UFC St. Louis: Five Things We Learned

UFC St. Louis: Five Things We Learned

UFC St. Louis was a fun night of fights. More importantly, we gained insight into the prospects and up-and-comers that competed. Let’s discuss the more important lessons from the event.

Derrick Lewis adds to his knockout record 

The UFC knockout king, Derrick Lewis, extended his promotional record with a third-round knockout against Rodrigo Nascimento.

This was a solid performance from Lewis. It was not perfect, but he did some good work. On the feet, he was getting the better of the striking exchanges. Still, he was proactively grappling much more than expected. Lewis even landed a nice clinch takedown in the first round. Still, the powerful striking is what got the job done.

Lewis will always be a knockout threat while the fight is standing. That will be true as long as he continues to fight in the UFC.

Joaquin Buckley continues his welterweight success 

In the UFC St. Louis co-main event, Joaquin Buckley added to his welterweight win streak as he picked up a decision win over Nursulton Ruziboev. Buckley is now 4-0 since dropping to welterweight.

Buckley did a great job of avoiding Ruziboev’s power and landing takedowns. This helped wear on Ruziboev and take the sting out of his punches. At that point, Buckley could take more risks and land shots in striking exchanges.

It was a great move for Buckley to drop down to welterweight. At middleweight, he was simply too short for the division and it limited his ceiling. Now, he is riding a winning streak and is in line for a massive opportunity.

Carlos Ulberg quickly earns a ranking

At UFC St. Louis, Carlos Ulberg knocked out Alonzo Menifield in 12 seconds. That performance practically guarantees Ulberg will be ranked.

This fight can be quickly summarized. Menifield was far too aggressive and came out swinging. Ulberg stayed calm and landed several counters. Those counters ended the fight.

It should be noted that Menifield played directly into Ulberg’s strengths. It is not a secret that Ulberg is a powerful counter striker and Menifield allowed him to find those strikes immediately.

Ulberg deserves credit for this performance; however, let’s not pretend that Menifield did not make a grave mistake. It is possible to give Ulberg credit without expecting performances like this every fight. In his next outing, he will likely get a tougher test against legitimate competition.

Robelis Despaigne gets fraud checked 

UFC St. Louis was not a great night for Robelis Despaigne. Waldo Cortes-Acosta out-grappled Despaigne en route to a clear decision win.

Despaigne had a lot of hype entering the UFC. The 35-year-old is six-foot-seven, athletic, and has an Olympic bronze medal in taekwondo. The issue is that he cannot grapple. Cortes-Acosta is not even a grappler. Instead, he has a background in boxing and baseball. It is not like a world-class wrestler beat Despaigne.

This fight ended any hope that Despaigne has a legit MMA future. It is impossible to win MMA fights with nonexistent takedown defense and no understanding of how to work back to your feet. At 35, he does not have time to develop those skills either.

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Chase Hooper has a career-best performance 

At UFC St. Louis, Chase Hooper had the best performance of his career. The 24-year-old showed clear improvement before submitting Viacheslav Borshchev in the second round.

Hooper dominated this fight. It was an appealing stylistic matchup because he had a grappling advantage. Still, he showed improved striking. Hooper is not finished growing in that realm, but he is taking steps in the proper direction. Additionally, he looked to be more physically developed and seemed stronger.

As always, Hooper did a lot of great work in grappling exchanges. It is impressive how he managed to control position despite Borshchev’s attempts to escape. At the same time, he did serious damage with ground and pound strikes.

It will be interesting to watch Hooper’s MMA journey. At 24, he has time in his favor.

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