UFC Vegas 75: Five things we learned
UFC Vegas 75 was a strange night of fights. The main event featured a bout between two middleweights that sent each fighter in a different direction in their career, while the rest of the card featured some lessons regarding prospects. All in all, the event left us with five important lessons to discuss.
Jared Cannonier is still getting better
Jared Cannonier is an outstanding fighter with one massive flaw: He is 39 years old. Yet, at UFC Vegas 75, he put on one of the most impressive performances of his career. Over the course of five rounds, he flooded Marvin Vettori with significant strikes on his way to winning a decision.
After the first round, Cannonier took full control of the bout. He was able to consistently land massive shots that hurt Vettori. Furthermore, he had the stamina needed to aggressively attack Vettori until the final bell. In total, according to UFC Stats, Cannonier threw 411 significant strikes while landing 241 of those shots. If that wasn’t enough, he managed to land four takedowns on six attempts despite Vettori being a solid grappler.
This was an outstanding performance from Cannonier. It is even more notable that he was able to show improvements in his skillset along with insane cardio. Typically, at 39, fighters are unable to improve and they do not seem as sharp. I think it is safe to say Cannonier will have a longer shelf life than most fighters.
Marvin Vettori has a historic chin
If one fighter puts on a great performance, another fighter has to be on the wrong side of a beating. At UFC Vegas 75, Marvin Vettori was on the wrong side of that equation.
As mentioned, Vettori ate a whopping 241 significant strikes and was not knocked down a single time. Not to mention, he ate some massive shots from Cannonier, who is one of the most powerful strikers in the division. On top of that, every time he ate a massive flurry, he remained in the fight and was able to throw strikes of his own.
Throughout his career, Vettori has never been knocked down or knocked out. After this fight against Cannonier, Vettori has proven that he has one of the best chins in the sport. At a minimum, he has a top-three chin in MMA.
Arman Tsarukyan avoids an upset
At UFC Vegas 75, Joaquim Silva was close to sending this recap in a completely different direction. Silva nearly upset the biggest favorite on the card, Armen Tsarukyan. In the second round, Silva landed a big shot that had Tsarukyan badly hurt. Despite being hurt, Tsarukyan fought through the adversity before getting a stoppage in the third round. In all honesty, Tsarukyan dominated the majority of this bout. Still, he was in a rough spot for a moment.
This was a high-risk and low-reward type of fight. Tsarukyan did not gain much from getting a victory over an unranked Silva. At the same time, a loss would have massively hurt his stock. Tsarukyan avoided that outcome and kept his position as a potential title challenger.
Christian Leroy Duncan has improvements to make
At UFC Vegas 75, Christian Leroy Duncan disappointed. Duncan, an exciting prospect, was outmatched against Armen Petrosyan and lost a decision. Now, he sits at 1-1 in the UFC and has some improvements that need to be made.
Duncan has a lot of great skills, but it feels like he needs the fundamentals to be more consistent. For example, he landed a Hail Mary spinning elbow in round three, but was down big before he landed that shot. The reason for that is because he is not a great minute-winner. If Duncan wants to compete at an elite level, he needs to consistently land fundamental strikes like the jab throughout the fight.
I will say, it is not time to be completely out on Duncan. Petrosyan is a great striker in his own right and is not an easy foe for a second UFC fight. In the long run, Duncan can still be a great fighter, but he needs to make some adjustments for that to come to fruition.
Grappling will be a struggle for Lucas Almeida
At UFC Vegas 75, Pat Sabatini dominated Lucas Almeida on the ground. At this point, it looks like Almeida will struggle against solid grapplers in the featherweight division.
Almeida’s striking makes him a fun prospect. On the feet, he throws massive shots and has a lot of power. That said, his grappling puts a low ceiling on his potential. Sabatini showed the perfect game plan to defeat Almeida. In the future, fighters will likely look to take Almeida down and control him on the ground. If he can not improve his grappling, he will greatly struggle in a division with a lot of solid grapplers.
I will give Almeida some leniency because Sabatini is a great grappler. The red flags are visible, though. If this issue persists, it will be Almeida will struggle in the UFC. After UFC Vegas 75, that is certainly not an optimistic recap, but it seems to be the reality.
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