UFC on FX 7 Main Card Recap

Belfort finishing off Bisping.
Photo via Sherdog.com

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Thiago Tavares: When you’re talking about future champions, Nurmagomedov is probably one of the first names that come up, especially after this win. I expected this is fight to be similar to his Tibau fight: very close and debatable. That wasn’t exactly the case, in fact, it was the complete opposite. Khabib knocked him down and brutally finished him, and it was an extremely late stoppage. Nurmagomegov knocked him down with an uppercut and landed a solid 15 unanswered  elbows to the temple before Dan Miragliotta stopped it. It was awful for MMA but amazing for Nurmagomedov.

Possible matchups for Nurmagomedov: Following this performance, I literally cannot wait to see what type of fighter that Nurmagomedov will end up becoming. When you talk about him making a step up in competition, he is already just one step away from contention. He’s almost there already. He needs to fight another guy right at his level. With the lightweight division being the most stacked division in MMA, there are so many different choices for Nurmagomedov. TJ Grant and Matt Wiman are fighting next week at UFC on Fox 6 and the winner of that Fight of the Year contender should fight Khabib.

Possible matchups for Tavares: This wasn’t just a devastating loss for Tavares, it was disastrous. Being almost murdered the way he was is horrible for your stock. He’s going to desperately need a rebound fight in order to stay relevant in the UFC’s most stacked division. I’d say a fight with the loser between Paul Sass and Danny Castillo makes some sense as the loser of that fight would be on a cold streak.

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ben Rothwell: What did I say? I said that Gonzaga was going to demolish Rothwell, and that’s exactly what he did. He not only outclassed Rothwell on the ground, but dominated him on the feet. It was flat out embarrassing. Rothwell never had a moment where he looked good in this entire fight. Gonzaga easily landed a right hand and ended up locking in a standup arm-in guillotine then dropped down for the tap.

Possible matchups for Gonzaga: With Gonzaga really starting to fight smart again, he is one of the most solid guys at heavyweight. I’m not sure that he’s ready for title contention yet but I would like to see him fight the winner of Shawn Jordan and Mike Russow, who are fighting next Saturday on the UFC on Fox 6 card.

Possible matchups for Rothwell: With this horribly embarrassing performance, it puts “Big” Ben right down to the bottom of the barrel. When you’re looking for another fighter at heavyweight who’s at the bottom of the barrel, you’re thinking of Dave Herman. This would be a good loser goes home fight.

Daniel Sarafian vs. CB Dollaway: I was surprised that this fight was so awesome. Sarafian looked to be well on his way to a decision win in the first round, nearly finishing Dollaway on a few occasions. The second round was much closer though. Sarafian was slightly controlling the standup but with only about 20 seconds left, Dollaway dropped him and nearly finished the Brazilian. It was so close to being stopped that no one would have been up in arms if it had been. The third round was more Dollaway than any other round. He took down Sarafian on multiple occasions and even though Sarafian gave a valiant effort with a sweep from half guard, if just wasn't his fight. It was an overall close fight but Dollaway ultimately took the split decision win.

Possible matchups for Dollaway: Though not particularly pretty or decisive, Dollaway has now made it two in a row. I would like to see him fight Ed Herman who is coming off of a lopsided first round submission loss for Jacare Souza. Though it will be a guy coming off of a win fighting a guy coming off of a bad loss, Herman is still on a higher level than Dollaway at the moment.

Possible matchups for Sarafian: He may have lost, but Sarafian showed that he has a very bright future. He has a solid ground game and devastating standup. I would like to see him fight the winner of Rafael Natal and Sean Spencer.

Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping: I cannot tell you how happy this fight made me. Though I did predict Bisping to win, I was cheering for Belfort to win, much like in his fight with Jones. But this time was different. Belfort fought smart and didn’t come out too fast; he picked his shots and went in for the kill when the time was right. The first round was very close in the beginning with neither fighter really doing too much. But with ten seconds left, Belfort rocked Bisping with a headkick that nearly put him out. Belfort then came into the second looking to finish what he started in the end of the first round. And boy did he. Vitor landed another headkick and this time put Bisping nearly unconscious. He followed it up with ground and pound and got himself a TKO victory over the top contender. It was a huge win for Belfort that puts him just one win away from a rematch with Anderson.

