What mattered most at UFC on ESPN+ 17 in Mexico City? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. An unfortunate ending must be redone
That main event sucked for everyone involved. Yair Rodriguez’s (11-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) dream moment of headlining a card in his home country was spoiled, Jeremy Stephens’ reported $30,000 spent on training camp to fight in Mexico City went to waste, and the fans were robbed of what had potential to be a straight cracker of a main event.
All because of an inadvertent eye poke.
Credit referee Herb Dean, who did everything in his power to save the fight after Rodriguez scratched Stephens’ eye, which halt the bout in just 15 seconds. Stephens couldn’t go on, and the show ended in sheer disappointment.
You’ve got to run that one back.
2. Rodriguez throws fuel on the fire
I know I wasn’t the only one not thrilled with the way Rodriguez handled the entire situation. After getting his popularity to an all-time high with that unbelievable elbow knockout against Chan Sung Jung, Rodriguez lost a lot of good will with his post-fight behavior.
Not only did Rodriguez struggle to keep his composure in the octagon after the fight was officially waved off, but then he went to the ESPN desk and backstage media and did all but accuse Stephens of embellishing the severity of his eye injury. Moreover, he showed a great lack of interest in a rematch.
Rodriguez had the benefit of momentum and a hometown crowd on his side Saturday. If he runs it back with Stephens, he likely won’t have either of those things.
3. Jeremy Stephens doesn’t deserve doubt
Feel free to dissect every replay from every angle in slow motion, sped up, or anything of the sort. No matter what you come up with, it’s not going to convince me Stephens intentionally looked for a way out of the fight with Rodriguez.
Stephens is one of six fighters in UFC history who has spent more than six hours of fight time in the octagon. His 31 UFC appearances rank third behind only Donald Cerrone (33) and Jim Miller (33). Through all that time, he’s never had an incident like this come up. He’s been kicked in the groin, poked in the eye and fouled in a multitude of other ways over his tenure, and it’s hard to believe he’d have a change in character now, especially given what he invested into the contest.
The referee gave Stephens as much time to recover as I’ve ever witnessed for an eye poke before finally waving it off, and “Lil’ Heathen” still couldn’t open his eye. That’s not something to take a long-term health risk on, and Stephens has done more than enough to be spared having his fighting spirit brought into doubt now.
4. Steven Peterson’s spin
That knockout from Steven Peterson (18-9 MMA, 2-3 UFC) was something else. Good grief. Not only was it perhaps the most devastating of the seven spinning backfist finishes to take place over the course of UFC history, but it was also perhaps the wildest sequence to set it up.
Peterson countered a Martin Bravo (11-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC) spinning attempt with one of his own, and the timing couldn’t have been better. I wasn’t a fan of the unnecessary follow-up shot, but Bravo appeared to recover fine and Peterson expressed regret when reflecting on the much-needed win.
Of the all the names to come out of Dallas’ Fortis MMA gym, Peterson has had one of the rougher goes in the UFC. He could’ve very well been fighting for his job in Mexico City, but instead he left with his show money, his win money, a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus and one of the top highlight-reel knockouts of the year.
5. Sergio Pettis could use a stoppage
Sergio Pettis (18-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) is a very good fighter. There’s no question about that. But where his brother Anthony Pettis was blessed with jaw-dropping fight-ending ability, the younger member of the duo has a style more based around technique and defense.
Pettis set a rather unremarkable record with a ninth consecutive decision win to begin his UFC tenure. The biggest criticism on him at this point is an inability to finish fights, which not only hurts him from a promotional standpoint, but it fails to instill a whole lot of fear in his opponents.
Losses to the top members of the flyweight class have shown that taking Pettis out of a striking rhythm is the best path to victory. Champion Henry Cejudo was able to ground and grind out Pettis when they fought in December 2017, and if they rematched “Triple C” would surely be favored to do it again.
Pettis was only gifted with the certain abilities and amount of power he has, and thus far he’s worked it to great success. But unless he starts causing some more damage I can’t foresee him getting over the necessary humps to turn his championship dreams into reality.
