Sherdog.com’s 2018 All-Violence Team

2018 All-Violence Third Team

Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis
Light Heavyweight: Sean O'Connell
Middleweight: Ronaldo Souza
Welterweight: Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Lightweight: Charles Oliveira
Featherweight: Max Holloway
Bantamweight: Cory Sandhagen
Flyweight: Ilima-Lei Macfarlane
Strawweight: Tatiana Suarez
Atomweight: Alyssa Garcia

HEAVYWEIGHT: Year after year, the third team is where things get difficult for me. As I alluded to earlier, it was not necessarily the greatest year for heavyweight violence: Other than Daniel Cormier, few fighters had any level of consistency at the highest echelon. On the regional level, fighters like Klidson Farias de Abreu and Alexander Romanov ripped off impressive undefeated runs that should earn them contracts with a major promotion. However, even if Lewis got wiped out in his November UFC title challenge against Cormier and had one of the worst heavyweight bouts in recent memory against Francis Ngannou in July, “The Black Beast” still went 3-1 on the year and had a pair of dramatic third-round knockouts against quality heavyweights in Marcin Tybura and Alexander Volkov. Style points matter. The Tybura fight was up for grabs before Lewis landed his brutal right hand and pounded out the Pole, and against Volkov, clearly down two rounds, the Texan realized his predicament and went on the warpath, slinging his right-hand heaters until he smashed the Russian and savagely pounded him out. Was it a perfect year of violence? No, but the path of true heavyweight violence never does run smoothly. Yet, more often than not, Lewis manages to use his otherworldly power to thrill us in ways we are never sure how to anticipate, which is more than enough to earn him his second straight All-V appearance.

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: Full admission, I have an affinity for O’Connell, but not just because I have done multiple radio shows with him for SiriusXM Radio. Actually, that angle buttresses part of my point here: O’Connell is a smart, savvy guy who just happens to love the throes of MMA war. Typically, we laud fighters who are “above the sport” and can navigate their careers in and out of the cage in such a way to minimize damage and maximize profit. Well, “The Real OC” in 2018 was not afraid to dive into the fire for a million dollars. After punching out UFC vet Ronny Markes in June, he took a vicious spinning back kick to the body from Bozigit Ataev. Did it deter him? No. O’Connell leaped into the Professional Fighters League’s 205-pound tournament bracket, outpunched Dan Spohn and then clobbered favorites Smealinho Rama and Vinny Magalhaes. There is nothing fancy about O’Connell’s game. At best, he is a marginally above-average athlete but makes up for it with a never-say-die attitude and a cleverness about how he chooses to brawl. I think there is something truly beautiful in this sport when you see someone who is smart as a whip but so down in the trenches and beholden to the violence of MMA that they cannot operate any other way. Think about someone like Joe Lauzon, who does not need this sport but just loves it. That describes O’Connell, too, and that sort of ill-advised badass nature earned him a million dollars when he made tourney favorite Magalhaes quit on New Year’s Eve and allowed him to retire with seven figures and then ride off into the sunset. That is how you punctuate an MMA career, folks.

MIDDLEWEIGHT: I agonized over who to put in this spot. Bruno “Blindado” Silva went 3-0 with three knockouts, including his clobbering of three-time All-V entrant Alexander Shlemenko. At the same time, Ian Heinisch went 4-0 with three knockouts and announced himself as a relevant 185-pound contender. Regardless, I have to take stock of quality of competition and overall technique, so as a result, Souza earns his third All-Violence Team berth. We can all debate as to whether or not Souza deserved the nod over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 224, but sandwiched around that split decision loss were two savage knockouts. In January, the grappling all-star flexed his ever-improving standup by putting his shin upside Derek Brunson’s head in less than four minutes. To end the year, he handed former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman a positively brutal knockout with his fists, only made softer by his own mercy, as referee Dan Miragliotta showed no impulse to stop the beating until “Jacare” opted to walk away from Weidman’s supine body. Souza is one of the most incredible athletes to ever endeavor into this sport, and it is tragic that he did not dedicate himself to MMA earlier in his career. Even at 39 years old, he continues to show massive gains and improvements in his overall game that garner eye-popping stoppages and placement on this list every other year.

WELTERWEIGHT: Statistically speaking, there is not much to look at when it comes to dos Santos’ 2018 oeuvre. Between his wins over Sean Strickland and Luigi Vendramini, we are talking about a 30-18 significant strike differential. However, there is a reason I emphasize style points, and for a man who is bold enough to make his nickname “Capoeira,” the Brazilian came with flash this year. Strickland is a long, rangy boxer. What happened? Boom, spinning wheel kick to the face and follow-up punches for the knockout. Vendramini may not be well-known yet, but he may be the best fighter out of Italy right now. What happened? Insane switch-step flying knee and right hook, followed by savage ground-and-pound. In such a deep and congested 170-pound weight class, dos Santos is still nowhere near the top of the division. However, so long as the UFC keeps putting him on undercards against overmatched opposition, we are going to see highlight reel after highlight reel given his ridiculous and unpredictable arsenal of offensive feats.