Possible matchups for Belfort: A lot of people are saying they want him to fight Weidman in a number one contender’s bout, but that’s not what I want. I want Weidman to fight Silva in the summer and have Belfort be the welcoming party to the last middleweight champion of Strikeforce, Luke Rockhold. In my opinion, a win for either man would give them a title shot.

Possible matchups for Bisping: Even though Bisping is a grade-A jerk, you still got to feel for the guy. He gets right to a title shot and loses. Right back near a title shot and loses. That’s heartbreaking stuff. You have to give the guy respect for still getting back in there to fight the best in the world. Now before this fight, Lombard wanted to fight Bisping after his win over Rousimar Palhares, but he was matched up with Yushin Okami. Now that Bisping lost and won’t be getting that title shot, win or lose for Lombard, that fight makes sense. 

UFC on FX 7 Prelim Recap

This was the story of Lentz/Nunes.
Photo viaFernando Donasci/UOL

Francisco Trinaldo vs. CJ Keith: Following the first season of The Ultimate Fighter to only feature Brazilians, Trinaldo, or also known as Massaranduba, was considered one of the brightest prospects heading in. He entered as a middleweight but is a natural lightweight but shockingly didn’t give up much of a size advantage. He’s a huge lightweight, and he imposed his size and strength over Keith right from the get go. In the second round, he slammed him and locked in an arm triangle for the finish from half guard. This now makes Keith 0-2 in the UFC with two losses by finishes; I will be shocked if he fights again.

Possible matchups for Trinaldo: Though he’s only 2-1 in the UFC, he is still a very promising fighter and I would like to see him get a fight with a fighter higher up on the ladder, but not as high as Gleison Tibau. Perhaps a fight with the winner of Terry Etim and Renee Forte.

Wagner Prado vs. Ildemar Alcantara: Honestly, this fight was very difficult for me to predict. The deciding factor was the fact that Alcantara took the fight on two weeks’ notice. The short notice didn’t seem to affect him too much. Though he started a tad rocky in the first, he came out strong in the second and sunk in a very tight knee-bar. Prado screamed out in pain and the fight was over. Prado is simply not UFC caliber, so a pink slip is forth coming.

Possible matchups for Alcantara: You could tell during the fight that Alcantara had a huge size disadvantage, and that’s due to the fact that he is natural middleweight, not light heavyweight. But if he can do that good against a much larger fighter, I’m excited to see how he progresses. Buddy Roberts, who just pulled out of his fight with Michael Kuiper due to injury, will be looking for an opponent in his return and Alcantara will be waiting.

Yuri Alcantara vs. Pedro Nobre: Too bad the Oscar nominations already came out, because Nobre would be nominated for best supporting actor. I’m not surprised he did what he did though, Alcantara was about to destroy him. He rolled him over with a kimura and had his back. With three minutes left, Alcantara might have skimmed the back of his head and Nobre acted as if he was hit in the back of the head with a sledgehammer. It was a no-contest but Nobre will be released, Dana basically said it on Twitter.

Possible matchups for Alcantara: Though it wasn’t technically a win, everyone will look at that way. He has the chance to be a future title contender at 135. They should give him a guy with a name and a very well rounded game. That man is Mike Easton. These two could put on a very good fight and a win for Alcantara could launch him into the top-10 of the bantamweight division.

Edson Barboza vs. Lucas Martins: Well, this fight wasn’t particularly surprising, though I did think that Martins would do a lot better than he did. The problem with Barboza before was his lack of foot movement. He loved to be flatfooted all the time. The change of camps was obviously the best thing to happen to him.  His foot work was fantastic and he really opened up with his hands. He caught Martins early and put him away with ground and pound.

