UFC Vegas 72: Five Things We Learned
UFC Vegas 72 was not a great card on paper. Despite the lack of name recognition, the card featured some entertaining fights and impressive finishes. More importantly, we learned a few things about a handful of important fighters. Let’s talk about it!
Song Yadong is better than people think:
In the UFC Vegas 72 main event, Song Yadong looked incredible against Ricky Simon. First off, he did a really good job defending Simon’s takedown attempts. On several occasions, Yadong was able to use his footwork to escape laterally before Simon got to his hips.
If he was taken down, he was able to get back up. In total, according to UFC Stats, Simon only landed two of his nine takedown attempts while getting less than a minute of control time. On the feet, Yadong slowly picked Simon apart with counter shots and combinations before finishing the fight in the final round.
In this fight, Yadong showed that he is far better than people think. Heading into this fight, most people disregarded the fact that, despite losing, he looked great against Cory Sandhagen. That should be telling in itself. Instead, Yadong has to prove his elite skills once again. Hopefully, people will realize Yadong needs to be in discussions alongside the division’s elite.
It has not clicked for Ricky Simon, yet:
I really like a lot of Ricky Simon’s skills. That said, I don’t think everything has clicked. The talent and potential are off the charts but he has not been able to put everything together. Even worse, he was unable to make that jump in crucial moments — UFC Vegas 72 is a great example of that.
Simon has some improvements to make. First, I think he needs to work on combining his wrestling and striking. I would also like to see him continue to make more strides in his striking. Yadong was continuously able to counter Simon. That was most evident when Yadong would land counter hooks during Simon’s jab.
I am not out on Simon; I do think there is time for him to reach his potential and put all his skills together. At 30-years-old, he has time left to make that growth, which hopefully comes sooner rather than later.
Caio Borralho deserves an opportunity:
Caio Borralho was one of the biggest winners of UFC Vegas 72. Borralho was able to get a second-round submission victory over Michal Oleksiejczuk.
This was an interesting fight. Borralho, a solid grappler, displayed some solid improvements on the feet. No, he was not perfect, but Oleksiejczuk is a better striker than he gets credit for so the competition was stiff. I thought his leg kicks were solid and we saw large improvements in his hands. Still, Borralho was quickly able to land a finish when he committed to grappling.
I really like Borralho. I think he is the best prospect in the middleweight division right now. It is time that he gets a solid opportunity and I would not hate seeing him fight a ranked opponent; however, I think it is more realistic that he gets a fighter just outside the rankings. If he wins that fight, then he should get a ranked opponent. Either way, I think he deserves a big opportunity.
Fernando Padilla made a splash in his UFC debut:
At UFC Vegas 72, Fernando Padilla was able to get a massive win in his UFC debut against Julian Erosa. Yes, the stoppage was awful and Erosa should have been given the opportunity to continue fighting, but I do not think we should throw Padilla’s performance out the window.
Erosa is stiff competition for anyone making their UFC debut. No, he is not an elite fighter by any means, but most people making their debut do it against far weaker fighters.
Padilla was able to quickly want a few counter shots that hurt Erosa badly. From there, he poured on the pressure until the referee stopped the fight.
Now, I am not saying that Padilla is going to be an amazing UFC fight. I think he has some solid skills that could turn him into an impressive fighter. Regardless, he deserves a lot of credit for his UFc debut.
The flaws caught up to Waldo Cortes-Acosta:
At UFC Vegas 72, Waldo Cortes-Acosta lost in the UFC for the first time against Marcos Rogerio de Lima as de Lima earned a decision victory.
I have talked about Cortes-Acosta more than any other unranked heavyweight on the UFC roster. The main reason is that the UFC continues to give him solid card placement on poor UFC cards. In turn, that means I break down his fights in our previews.
So, I feel like I have a solid grasp on his game. In the past, he has shown some positives and weaknesses in his game; the positives being he has impressive boxing, quickness, volume and cardio. The problem is that he does not check leg kicks and has some defensive grappling flaws. Well, de Lima was able to take advantage of those flaws — picking up a victory by landing a lot of calf kicks and mixing in takedowns.
I am interested to see how Cortes-Acosta rebounds. I think he could be a solid UFC fighter for a long time if he can sure up some of those issues. That said, it is up to him to make the required improvements. Otherwise, fighters will copy de Lima’s game plan and easily beat Cortes-Acosta.
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