LIGHTWEIGHT: This is the second All-Violence Team berth for Oliveira, and frankly, he earned it. Look, we all know the deal on this man. He is a supernatural grappler who is caught between two weight classes and does not exactly stand up to punishment, but that does not prevent him from being an All-V entrant. For my money, “Do Bronx” is easily one of the most naturally skilled submission grapplers to ever step foot into a cage and he showed it in 2018. Clay Guida, Christos Giagos and Jim Miller all got tapped with supreme skill and technique. All told, Oliveira’s three wins in 2018 took less than 11 minutes combined. The Brazilian may be a classic “glass cannon” -- for all of those of you who play roleplaying games -- but he has a natural instinct for ripping off incredible submissions. We can all size up an Oliveira matchup. We imagine that if his opponent can sprawl-and-brawl, the Brazilian is going to wilt and die, but if there is ever any opening for a submission, there are few fighters in the history of this sport who can exploit it like “Do Bronx.” He is like a classic video game boss. If you can figure out the pattern, you will get to the next level, but if you fail to do so, prepare to end up on the wrong end of a highlight reel.

FEATHERWEIGHT: When it comes to the All-Violence Team, I like to reward activity and fight-in, fight-out excitement. However, some fighters require a different sort of lens, a different sort of analysis. Even if he only fought once in 2018, Holloway is exactly the kind of fighter for whom I break the mold. Yes, the UFC featherweight champion only fought once in 2018, but when he did, he did it against an elite, previously undefeated fighter in Brian Ortega and positively broke every metric in every way possible. Fifteen featherweight UFC wins? New record. Eight knockout wins in 145-pound competition? New record. A whopping 290 significant strikes in 20 minutes? New record. An insane 134 significant strikes in a single round? New record. His beatdown of Ortega giving him 1,627 significant strikes in the Octagon? New record. Even with just one performance in 2018, there is no way I could overlook Holloway’s virtuoso, multi-record-setting beatdown of a brilliant fighter like Ortega. It would be antithetical to the whole purpose of the All-Violence Team. As such, Holloway earns his fifth straight team berth, giving him the most All-Violence appearances, usurping Jon Jones.

BANTAMWEIGHT: This was another tricky one, but the little-known Sandhagen showed the kind of mettle that the All-Violence Team is meant to promote. He went 3-0 on the year with three nasty knockouts, but his August win over Brazilian veteran Iuri Alcantara sealed it. Sandhagen gritted his way out of a fully locked-in armbar, escaped and then absolutely pulverized “Marajo” for the stoppage. Despite getting his arm turned inside out, Sandhagen got on top and smashed Alcantara so badly that he broke his nose and sent him to the hospital. Even nastier, he clobbered the Brazilian with the same limb that just got ripped to shreds in the armbar. Ultimately, he outlanded Alcantara 66-9 in significant strikes. That is to say nothing of his nasty finish of Jose Aguayo to earn his passage into the Octagon, as he dropped his opponent with a vicious knee and then polished him off with a savage torrent of elbows. Title contender? Perhaps not. Compulsory undercard viewing? Absolutely.

FLYWEIGHT: Macfarlane is one of the sassiest grapplers in all of MMA at this point, and she showed it in 2018. She is not the most dynamic wrestler in the world, so it takes her a little time to ply her trade, but once she manages to get a beat on her opponents, the gig is up. Alejandra Lara and Valerie Letourneau are both high-quality fighters, and neither of them could withstand the overall slick grappling acumen of “The Iliminator.” Macfarlane is easily one of the most exciting submission fighters this sport has to offer, and her grappling expertise only gets sharper and more dangerous with each appearance. Whether on top or on bottom, her work rate is incredible, which only draws her opponents deeper into her web of submissions. In many ways, Macfarlane is a throwback to an era where diligent submission grapplers used their vast knowledge on the ground to tire out and beguile their opponents into a state of haplessness before choosing whether or not to pull off some exotic Eddie Bravo-type nonsense or a textbook Gracie submission. Either way, Macfarlane is an absolute gem to watch on the floor, simultaneously connecting us to the fundamentals of jiu-jitsu and the next level of grappling that may be practiced on the mythologized “10th Planet.”

STRAWWEIGHT: The only thing holding Suarez back is injuries and infirmity. In fact, if not for her bout with thyroid cancer, she may have made the Olympics. Nonetheless, since entering MMA and smashing her way through “The Ultimate Fighter,” she has seemed nigh-unstoppable. In May, she completely humiliated Alexa Grasso, taking her down, cutting through her guard and easily choking her out. She returned in September against the UFC strawweight’s inaugural champion, Carla Esparza, and positively beat her senseless while taking her down at will. Suarez took down Esparza nine times, passed her guard 14 times and pounded her to the tune of 138-12 in total strikes; that is over a tenfold beatdown before garnering a stoppage. If Suarez stays healthy, Rose Namajunas better be on alert as we head into 2019.

ATOMWEIGHT: Garcia opened her year in inauspicious fashion, dropping a unanimous decision to Ayaka Hamasaki in Rizin. However, the Josh Barnett understudy quickly rebounded, taking a fight in China, where she deftly armbarred Miao Ding in the second round and then ended the year in Japan in August, launching a nasty shin upside veteran Satomi Takano’s head for a knockout win. Garcia may be a grappler at heart, but 2018 showed that she is expanding her MMA game and becoming more of a well-rounded threat who can do much more than just hit a powerful double-leg takedown.