UFC 307: 5 Things We Learned

UFC 307: 5 Things We Learned

UFC 307 was an entertaining pay-per-view with some fun fights. The event had some dull moments and poor scorecards, but it was still notable. Let’s dive into all the action and discuss the biggest lessons we learned from the card. Here are five things we learned at UFC 307.

Alex Pereira shows the layers of his skills

The UFC 307 main event between Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree ended as a brawl. Rountree took it to the champion, but Pereira showed additional layers to his skills that helped him win this fight. That resulted in the champion earning a fourth-round knockout.

Pereira has garnered a lot of notoriety for being a fighter with dangerous knockout power. That certainly is true. The champion has won his last three fights by knockout inside two rounds, resulting in people forgetting his ability to accumulate damage throughout a fight. In this bout, he stayed outside and landed a ridiculous amount of jabs and leg kicks. These shots added up and eventually broke Rountree.

This layer of Pereira’s game is often forgotten. It makes beating him much harder to beat than people realize. It essentially means fighters have to knock him out in the early rounds. The only other path is proactive grappling.

Khaili Rountree’s stock rises in a loss

On the other side of the UFC 307 main event, Rountree sees his stock rise despite the loss.

This fight was an unexpected matchup. Rountree was not a fighter that many fans expected to see in a title fight. His win over Anthony Smith was impressive, but it did not warrant a title fight. Regardless, he went out and delivered once the fight started.

Rountree did not fight scared. The challenger went out there and looked for the knockout, leading to him landing some really solid strikes. In the second round, he dropped Pereira and landed a nice head kick.

In the late rounds, Rountree did not quit. The momentum slowly turned in Pereira’s favor, but Rountree never stopped throwing. Despite being hurt, cut and bloodied, he was throwing massive shots and hunting the knockout. It was a great fight.

In the future, fans will be lining up to watch Rountree. Despite the loss, he is not going anywhere. The UFC will likely continue to give him big opportunities in the light heavyweight division.

Raquel Pennington wins and the judges score it for Julianna Pena

The UFC 307 co-main event was a women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena. Pennington was the fighter that one the fight, but the judges scored it for Pena.

This fight was a very easy fight to score. Pennington won rounds one, four and five while Pena won rounds two and three. Although, that is not what happened. Instead, two judges gave Pena round one which was enough to swing the fight in her favor.

The first round is not a hard round to score. Pennington was landing the much more damaging strikes. Pena landed more shots, but Pennington landed powerful uppercuts, straights and hooks. Meanwhile, Pena really only landed her jab. It was a clear Pennington round.

It is never ideal to see the wrong fighter win a decision. It is even worse in a title fight. This poor decision greatly affected the future of each fighter’s career.

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Mario Bautista is getting too much hate

One of the most anticipated fights from UFC 307 was the bantamweight matchup between Mario Bautista and Jose Aldo. The fight ended up being a close fight, and Bautista won by a split decision.

The aftermath of this bout led to a lot of online hate being thrown toward Bautista. The narratives being presented are simply not true.

A lot of people are making it seem like Bautista won this fight through clinch stalling. That is ridiculous considering he struck with Aldo in the first round and landed the better shots. In the second round, he willing engaged strikes with Aldo. The offensive striking pace did slow in the third round, but that is on both fighters. Aldo was not throwing as much volume at the beginning of the round. Plus, he could not get off the fence.

This fight has sparked a lot of outrage regarding the decision. Personally, I thought the third round was a close round that Bautista won. It feels like a lot of the people upset over the decision are only angry because it was Aldo. If this fight did not include a beloved figure, people would not be nearly as passionate.

The final misconception about this fight is that Bautista is a boring fight. That is simply not the case. In her UFC career, he has been in a ton of entertaining fights and landed several finishes. This fight was still entertaining. The only reason it featured more clinch control is because Aldo has sensational takedown defense. In other fights, he has landed takedowns and did great work from the top position.

Jose Aldo deserves fun fights

The one aspect of the Aldo and Bautista fight that should be criticized is the matchmaking. Bautista is a young and hungry prospect while Aldo is a legend of the sport. Aldo should not be forced into a fight with this dynamic.

Aldo is still a great fighter. At this point in his career, he does not need to be a glorified gatekeeper. Instead, Aldo should be fighting other legends, or elite fighters will be an entertaining matchup. If Pereira can be booked against Rountree in a championship fight, Aldo should not be forced to fight young up-and-comers.

Aldo should be fighting opponents like Dominick Cruz, Cory Sandhagen, Deiveson Figueiredo, and others. I’m not against Aldo getting young tough fighters if there was a title fight on the line, but we will deal with that when we get there.

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