The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of UFC on ESPN 3

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday returned to Minneapolis with UFC on ESPN 3. With it came some good, some bad and some ugly.

THE GOOD: DILLON, YOU SON OF A ...

There was Paul Bunyan, Samson and John Henry. Now, there’s Francis Ngannou. The level of destruction left in the wake of the Cameroonian power puncher has been a sight to behold. Since emerging from the two-fight skid that saw him get outclassed by then champion Stipe Miocic and lay an egg against Derrick Lewis, Ngannou has looked like a renewed man desperate to secure another shot at UFC gold with as little cage time as possible.

Since he began his rebound tour in December, Ngannou has spent a grand total of 2:22 inside the Octagon. “The Predator” has been extremely efficient, as he managed to stop Curtis Blaydes and violently put away two former heavyweight champions. At UFC on ESPN 1, Ngannou’s ability to separate grown men from consciousness was overshadowed by the fact that Cain Velasquez has been plagued by injuries for years. As the MMA world reviewed the tape of their encounter as if it were the modern answer to the Zapruder film, the questions of buckled knees and phantom uppercuts took over the conversation.

However, Ngannou’s dismantling of Junior dos Santos in the UFC on ESPN 3 headliner was particularly jarring and left absolutely nothing to interpretation. He bested “Cigano” with clean punches after the Brazilian’s overzealous attempt to establish the threat of his own heavy hands. There are no questions surrounding what we witnessed, no lingering doubts about the validity of the results. Fists met face, and Ngannou got his hand raised. Dos Santos was widely regarded as the best pure boxer the UFC heavyweight division had ever seen. With a mean arsenal of kicks also in his repertoire, it seemed possible that he was capable of becoming another pothole on Ngannou’s road to stardom. As he showed against Lewis, Mark Hunt and Shane Carwin, dos Santos certainly has the skills necessary to give a hard-hitting but still developing striker a bad day at the office.

Ultimately, it just didn’t matter. The heavy leg kick that buckled Ngannou didn’t matter. The clinical approach JDS took at the beginning didn’t matter. The cross to the body didn’t matter. None of it mattered, because the sheer cataclysmic force in Ngannou’s fists is an equalizer that has no rival in today’s MMA. Heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder might be the closest parallel for what Ngannou offers. Despite the obvious flaws in technique, both men have a downright scary ability to consistently get past the most tactical and intelligent opponents while relying almost entirely on explosion and horsepower. In order to defeat either man, one must fight the perfect fight. Dos Santos simply failed to do so. The first slight mistake was all that was necessary to end his night early.

The only option for Ngannou is another chance to claim the UFC belt. With Miocic set to rematch Daniel Cormier in August in an attempt to snatch back the title he lost a little less than a year ago, there’s a clear No. 1 contender awaiting the winner of the UFC 241 main event. No matter who Ngannou faces, we’ll get to see how much “The Predator” has evolved since being outwrestled by Miocic at UFC 220. Miocic could very well repeat his performance in a rematch, and Cormier is as well-equipped as anyone to replicate that exact game plan. We’ve come a long way since Ngannou was essentially written off in 2018. For now, he looks as mighty as a mythical creature.

THE BAD: IN VICTORY THERE IS DEFEAT

It’s strange to see a fighter get a legitimate win and still find his way here. However, Demian Maia is worthy of this dubious distinction. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert squeaked by surging contender Anthony Rocco Martin to earn a majority decision in their welterweight showcase. A win over a rapidly improving Martin, who until had yet to lose at 170 pounds until he ran into Maia, is nothing at which to sneeze.

Maia did what was needed to win. He secured takedowns and controlled the positioning on the floor long enough to convince two out of the three judges that he was the better man. The documented media scores, including three separate entries from Sherdog.com, support the assessment of those two judges. However, the manner in which Maia won should be a cause for concern. We’ve never thought of him as anything more than a one-trick pony. Granted, that pony was impressive most of the time. At his best, his game plan is quite simple: Search for an opportunity to score a takedown, and work for a submission. Improbably, Maia has used this method to challenge for titles in two weight classes and earn an impressive collection of scalps along the way. When those plans fail, it turns into a regrettable spectacle. If his opponent manages to keep the fight out of that realm and nullify his biggest strengths, there is no Plan B. Think back to those two title challenges and the fan outrage, as Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley negated Maia’s efforts and put a magnifying glass next to his lack of an alternative strategy.

