March Madness. Except not mad.
I’m going to make an attempt at writing about MMA for the first time, so let’s get to it ~
March 4th - Brandon Figueroa claims the interim belt, Jon Jones returns
So this was the month I really dove into the MMA world and started learning what was what in that area. Coming into this, I knew of Jon Jones as in I had heard his names and heard the jokes of gas station “enhancement” pills and telling Joe Rogan that he is well equipped. I didn’t know he is considered an all-time great, arguably the greatest mixed martial artist ever. In the run-up to the fight, we had talked about Cyril Gane’s chances and we concluded that there were shadows of reasonable doubt on Jones coming into it and that while Gane would understandably be a slight under, he was still live. Apparently Jones didn’t get the memo and proceeded dismantle Gane with the kind of quickness that put France deeper into the bin after boxing heavyweight Tony Yoka completely shit the bed against Carlos Takam. Speaking of in the bin: Grasso trashed our banter on how Shevchenko is an arguable women’s ATG and a lot would have to go wrong for Grasso get the dub. Great stuff, though, congrats to her.
Photo by: Zuffa via Getty Images
In the boxing world, Brandon Figueroa claims the interim WBC Featherweight title defeating Mark Magsayo by margins that had a segment of the fandom calling corruption - 117-109, 117-109, 118-108 with two point on Magsayo deductions for excessive holding. It’s important to note that this was Magsayo’s attempt to get another shot at the champion, Rey Vargas, who was busy dropping a fight at Super Featherweight. Figueroa, by my estimation, started the fight pretty slowly and didn’t seem to be his usual brutish and imposing self. He fought Southie for a few rounds before the beast came out of hibernation. Magsayo, for all the whining Gibbons did on his behalf, fought a pretty poor fight with so much flopping that you might wonder if Magsayo plays with the Azkals. Given the performance from Vargas, it’s a pretty strong certainty that Figueroa will take the title from him.
Photo by: Esther Lin/Showtime
March 11th - Robbie Davies’ ankle and Callum Smith’s “injury”
So this was the day that Callum Smith was supposed to fight some we’ve never heard of in Liverpool in what appeared to be a stay-busy fight. Can’t fault him for that. Except he’s magically injured, no details ever given, and the card goes ahead with Matchroom’s super mid Diego Pacheco against Jack Cullen. While the fight was short and entertaining, the performance from Pacheco left a bit to be desired when considering the talent at the top of the division. On fun bit on this was how the fight was stopped: first, Pacheco hits Cullen with a sick body shot that hurt to even witness. Cullen gets up and despite Cullen’s claims to the contrary, he clearly did not want to continue. So the ref lets it go on, leading to Cullen being blitzed out by Pacheco, eating 4-6 clean punches after the punch that turned his lights out. And the ref’s name? Steve Grey. Remember Jeremias Ponce dismantling Luis Ritson? Remember when Riston’s corner threw the towel and Steve Grey threw it back and ordered the fight to continue? Yeah, it was that guy.
Photo by: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
As for Robbie Davies’ ankle…if you like see medical type of gore and that body horror time of stuff, look at how his ankle was at the time the fight was stopped (fair warning, it’s hard to look at). That did punch a ticket for Darragh to move up to face Jack Catterall on the Lara-Wood rematch undies, The winners are likely to face off.
March 18th - Leon Edwards tops Usman
This was a fun fight. Usman didn’t seem to have too much heart in it, as he was looking to the ref pretty early on. Edwards’ cage grab was lame, but it was funny to see Usman arguing that he should have position after the deduction despite getting the point a take down would likely have given him. It was fun to hear Chief and Nathan go into it divided and come out swapping directions. With Colby Covington next for Edwards, there is going to be more discussion on the Ultimate F’n Casual, so check us out there.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa/Getty Images
March 25th - Okolie v Light, Ramirez v Commey, Vera v Sandhagen, Benavidez v Plant
Okolie wins a pretty decision here against unheralded opposition. Not much more to say on it. Cruiserweight continues to be a middling at best since the departure of the WBSS alumni, so it’s big fish in a little pond. Okolie and Opetaia are definitely the top dogs here, Badou Jack notwithstanding (bottom of the page), so hopefully they get on a collision course sooner rather than later.
I said in our Discord after watching the fight that that was really irresponsible fighting from Ramirez. One could argue that it wasn’t an issue since it was Commey, but I think the greater point stands. Super Lightweight being a pass-over division, it’s not going to have as good of talent as Lightweight and Welterweight, but the competition is pretty stiff regardless. His only feasible pathway to a title is against Josh Taylor, who faces Teofimo Lopez soon, and whatever the outcome of that fight is the prospects aren’t too bright for him.
Photo by: Mikey Williams/Top Rank/Getty Images
Taking another stab at this MMA thing, I was told that Vera and Sandhagen were both solid contenders in a very solid division, so expect fireworks. The works were less fire, but the works were certainly in play. Sandhagen had a great outing and in my estimation cemented himself as the top contender when factoring in the recent performances from his contemporaries. As is the name of our MMA show, I don’t know much about MMA and more specifically Aljamain Sterling, but I like Sandhagen’s style.
Photo by: Steve Marcus/Getty Images
Phoeniqueros are on the map, baby. Arizona is making a name for itself in the combat sports world and I’m here for it. The cynic in me wants to say that given how chummy Benavidez and Plant were after the fight that there may have been a stronger element of contrived animosity between the two. But, taking the drama aspect out of it, this was a great display from both fighters. Benavidez really showed himself to be an elite operator, when his biggest demerit coming into this was the lack of substance on his undefeated record. Plant was game for the first half of the fight, but seemed to fade pretty badly as the pressure mounted. Unfortunately for Plant, the cliche of “the blueprint” seems to be true here: pressure fighters with heavy hands will give him trouble.
Benavidez is now at the head of the line for the Cinnamon Sweepstakes, so we’ll see what kind of shape Canelo is in when he faces of with Ryder in May. Still, there was a ton of great action in the Super Middleweight division with Christian Mbili and Carlos Gongora having a fuckin’ barn burner and Italy’s Ivan Zucco collecting some minor belts to move up the WBC ladder as well. Diego Pacheco, mentioned earlier, moved up the WBO rankings; David Morrell holds the regular WBA belt, so he’s knocking on the door with the same credibility as Benavidez.
If there is a photo that needs proper attribution, don’t hesitate to reach out. If there is a fight or fighter you want to be mentioned in future releases, contact info is below.
