UFC 317: Five Things We Learned

UFC 317: Five Things We Learned

International Fight Week is in the books. UFC 317 went off with a bang as two title fights resulted in sensational performances, while another main card bout featured a fight of the year contender. Now, it is time to recap the action and discuss the biggest lessons we learned from the event.

Ilia Topuria Proves His Power Translates To Lightweight 

In the UFC 317 main event, Ilia Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira to win the UFC lightweight title and become a two-division UFC champion. The performance proved that Topuria’s power will still be unreal in the new weight class. 

This should not come as a surprise, but there was some speculation that Topuria’s power would not translate to the higher weight class. Still, when he connected with his shots, he did serious damage. His jabs cut Oliveira badly. More importantly, he knocked out Oliveira with big shots.

For what it’s worth, Topuria also held up in the grappling. He defended a body lock, ended in top position during a scramble, passed Oliveira’s guard, and fought off a leg lock. It was not a large amount of grappling, but he did not show any negatives.

It is going to be very hard to beat Topuria. He was already established as the best fighter in the world, but he looked even better at lightweight.

Alexandre Pantoja Proves He Is Slowing Down Anytime Soon 

In the UFC 317 co-main event, Alexandre Pantoja submitted Kai Kara-France to defend his flyweight title for the fourth time. The 35-year-old champion has not shown any signs of slowing down.

This was a sensational performance from Pantoja. He dominated the grappling exchanges. His ability to get land takedowns and take the back was remarkable. This gave him a bunch of time to work toward landing a rear-naked choke, and Kara-France could not continue to fight the submission.

In the striking exchanges, Pantoja landed some big strikes. Those moments were not as dominant as his grappling success, but that is fine, considering Kara-France’s striking acumen.

The most important aspect of this performance is that Pantoja did not show his age. If that trend continues, he will be a very difficult flyweight to defeat.

Alexandre Pantoja Calls Out UFC Pound-For-Pound Rankings

Joshua Van Takes A Massive Career Leap 

The UFC 317 main card featured a flyweight title elimination bout between Joshua Van and Brandon Royval. This was a massive opportunity for Van. The 23-year-old prospect took this fight on short notice with the hopes of taking a massive leap forward in his career. His decision victory ensured that it would take place.

This fight was insane. The pair put on the potential fight of the year as they unloaded with offense for the entirety of the three-round fight. At the end of the night, Van finished with a significant strike count of 204 strikes landed out of 305 attempts, while Royval went 215 of 467.

This fight was close for the majority of the contest. Van got off to a great start in round one. Eventually, Royval’s constant offense helped him land more frequently in the second round. Despite the constant offense from both sides, it was tied heading into the final round. That round was incredibly close until Van landed a knockout in the final seconds of the fight. That secured him the round and thus the fight.

This victory allowed Van to leap from the bottom portion of the rankings to a title fight. That saves him a lot of time as he is not cemented at the top of the division. This fight ended up being a massive success for the young contender.

Beneil Dariush Finds Success After His Layoff 

At UFC 317, Beneil Dariush came back from an 18-month layoff and earned a decision victory over Renato Moicano.

Dariush had a brief scare in the first round when Moicano landed a straight that resulted in a knockdown, but he dominated the final two rounds.

This was a matchup between two grapplers, and Dariush showed that he was the better grappler with a more functional game. In the second round, he landed takedowns and controlled the fight from top position. His top pressure wore on Moicano. In the final round, he did establish some control, but that round featured more striking success for Dariush.

This is the type of performance that helps Dariush regain some of the momentum that he lost. At a minimum, he should be moving up the rankings to get a solid fight for his next matchup.

How Long Will Ilia Topuria Rule The Lightweight Division?

Payton Talbott Makes Massive Grappling Improvements 

The UFC 317 main card opened up with a matchup between bantamweight prospects Payton Talbott and Felipe Lima. Talbott proved to be the better prospect as he picked up a decision win.

The most important aspect of this fight was Talbott’s grappling improvements. In his last fight against Raoni Barcelos, his lack of defensive grappling was exposed. In this fight, he showed vast improvements. Talbott did a solid job defending takedowns and even worked to solid offensive position.

Talbott’s improvements are even more impressive considering he made them in a few months. This is not a situation where he sat out for a year while focusing on grappling. These improvements came over a much shorter period.

Talbott will need to continue to improve in the grappling realm, but this is a great first step. It is the type of performance that should have fans excited about his long-term potential.

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