While Jake Shields, Rory MacDonald and a few others were willing to engage him on the floor and Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman didn’t shy away from grappling exchanges or clinches, this is the first time at welterweight someone other than a championship-caliber competitor has managed to neutralize Maia and force everyone watching to take note of his lack of well-rounded skills. While he clearly lost the first two rounds, Martin did not find himself in serious danger as the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt fished for positional control and submission opportunities. The complete disregard for Maia’s prowess on the feet and the confidence he earned by surviving on the ground for 10 minutes provided Martin with renewed confidence and a path to take the final round while having his way. When one imagines it as a five-round encounter, it seems like a forgone conclusion that the situation would have grown much worse for Maia. He may have earned a win, but nothing good is likely to follow.

Where Maia was once the guy who could only be beaten by the best, at 41 years old, it looks like his puzzle is getting easier to solve. It’s quite possible that Martin rebounds from this defeat and continues his march upwards at 170 pounds. In that sense, we may look back on this as a solid win for Maia. Right now, that just isn’t the case.

THE UGLY: 135 IS COMPANY, 125 IS A CROWD

There is nothing ugly about what Joseph Benavidez did in the co-main event -- unless you’re Jussier Formiga, of course. After a brief scare due to a nasty cut near his left eye, Benavidez regained his composure and quickly reminded us of why he’s perhaps the greatest fighter to never win a world title. While there are others, like Donald Cerrone, worthy of being mentioned in that conversation, that is a discussion for another time.

What makes this ugly is the harsh truth of the circumstances surrounding Benavidez as he put on a clinic against a game and highly skilled opponent. While we were rightfully in awe of his efforts to establish himself as the obvious No. 1 contender in the flyweight division, our collective admiration remains overshadowed by an impending sense of dread that he will not be able to cash in on this chance. There just seems to be too much working against him to actually get the opportunity to win Henry Cejudo’s flyweight title.

The reasons for this are complex and intertwined. First, the champion is sidelined for the rest of the year with a shoulder injury. Cejudo is on the shelf, and life must go on without him for the time being. Benavidez can sit out and wait on the red X on his calendar before he steps back into the Octagon, but that just leads to the next problem: Cejudo has more than one championship about which to worry. The bantamweight division has been bursting at the seams with viable talent at the top, as Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan have emerged as top choices. Who says Cejudo wants to shed weight to fight at flyweight after coming off of the injured list? Benavidez might be stuck waiting around for an opportunity that never comes. Of course, he can remain active, but this highlights another issue: Against whom would Benavidez remain active against? With only a handful of flyweights remaining on the roster -- the UFC shed them like snakeskin while pretending we couldn’t read the writing on the wall -- there aren’t many options that make sense, even if another interim belt were added to the equation. Aside from Alexandre Pantoja, who has to get by Deiveson Figueiredo in a few weeks, there isn’t anyone worthy of a shot at a belt right now.

Of course, Benavidez could cut the line at bantamweight and challenge Cejudo there. However, that leaves a stacked division in limbo once again, with the belt being tied up outside of rightful 135-pound contenders. In the wake of the T.J. Dillashaw disaster and immediate rematch for Cody Garbrandt, it’s best that the bantamweight division be reset on a path that respects the hard work put in by those who have been waiting in line through all of the missteps. Moreover, Benavidez is at his best in the flyweight division. That’s where he should be fighting. Considering Cejudo’s last loss was a split decision to Benavidez at 125 pounds, it makes even more sense to run it back in that weight class.

The bizarre callouts Cejudo made immediately after snatching the vacant bantamweight belt didn’t include Benavidez or any other flyweight. That gives enough of a window into the champion’s mind to be concerned about what happens with the 125-pound division and the belt that represents the best fighter in it. While we can’t take the words of a euphoric, adrenaline-fueled man as gospel truth, it seems likely that Benavidez may be the odd man out yet again.