UFC 295: Five Things We Learned
UFC 295 resulted in a mix of violence and history. The entire main card ended with violence as all five fights were finished. The main event and co-main event saw two fighters walk away with titles. It was an outstanding event that left us with crucial lessons to discuss.
Alex Pereira joins combat sports royalty:
In the UFC 295 main event, Alex Pereira knocked out Jiri Prochazka to become the light heavyweight champion. The win makes Pereira the ninth UFC fighter to hold a belt in two weight classes. In addition to that, before joining the UFC he was a two-division champion in Glory Kickboxing.
Pereira’s UFC 295 victory makes him one of the most accomplished combat sports athletes. It is hard to quantify who the greatest combat sports athlete of all time is. It is ridiculously hard to compare accomplishments between different sports. Regardless, Pereira’s success in kickboxing and MMA cements his legacy.
Tom Aspinall is the next generation of the heavyweight division:
The stakes were clear in the UFC 295 co-main event between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich. The winner would be crowned the next generation of the heavyweight division while potentially making themself a star. Aspinall was the one to capitalize on the opportunity as he knocked out Pavlovich in a minute and nine seconds.
Aspinall’s performance was as impressive as it gets. The Englishman knocked out the division’s top knockout artists in the first round. That is the best result Aspinall could have asked for at UFC 295.
Aspinall, 30, is now in an outstanding position. He appears to be the future of the division and just beat a tough stylistic matchup. It will be interesting to watch how his career progresses.
Jessica Andrade is not finished just yet:
Jessica Andrade had her back up against the wall at UFC 295. The former champion entered her bout with Mackenzie Dern with three consecutive losses. Andrade fought like she was fighting for her job as she knocked out Dern in the second round.
Andrade did an outstanding job of punishing Dern’s defensive flaws. As Dern got aggressive, Andrade planted big shots on her chin. That led to damage accumulating quickly.
This bout was exactly what Andrade needed. At the bare minimum, she needed to win a fight, but a finish victory makes a statement that she is going to remain in the upper portion of women’s MMA. Now, she is tasked with building upon this statement.
Benoit Saint-Denis is a threat at lightweight:
One of the most anticipated bout from UFC 295 was Benoit Saint-Denis against Matt Frevola. In a fight that many people expected to be a war, Saint-Denis made it look easy as he landed a head-kick knockout in the first round.
Saint-Denis is going to be a problem at lightweight. Frevola was his first ranked fight and it feels like the bout is the beginning of his climb up the division. Saint-Denis has a lot of traits that will cause problems. It begins with physical attributes like power, cardio and superhuman durability. That allows him to apply pressure on the feet. On the ground, he appears to have quality grappling too.
It will be interesting to see who Saint-Denis fights next. I cannot imagine many lightweights are asking to fight him. Still, his streak of positive results will likely lead him to a big fight.
Deigo Lopes is an entertaining featherweight:
The UFC struck entertainment gold with Diego Lopes. At UFC 295, the newly-signed featherweight produced a positive result as he notched the second first-round finish of his career.
Lopes defended the early grappling exchanges from Pat Sabatini and punished him with big strikes the first chance that he had. Now, he has a knockout and submission in the UFC.
In three fights, Lopes has proven to be a UFC-caliber fighter, a dangerous finisher, and highly entertaining. As his career moves forward, Lopes will be a name to watch out for as his fights are always worth watching.
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