What mattered most at UFC on ESPN+ 18 in Copenhagen? Here are a few post-fight musings …
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1. Jared Cannonier’s middleweight surprise continues
When Jared Cannonier made his UFC debut four years ago, it was as a heavyweight. He’s since moved down to light heavyweight then middleweight, where he has shown his best work inside the octagon.
Cannonier (13-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) had everything riding against him in his headliner with Jack Hermansson (20-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC). He came into Copenhagen – where his opponent had ties – as a sizable underdog and certainly as the B-side in the promotional buildup. “The Killa Gorilla” didn’t care, though, as he figured out Hermansson’s game and closed the show by TKO early in the second round.
It took a while for Cannonier to find his right division, but now he’s 3-0 at 185 pounds and more relevant than ever. At 35, he’s late bloomer, but his performance against Hermansson proved he’s a serious problem in the 185-pound division. His next fight will be a big one.
2. Saint Preux with the Von Flue … again
It’s almost comical at this point how Ovince Saint Preux continues to pull off the Von Flue choke. Even when opponents know it’s coming, OSP still manages to make it work, which is the true sign of a signature technique.
Not even Saint Preux (24-13 MMA, 12-8 UFC) understood why Michal Oleksiejczuk put himself in position to get tapped with the submission, but hey, he’ll gladly take the win after a rough patch that saw him drop three of four fights.
Saint Preux is carving out a nice little space for himself in MMA lore. He’s got four of the six Von Flue finishes to take place in UFC history, and it will be fascinating to see how many more he can get before all is said and done.
More importantly: How do we go about officially changing the name of this submission to the Von Preux?
3. Rebin Saber’s terrible refereeing
The worst thing a referee can do is become part of the story of a fight. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Rebin Saber did with his rather embarrassing performance in the Nicolas Dalby (18-3-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC) vs. Alex Oliveira (19-8-1 MMA, 9-6 UFC) bout.
Saber made some questionable choices in the first two rounds, but his error in the third was nothing short of egregious. Oliveira had top position and was doing some good work near the fence in an offensive swing that conceivably could’ve led him to winning the round and ultimately the decision.
Instead, Saber stood Oliveira up. Moments later, Dalby turned the tide and got on top, into full mount and closed the bout strong to take the fight on the scorecards. It was one of the worst standups in recent memory, and Oliveira should be massively upset with what happened.
4. Lando not so groovy
It feels like we can close the book on Lando Vannata being the special fighter many hoped for after that memorable short-notice octagon debut with Tony Ferguson more than three years ago.
The effort he put in that fight, followed with a highlight-reel spinning-wheel kick knockout in his sophomore octagon effort, had expectations sky high for Vannata (10-4-2 MMA, 2-4-2 UFC). However, he’s failed to meet them. “Groovy” has just one win in his past six UFC appearances, and he didn’t put up much resistance in a unanimous decision loss to Marc Diakiese.
Despite a roller coaster UFC run, Vannata is still only 27. He’s definitely a fun fighter worth keeping around on the roster, but unless something dramatic happens, it seems that’s all he’ll ever be.
5. Shout out to ‘The Elbow Queen’
The most surprising result of the card was caused by Lina Lansberg, who upset the previously unbeaten Macy Chiasson (5-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) by unanimous decision in arguably the most meaningful win of her career.
Lansberg (10-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) was coming off a victory in her previous fight but had never won two straight during her more than three-year tenure with the UFC. At 37, she was more or less viewed as the sacrificial lamb in Chiasson’s build into being a women’s bantamweight contender. Clearly, though, the Swede had other plans.
It wasn’t the most exciting or dominant performance, but Lansberg did enough to get her hand raised. Credit to her for showing up in a big spot.
