UFC Vegas 81: Five things we learned
UFC Vegas 81 ended up being a great night of fights with quite a few entertaining bouts and noteworthy results. Now, it’s time to recap the fights and highlight the most important lessons from the event.
Edson Barboza can still hang with young featherweights.
Edson Barboza, 37, had an outstanding performance over Sodiq Yusuf. The veteran striker proved that he can still compete with the younger generation of featherweights.
Barboza did not have an ideal first round, to say the least. Yusuff came out hot and swarmed Barboza. The powerful boxer landed a handful of massive shots and the bout was nearly stopped; however, Barboza stayed composed and made it out of the opening round.
Barboza was able to pull ahead in the second round with the use of forward pressure, body shots and volume. The combination of Yusuff’s heavy round-one pace and Barboza’s second-round strategy led to Yusuff being gassed for the remainder of the bout.
Barboza nearly earned a stoppage of his own as he landed a spinning wheel kick. Although, Yusuff was able to stay in the bout.
At the end of the fight, Barboza walked away as the winner after winning four rounds.
This was a great win for Barboza as he proved he is still capable of competing with the current generation of UFC featherweights. That is a massive accomplishment considering Barboza has been in the UFC since 2010.
Sodiq Yusuff needs to fight more often.
Sodiq Yusuff did not get the result he was hoping for at UFC Vegas 81. The 30-year-old was unable to get past the veteran and failed to keep his win streak alive.
As mentioned, Yusuff really struggled outside of round one. That is because he did not conserve his energy efficiently and Barboza attacked his body. It is also worth noting that had not fought in over a year. In that bout, he only logged 30 seconds over cage time. For whatever reason, Yusuff has failed to log cage time.
I am not attempting to make an excuse for Yusuff. Barboza was the better fighter and earned the victory. Still, moving forward, I want to see Yusuff in the octagon more frequently. That should help him be sharper and more prepared.
Don’t count out Viviane Araujo.
In the UFC Vegas 81 co-main event, Viviane Araujo saw positive results as she got a decision victory over Jennifer Maia.
Araujo did a lot of great things on her path to victory. On the feet, he power dissuaded Maia from throwing, making it difficult for Maia to weaponize her volume. Araujo also landed a takedown and controlled position for a round.
Araujo entered this fight riding a two-fight losing skit and a 5-4 record. A loss would have put her in an awful position. I am not willing to say she would have been cut, but she would be in danger. Thankfully for her, that is not something she has to worry about.
This was a great bounce-back performance for Araujo and she proved that it is not time to count her out.
Jonathan Martinez has elite leg kicks.
At UFC Vegas 81, Jonathan Martinez fought a perfect fight. That culminated in a second-round leg kick TKO finish against Adrian Yanez.
Martinez did an outstanding job of leaning on his leg kicks to punish Yanez, and this really hurt Yanez’s movement and made it difficult for him to enter the pocket.
Martinez’s leg kicks are elite because he sets them up well and they do a ton of damage. It does not take Martinez many kicks to change the course of a fight. Perhaps we did not learn that Martinez has elite leg kicks. That was fairly well known, but Yanez is the best fighter that he has been able to dismantle with that weapon.
Christian Rodriguez continues to climb the prospect ranks.
The UFC Vegas 81 main card opener was a clash between promising bantamweight prospects Christian Rodriguez and Cameron Saaiman. After three rounds, Rodriguez was the one to get his hands raised.
Rodriguez looked great at UFC Vegas 81. On the feet, he was capable of landing big shots. In grappling exchanges, he was much better and he nearly landed a submission on several occasions.
Rodriguez has now beaten Saaiman as well as Raul Rosas Jr. At 25, he is beating all the bantamweight prospects, which has pushed him up the prospect ranks in the bantamweight division.
The question for Rodriguez revolves around his weight. Rodriguez has missed weight in back-to-back fights. It would not be a surprise to see him move up to featherweight for his next fight. That would greatly alter his career and reduce the strides her made at bantamweight.
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