Possible matchups for Barboza: Even though he is recently coming off of his first loss and this win was over a general nobody, Edson Barboza is still a very bright prospect and a great fighter. It’s tough looking for a matchup for him though: do you want a stepping stone or a legitimate contender fight? I’m looking for a contender fight and the guy for that is Rafael dos Anjos.

Possible matchups for Martins: It’s pretty unfair being given a fight with Barboza on short notice as your UFC debut. He is a very promising fighter and deserves a fight closer to his talent level. Fabricio Camoes, who is coming off of a decision loss to Melvin Guillard, would be a good fight for both sides; they are close in talent level.

Diego Nunes vs. Nik Lentz: At first, I had Nunes winning this fight, but after some thought I changed it to Lentz due to the fact the wrestlers have been doing great lately as the underdog. Well, I was right to say the least. Lentz literally just smothered him for about 14 minutes of the fight. He easily took Nunes down every round and just out-grappled him. The most exciting part was in the last two seconds when Nunes almost finished Lentz. The win wasn't particularly flashy, but Lentz was extremely impressive.

Possible matchups for Lentz: Beating Nunes is a huge feat for people; it even got Kenny Florian title shot! It launches Lentz right into the title mix. Now, one of the most underrated fighters in the UFC is Darren Elkins. Though many would probably think that this fight would be horribly boring, almost every other fight that had two boring fighters ended up being amazing (Mike Pierce vs. Aaron Simpson and Damian Maia vs. Mark Munoz).

Possible matchups for Nunes: This was a very big loss for Nunes. It sets him pretty far back in the rankings. He is still a top-15 featherweight but he is definitely going to need to work on his takedown defense. A fight that he could take would the loser of Hatsu Hioki and Clay Guida.

Ronny Markes vs. Andrew Craig: Though Markes has an extremely bright future, if he wants to make it far in the UFC, he needs to fight more exciting. I’m not trying to sound like a fan at the bar but I’m saying that if your fights are more exciting, the UFC will heavily help you to a title shot. In the first two rounds, Markes just absolutely dominated Craig throughout, out-grappling him with ease. The third round though, Craig almost pulled off another crazy comeback. He dropped Markes and almost finished him off with strikes. It was really close to being stopped. But Markes recovered and survived for the 29-28 unanimous decision.

Possible matchups for Markes: With this rather lackluster showing, Markes isn’t just ready for a step up in competition just yet. He is extremely talented but he has to win at least one or two more fights. Chris Camozzi and Nick Ring are fighting at UFC 158 in Montreal. The winner of that should face off with Markes, in a fight that earns the winner a step up in competition.

Possible matchups for Craig: I really like Andrew Craig; he has so much heart and so much tenacity and loves to make fights way more competitive than it should be. He almost made the comeback in the third round and showed that you can’t ever count him out, he’s just too tough. A fight with the loser of Camozzi and Nick Ring makes sense as Markes could fight winner of it.

Godofredo Pepey vs. Milton Vieira: It seems that there always have to be at least one judging robbery on every UFC card. Well this was that one robbery. Vieira pretty handily beat Pepey in the first with superior takedowns and better striking. The second, though, was a whole different fight. Pepey absolutely dominated Vieira, getting his back and almost finishing him with both strikes and submissions. The third round was similar to the first with Vieira winning pretty much everywhere the fight went. Of course the split decision goes to Pepey, in a horrible robbery by the judges once again.

Possible matchups for Pepey: Though it wasn’t particularly spectacular, a win is a win. It honestly doesn’t do anything for his rankings. He really should be 0-2 in the UFC. If he wants to show that he is still UFC caliber, he should fight Felipe Arantes, who is coming off of a draw with Vieira. The 24 year old Arantes poses a lot of threats for Pepey in every aspect of MMA, especially on the feet.

Possible matchups for Vieira: Though this was such a close and debatable fight, Vieira didn’t lose too many points to his stock. If he wants to stick with the UFC though, he needs win in his next time out. Maximo Blanco, who hasn’t fought since his split decision loss to Marcus Brimage back in April of 2012, is definitely the guy for Vieira next.