UFC Vegas 88: Five Things We Learned
UFC Vegas 88 was not a card stacked with premier talent. Thankfully, the card did feature a small handful of solid prospects with a bright future. That leaves us with some important lessons to discuss. Here are the five most important lessons we learned at UFC Vegas 88.
Marcin Tybrua shows his grappling skills
In the UFC Vegas 88 main event, Marcin Tybura leveraged his grappling against Tai Tuivasa to pick up a first-round submission victory.
This fight was a story of two parts. In the initial stages, Tuivasa had a ton of success on the feet. Tuivasa landed a big elbow that cut Tybura along with a few other shots. For a few moments, it looked like he could have potentially landed a knockout. The fight then swung in Tybura’s favor the moment he landed a takedown. From the top position, Tybura dominated and eventually put Tuivasa to sleep with a rear naked choke.
This fight was a strong reminder of Tybura’s grappling skills. In a division with a lot of below-average grapplers, Tybura showed his proficiency in that realm once again.
Bryan Battle continuously improves
The UFC Vegas 88 co-main event ended unceremoniously as the fight was stopped after Bryan Battle incidentally poked Ange Loosa in the eye. In the aftermath of the stoppage, the pair got into an altercation and nearly began fighting again. The controversy of the eye-poke is not very important in this discussion. Instead, the takeaway from this fight is that Battle is continuously improving.
For the six minutes that we saw from this matchup, Battle looked great. In the first round, he dominated both the grappling and striking exchanges. That resulted in Battle landing a few solid knees while using his kicks to maintain range. In addition, he worked to mount in the sole grappling exchange. It should also be noted that Battle was the fighter who appeared to have a cardio advantage based on previous fights. In theory, he should have pulled ahead as the fight got deeper.
This fight is a strong example of how Battle is making improvements. In the first round, he was much more aggressive and looked much more comfortable moving forward. That is a promising sight for a young fight. If that is not enough, Battle has consistently transformed his body since dropping to welterweight. It is also positive to see a fighter drop fat for muscle. The combination of improved fighting skills and physical strength is promising for his future.
Christian Rodriguez continues to defeat prospects
The most interesting fight on UFC Vegas 87 was a featherweight matchup between Christian Rodriguez and Isaac Dulgarian. The fight did not disappoint as it resulted in a razor-thin fight that demonstrated a ton of impressive skills. Ultimately, Rodriguez was the one who got his hand raised when the scores were read.
Rodriguez had to fight through a ton of adversity to get his hand raised in this fight. In the first round, Dulgarian showed off his absurdly good grappling en route to a 10-8 round. Plus, he had several close submission attempts. That did not stop Rodriguez, however. In the second round, Dulgarian gassed out and the round was fairly close. In the third round, Rodriguez had much more gas left in the tank and earned a 10-8 round of his own.
Rodriguez has slowly climbed the prospect rankings with wins over Raul Rosas Jr. and Cameron Saaiman. That trend continued with Dulgarian.
At 26, Rodriguez deserves a lot of respect as a fighter with impressive skills, good cardio, respectable wins, and a ton of upside. The future looks bright for him.
Isaac Dulgarian has ridiculous wrestling
We have already discussed the matchup Rodriguez and Dulgarian matchup from UFC Vegas 88, but we need to go a bit deeper on Dulgarian. At the end of the day, he did not get his hand raised, but his grappling was hilariously good.
In the first round, Dulgarian put his wrestling on full display. The quality of his takedowns was tremendous, he landed mat returns, did damage with ground strikers, and nearly landed a submission on multiple occasions. It was legitimate championship-level grappling.
The problem with Dulgarian is that his championship-level grappling lasted for approximately seven minutes. After that point, the goal was to survive and let the judges determine the winner.
Cardio is going to make or break Dulgarian’s career. It is difficult to say that he will fulfill his potential if he cannot fight for 15 minutes. Furthermore, the idea of fighting in a five-round fight seems catastrophic.
Hopefully, Dulgarian can improve his cardio. It is not an easy task, but his grappling would be absurd if he could extend it deeper into a fight.
In the short term, despite having poor cardio, Dulgarian will win a lot of fights. It will not be easy for fighters to survive his grappling. In the featherweight division, Rodriguez is one of the few unranked fighters who can survive while making Dulgarian work enough to gas himself out. A lot of opponents would have folded in the opening round or gassed out defending Dulgarian’s offense.
Mike Davis is a serious threat at lightweight
At UFC Vegas 88, Mike Davis submitted Natan Levy in the second round. This performance was a strong reminder that Davis a legit threat in the lightweight division.
It is easy to forget about Davis when discussing great unranked fighters in the talent-rich lightweight division. That is because he is very inactive. Since making his debut in 2019, he has only fought five times. At UFC Vegas 88, he was coming back from over a year-long layoff. In every fight, he does make an impression, however.
Davis showed his impressive BJJ in his win over Levy. That began with a lot of control time in the first round before landing an arm triangle in the second round. This is not a part of his skill set that we have seen in the past.
This was more than a grappling domination, however. In one of the few striking exchanges, Davis landed a big punch that dropped Levy. That furthers his domination.
If Davis can fight more frequently, he will have the UFC lightweight division on notice. In simplest terms, he is a great finisher with a well-rounded skill set. Plus, he is athletic with a lot of physical strength. That is a fighter that can break into the division’s rankings.
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