grappler with tons of experience and a penchant for sucking all the fun out of the cage, as he did in his first two UFC bouts with Keith Wisniewski and Rodrigo Damm, which were both especially awful.

Then again, he beat the aforementioned Wisniewski, who is a teammate and training partner of Shockley at Duneland Vale Tudo. The stakes are high! The pride of Hobart, Ind., is on the line!

5:33 p.m. ET Jordan Breen: Welcome to another fight night of the UFC Fight Night variety, fight freaks. Fight fight fight. Tonight's festivities mark the UFC's debut in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Unfortunately, the fightin' pride of Porto Alegre, Fabricio Werdum, will be relegated to flashing 1000-watt smiles and being an adorable horse of a man from the first row of the crowd.

To say that this has been a well-received main event between former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir and Antonio Silva would be a lie. While there is still some morbid intrigue and a desire to see what either fighter has left in the tank at this point in time, Mir hasn't won a fight since he broke Nogueira's arm in December 2011, the same night that Jon Jones dropped Lyoto Machida like a sack of potatoes. “Fifty Shades of Grey” was barely even in the cultural consciousness. In fact, Mir is now the first fighter in UFC history to headline a card coming off of four straight losses and a fifth straight loss under UFC tenure would put him in some ignominious air, historically speaking. Silva isn't faring too much better, winless in his last three fights, all of which were especially brutal.

On the upside, our co-feature at 155 pounds between Edson Barboza and Michael Johnson is about as much fun on paper as you could have with two counterstrikers, and should be give us some additional clarity on the present hierarchy at lightweight.

12:15 p.m. ET Mike Fridley: Sherdog.com's UFC Fight Night “Mir vs. Bigfoot” instant reaction will kickoff Sunday at approximately 5 p.m. ET.