Opinion: Undeserved Disrespect

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The main card for UFC 310 was revealed on Saturday during the UFC 309 broadcast. Given how the lineup was ravaged by the withdrawal of several top names, it was understandable that it felt thin. However, it took me a bit to realize why it felt thinner than I believed it should have.

The main event is on the flat end of the spectrum, at least from a business perspective. Despite being a champion with multiple title defenses under his belt, flyweight Alexandre Pantoja still doesn’t have a connection with casual fans—the audience the Ultimate Fighting Championship needs to be targeting for pay-per-view buys. Opponent Kai Asakura is making his UFC debut after having starred in the Rizin Fighting Federation. Thus, it’s very likely this will be the first time many viewers will be laying their eyes upon the Japan native.

The co-main event is perfectly acceptable in terms of quality, but Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry are also not PPV sellers. The heavyweight showcase beneath them features Ciryl Gane, who has headlined a pair of pay-per-views. However, he was undeniably the B-side in each of those contests, and Alexander Volkov has been unable to secure a win that might allow him to break through into being more than just a fringe contender. He’s not likely to induce any extra buys, either. It doesn’t help that their bout is a rematch, and their first encounter was anything but a barnburner.

Thus, it appears as though the UFC is attempting to sell the PPV based on the stakes of the event. Given it’s a title fight, the main event is easily the most consequential scrap on the draw. The co-headliner is indisputably a welterweight title eliminator, and depending on how things play out at the top of the heavyweight division, the Gane-Volkov winner could very well get a shot at one of the heavyweight titles.

Despite all that, as currently constituted, the UFC 310 match with the most decorated combatants sits on the outside looking in at the main card. Yes, the showdown between Aljamain Sterling and Movsar Evloev will be given to the viewing audience free of charge. I understand the critique on the fight. Sterling has two finishes under his belt over the last five years, and one of those came against T.J. Dillashaw—an opponent who never should have been medically cleared to compete. Evloev has yet to secure a finish in eight UFC appearances. Over the course of 28 UFC bouts between them, they have a single “Fight of the Night” bonus. Bottom line: They have reputations as boring fighters.

Even if that sentiment is true, it’s disrespectful to both men in terms of their accomplishments within the confines of the Octagon. Sterling is 15 months removed from being the bantamweight champion and owns the UFC record for the most consecutive title defenses in the division. He’s fresh off a dominant performance over Calvin Kattar in his first assignment at 145 pounds. As for Evloev, he holds a perfect 18-0 record. That includes a win over Diego Lopes, a man many believe deserves the next title shot against Ilia Topuria. In fact, the Sterling-Evloev winner is likely to have a strong argument of his own to be the next challenger to face Topuria. To say the clash between these two is undeserving of a main card spot is insulting to their achievements.

If this was a stacked card—see UFC 300, where Sterling fought Kattar on the undercard—I would understand why they might not have a spot on the main draw. Instead, they are being pushed aside for two other featherweight pairings, one of which features Kron Gracie. He obtained his lone UFC victory over five years ago. He’s more likely fighting for his employment than anything else. The other featherweight tilt between Nate Landwehr and Doo Ho Choi looks like a fun slugfest. However, Choi posted his first win in eight years in July. Part of that is due to inactivity, but it’s reflective of Choi not being someone to take seriously as a player in the division, too. It isn’t like any of them are up-and-coming prospects, either.

Beyond all that, I don’t believe the contest between Sterling and Evloev is going to be boring. I’m not saying they are misunderstood action fighters, not by a long shot. I’m simply pointing to a sentiment UFC CEO Dana White has shared many times in his years in the spotlight: “Styles make fights.”

The lone “Fight of the Night” between the two of them was Evloev’s back-and-forth battle with Lopes. A risk-taking grappler, Lopes put Evloev on the defensive frequently in their contest, resulting in one of the all-time great ground battles. Sterling may not be the risk-taker Lopes is on the mat, but he’s a savvy ground fighter and will likely bring out the scrambling we saw from Evloev against Lopes. He was capable of eliciting excited cheers from the audience.

Sterling has had his share of ground battles, but few would consider them to be exciting. Regardless, when he has caught opponents in tricky positions, he has pulled off some of the more impressive submissions in the last decade. His rear-naked choke of Cory Sandhagen was one of the best showcases of pure ground supremacy in recent memory; he’s one of the few to own a UFC victory via the “Suloev Stretch,” having executed it against Cody Stamann; and it’s often forgotten that Sterling tapped Takeya Mizugaki with an arm-triangle choke from the bottom. If Sterling and Evloev duke it out on the mat, we’re in for a real treat—one the UFC foolishly appears willing to give away for free.

Of course, because I’m singing the praises of these two men, it likely means they’ll engage in a tepid kickboxing contest. For their sake and the sake of the viewing audience, I hope that isn’t the case, particularly if the UFC leaves them off the main card. They are two of the top featherweights in the world. The UFC would do everyone well by treating them as such.