UFC Kansas City: Five Things We Learned
On paper, UFC Kansas City appeared to be one of the best fight night cards of the year. It didn’t disappoint, either. The card featured an outstanding main event between Max Holloway and Arnold Allen, a bunch of tremendous finishes, and impressive performances. That leaves us with a ton of lessons that need to be discussed.
Max Holloway is changing his style:
In the main event of UFC Kansas City, Max Holloway picked up his 20th UFC win as he outclassed Arnold Allen over five rounds. This performance also served as a slight change in style for Holloway.
In this fight, Holloway was far more patient in comparison to his previous UFC bouts. In total, according to UFC stats, he threw 262 significant strikes, which is less than the majority of his five-round UFC fights. At the same time, the limited output helped him land at an impressive 56 percent clip while holding Allen to 33 percent accuracy on 262 significant strikes. All in all, Holloway opted to fight more tactically which allowed him to be more efficient offensively while absorbing less damage.
It will be interesting to see if Holloway continues this trend in the future. If he does, it will have a lot of benefits, but also some issues. The most obvious positive is that he will be getting hit less. That is outstanding since Holloway has absorbed a lot of damage throughout his career.
At the same time, it restricts his ability to weaponize his cardio. At a minimum, the ability to switch between chaotic and patient styles will make him a tough fighter to prepare for.
Arnold Allen is great, but that’s not enough:
Arnold Allen was unable to get a win at UFC Kansas City against Max Holloway, but he made a solid account of himself. Allen fought one of the best strikers in the UFC and found success. He was able to land a lot of powerful strikes that would have hurt fighters with lesser chins. Still, it wasn’t enough.
Allen is clearly a great fighter and one of the best featherweights on the UFC roster. The issue is that he is fighting a division with Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski. It is nearly impossible to fight for the belt let alone win the belt unless you are one of the best pound-for-pound fighters alive. Despite being great, Allen has yet to reach that status.
Edson Barboza can still add to his highlight reel:
Edson Barboza has one of the best highlight reels in MMA history. At UFC Kansas City, he proved that he still has the ability to land brutal knockouts. The unfortunate victim was Billy Quarentillo who found himself on the wrong side of a vicious knee.
This victory was a massive turnaround for Barboza. In his last fight, he was on the wrong side of a one-sided decision loss to Bryce Mitchell. Furthermore, he was 2-3 since dropping to the featherweight division. Although, those struggles have been partially alleviated by his UFC Kansas City performance.
As Barboza’s career progresses it will be important not to count him out in any bout as he still holds unique finishing abilities.
Another bantamweight prospect loses:
For the second week in a row, a bantamweight veteran skill-checked a top prospect. Last week at UFC 287, Rob Font handed Adrian Yanez his first UFC loss. This week at UFC Kansas City, Pedro Munhoz beat the rising Chris Gutierrez.
Munhoz looked great against Gutierrez. In the first round, he landed a knockdown that set the tone for the fight. From there, Munhoz was able to control the bout with forward pressure, leg kicks and active hands.
Similarly to Barboza, Munhoz was in desperate need of a win since he was 1-4 with one no-contest in his last six fights. Once again, an impressive win will put some of his struggles in the rearview mirror.
For Gutierrez, this loss is certainly not ideal, but he is far from being done. At 31, he is a win or two from getting his name back into the top-10. While that is no guarantee in the shark pool that is the bantamweight division, he will have a chance to make waves in the division.
Brandon Royval is a main card fighter:
Brandon Royval was one of the biggest winners of UFC Kansas City. Royval made a statement as he landed a terrific knockout over Matheus Nicolau.
From a skill perspective, Royval showed progression as he displayed his patience and fight IQ while still earning a first-round finish. That is far more sustainable that his typical chaos-packed style.
Moving forward, there is no reason why Royval should be on the prelims again. At UFC Kansas City, he proved that he is not only one of the most skilled flyweights on the roster, but he is one of the most entertaining too. Usually, a mix of entertainment and skill will keep you on the main card. That should hold true for Royval.
Before I end this post, I have a quick side tangent. The UFC flyweight division is the most underpromoted male division on the roster, yet we wonder why the division does not frequently produce superstars. This is a prime example of why.
There is no reason that Royval and Nicolau should have been on the prelims when they were both ranked in the top five. If you really wanted to put a spotlight on the flyweight division, that fight would have been the co-main to a Max Holloway headlined card. If you counter to say it should have been Barboza, I will not argue. That said, two unranked light heavyweights were on the main card.
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